Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground Attack Strategies in Trained Birds of Prey

The aim of this research was to analyse the strategies used by two species of birds of prey (peregrine falcons Falco peregrinus and Harris hawks Parabuteo unicinctus) during air-to-air and air-to-ground attacks, from the perspective of guidance and control. This was done experimentally for three test cases: 1. Peregrine attacks on targets thrown to the ground by a falconer; 2. Harris hawk attacks on targets towed over the ground at high speed along a zigzagging course of pulleys; 3. Peregrine attacks on targets towed through the air by a maneuvering remotely piloted air vehicle. We used onboard GPS loggers or high-speed video cameras to provide accurate measurements of the instantaneous position of the bird and its target (typically 0.05m error), and used ground- based video cameras and onboard video cameras to provide qualitative recordings of head, wing, or tail movements. The original document contains color images.