Jasper and Sparrow

Tami, Isabel and Thayen came over this evening with Jasper. He had finally got back into his flying weight range after an apparently exceptionally plump Starling that we had given him on his last outing. The Starling are on their swing back north after spending the harsher winter months in the land of thawed french fries. Last year I caught over 600 in less than a week, and have been feeding my hunting hawks on them ever since. Tami is stocking up as well and in the process saving at least some of her chicken feed for the intended recipients. We also keep a few fresh ones alive for the days that the wild population outsmarts us. The plump one that Jasper had eaten was one of those. It is a bit amazing how soon these Starlings lose condition after being caught. Tami feeds them well on Cat food, but they apparently loose quite a bit of muscle. Jasper caught this one with little effort on his part. Well that is if you don't count the fact that he crashed into the ground at least twice in the pursuit, giving Tami a serious case of the giggles. This time I asked her to bring at least three fresh caught ones for our "just in case" scenario.

When they arrived the Starlings were lined up on my Chicken house. As soon as Jasper opened his wings a cloud of Starlings and Sparrows hit the sky getting as much distance between them and the ground as they could. As he streaked across the ground, I saw a Sparrow take refuge under one of my trailers parked by the outside Chicken house.

Jasper was working the captive pen, and getting a few chases but nothing would give him an even chance. I decided that I would try to get some video this time rather than try to take pictures. We were checking the rock wall by the chicken pen when he abandoned us to try for a Sparrow by the outside pen. We all trekked back to see what he had found. By the time we got there he was sitting on the back of the outside pen and had cornered one behind a tool box stored there. I started the video as Tami rousted the Sparrow out of the hiding spot. The Sparrow flew under the dog house and on out, but Jasper didn't see him leave and went under the house looking for him. He finally came out and took a perch on the Dog house, then up on the Hawk house thinking the Sparrow might still be hiding there. Tami got him on the fist and we moved to the back of the outside chicken house to see if Karen could flush one in our direction. One did come to the escape hole, took one look and bolted past Karen out the front door. Jasper gave chase, but lost him in the corral. Tami called him to the fist and we went to check the Sparrow that I had seen hiding under the trailer. Tami went on one side and I started kicking the trailers on the other. The Sparrow flushed and Jasper soon put him into cover under my old Ford PU. Tami came up just in time to force the fleeing Sparrow back under the truck. Jasper went back after him, and chased him around the tires a couple of times with the Sparrow screaming at every turn. Tami was bending over to look under the truck when the Sparrow decided that it wasn't such a good place to hide after all. The Sparrow came up over the hood of the truck scratching and flying for all it was worth. When it saw Tami it hesitated just a bit and Jasper caught it by the radio antennas. They were going quite fast and they both slid over the edge. Thayen watches all the chases and does his version of trying to help. He came thundering up waving a stick about the same time they slid over the edge so Jasper continued to a farm disc parked by the truck. He is so used to Thayen and every thing around him that he seldom pays attention to any of the mayhem that usually occurs during the mayhem of a hunt. That is of course the key to successful hunting hawk. He can then focus on the prey rather than worry about the people.

 He sat on the disc and finished killing the Sparrow. Tami walked up and offered him a Starling leg. When he looked up and saw her and her offered fist, he jumped to her to eat the offering. If you will notice he is eating the leg and holding the Sparrow in his left foot. Next to bird brains he likes the skinned offerings the best.

http://vimeo.com/36971119

The above link will take you to the video of the hunt.

Jasper and thoughts.

 An interested bystander to the hunt.

Things here are winding down for the hawking season. Some people hunt until late March, which is the end of most of the legal seasons for Falconry. Duck season is over near the end of January, Grouse ends in December. Upland game such as Pheasant and Chukar are open until the end of March. Rabbits have no seasons, but they begin their breeding season in March. You have heard the phrase Madder than a March Hare? That is because when their hormones are raging, they are much like a teenage boy. Little sense, lots of testosterone. You can see them running all over the place with little regard for safety. Just too easy and I fear that the one that my hawks kill will be the one responsible for the perpetuation of the species. :-) 

So all of my birds are fat and molting. Weight, as well as hours of daylight, are the factors that trigger molt. My shop looks like the scene of a pillow fight, feathers and bits of down are every where. Sadly enough, I miss the time spent relating the events of the hunts. Putting it into print clarifies my understanding of what my birds are thinking and their reactions to the things that happen due to my influence and actions. So all I have left is watching Jasper trying to catch Sparrows here at the house, and trying to clarify training techniques to Tami. It is not as easy as it may seem, to teach something so nebulous as interpreting as a Raptors thinking processes. Most of the stuff that I do is instinctual and the reasons for it, not thought out. Then to explain why, takes a lot of thought and sometimes words. So while this process is fresh in my mind, I will try to clarify some of my thoughts on preparing  a raptor to hunt. The following is an attempt at clarifying a Raptors thinking process and may either be repetitious or boring, so I have included some pictures of Jasper's hunt yesterday, at the end of this piece. So feel free to skip to the pictures at any time.

Of course the first thing one needs to understand is that a Raptor's thinking processes are a lot different from any other animal that we deal with. One of the biggest things to overcome is that tendency to think that Raptors suffer from the emotion of gratitude. Raptors have evolved by being able to exploit weakness in their food supply. Food and the obtaining of it is the primary drive in all Raptors. If there are two Raptors and one of them has food, the other will try to take it. Even in youngsters at the nest, when the adult comes in with food, a youngster will grab it and turn its back on the adult that just brought it, in an attempt to hide it. This behavior does not change through out all its life. The hungrier that it gets the more pronounced the behavior.

The success of a falconer depends on their ability to observe. Of course to solve a problem you first have to understand it, and the factors that influence it.

When a Raptor is first caught, it thinks that you are going to eat it. That is what happens to every thing that it catches. When you first lay your hands on it, it goes into shock, which is the bodies way of preparing one to die. This shock will last for roughly a week or so. As a side issue, during that time the bird is more susceptible to any of the common afflictions that they normally carry in the body, such as Frounce, and Aspergillis. In other words their immune system is shut down. In the following days and week or so the bird is "manned", or in simple terms becomes used to you and its altered surroundings. It does not understand why you haven't eaten it, but that thought is of course in the back of its mind, and until it forgets that, it will not act in a fashion that is normal to it. You can, during this time make mistakes that will cause you problems once the bird becomes used to you and its situation. It will not react that much if you take food from it, because it expects to be eaten, but it will not forget either.

During this time, the falconer is laying the groundwork for a relationship that will last the birds entire life.  One can teach a bad habit in an instant, and never be able to erase it in a lifetime. So you have to be very careful what you do.

 During the manning process you teach the hawk that food can be found on the fist. Its weight is controlled to the point that it is eager to eat at the time that you have chosen to interact with it. This is enhanced by long walks with the bird followed up by the reward of food either during or immediately after. The bird learns to first step to the fist, then to fly to the fist. Then the lure is generally introduced as a safety feature or a "Panic button" if you will. Hawks generally do not require a lure to get them back, but a falcon needs something that is readily visible from long distances. I always train my hawks to the lure as a means of getting an instant response and return. Once they have finished these steps they can then begin the process of hunting.

It takes about three lessons to establish a link in the birds mind that the lure is very desirable and they will come to it when they will respond to nothing else. Some, like the Accipiters think of the lure the same way that they feel about prey. The object is to link the lure to its full meal. So that when the bird gets the lure it gets to eat enough that its hunger is satisfied or at least appeased. It takes very little time for the Raptor to become very possessive of the lure. Think of it like this. When you throw the lure the bird does not think of it as a gift, rather that you might have dropped it, and if the positions were reversed, the Raptor would be trying to get it back.

During the training process the Raptor is on a "creance" or line, so you have control. If the Raptor tries to drag the lure off, as is its instinct, it is no big deal. Keep in mind that any raptor that sees your Hawk with food will either try to take it or kill the hawk, and then take it.  In the wild, Hawks will drag their food under cover so that they are not observed. They will "mantle" or spread their wings to cover the food to make it less visible to other Hawks. All this is so that you can understand what the Raptors natural instinct compels it to do. We counter that tendency by putting weight on the lure or line so that the bird cannot fly off with the lure. Most times that is enough, but if the bird ever learns to distrust your motives, you have taught a lesson that will plague you for the rest of the time that the bird is with you. If your bird is free and you give it the lure, there is nothing to make that bird stay with you if it did not want to. So it is in your best interest to make sure that it knows there is more on your fist and you are not going to try to take the lure from him.

To make the bird anxious to come to that lure, we must put enough food on it that the trip is worthwhile. We must also make sure that the food cannot be pulled off, but has to be eaten on the lure. If it ever pulls off a chunk, it will fly to a nice quiet spot to eat it, and will try to repeat that process each and every time that it comes to the lure. I prefer to have some food with a bone in it for the larger Raptors to prevent that. If one puts enough on a lure to fill the birds crop, the problem of how to pick it up arises. If you don't put enough food on it, then the bird will see little reason to come to it in the first place. If you put too much there is no reason for the bird to remain in your presence at all after it has eaten it. Most of the time that a lure is used, for a Hawk, is when the bird is too fat to hunt and is showing signs of disinterest to the point that it will not come to the fist.  I prefer to put about half of its meal on the lure, then make her come to me for the rest of its meal. I try to never touch the lure until the Raptor is on my fist and secured. That way if the Raptor wants to drag the lure under a bush, it knows that to get the rest of its food it will have to come to my fist to get it. I try to never give the bird any reason to think that I am going to take the lure from her, or that it holds any value to me at all. Remember there is no gratitude involved, it is all learned behavior.

Your job in the "Manning" process is to lay the ground work to serve as a solid base in your relations with the Hawk. If you do it halfway, you will suffer for as long as the bird is with you. You have a window that you can establish a relationship with the bird that will make it look like it is easy if you do it right, or make the entire experience miserable. Tami has done an excellent job with Jasper in her manning. I have drummed into her the two lessons that I feel are the most important in handling a Raptor. Never cheat or lie to your hawk. If you offer it, then give it. Never take food from it. She has done that so well that Jasper will fly to her with a Sparrow that he has just killed. He trusts her completely. I cannot tell you how rare that is. We will see if she can repeat that with the Kestrel that she will get this summer. It is about time to release Jasper so that he can live the life that he was intended to have. A wild caught bird is a gift. Jasper has had his horizons expanded by his association with Tami, and Tami has learned much from him. Hopefully this little interlude in his life will help him in his quest to survive and reproduce. He is beginning to drop body feathers, and soon the urge to mate will be upon him. We hunt him here at the house, but the Sparrows are cagy and far from easy prey. If we spent longer and put more effort into it we would be catching some, as he always tries very hard for us. They clear the area when he opens his wings, and when the daylight fails us, we amuse ourselves by making him "wait on" in the fields around the house and tossing him Starlings that Tami has trapped at her house.

 Vantage point after a chase.

 On point over a Sparrows hiding place.

"Got him, but he has me too"

Starlings are tough prey for a little Kestrel. This one was holding one of Jasper's legs while Jasper was holding him. They can impose a nasty wound with their sharp beak, so it is to Jasper's advantage to have Tami helping him.

Jasper and update.

The duck season has closed, and the wind during the biggest part of January was lethal. The Harris's could not manage that much wind so I kept feeding them, and keeping them at weight. It lasted so long that I began to feel sorry for them, and finally broke down and started giving them enough food that they were a bit more satisfied with life. Jessie has began her molt, so she is up for the year. There just isn't enough upland game birds to hunt her on. The Sage Grouse are still suffering from the West Nile outbreak that traveled through here three years ago. I had to keep pretty close to home due to Karen's restricted ability as well. In all honesty I am quite content to toss another log on the fire and open a book. It has been a great year. I have two new birds well on their way to making good hunting hawks. I am content to let the rest of the Jacks and Bunnies do their best to evade the Eagles that don't have some one to feed them. Perhaps there will be enough this next year that I don't have to leave the property to hunt rabbits. Right now Puddy is carrying an extra 6 ounces of weight. She weighs 2 lbs 2 ounces, but still thinks she is starved, while Yogi weighs 3 lbs 2 ounces.

Jasper however is another story. He has also had his problems with the wind, but as a falcon he can handle a lot more wind than a hawk can. The scarcity of dumb dicky birds has been his biggest problem. We went through a period of time that we were catching some Starlings, but could not get him a decent shot at wild birds. When he opens his wings the Sparrows and Starlings leave the area before he can begin to close the distance. That leaves us with a busted hunt and eventually tossing a bag when he begins to climb up to wait on. One of the side effects of this is that he has developed the belief that if he keeps pressing the birds he will eventually be able to catch them. Some of the flights are covering distances of 1/4 mile or more. I have to admit that we sometimes are relieved to see him break off the pursuit, because if he did catch them, we would never be able to find him.

Yesterday I went over to Tami's in the hopes that we would be able to get something going over there. She had caught a Starling, and I put it in my pocket just in case we couldn't get anything else going. Well it didn't take any time at all until he was the only bird around. We stood around a bit, hoping that something would show up to give him a chance to hunt, but he started climbing up in the sky circling right over us, and I couldn't resist. Out went the Starling with a yell and the chase was on. Out of the field, through the barn and around the chicken house, behind the house, and Jasper was closing the distance.

That was the last that we saw him. We began our search. Tami went down to the creek and the shoulder high Tules, while I looked around the house. Nothing! No sound, but no Jasper either, a sure sign that he had caught it. We looked all around trying to listen to see if we could hear the distress cries of the Starling. Wind blowing, Dave working with an excavator, nothing! We started working our way up the creek, Tami low, me on the road, checking high. Finally I suggested that Tami swing the lure, just in case. As she started swinging it, he flew up into one of the trees by their house. He saw the lure and came over to us, but really didn't seem all that anxious to come to her. He took a perch in the top of one of the trees. She tried to call him to the fist, but he ignored her. We tried walking off from him, but again he didn't seem inclined to follow us. Finally both of us agreed that we didn't like his actions, so we decided to end the hunt by calling him to the lure. He did come to that, and Tami picked him up after he finished the garnishment on the lure. She noticed that he had fresh blood on his feet and beak. Tami has a big old Tom Cat that hangs around the house. We are sure that the Cat took his bird from him. At least he was smart enough to not wait around to discuss ownership with it. We also could not find the cat any where. Usually he is under foot.

Tami called this evening and related that he was a bit fat, but he had been agitated all night and wanted to hunt. He is really something else. When he kills, he is as contented with life as one can be, but when he misses, he is as grumpy as an old bear. The fact that he only weighs 3 ounces does nothing to dispel the image.

She came over around 5 PM and though there didn't seem to be many Sparrows about, we turned him loose to see what he could do. He took off the fist in a sneak attack about 12 inches over the ground and flashed up over the fence at the Pigeon house. Nothing seemed to be in the area, so he took a perch on a post between the loafing shed and the Chicken pen. Tami went to the loafing shed and I went on the outside of the fence to the old truck parked there. I must have scared one out from under it, as Jasper chased it around the yard between the pens and into the rock wall by the Pigeons. I kicked as many rocks as I could, but could not get it to bolt. I went back out to the truck again and apparently managed to flush another one. He chased it through the yard, over the fence, back over the rock wall and slammed into it as it tried to take refuge in the back wall of the loafing shed. Tami scaled the fence and we both got to him at about the same time. She helped him pull the Sparrow out of the rocks. As soon as he was clear he jumped to her fist with the Sparrow and began to eat the tidbit that was on her fist. He had to finish that before he broke into the Sparrow.

Sunset

I had thought that I would be efficient for once and write the blog early so that I could watch the football games. Well unlike Karen, I get bored pretty quickly and do just as well listening to them while I am doing something else or sleeping, which I do best. All was well, I was reading a bit, reading emails, and then it was time to do chores. I put the hawks up for the night and after turning the corner of the hanger, here was a great sunset. I managed to ignore it for a while, but it kept getting better and better. Finally I decided to go for the camera, thinking that it would fade before I got back. Well it did not, and it still improved.

 I kept trying to finish my evening chores and every time I looked the sunset intensified.

 These clouds seemed to be rolled on the outside edges.

 And then they got puffy and more interesting

 Looking straight West it was hard to not let the lens be overpowered.

Finally I just had to turn my back on it and go into the house. I still shot 16 pictures of it. These are the best.

All Jasper today.

I knew it was too good to last. We actually have a storm blowing in form the Southwest today. The temps jumped up to 54 degrees, and the wind was gusting to 24. I had intended to fly the Harris's but with this wind, the best thing was to feed them enough to hold them over to tomorrow.

I had two Starlings in my trap, so I wanted to get Jasper started on the kite. I got the quad out of the doors to the hanger, but didn't see the need to go that far away since the wind was blowing away from the hanger. The only thing that I didn't take into account is that the wind shadow from the hanger was going to make for some squirrely wind. I got the kite up in the air, and once it reached about 50 feet it turned over and slammed into the ground breaking the rod that makes up the spine. Time for plan B.

The wind was still screaming, and Jasper really had to hang on to the fist to keep from being blown away. He first took a perch on the free Chickens house, but the Starlings and Sparrows were all over to the captive pen. He soon zipped over there and the usual mayhem ensued. He was here, there, chasing this one, missing one in the rocks. Off again after another, then we were out of Sparrows and opportunities. Just as we were about ready to go to a bagged Starling, a batch of Sparrows flew back in and the chase was on again. Once again, he frittered away all the opportunities, and Tami, who was outside the pen started to go through the fence, flushed another Sparrow. This time he was determined to catch it. The last I saw of him as he disappeared around the loafing shed, was just about a foot in behind the Sparrow. He didn't come back, but a large group of Sparrows that had taken refuge in front of the house lifted off and came to the pens to hide.

We waited, but he didn't show up, so we started a search for him, sure that he had caught something. One of the big problems with him is that he is hard to see if he is more than 50 yards away or down on the ground. If he was the type to be secretive, she would have lost him long ago.

 I finally found him on the ground by the back of the house, almost under the eves. The flight had gone more than 100 yards. This is the first time that he has really pressed the pursuit. The hardest part of flying any kind of game is to convince the hawk that if they keep pressing they can generally force the quarry to try to take cover. He has been discovering the consequences of not catching anything, and he hates it. Tami says that he is restless all night when he misses.

 Well he won't be restless tonight.

 Tami offered her fist to him, but the wind was still howling and if he had turned around he would have ended up on his beak. He is looking, but held his ground.

 When she reached down to get him, he still didn't turn around, but sidestepped up on the fist.

We retired to the shop to get out of the wind so that he could eat.

Yogi, catching up!

We first gave Jasper a chance to catch a Sparrow, but unfortunately, he was unable to make it happen. As soon as he opened his wings, the Pigeons all flew, and with them the Sparrows. We has some good chases, but no cigar. He once went up about 150 feet and was circling over top of the Pigeons. I kicked the wall and flushed out a Sparrow. Jasper turned over and was just about a foot behind it when they went around the "cat house". Unfortunately the Sparrow took cover and the flight ended up right in front of us in another rock wall.

We ended up calling him to the fist and letting him sit in the box to contemplate his failures while we hunted the two Harris's.

I loaded them into the back of the Subaru and drove down to the end of the runway to save us a bit of an unproductive walk. Puddy was up to 887 grams while Yogi was down to 1100. Not sure whats up with Puddy, since I consider 840 to be her flying weight, but I am having trouble getting her down that low. Yogi sheds weight like crazy and I have to watch her weight, so that it doesn't get too low. Perhaps it is just that the girl has put on muscle.

I had expected Puddy to be a bit sluggish, but she was anything but. The first Jack that jumped, Puddy was after in a flash and a quick wingover brought a squeal from the Jack. Unfortunately Yogi wasn't close enough to help and the Jack made his escape. We walked quite a bit before we got another chance at any of them.

After a rather lengthy search we had a couple of close slips, and Yogi was really trying hard, but she still has not perfected her technique and although many of them were extremely close, she still wasn't getting it done. Puddy also was burning up the Sage, slamming into the brush and the ground equally. Finally one busted out fairly close to us and Puddy crashed into the ground just on the other side of a Sage bush, followed by Yogi. After Yogi went in, the rabbit screamed once, then the screams were cut off abruptly.

 The one that gets its feet on the rabbit first is almost always on the rear end, since that is the closest thing to grab. That leaves the rabbit momentarily with the front end scrabbling to pull free of the demon on its butt. The other hawk will grab the head quicker than the rabbit can say "Oh shit", which makes the screams quite muffled.

 While this looks like a wreck, and an extremely dangerous situation, it has not been so far. Those feet are flying faster than a rabbit or a man can begin to react, but the accuracy is just as amazing as it is fast. So far neither has so much as scratched the other, but they are a tumbled mess to all appearances.

If you enlarge the picture above you can see that Yogi has ripped a four inch slash almost down to the bone in the Jacks leg. She has one of the Jacks legs on her left side and her right leg up between the Jacks legs and into his belly. In the meantime Puddy has both feet and all eight talons buried in the Jacks head.

I attempted to give Puddy a front leg from an earlier kill, since the Jack rightly belonged to Yogi, but Yogi volunteered to take it. She walked off a couple of steps to eat her reward, leaving me to convince Puddy to let go. To my great pleasure, she did so with little encouragement. Reuben and I went off a bit to clean the Jack. Reuben kindly offered his knife to clean it with.

We gave both birds all the rabbit that they could eat. Yogi, ever the Lady, daintily ate her food on Tami's fist, while the youngster bolted every thing she could get down her throat as fast as she could.

Jasper - #20

Tami and Isabel came over today to hunt Jasper and help me with the girls here at the house. Jasper has had a dry spell, due to Dave's injury and our education program for the Sparrows here at the house. However one made a fatal error in judgement today. It hid under my old Ford truck, and I saw it hide. Tami rousted it out and it tried to scrape Jasper off on the fence wire that you see between Jasper and myself. It failed to understand Jasper's knowledge of fences and his determination. Tami got over the two fences between us and called him to the fist. He happily carried his Sparrow to her.

We have not hunted him very hard, averaging 3 to 4 flights a week. Of course lately there wasn't even that for at least three weeks. Perhaps now we can hunt him a bit more regularly.  If we lived in an urban setting it would be easy to kill something every time we went out. It would merely require a car trip to the local fast food place, roll down the car window and pick him and his kill up. Fast food joints are a bit scarce around here. If and when the wind picks up a bit we will start some kite training for him just to learn how, and to see how much more efficient he can be from a height.

Puddy was a bit heavy today after all the food that she stuffed down at the end of our last hunt, but she would still try. Yogi was about right, so when Jasper finished his Sparrow, all of us started for the Sage on the other side of the fence. They have progressed to the point that they are a lot of fun to fly. Neither one expects tidbits to come to the fist or the perch. Yogi shows her wild influence in her ability to see rabbits. Puddy will chase whatever jumps up, but once she misses it, she will soon return to the perch to wait for the next chance. Yogi often "goes on point". She knows if they are hiding or if they have left the area. If she is left on her own, she will stay there until she finds it. I generally prefer to try to find another one that might not be so smart, but have found that I had just as well go see if I can push it up for another try. So far we have almost always jumped them, but have yet to catch one on the the second or third try, but what the heck, it is exciting as all get out.

Yogi is slowly evolving in her flying style. Puddy goes straight for the rabbit following every twist and turn and slamming into either the ground, a bush, or the rabbit if she gets an opening. Perhaps if she learns to take a bit more care of her tail, she might be able to make some of these 90 degree turns that the Jacks are pulling on her.  Yogi cuts them off and has been making slams into the ground at right angles to the fleeing rabbit. So far she has missed, but I bet there are a lot of them with all the hair scrubbed off their bellies. They counter this attack by squatting. She has also been experimenting with the throw up flight when they go to ground. Unfortunately so far she hasn't consistently gone high enough or learned to look over her shoulder as she climbs. She is getting there, and will either perfect this technique this year or the next. These rabbits are the toughest, and smartest of the bunch. All have survived constant predation by Golden Eagles and  Coyotes all year long. They are rolling in fat, and are big, strong and very smart.

Karen walked with us for most of the hunt, and we all had a great time. Unfortunately no rabbits were harmed in this exercise. Well Puddy pulled a patch of hair off one of them, but nothing serious.