New year, same stuff.

The weather has turned quite warm, at least warm enough to rid us of the snow. Now we are dealing with mud and soft ground. The alkali bottoms along the creek and anywhere that a cow has walked is gooey at best, down right dangerous to dignity at its worst.

Our first order of business was to try to get the Peregrine female that Randy is rehabbing a little flight time. She is going to be a challenge to get strong enough and smart enough to release. She is one of the bridge birds out of Portland, Or. She landed in the road on one of her first flights and was struck by a car. Just feather damage, but the Portland Audubon kept her long enough to screw her up. They say "The Road to hell is paved with good intentions".

I put one of Jessie's Geese in the smoker for our evening meal, and we set off to the ranch to see what the ditches would provide for us on this day. I saw some ducks put in on the other side of the barn, so we picked up Culley, the Goshawk, and began our stalk. Since it was across open grass pasture the odds were against us. We had a general idea of where the ducks were, but the danger lies in the tendency of one who you are not stalking, and did not know was there, flushing wild and turning the whole thing into crap. Today was no exception. We started back, but went along the Tules, just in case. We spotted a bunch of ducks down by one of the fences. (A flight for Goshawks, who are direct pursuit raptors is different than that for Falcons, of course. One has to be neither too far or too close to the prey when it flies. To far by 5 or 10 feet means an empty bag, and too close means that the duck and hawk ends up in the water. Goshawks are by nature set on a "  hair trigger"  , so Randy was holding Culley's jesses to try to keep him from going too fast. There is one problem with that in that the hawk's reflexes make ours look like those of a sloth. ) While we were sneaking around a patch of Tules, a flock of about 8 Mallards busted right beside us. I looked at Randy, and he was still holding tight. Culley of course had already tried to fly and couldn't. The other bunch was still there, and finally Randy turned Culley loose who took the occasion to land on one of the fence posts by the creek. We then tried to flush the ducks by him, but they were Teal who are really flying Weasels at best, who are quite well suited to survival. Today was no exception. We put Culley up, and took out Ghillie, Jessie's sister to try.

This set up required that we slog for a 1/4 mile through the Alkali goo to a patch of reeds that should be sheltering another bunch of ducks. We got what we thought was in position, Ghillie had been flying for some time following us, and of course the usual duck flushed wild and from that point on it was "situation normal" Dogs and fat falconers were running all over. Ghillie tried, but once position was lost the outcome was pretty well assured. When she quit flying we worked our way back to the truck.

We were driving to our next location when I spotted a duck just in front of the houses, in the reeds. Randy got Culley out again and climbed over the fence and made his way using the tall reeds to block his approach. The wind was pretty strong blowing down the ditch. The duck to get out of there was going to have to fly right in front of the Goshawk. Randy yelled and the duck flushed, with the Gos flying just a split second behind. The duck was streaking skyward at a speed that I doubted that the Gos could match.  ( Ducks when pursued by Raptors will try to out climb the hawk, So the flight goes skyward and the hawk must overtake the prey, and have enough speed to flip over and grab the duck by the butt.) The flight reached an estimated height of about 75 feet, when the duck began to slow, but Culley was not slowing at all. A quick flip and grab and the flight was done. Culley rode his duck to the ground, and Randy began looking for a place to cross the creek.

Next was Jessie, and today we were going to try her on the section of creek that gave it the name "Crooked Creek". This is a section of hairpins that at places are no more than 15 feet between the goosenecks. Again it is almost impossible to tell where the ducks are hiding, so you "pays your money, and takes your chances". Jessie was flying well, and we got pretty lucky, so we had ducks going everywhere. Unfortunately there were Teal in the bunch and I think she knocked one down on the ditch. She landed on the ground, trying to find it. Teal are so light that on anything other than frozen ground, being smashed into it really does not seem to hurt them. She took to the air again and we began trying to head the ducks again. She flew three different times, resting when necessary, but we were never able to get her the chance that she needed to connect, so we slogged back through the goo with a crabby hawk.

Before leaving to fly the birds, I gave Peg a whole Pigeon to eat. We were gone from 2 PM till dark, and when we got back she was still trying to finish the Pigeon. Right now what she needs the most is to mature a bit. Next year she will be smarter and better, and I am content with her progress, it is time for her to stop. Soon it will be entirely too cold to hunt her, then the rabbits will be starting their breeding season.

When we got back the Goose was cooked, and after putting birds away and cleaning up a bit we sat down to a meal provided by Jessie. I normally require Jessie to eat what she catches, but the Goose was much too big and delicious as well.

Randy leaves today, so I will be able to return to my slothful ways with only Jessie to hunt. If you notice there are no pictures with this trip, it is all Karen's fault. I try to remember to bring food for the hawks, and Karen takes care of every thing else. Works quite well, when she goes, but leaves me less than prepared when she does not.