Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
When Dr Ghbisha Alkitbe was a child, her grandfather’s falcon rarely left his side.
She recalls the bird perched beside him at home and always returning to his glove after sweeping into flight outdoors – it wasn’t just a bird but another member of the family.
“I grew up surrounded by falcons,” she told Aletihad in a recent interview.
“My grandfather kept his falcon with him all the time, even in his bedroom.”
That unique bond she observed in her childhood shaped everything that followed.
At the age of 10, she held her first falcon – a peregrine – with her small hands trembling beneath the “des”, the traditional falconry glove. She was afraid, but captivated.
With her father and brother guiding her, she learned how to support the bird’s talons, how to hold the tether tight and steady, and how to sense the flickers in a falcon’s mood.
“That moment changed everything going forward,” she said. “I fell in love.”
Years later, that love carried her into veterinary school, where she chose to specialise in falcon medicine.
Today, she runs her own clinic in Dubai dedicated to the care of falcons, treating everything from minor injuries to complex orthopaedic cases.
“I feel happiest when I’m treating falcons,” she said. “I wanted to be the person to provide a place where they get the full attention they deserve.”
Her personal life remains closely intertwined with the birds she grew up with.
Dr Alkitbe owns more than 10 falcons, from gyr hybrids to wild peregrines, and can tell each one apart by its personality and subtle physical differences.
Her favourite is a wild peregrine known locally as Shaheen Wahal.
“They’re my life,” the Emirati falconer said. “Everything I’ve built comes from them.”
Dr Alkitbe explained that training these birds is a meticulous, months-long process. She teaches them through tilwah, the traditional method that builds their instinct to chase prey, and also through modern techniques using drones or aircraft lures to strengthen flight patterns.
A falcon must pass each step successfully before heading out to hunt. “You need patience; real patience,” she said. “They taught me that.”
Dr Alkitbe’s skills have carried her into competitive falconry as well. Last year, she earned second place in the women’s category of the UAE President’s Cup Falcon Competition, one of the country’s most prestigious falconry championships.
But for her, the sport and the profession both come back to the same source: the bond she felt as a child, watching her family live side by side with their falcons.
“Our culture is intertwined with these birds,” she said. For Dr Alkitbe, holding a falcon feels like holding a piece of home.
