Finally something worth writing about.

Its been a while, but either due to me forgetting to take a camera along, or the ducks not being on the same section of ditch, I just haven't had anything positive to write about.

Bruce came down last week to hunt but unfortunately his falcon was not feeling well, and therefore didn't fly well either. There has been a female Prairie Falcon that has moved in to the ranch and apparently decided to stay.  She has been here for a while and has never bothered Jessie, or at least the one that was here then didn't try her. It is possible that this little firecracker came in and ran the smart one out. Any way when Jinx tried to fly last week and really didn't feel like it, this girl decided to show her who was boss, and proceeded to harass her with impunity. Now normally a Prairie Falcon cannot fly in the same class with a Peregrine. Most know it and never try. However this girl has a motor on her and a wing beat that I could not tell which bird was the Prairie and which the Peregrine. I have never seen a Prairie fly like that.

A prairie will establish a winter territory if they find a good spot with game, and will defend it against all other migrants. This one was also apparently hunting ducks, which is a rare trait for Prairies, who mostly prefer mice and other easy stuff.

I told Tami at the time that Jessie was going to have to kick her butt the next time that she flew, as this Prairie was going to think she was invincible.

I took Jess over there last Friday to hunt, and found some ducks right below Tami's house. Tami and the family had gone to town to Christmas shop, so I was by myself. I turned her loose and she was flying well and very high (for her). I was waiting for her to come over so that I could flush. I saw her go into a stoop and pretty soon there were two falcons in the air and Jessie was "chupping" her come to me sound. I said some not so complimentary things about Prairies in general, but none of it helped. Soon I saw them come up together and bind, tumbling about 200 feet all the way to the ground. I waited, holding my breath, and did not see either of them come back up. I regretfully turned around to get my telemetry so that I could find them. I again heard Jessie chupping and saw the two birds climbing into the sky. Breathing a sigh of relief, I watched the one in behind break off and come my way. The other turned and stooped at her, but she dodged easily, and gave chase again. The stooping bird then departed to the West.  Jessie came over my head, but too low to do any good with any duck that I might have found. I called her down and fed her. I could not see any sign that she had been in a rough and tumble fight, thankfully.

We took the Harris's out and Sue smoked a Jack no more than 50 feet out of the truck. I did not have my camera, so I didn't even bother posting it.

We also called the gal that has supplied almost all of our Brittney's over the years and she just happened to have a 6 month old female still. They had moved over to the Valley (west side of Oregon) and the zoning laws didn't allow them to keep more than 5 dogs. We decided to make a quick trip over to see if she would fit in. We left at 0530 Sunday morning and found that she indeed would work. We got home Sunday night at 2200. ( 10:00PM) 17 hours total.

She still hasn't grown in to all her body parts, and for some reason looks slant eyed to me. Perhaps she will grow into her head some day. She is a very quiet "biddable" dog. Of course the "princess" Betsey has her nose out of shape a bit, but she will get over it.

Bruce came down on Sunday and flew Jinx again. He said that she was still a little plump, but didn't mention anything about a crabby Prairie Falcon.

Jessie has been on a diet of sorts, to counteract some of that independence that has cropped up lately, so we went to the ranch to see if she was interested in killing a duck and to check for Prairies. Tami and Reuben were free to assist me today, so I decided to go past the barn and try to find some of the ducks that habitually rest there. After we slogged through the slop from the last rains, we turned her loose before we got into position. She behaved well and seemed to be circling an area of the creek a lot further up than where we were. She has in the past circled where the ducks were, so I believed her this time, and we moved further up there. When we went in for the flush, there was of course nothing there. I looked further up the creek and didn't find anything at all. We turned and started back down the creek. By this time she was getting a bit tired and had dropped down to about 50 feet high. Betsey had crossed the creek and was running down the other side. All of a sudden a Gadwall that had been hiding in the reeds, flushed up out of the creek. Jessie turned and smashed into it head on, killing it dead on contact. It is the first time she has made a head on attack. Normally she will turn and come from the rear. If she had tried that, there is no way that she would have caught it. The duck fell on the bank no more than 5 feet from the water. If it had not been killed outright it would have made the water with no problem.

We were all standing right there when she made her kill. Reuben thought that was pretty neat. Normally every thing happens so far away that you can't really tell what has happened. The strike of a Peregrine is pretty impressive especially when you are close enough to hear the result of a stoop.

As you can see the creek is pretty wide and deep here and neither Tami or Reuben had boots tall enough to keep from getting wet. Never fear, I have the new neat waders.

I bought some new and innovative waders that have a real boot with nylon waders that can be either rolled up on top of the boot so that you can walk or unroll to make hip waders. I have yet to be able to try them out and this was the perfect opportunity. We checked the creek to find a spot that we could get across. The bottom is hard, but the sides are muddy and soft. I finally found a spot and took all my stuff across and left it. I finally talked Tami into hopping on "piggy back" after first warning her that if we both fell in I would not be held responsible. She reluctantly agreed apparently thinking that I was so decrepit that I couldn't do it.  I made it across with no problem, and twisted to let her off. Nice and dry, I might add. I attempted to turn and lift my foot at the same time. Well, I got the turn part just fine, but my boot was stuck in the mud. I of course sat down in the water. I guess that is why "old guys" generally limit their chivalry to conversation, rather than deeds. We all had a good laugh and I went back to get Reuben. I also took a different route this time. The boots did work out, my feet were dry, only my butt was wet, not my spirit. I gave up long ago taking myself serious. The out side temp was 56 degrees, so I didn't suffer that much.

Jessie was able to eat her fill with no pissy Prairie Falcons to disrupt things. Things are looking up again.