Falcon that flew the coop in Hutchinson found four days later

As Michael Garcia, 66, watched his snowy-white gyrfalcon fly away from him in a Hutchinson park on Tuesday, he thought it would never return.

For four days, he scoured the streets looking for the bird, following “all kinds of corny leads” from residents, he said, sometimes as early as 4 a.m. in the fog.

On Saturday afternoon, Garcia was reunited with his lost bird.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” he said. “I’m so glad to be reunited with my bird. I’ve probably got an ulcer now, but I can take medicine for that.”

The 5-year-old female falcon flew the coop at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, when Garcia was training the as-yet-unnamed falcon for a season of hunting.

Garcia, who is from Streamwood, Ill., was in Hutchinson a little early for a national falconers conference.

He had a sort of extended leash on the bird and was doing exercises at Hutchinson’s Carey Park when the bird slipped out of the leash and flew away.

“I watched her fly away, and my heart just dropped into my pocket,” Garcia said. “I felt it hit the bottom of my stomach.”

He ran to his truck and got out a pheasant carcass, waving it in the air in an attempt to lure the falcon back to him.

A Hutchinson passer-by thought the pheasant-waving was odd, and a call was made to the Hutchinson Police Department, Garcia said.

When Garcia explained what had happened to the police officers, they began spreading the word about the lost bird, encouraging people to look for the bird around town.

A Facebook post from the Hutchinson Police Department describing the bird was shared 670 times. Some gyrfalcons have been known to sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

Normally, falconers equip their birds with a sort of radio-tracking system in case of incidents like this, but Garcia said he hadn’t equipped the bird yet because it had just started training.

“I didn’t have any telemetry on the bird, so finding it is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Garcia said. “The only way is to jump in and roll around, and that’s what I did.”

After receiving calls from people in states as far away as Maine, Garcia received the final call about the bird Saturday afternoon at around 4 p.m.

A boy had spotted it on top of a telephone pole less than 100 yards from where it first flew away, Garcia said.

“It was just kind of kicking back and enjoying the sun,” Garcia said.

Garcia praised the “great, wonderful people down in Kansas” for helping him locate the bird.

“There were so many big-hearted people trying to help,” he said. “Everybody pulling together for me, that was so great. This is probably the most famous bird in America right now, I’m thinking.”

He said he will continue to train with the bird until the Nov. 8 conference, but “I’m not letting her fly loose, though, I tell you.”

He’s also got some creative names in mind for the bird.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Falcon that flew the coop in Hutchinson found four days later."