Train the hawk, manage the humans — a falconry program workspace built around reusable stakeholder communication templates for regulators, sponsors, vets, landowners, and abatement clients.

Falconry is the art of training a hawk, falcon, or eagle to hunt wild quarry in partnership with a human. But the bird is only half the job. Behind every flying raptor in the United States sits a sponsoring master falconer, a state wildlife agency, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, an avian veterinarian, the landowners whose fields you hunt, and — for those who fly working birds — commercial clients paying for bird-abatement services. Each of those relationships runs on documents: permit applications, facility-inspection records, sponsor progress reports, acquisition/disposition filings, vet referrals, access agreements, service proposals, and incident reports.

This workspace treats stakeholder communication templates as the organizing spine of a falconry program. It pairs genuine raptor-training substance — manning, weight management and yarak, creance flights, free flight, entering on quarry, molt and husbandry — with a template library so that every required communication is structured, deadline-aware, and reproducible from the training log. The agent keeps the weight log, plans the training progression, and then turns that record into whatever each stakeholder needs to see.

Most falconers are excellent with their birds and disorganized with their paperwork. The cost of that gap is real: a missed acquisition report (Form 3-186A) or a lapsed permit renewal is a compliance violation; a facility that isn't inspection-ready delays an apprentice's first bird; a vague verbal landowner agreement evaporates the day a neighbor complains; an abatement client who never gets a service report doesn't renew the contract. This workspace codifies the discipline that the sport's regulatory weight demands: one template per stakeholder, each tied to a triggering event and a deadline, all fed from the same dated husbandry log so the bird's welfare and the program's compliance tell a single, consistent story.

• A falconry permit (or an active apprenticeship under a sponsoring General/Master falconer) and knowledge of your state's specific regulations — they layer on top of the federal baseline and are frequently stricter.
• A digital gram scale and a habit of weighing the bird before every flight or feeding (this workspace runs on the weight log).
• Your federal/state permit numbers, facility (mews/weathering) details, and the contact info for your sponsor, avian vet, and state falconry coordinator.
• For abatement work: a commercial/abatement endorsement on your permit and any client site details (location, target species, operating hours).

1. Clone this workspace.
2. Run /stakeholder-map to inventory everyone in your program and assign each a template and a contact cadence.
3. Run /weight-log to start (or import) the flying-weight & condition record — every other deliverable reads from it.
4. Run /training-plan to lay out the manning → creance → free flight → entering progression with a communication checkpoint at each gate.
5. As events occur, reach for the matching command: /permit-packet at renewal, /sponsor-report on the agreed cadence, /vet-intake on a health concern, /incident-report within the reporting window for a loss.

falconry-bird-training/
├── CLAUDE.md                       # Agent role, context refs, command list
├── README.md                       # This file
├── .claude/commands/
│   ├── stakeholder-map.md
│   ├── permit-packet.md
│   ├── sponsor-report.md
│   ├── weight-log.md
│   ├── vet-intake.md
│   ├── landowner-access.md
│   ├── abatement-proposal.md
│   ├── abatement-report.md
│   ├── incident-report.md
│   └── training-plan.md
├── context/
│   ├── concepts.md                 # Permits, stakeholders, species, weight & yarak, training, equipment, health
│   ├── workflows.md                # Template-library build + comms procedures tied to each stakeholder
│   └── references.md               # Permit-class table, regs & forms, equipment, ailments, organizations
├── prompts/
│   ├── permit-renewal-cover-letter.md
│   ├── sponsor-quarterly-update.md
│   ├── abatement-client-pitch.md
│   ├── raptor-health-vet-consult.md
│   └── landowner-access-request.md
└── outputs/                        # Weight logs, training plans, permit packets, reports, agreements

A new apprentice needs to pass a facility inspection and file for their first red-tailed hawk. /permit-packet builds the application + inspection checklist (mews dimensions, perch type, bath pan, weathering area), and /stakeholder-map sets the reporting cadence with their sponsor before the bird is even trapped.

/weight-log tracks response against flying weight day by day; /training-plan gates the bird from manning through creance to free flight, and surfaces the moment the bird is sharp-set enough to enter on quarry without being driven dangerously light.

/abatement-proposal scopes a starling-dispersal program for a vineyard at veraison; weekly /abatement-report deliverables document sorties, dispersal efficacy, and target-species counts so the client sees value and renews.

A bird drops below its expected weight band and is fluffed and reluctant. /vet-intake assembles the history (weight trend, mute appearance, casting times, recent diet) into a referral the avian vet can act on immediately — frounce and aspergillosis are on the differential.

A bird breaks off after quarry and is recovered two days later via telemetry. /incident-report documents the escape and recovery for the state coordinator and sponsor within the reporting window, with the band number and circumstances.

• filesystem — read weight-log CSVs, store permit PDFs, photos of the bird/feathers/facility, and write reports to outputs/.
• calendar / reminders — permit-renewal dates, inspection appointments, molt timing, and the 3-186A 10-day filing window are deadline-driven; surface them before they lapse.
• gmail / email — send the stakeholder communications the prompt templates generate (sponsor updates, landowner requests, client reports).
• pdf — fill and read state permit forms and Form 3-186A; merge inspection-readiness packets.
• sqlite / duckdb — keep the weight log, feeding record, and acquisition/disposition register queryable across seasons.
• weather — flying conditions and abatement scheduling depend on wind, temperature, and visibility.

• This workspace organizes communications; it is not legal or veterinary advice. U.S. falconry is governed by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and federal rule 50 CFR 21.82 (the 2022 reorganization moved it from §21.29), administered through each state's wildlife agency under its own — often stricter — regulations. Verify current requirements with your state coordinator before filing anything.
• Permits, classes, and species limits are real constraints. Apprentices may keep one raptor of a permitted species (commonly an American kestrel or red-tailed hawk; states vary). Take from the wild, banding/marking, and acquisition/disposition are all reportable events.
• Welfare first, always. Weight management is husbandry, not punishment. A bird that is "going light," fluffed, or off its food needs a vet, not a lower flying weight.
• CITES and protected species. Moving certain raptors across borders, or possessing eagles and some falcons, carries additional permit and treaty obligations. Never assist with the illegal take or trade of protected birds.
• Abatement is regulated work. Commercial bird-abatement falconry requires the appropriate permit endorsement and must stay inside the conditions of that permit and any local wildlife-control rules.

• 50 CFR Part 21 — Migratory Bird Permits — federal permit framework; falconry standards now at §21.82.
• USFWS Migratory Bird Program — Falconry — federal overview, state-administration model, and forms.
• North American Falconers Association (NAFA) — the principal U.S. falconry organization (founded 1961); journals, meets, conservation.
• International Association for Falconry (IAF) — global federation; UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listing of falconry.
• The Modern Apprentice — widely-used free educational resource for apprentice falconers (equipment, manning, weight management).
• The Archives of Falconry (The Peregrine Fund) — historical and reference archive in Boise, Idaho.
• Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) — find an avian vet; clinical resources for raptor health.
• North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks — Beebe & Webster (the standard apprentice text).
• A Hawk for the Bush and The Passage Peregrine — Jack Mavrogordato (classic husbandry/training references).

If you have the workspace-foundational plugin installed, additional global commands (/workspace-foundational:context-sweep, /workspace-foundational:find-template) are available. The workspace is self-contained without it.