Stormy skies are here again.

Well it looks as though the easy times are gone for the year. We have been treated to some weather over the last week or so that has been putting a bit of a crimp in the life style that we would like to lead. Of course it is worse almost every where else, even 10 miles either direction. Ah well, some one has to be spoiled, it might as well be me.

Hunting the Peregrine is no problem with the wind and the snow. The only difficulty lies in the ponds freezing all the ducks out, but I have an edge here, in that the artisan pond on the ranch where Tami lives does not freeze. No matter the temperature. The Harris Hawks are a different matter however. Coming from the Southwestern deserts, there is no reason for water proofing on their feathers, so snow is out of the question. They also don't seem to have the weatherization that is required to withstand the wind and cold. So these cold and snowy days are really tough on them, and I don't hunt them in those conditions.

I haven't hunted them for quite a while because of the stormy conditions. The snow is mostly gone here, so I put them in the truck thinking that if nothing else I would let them fly as much as they could stand after I flew Jessie.  The temps this morning was 31 degrees and the wind was howling, so I put off hunting until around noon. The wind was bad enough that it wore out most of the light snow that we had. I had decided that I would take Jessie over to the Lake on the ranch since the ducks like to go to the lake to rest after their morning feed, then hunt the girls on the way back. The rabbits are scarce, but if nothing else it would mean that they would get a chance to fly for a bit.

The wind really kicked up by the time that we got in position at the lake. Jessie didn't even look around when I struck her hood. She just launched into the air. The wind was blowing about 25 with gusts to 35. She really didn't take that much of a pitch, but she hung around the pond. I flushed one group of the ducks that were on the pond, but she was too close and they weren't about to go over dry land, and they splashed back down. The wind was just too much and although she tried every thing she could, they either splashed back into the pond or the ditch leading out of the lake. I finally called her down to the lure, and we called it quits.

We took the girls out of their boxes and figured that we would if nothing else, walk a bit and if they showed signs of distress, feed them up for the day. The wind was really strong, and it seemed as though we were walking in a vacuum. The cover there is mostly Grease wood and it appeared that the few rabbits that used to live there had moved out. We walked a large circle of several hundred yards without seeing anything. I decided that enough was enough and started back to the truck. We had ventured down close to the fence that enclosed the pasturage of the ranch, a Jack jumped up and sprinted across the wind. Both birds were after him as soon as he moved. Sue caught up to him and rolled him, but he kicked loose. Both girls were in hot pursuit and caught up to him in another 20 yards. Sue took a shot at him, and he ducked around a Grease wood bush, but Peg was there as well. He ducked her, but by that time Sue was back and had him by the head.

I had worried about them getting rusty and slacking a bit with them not hunting much, but if anything it made them try harder. It doesn't get much better that one up, one down.

I was quite happy to call it a day, and feed them their meal.