Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente country of citizenship Spain
Early years
Félix Samuel Rodríguez de la Fuente was born in Poza de la Sal (Burgos, Spain) on March 14, 1928. He was the son of Samuel Rodríguez and Marcelina de la Fuente Ibáñez. He had a younger sister, Mercedes. His father was the town notary, and avid reader and a lover of the Spanish language. His household was somewhat intellectual for a small Castillian village. He was schooled at home due to the Civil War (1936 - 1939) and his father's opposition to early schooling. Felix's adventures in the surrounding natural world were continuous until he was ten. He would describe his birthplace as a "human community living in harmony with the landscape" that shaped his "zoomorphic universe." This environment had a deep impact on his future sensitivity, and his anthropological and philosophical approach to his career as a naturalist.  He spent the summers in Santander (Cantabria, Spain), where his father was appointed as a notary. He deepened his knowledge of zoology. During a family outing he observed a falcon capturing a duck. This experience prompted his interest in falconry. He began his formal education in 1938 as a boarder at the religious school Sagrados Corazonistas de Vitoria. There, he longed for the summer and his lost freedom.
In 1946, on the advice of his father, he began studying medicine at the University of Valladolid. The first year, excited after seven years at boarding school and the leisure offered by city, he only registered for the three easiest courses and performed poorly as a student. In later years, he used to lock himself up a month before the exams in order to focus on his studies. His speaking abilities allowed him to stand out in the oral exams. He was also a university athlete, once winning the 400 metres college championship. During this year, the biologist José Antonio Valverde became very influential. Valverde gained international attention after fighting the plans of the Ministry of Agriculture to dry out the Guadalquivir marshes, which eventually led to the creation of Doñana National Park. In addition, Valverde shared his passion for falconry, which had not been practiced in Spain for over 150 years. Félix was determined to recover it. He researched treatises from the Middle Ages such as El libro de la caza de las aves by López de Ayala and El libro de la caza by Don Juan Manuel. In 1954, he was one of the signatories of the founding charter of the Spanish Ornithological Society.
In 1957, he graduated in dentistry in Madrid, receiving the Landete Arago Bernardino award, named after the pioneer of the specialty in Spain. For two years, he worked as a dentist in the clinic of Dr. Baldomero Sol in Madrid, but always part-time so that he could pursue his passion for falconry. However, after his father's death in 1960, he abandoned dentistry  to pursue falconry and science journalism. In 1961 he was a consultant for the film The Cid, shot in Spain. In 1964, thanks to his growing international contacts with scientists, Rodríguez de la Fuente presented a study on the then state of peregrine falcons in Spain at the International Congress for the Protection of Birds of Prey held in Caen, (France).  That year, he also published his first book, The Art of Falconry.
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