The ancient art of falconry has long been regarded as a sport of nobility, with tradition having it that birds of prey were first domesticated for game hunting in Central Asia during the first or second millennium BC. The practice purportedly extended westwards and into the Middle East through trade and contacts. Forty-five-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Mubarak has been honing his falconry skills in the Eastern Province since first becoming interested at the age of 20, an interest that over the decades would bloom into a full-blown passion. Al-Mubarak, who works as a janitor at a school in Qatif, spends most of his leisure time engaged in his life-long hobby of falconry and hunting. “I have learned from long experience that winter is the best season for hunting. My daily catch during winter ranges from between 150 and 200 birds,” Al-Mubarak says. As a falcon-breeder he trains his birds to hunt from the age of one, and he boasts considerable experience with a wide range of species, with his preferred prey being the Golden Eagle due to its rarity and beauty. “The best way to win over a hunting bird is to not immediately take its prey away from it, but to let it eat a little and enjoy its catch. You can also reward it with a small pigeon. Falcons are very receptive to those who know how to handle them,” Al-Mubarak says. “You have to wear gloves to protect yourself against sharp claws, cover the falcon's eyes with a hood, and tie a string to its leg to control it.” Prices of birds generally vary between SR40,000 and SR50,000, with exceptionally skillful hunting birds fetching over one million riyals, a considerable price to pay if - as happened to one of Al-Mubarak's falcons - it should suddenly be knocked out of a low-flying maneuver by a speeding van.
