Lanners donât hunt in the dramatic stoop style of the peregrine, but itâs true they typically catch prey while flying at high speeds and chasing it down, sometimes even working with another lanner to get larger prey. That being said, though they have been held sacred by many cultures, the word âlannerâ is a corruption of an old French word meaning cowardly, likely in reference of them being poor falconry birds as they are more reluctant to chase game than a peregrine, saker, or gyrfalcon. In modern times, itâs pretty well known that they arenât cowardly, theyâre just very unmotivated to do much.
These falcons know that whether theyâre working hard or hardly working, the falconer will still feed them the same, so they donât usually put in that much effort without a lot of work. Just know that if it thought the pigeon was worth its time, that pigeon would be in its talons faster than a snake can strike. Never mistake their laziness for being a poor hunter, even at close range.