Live. Magazine
Travels in medicine
A Campus feather weight.
The campus falconer
Reflecting the original landscape of the Upper Rhine Valley, the Novartis Campus with its lush canopy of trees and bushes is a place for relaxation, but unfortunately also a magnet for crows and pigeons. Simone Cilluffo and his trained birds of prey deter flocks of pest birds – a problem that escalated during the lockdown, when thousands of crows and pigeons camped on the emptied Campus, threatening its vegetation and buildings.
Text by Penny Ekkert and Jovana Rakovic, photos by Alexander Jaquemet and Adriano A. Biondo.
Simone Cilluffo is one of the few falconers in Switzerland. He regularly visits the Novartis Campus in Basel with his birds. “This job can be done either by hunting and catching the birds where regulations allow it, or by scaring them away,” he explains. “Crows raid the nests of smaller birds, and pigeon droppings are a source of parasites, plus they contain acids that cause structural damage to buildings and streets. Our goal is to intimidate them.”
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Ciluffo also often works with Scirocco, a Saker falcon. Scirocco gets to soar above the Campus, taking off from the rooftop. “When the other birds see him, they recognize the danger, so they go somewhere else,” Ciluffo explains.
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During a summer workday, Cilluffo walks through the Campus with Janis, a Harris hawk. As Janis flies from tree to tree, the pest birds flee the predator. Cilluffo rewards Janis with a treat for her hard work.
Cilluffo owns a variety of raptors. “Falconry birds are interestingly more active than their cousins in the wild, which are not motivated to move much after feeding on caught prey. Proper nutrition and weight management are an important part of this job.”
In contrast to tradition, Cilluffo does all the work on his own. “In ancient times, there was a whole team working around one falcon – there would be some 15 people spread around just to prevent the bird from getting lost. I do everything myself: training, feeding, cleaning, tracking, taking care of the birds when they get sick.”
Cilluffo uses equipment which has changed little in the thousands of years of falconry. Still, the modern armamentarium is not complete without GPS tracking devices, which make it more efficient to retrieve birds that wander away.
Scirocco reaches speeds of up to 150 km/h when diving. It is therefore crucial that Cilluffo can give the bird clear commands.
Urban landscapes present many challenges for the falconers and their raptors. “It requires a highly intelligent bird to adeptly navigate urban structures, especially those with large and numerous windows as on the Novartis Campus,” Cilluffo says.
“Flying on the Campus is very complicated, but it’s amazing. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful place – I really enjoy the architecture. This is the best job I have ever had,” says Cilluffo.
To hear more, listen to the How`s your job? podcast episode The Campus falconer.
