I determined that Peg needed to be a little lighter in weight after she didn't seem to be able to close the deal on the Rabbits that she tried for on the first of Sept. This morning she weighed 709 grams. I decided to use the tee perch this time to give her the best possible chance of getting the jump on any Rabbits that we might find.

 

She actually seems to like the added height, and comes back to it without thinking that she should have a tidbit. 

    We went through the field at Arock and she had several chances of catching either a bunny or Jack, and managed to miss all of them. I had decided that she had enough chances after an hour and was working my way back to the truck. ( I prefer my birds to earn their food and generally do not feed them any more than I have to, if they do not catch anything. If they however do catch something then, they get a good feed and often all they can eat. No welfare allowed here. With that sort of training, you generally have a very serious hunting hawk that doesn't screw around) 

    Karen was tired and asked for a break, of which I was happy to join in. I had forgotten a long sleeved shirt and was wearing a "Sweat Shirt" (mosquito's are really bad here) that was more than living up to its name. So we pulled up a rock and sat down, with Peg still on the Tee Perch.

   While we were sitting there, she took off, back to the area that we had just left and landed by a rock at the edge of a grassy area that was full of water due to the ranchers doing flood irrigation. She hopped back onto the rock and we decided that it was time to leave, so I got up and stuck the Tee Perch up in the air to get her to come back. She ignored me and I did so again, yelling her name. She whipped around and dove off the rock, (about 2 feet high) and we heard the sweet music of  a squealing rabbit. Karen and I couldn't believe it, the total flight was about 3 feet. Apparently she saw it sneaking around and managed to cause it to hide rather than run, and then when it lost its nerve she was able to grab it. The last Jack that she caught, I managed to scare it enough that it was able to get away. Of course the rabbit had something solid to pull against. I didn't know what the situation was this time, but I was not about to have that happen again, so I took my time getting there. When I could see, I found that she had consolidated her grip and now had it by the head as well. They aren't going anywhere with that grip. They always try to kick and the hind leg generally ends up against the leg of the hawk and they are balled up so that they cannot kick.

    I made sure that it was dead and gave her the front leg of the last Bunny that she had caught. This was her forth rabbit that she had caught on her own, and I was not about to scrimp on her reward. As soon as I could get the Jack out from under her enough to do so, I pulled off another front leg and called her up to the fist for that.

 

    She had enough food to last her until we got to the truck and her box, which she was happy to jump into for another little treat. 

    Hopefully she will understand what it takes to get her food, but I am afraid that the way that she caught it was totally unproductive for most of the opportunities that she will have. Karen watched her earlier fly after a Jack and go around it and land on the ground seeming to think that somehow it would come to her so that she could eat it. Most of the time what happens is that the Rabbits stop and she lands on the ground. This of course means that she has empty feet. What she needs is to climb up as high as she could to find out where the rabbit really is hiding. She keeps getting rewards for stuff that shouldn't work. Oh well, "Who am I to blow against the wind" (Paul Simon)

    I asked Larry if he put in about almost getting run over by a bunny,before I read this. He told me to add to it. So here goes- while we were stumbling through the sage she chased a bunny my way. Lots of them do come my way but this one was really intent on escape. They sound like they are ten feet tall coming through the brush. Those little feet really,really THUMP!  The Jackrabbits when they are escaping grunt. She again chased one right by me and he was grunting like a pig rooting in the dirt. You definitely get lots of cardiac exercise out in the field. Didn't realize it till this bird. Karen