I had thought to go hawking yesterday, but the wind came up really strong and I didn't want to get out in it, for either me or Karen. We have been preoccupied with lots of stuff from helping the neighbors cut up a beef to making the trek to Ontario to license our new car. Of course we didn't manage to get the car licensed since they had not received the title yet.
We loaded up and went over to the ranch only to find that the gun hunters were there, so we drove up to appendix point to see if the pond was thawed. After a 10 mile bouncing trip over bad roads mixed with enough mudholes to make it interesting, we found it to be as solidly frozen as the last time we saw it. We drove out and headed to Arock to see if those ponds fared any better.
On our arrival we found the pond by the road to be frozen still. After a few cuss words we started down the road to find that there was a small rain puddle about 20 feet across. After checking it and finding it was empty we went on, intending to check a pond by where we hunt Peg. We had driven a short distance when 4 ducks flew over us and back the way we had come. I stopped in the road to see where they were going. To my surprise they landed in the puddle. We did a U turn and went back out to a wide spot and put Jessie's transmitter on her leg so that she would be ready to go when I stopped. We started down the road only to find that the four ducks on the puddle had left. As we drove by, a couple of large flocks lifted off the fields and were milling around over the hay fields. A bunch of about 15 landed on the little puddle. We drove up and turned around to try again. By the time we got back all the ducks that had been flying settled back in the field.
We parked out of sight, I got Jess out and unhooded her to let her get her bearings. While she was sitting on the fist looking around, a flock of about 200 or more ducks lifted off the field and was flying around the field. Soon we spotted a female Prairie Falcon that was trying to figure out how to catch one of them. I was a bit concerned that Jessie would take off and try her luck as well, but while she was very interested, she didn't move a muscle. We all watched as about 60 Mallards landed in that little puddle. The Prairie landed on a nearby telephone Pole. Jessie watched for a bit more and then took off, flying out over the field. The Prairie stayed on the pole and we went through the gate into the field. Jess was circling the puddle and getting a bit higher each time. The Prairie couldn't stand it anymore and took off to crab with Jessie. They locked feet? (Jess had two broken tailfeathers when I picked her up) and lost a bit of altitude, but Jess would not be deterred and the Prairie finally flew off, leaving the field to us.
The ducks were a bit reluctant to fly, but I pushed them up off the puddle. Jessie slashed through the flock and grabbed a Mallard just about the same time that they crashed into the ground. There was a small hill on the far side of the puddle and I think all the ducks and wings caused her to misjudge the height of the hill. I held my breath, because I could not see that she had done anything to reduce her speed. It was just a dive into the ground unabated. The only thing between her and the ground was the duck. Apparently even though I didn't see the duck leave, Jess was standing there on the hill apparently stunned. I crawled through the fence because I wasn't sure if she was hurt or not. Of course she let me crawl on my belly in the mud under the fence before she came to me. Other than the broken feathers she appeared to have come to no harm, much to my amazement.
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