Falcon Versus Hawk

Quest Giver: Hidalgo the Master Falconer at Explorers’ League Outpost

Objective: Use your Trained Rock Falcon to capture 10 Fjord Hawks.

Quick Facts

• Type: Item-use collection
• Faction: Alliance only
• Prerequisite: The Ransacked Caravan
• Follow-up: There Exists No Honor Among Birds
• Chain Position: 3 of 4 in the Falconry questline

Walkthrough

1. Accept quest from Hidalgo (he gives you a new falcon cage; see warning below).
2. Collect at least 10 Fjord Grubs from Loose Rocks.
3. Find Fjord Hawks perched on rocks or flying in the area.
4. Target a hawk and use the Trained Rock Falcon from your inventory/action bar.
5. Your falcon flies out and captures the hawk.
6. Deal with the second hawk (see mechanics below).
7. Repeat for 10 hawks total.
8. Return to Hidalgo with the cage.

Fjord Hawk Locations

Hawks spawn in pairs on top of flat rocks. Reported spawn points:

• [74, 66] — Near the quest giver
• [74, 65] — Along the road
• [71, 63] — West of camp
• [74, 59] — North (considered best spot)
• [73, 61] — Good concentration of hawks
• [68, 63] and [68, 68] — Further west along the road

Hawks are orange-colored and easy to spot from a distance. Some fly in circles, others perch on rocks.

Critical Mechanic: Hawks Travel in Pairs

This is where the quest gets tricky:

1. You send your falcon at Hawk #1.
2. Hawk #2 (its partner) immediately aggros and attacks you.
3. While in combat, you cannot use your falcon cage.
4. The falcon cage has a cooldown, so you can’t instantly capture Hawk #2 anyway.

Hidalgo admits this after you complete the quest: “Aye, the hawks are very territorial and often travel in packs. I suppose I could have told you that before I sent you out into the field.”

Strategies for Handling Hawk Pairs

Option 1: Run Away After capturing Hawk #1, run until Hawk #2 de-aggros and returns to its perch. Come back and capture it. This is slow but works for everyone.

Option 2: Kill Hawk #2 Just kill the second hawk. It doesn’t count for the quest, but respawns are quick. Faster than running away.

Option 3: Group Up With a partner, Person A captures Hawk #1 while Person B (still out of combat) captures Hawk #2. Both players get credit for both hawks.

Option 4: Class-Specific Tricks

• Hunters: Feign Death after capture. Hawk #2 resets. Wait for cooldown, capture it.
• Night Elves: Shadowmeld after capture. Same effect.
• Rogues/Druids: Vanish/stealth out of combat.
• Mages: Polymorph Hawk #2, run away, return when it breaks.

Option 5: Max Range Timing Target a flying hawk moving away from you. Launch your falcon at maximum range. By the time Hawk #1 is captured, Hawk #2 may be out of aggro range.

Important: Use the NEW Falcon Cage

Hidalgo gives you a new falcon cage for this quest. The cage from The Ransacked Caravan will NOT work.

If you’ve hotkeyed the old cage, you must:

1. Remove the old cage from your action bar.
2. Put the new cage on your action bar.
3. This must be done for each quest in the chain.

If your falcon seems to ignore hawks, this is almost certainly the issue.

Tips

• Stock Up on Grubs: Collect 10+ grubs before hunting. Rocks near camp respawn quickly. Once you have 10, the sparkle disappears until you use some.
• Flying Mount Advantage: Fly up to treetop level where you’re at the same height as the hawks. Makes targeting much easier.
• Watch for Storm Giants: A roaming storm giant patrols the area. He’s elite and bad-tempered.

Helpful Macros

Basic Target + Use:

/tar Fjord Hawk

/use Trained Rock Falcon

/cleartarget

Run around spamming this macro to auto-target and capture hawks.

Mouseover Macro:

#showtooltip

/target [target=mouseover]

/use Trained Rock Falcon

Hover your mouse over hawks and press the keybind.

Pre-Click Method: Some prefer clicking the cage FIRST (so the cursor turns blue), then clicking directly on hawks as they fly overhead. Can be faster than targeting.

Story Context

Hidalgo waxes poetic about the bond forming between you and your falcon:

“Do you feel the closeness? Surely you feel a true bond forming between you and your falcon. Would you believe me if I told you that when the time is right you’ll be able to see through the eyes of your bird? Aye, it is the ultimate level of falconry.”

The turkeys were practice. Hawks are faster, more agile, and fight back. This is where your falcon truly proves itself as a hunter. The territorial behavior of hawk pairs adds an element of danger that didn’t exist with docile turkeys.

Explore Howling Fjord’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Howling Fjord Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.