Falconry fairytale blends fantasy photoshoot with raptor education

Falconry Fairytale brought owls, falcons and hawks into a storybook setting at Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, where Everlore Events invited guests to create a fantasy persona, choose a bird companion and pose for professionally photographed portraits. The Saturday, June 27, 2026 event was framed as an immersive photoshoot, but it also promised falconry history, handling techniques and time with guides focused on protecting the birds.

That mix is what gives the program its credibility inside the bird-of-prey world. Ravensbeard says it has supported wildlife in Woodstock, Saugerties and Kingston for more than 20 years, and describes itself as a wildlife rehabilitation and educational center built around rescue and release for wild birds. The center says it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that rehabilitates injured, ill and orphaned animals so they can return to the wild. Ellen J. Kalish, the founder, has said Ravensbeard’s release rate is over 60 percent, a figure that matters when the birds are presented as ambassadors rather than props.

The event also leaned on a tradition much larger than one photoshoot. UNESCO says falconry has been practiced for more than 4,000 years, and the International Association for Falconry defines it as taking quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of trained birds of prey. The North American Falconers Association says it was founded in 1961 and now has about 2,000 members, which underscores that falconry remains an organized living practice rather than a purely theatrical one. That history is part of why fantasy-themed raptor programming can work when it is grounded in real handling and conservation language.

New York’s licensing rules make that line even clearer. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says a resident falconry license authorizes obtaining, buying, selling, bartering, possessing and training raptors for falconry purposes, and state regulations require a valid apprentice, general or master falconry license to engage in falconry. Falconry Fairytale was not a hunt or a formal apprenticeship lesson, but it borrowed enough from the culture of the field to matter, pairing visual spectacle with bird welfare and rehabilitation messaging. Ravensbeard lists its address at 131 Van Buskirk Road, Saugerties, NY 12477, and uses info@ravensbeard.org for educational-program inquiries, keeping the focus on learning even when the setting was pure fantasy.