Jan 30, 2011

 Orrin's weight today was 99.5. While we thought that it should have made a difference in his response, it didn't make as much of one as we desired. So we will be taking him down some more. When you are unsure of the proper weight with a bird this small it is best to go slowly. Once you reach a certain point with these little hawks, it is difficult to bring them back, so slow is the way we will proceed. He is doing well, just not as fast as I want and expect.

We walked to the line of trees out by the driveway coming into the ranch, and turned him loose. I had expected him to fly into one of the trees and land, but he flew through the trees and landed on the plastic tank by the road. We went the other way today, and after about 30 yards called him to the fist. He came without much hesitation, and after she released him, flew back to the tank. We walked on, hoping that he would come closer without being called. He did not and Tami called him to the fist. He came probably about 80 or more yards to the fist, then after he was released flew back to the tank. We walked around behind a small hill to where he couldn't see us. I kept expecting him to fly to a spot that he could keep us in view, but he did not, so I threw the lure up high. He apparently didn't see it, so I did it again and yelled. This time he saw it and came looking for it. It didn't quite get into the brush and after a bit he found it. He flew down to it, and then for whatever reason spooked and started back to the tank, now more than 100 yards or more away. I yelled at him, and he turned back towards us. I threw the lure and he came down to it. He was running around on the ground like there was no food on the lure. Tami called him to the fist, and gave him a couple of tidbits. This time when he was released, he flew to a tree in the area near us. I put another chunk of food on the lure and we walked away. Tami called him from about 60 yards and as he neared me, I tossed the lure out for him.

 After he ate the food on the lure, Tami called him to the fist for his meal.

 So once again, we will reduce his weight by a small amount and see if we can get a better response out of him.

Progress

When Tami called this morning with Orrin's weight, I was pretty sure that today was going to be a waste. He weighed in at 105 this morning. It was not Tami's fault, I had suggested that she increase his food by a gram or two thinking that he had been losing weight and would need a bit more food to maintain. I was wrong. However Tami made up the slack by leaving him unhooded throughout the day. I will limit my suggestions in the future. Tami has a pretty good handle on his weight control now.

The hood, whether a "giant" hood or a genuine hood, is a tool to control the hawk. The one on the right is Jessie's hood. The other is a hood given to me by Al Nye, a pioneer East coast Falconer. A giant hood is merely a box made from Coroplast (A plastic material that will not fuzz up the hawks feathers) with a perch in it. Both are used to keep a hawk or falcon from working itself into a frenzy, or other wise getting into trouble. It is basically a "time out". It is a tool in that it removes  the hawk from any stimulus. Then when it is picked up, walked and fed by the falconer, it makes it an experience that the hawk will look forward to if for no other reason than as a break from boredom. It is a very valuable tool for a bird being started, since it keeps them from injuring itself while it is still wild and jumpy. Once the bird becomes used to captivity, then the hoods use can be cut back to minimum usage. I use the hood for Jessie as a preliminary to hunting. After Jessie has killed and eaten, she rides quite well in the truck without a hood.

This is the first time that she has left him unhooded on the inside perch since catching him. He did well, and kept his "bating" to a minimum. He did do a lot of preening, and cleaning his feathers. He also burned the excess weight that he had gained. All in all a good thing. The timing is right as well, he has earned the right to more freedom.

Today we were going to stretch him out a bit. I wanted to be able to use the lure to teach him to stay close to us, and I wanted him to follow a bit as well. We have been pretty careful to make sure that he understood that he was going to have to work for his food, and that Tami was the source of it. He has wandered a bit, but has not shown any tendency to try to go away. He has shown that he is willing to come for the lure as soon as he see's it. In other words he has proved trustworthy.

As we started on our walk, I asked Tami to set him on one of the flatbeds, and walk away. We got out about 30 feet and she called him to the fist. He responded immediately. He then flew over to the fence about 30 yards or more away. He came towards the fist, but since Tami didn't have her finger up to point out the sliver of meat, went back to the fence. We walked on, ignoring him. He matched our advance by flying up the fence line a bit. We walked around the end of the tree line and at this point he was about 80 yards away and not visible to me. I threw the lure high up in the air, yelling when I did so, and he came looking for the lure. The little stinker couldn't find it, ( which was my intention) and he hovered in two different spots looking for the lure. Thankfully it was inside a bush and he didn't see it. He had it marked pretty darn well. He was 80 yards away and behind a bunch of willows, yet he was hovering within 10 feet of the lure. He flew to the plastic tank for a perch, and Tami called him to the fist while I retrieved the lure. He went back to the tank. Tami called him again and he came, but she again didn't have her finger up where he could see it. He hovered over her head, while she was looking for him. She didn't know that he was right over her head. She was asking me where he went, and didn't see him until he returned back to the tank.  We had a laugh at his antics and then walked about 80 yards or so up the road away from him. I told her to call him, and he launched himself off the tank coming to her. As he got close I threw the lure towards him, and he corrected his course and grabbed the lure. After he finished the lure, she called him to the fist and gave him the rest of his meal.

The lesson had proceed better than I had expected. Every thing had gone off with no glitches. What we want him to learn is that he needs to stay by us, follow, taking perches that will give him an opportunity to take advantage of any prey that may be flushed by us.

Most all hawks regard the lure as the same as caught game. It should signify the end of the lesson and a preliminary to its full meal. That way there is no hesitation when the lure is produced. There are times when an immediate response is the difference between life and death, or a lost hawk. I have given up lying to my hawks. When the lure is out, day is done. No exceptions!

The connections that he should have made today is that the lure can come out at any time, and if you are too far away, you may not be able to find it. He should have also learned that we are not coming to him, but when he is coming to us or near us the lure may come out where he can catch it.

Now all we have to do it to stretch it out a bit farther until he begins to follow without being called. Once he does that, we move on to live game.

Third day free

The weather here has been actually pretty good for this time of the year. Mostly in the 40's, but we have been having fog for the last 3 days. Its not bad, but it does keep it a bit cooler and moist.

 Not to mention making lousy light for pictures. I had to use the flash to get a shot of Tami feeding Orrin on the fist, so every thing else was out of the question.

As you can see the fog doesn't extend that far. From appearances, only about 5 miles to the NW it is clear. The hills that you can see in the back ground to the left is the Steen's.  Three miles away at the house we are pretty well socked in. The wind was blowing pretty fair and it was 32 degrees with the sun blocked. We have decided to fly as late in the evening as we can. Partly because Tami is helping Dave with the horses that he is training and because Orrin will not feel that he can screw around. All raptors get more serious with the coming of night. Its just one of the tools that you can use to insure that your new bird will be serious about hunting.

If you recall I asked Tami to take him down another 2 grams for today's flight. He was right on the money today. I looked him over for myself to see how he was handling the weight loss, and he looked fine to me. Tami concurred that he was still feeling strong, but a bit more anxious to start flying. We are being very careful with his weight and any loss that we inflict on him. It has been 46 years since I fed and cared for a Kestrel, and I have forgotten more than I remember correctly. Better to take more time than to make mistakes that could have serious consequences. As long as any corrections that we make are small ones, we can correct a too low condition. However at 100 grams he still looked alert and strong. He was cold though. Tami keeps him in the house and the wind was cold.

We walked over to the fence row that he seemed to want to land on yesterday. I wanted him to watch Tami more and to begin to follow us, rather than going off on his own. He behaved very well, and both of us were happy with his reaction. I want to keep him at the same weight, as I believe that with more time he will understand what we are doing. He is a really sharp little guy. Not much escapes him and he is quick to adapt.

He did fly to Tami quite well and a fair number of times, before he took a perch on a diverging fence line. We were blocked with a wide ditch, so we turned around. He was now off about 80 yards or so, and was slow in his reaction to the fist.  (I helped Tami make a lure for him that has a sliding weight on the line. The weight when slid forward up against the lure body can be thrown both high and a long ways off. )  The plan for today was to throw the lure high enough to get his attention, and far enough that he would have trouble finding it. That way he would try to find the lure, and come to where we were. Then the idea was to walk a bit further and repeat the toss, but to where he could find it. Thus teach him that something is always happening where Tami is, and that it is best to stay close. Well I tossed it into a Grease wood bush. He could see it and landed in the bush, finally crawling down into the bush to get it. Tami had to go get him and the lure out of the bush. The lesson was then over, but it didn't matter. He still learned. Before this the lure had been tossed into the open, and very close. This is the first time he has seen it sailing up into the sky. He will know the next time.

After he finished the food on the lure Tami picked him up with a chunk of meat on a bone. It gives him a bit more work to get his meal and it extends the feeding time a bit more. He is a bit like me on a diet. One wants to actually eat something, and 16 grams of food doesn't make that big of a lump.

Orrin will only be with us until about the end of March. At that time Tami will release him to get back to his own life, and to raise a family if he is strong enough. I think he is one of the survivors. There is generally a Kestrel nest in the trees at the ranch. Maybe he will take the female this year, and Tami can fly one of his young ones. Since we don't have that much time with him, his purpose is to show Tami the steps needed to take a wild bird to the point that they can be hunted. To teach her what weight control does and how to achieve a proper weight. Doesn't sound like much does it? However I know falconers that have been doing it for years that still haven't learned these lessons. It is doubly hard since it is "micro" management. The only way that Orrin knows that there is food on her fist is when she puts it on her bare finger and that on top of the glove. ( rewards for him are a sliver only ) Soon he will learn that a whistle will mean that there is food. He still hasn't figured that out yet, but a too high weight slows some lessons.
As soon as he learns to follow, we will introduce him to birds. Whether he manages to catch wild birds or not is immaterial to me, but he will have a chance.

If you are wondering at us releasing him after all this work. A raptor taken from the wild is a gift. As such they are only a loan.  Mine are all captive bred. The Harris Hawks and Jessie cannot be released since they are not native.

Second day and my little helper

Today was the second day that Orrin would fly free. His weight in the morning was just right or rather what we intended it to be. He hit the scales at 104, which would give him a weight of 101 at flying time. As I had explained to Tami the night before, a bird that is losing weight will have to be fed more to stop its weight loss. Once a weight is established then you can feed the same amount and expect the same result, but going up in weight or going down in weight will need either more or less depending on the direction the weight is going. Since he was dropping weight, I asked her to give him 2 grams more food.

 As expected he weighed in at 101 grams, and was going to get to go without the creance once more.

 We started our walk, and turned him loose. He chose the top of the tanks for his first perch, returning with no hesitation. When she gave him the cue to fly he took the post for his perch. We walked on a bit and again came to the fist once we got his attention.

 This time when he flew he flew to the fence along the pasture. One of the problems with an older bird taken in December is that it already knows how to make a living. A young bird with little experience would depend on Tami to give it food. Orrin know where food is likely to hang out, and sees no reason to wait around or if he does it will be where there is likely to be a mouse. This is not a real problem, just a consideration to work around. Right now we are following him, not the other way around. Today it was enough to make sure that he was in fact going to stick around and would come to the lure even after plenty of evidence that he could go where he wanted to.

 His response to the lure was every thing one could want. I asked Tami to cut him down another couple of grams. He has not hit a "Sharp set" weight yet. He responds well, but he needs to learn to follow us. That will be his next lesson.

My little helper!

Karen asked me to repair the computer tray that I had broken trying to move the computer table. Every thing was fine right up to the point that Josie discovered that I was on the floor. Of course that meant that I was wanting to play.

The attack was on, and Karen was no help, being content to take pictures of my plight.

Nose, ears, eyeglasses, all are fair game.

I did get it fixed, but it wasn't easy.

Free, Free at last!

Today Orrin was right on his projected weight. We decided to fly him free if he indicated that he was actually ready and at the right weight. First for Tami's benefit we tied the creance to his jesses.

We also took him to a new area that he wasn't familar with to see if he was actually ready to fly to her no matter where he was.

He of course flew without hesitation, so I asked her to take the creance off.

We did not fly him that much, but he did quite well. I am not sure that he actually knew that he was free, but at least he wasn't hanging up on every twig on the ground. Finally Tami took out the lure to call him, and again he was coming before she had a chance to do more than get it out of her vest.

Now if she can keep him at this weight, we will continue his basic training with out the hassle of the creance. The next step is to get him to follow and look for Tami. That will require him to go to the trees and to actually come out of one of them to the fist and the lure. Once he is adept at that we will introduce him to some Sparrows and see what his reactions are.

Josie

I have been working with Josie to try to get her to catch Mice. As you might remember this fall Curly was a life saver with his hunting abilities in countering the Pack Rat invasion. My hopes are that Josie will eventually fill the gap that his death created.  I have to admit that I am having problems with conveying that concept to Josie. After all she is a "pointing " dog. The species has been developed and bred to encourage that particular trait. The fact that the Brittney is also a great companion and house dog along with being a great hunting dog, is just icing on the cake.

My thoughts were to give her some Mice, and see what would happen, then work from there. I am catching them in the Attic in a live trap, so that was no problem.

The bath tub is the only place where I can control the situation, and keep the mice from escaping back into the house. Well as you can see, pointing is no problem.

getting her to move however was. She held this position moving nothing but her head.

I think I am going to have to do some serious work before I get a rat and mouse killer.

Finally down to weight

We have been trying to get Orrin down 2 grams in weight as he is much too relaxed at 104 to fly like he should. He really doesn't try to go anywhere, he just isn't in a hurry to get to the fist. It is a lesson in Micro management. His metabolism is such that he does well on one feeding a day. He seemed to be stuck on 104, and that just wasn't cutting it.

Perhaps I should explain a bit about "flying weight". A bird in the wild will maintain a weight that is quite a bit higher than "flying weight". Orrin's was about 124 grams. Any higher than that and he either didn't hunt or didn't put in the effort needed to make a kill. This gives them a buffer to get them over periods when they either couldn't hunt or couldn't catch anything. A bird that is carrying too much weight will not fly, and one that is too low cannot fly. A birds flying weight will be similar to an athlete, in other words, top physical form. Too low in weight and they do not fly well and are not responsive to anything. Too high and they are not responsive to the falconer. They are more likely to fly for pleasure, or set in the top of a tree preening.

Tami cut back on his food to try to get him to what we felt would be a much more suitable weight. The last day that I recorded his flights on the blog, she had fed him enough food to take him up to 124 grams. The next day he was 104 at flying time. We took him out anyway, and he just sat and looked at her when she called. I instructed her to pick him up,  hood him and and give him a "time out" of about 30 minutes. Trying him after he had had a chance to think about it. I went on back home, asking her to call me and tell me how it turned out. After he had sat for a while, she took him back outside and he was quite anxious to come to her when called. She cut him back about 3 or four grams on his food. 105 the next day. We tried him and he again ignored her. I told her to take him back in the house and later in the evening after dark to turn him loose in the house and make him find her by flying to her from other rooms. He actually did quite well at that. While we were not progressing as I wanted, it was not a loss. One of the things that he needs to learn is to look for her and to follow where she goes. I took her over some Bunny to feed him with the thought that the meat has a lot less food value than what she had been feeding him. You can control their weight by the type of food, or by washing it to cut down on the caloric content. Jack for instance is rich, while Bunny is more like celery.

The more that you can feed a hawk, the more that he learns and the more satisfied with his lessons he is. Ideally you want to stuff the bird as full as you can while maintaining a weight that it will be anxious to eat again when given the opportunity. You want all your associations with the bird to be as pleasant and satisfying as you can make it. Remember the bird only stays with you because it wants to. There are other variables, but we are dealing with a "passage" ( caught wild in its first year ) bird in Orrin's case.

A hawk or anything, for that matter when it is gaining weight, will have to be fed a smaller portion to stop it gaining weight. Once the weight gain is neutralized and it starts losing, more food will have to be given to stop the downward loss. All of this is more difficult with Orrin because of the minute quantities of food involved.

Tami finally found the right amount to feed him, and today he was down to 101.5 grams. He was alert and showed no signs that he might be too low in weight. She put him on the creance and he flew to his corral post to await her call. He was coming on the first call and she flew him at least 80 feet without any hesitation on his part. When she took the lure out, he was on his way without being called. Much more like it. After he gets used to the program, he will tolerate more weight and still respond to her, but at this stage of things, that little bit of weight is too much. Neither Tami or I enjoy begging a hawk to come to us. He is at the stage that what we will tolerate is what he will be like when he is loose. If we are satisfied with sloppy responses, then that is what we will have for the rest of the time that he is with her. The training process is designed such that the foundation for your relationship is formed in these few weeks, depending on the basics that you teach. If you will accept less than perfect, you will always get just that. I personally hate to follow birds, they are much more adept at that than I will ever be.

He did well today, and we may turn him loose tomorrow, or if not tomorrow, then soon. He is well made to the lure, and I am confident that he will come to it as far as he can see it.

Tami and Orrin

I had thought to quit writing in the Blog for a while since my falconry is over for the year, but then I realized that Tami is just starting hers. So I asked her this evening if she minded documenting the progress of her little Kestrel. I suppose that some of you are interested in the progression from wild Hawk to one that hunts.

Of course the first part is missing, where Tami and the kids are manning this little guy. That is taming him to the hand and getting him used to humans. A lot of that is done by walking with the bird before any of the lessons and of course as a lesson in its self.

Of course a little one on one with your son isn't that bad of a deal either. The first thing required is to get a handle on how to maintain your birds weight at a level that is safe for him but one that he will still be responsive. That isn't too hard a task with a bird the size of a Harris Hawk, but with a bird that weighs in at 104 grams it can get a little dicey. With a Harris the normal reduction in weight can be as much as an ounce ( 28.5 grams) With a Kestrel 2 grams is more like it. A lot easier said than done.

One of the factors that slow the training process with a bird that weighs 104 grams is that they sometimes need to be fed twice a day. Sounds as though that might speed things up, but actually it hinders progress more often than not. Orrin seems to lose about 5 to 8 grams from morning to evening feeding. So of course you can't feed him more than that or he doesn't respond well, and a piece of food the size of your thumb nail will take the edge off his appetite like you wouldn't believe.

Orrin actually has a fairly slow metabolism, one that we think will allow us to feed him only once a day. Of course each change in amount of food as well as the type, all take one day to get an idea of what is happening. ( different types of meat have different food values that can make substantial changes in one so small.)

Tami fed him enough food last night, with a mouse as the main part of his meal, that he weighed 123.5 grams at the end of his session. Today at 4:30 PM he weighed 104 grams. He does respond at that weight, but not as he should. We think that he should be closer to 102 grams. She will feed him to 121 or so tonight with the main part of his meal being a sparrow. We will see what tomorrow brings. She may have to give him a little tidbit tomorrow morning to adjust for the difference in food value.

We are flying him on a creance now, and so far he is good for about 25 feet, but he is busy looking every where else, so his response is not what it should be.

At the end of the lessons Tami tosses the lure for him and he responds quite well.

Not quite slamming into it, more selective, but not surprising for one that pounces on Mice heads from the tops of poles.

Hopefully we will get his weight down a bit more tomorrow, and he will start to be more attentive.

The end of the day.

Raptor counts

Hawking season is over! It is just too miserable to be fun, and of course, for the Harris Hawks, too cold. I quickly grow tired of the ditches. With enough people it can be done, but it takes a pretty good contingent to make it work. We have had a really good year, I think the best of my life. Plenty of water for the ducks, which also showed up in good numbers. Rabbits were plentiful and generous. The hawks performed with skill and zeal. I had plenty of help and good company from Tami and her family both siblings and kids. Its always fun to share the joys of falconry with a willing pupil. Its time to quit, and get prepared for the birds to grow new feathers for next years endeavors. 

Karen and I do Raptor counts in our area for The East Cascades Audubon Society. That is a bit funny  since our basic philosophy is at cross purposes. I guess my basic belief would be classed as a conservation approach. That would be to do every thing that you can to make or preserve more of the critters so that I can kill them later, preferably with a Hawk. Audubon has opposed falconry in the past. They have become either resigned or more enlightened towards the sport recently. Actually the reasons are simple, I like the guy that is running it, and it is about Raptors. Any way, we do the run which covers about 168 miles and goes from our house and ends almost at the Oregon border on Hwy 95 and over a lot of the back roads in between. We run it from November to March, once a month.

I decided to take the camera along just in case I saw anything unusual. The first interesting critter we saw was because of a bird that Karen couldn't identify when we drove by it, so I turned around to get a positive ID. It turned out to be a Kestrel, but there was another predator there as well. Unfortunately I had been using the camera for close up work and didn't have time to check the settings, so the shot is on the Macro setting. Oh well pobody is nerfect.

This predator is fairly common here in the high Desert although it is rarely seen. They are very shy, and I felt lucky that I had gotten even this shot of it.

The light for spotting raptors was good, but lousy for photographs. Altogether we saw 170 different raptors on our trip. Here are some photo's of the various raptors that we saw.

A rarity for us was this Barn Owl sitting in a field with a Vole that it had caught. This should give you some idea of how bad the lighting was. I can't recall ever seeing one hunting in the daylight. We saw it fly out of the field with a Vole so it was not injured.

Then the other bird that we often saw sitting on the ground was the Northern Harrier. They are thicker this year than any time we have witnessed in the past.

Then there was a Ferruginous Hawk. This one was a male, and sitting in an unusual spot for them. They mostly sit on one of the wheel lines or on the ground in the open fields, hunting Voles and Mice. The only raptor that is bigger than these guy's are the Eagles.

Here is one of the male Golden Eagles that are common here in the desert. I perhaps should mention that in raptors the males are smaller than the females.

Then there is the Bald Eagle, and from its size, compared to the pole, would be a female. The Golden Eagle is a year around resident here, while the Bald Eagle generally is only here for the calving season. After birth isn't that hard to catch. While very capable of catching their own food, they would much prefer that it be provided to them with as little effort as possible.

Prairie Falcons are surprisingly numerous here as well. We saw 10 today sitting on poles watching for Voles to show them selves above the snow and ice. This one is a female, and a quite large one at that. If you enlarge this one you will see a Vole in her feet.

Some of the other pole sitters are the Red-tail Hawks. This one is a juvenile, probably a male. He looks cross eyed to me. He is a bit cold and all his feathers are ruffled up. The temps this morning were at zero when we started out.

The bird above is a Rough-legged Hawk. I wasn't able to get a sitting picture of one of them. They also eat Mice and Voles almost exclusively.

This little hawk is one of my favorites, a female juvenile Coopers hawk. This little raptor is a kick in the pants. They hunt small to medium size birds, and they do it by concealment, stealth and speed in cover. They rarely sit where they are plainly visible, preferring the middle of a convenient tree to ambush their dinners.

In certain areas of our routes, game birds are prolific to the extreme. Of course they are that way because the people that own the land will not let anyone hunt them, at least for free. Also there is great cover for them as well as food. They are in and around the creek bottoms. The willows and Cat tails give them great cover and places to nest. Of course the Alfalfa fields are great for feeding this time of the year.

I think we saw two to three hundred Pheasants yesterday. Of course where there are game birds there are Golden Eagles as well. It looks tempting enough to hunt them with Jessie, but if you are not fleet of foot, ( I haven't been for quite some time) you are likely to get an Eagle helping her. Sometimes it is better to resist temptation.

Besides most of them are right in the ranchers yard.

Or right in their feed lot. Notice the California Quail feeding with the Chukar's.

Our route took us five hours to cover. We took the dogs with us. Josie is getting used to the car and jumped in the back seat for the first time yesterday. Betsy was in a constant state of vibrating, panting Ecstasy looking at all the game birds running every where. Josie not having been exposed to the scent and taste of game birds was happy with an occasional pet.

Last Rabbit hunt of the year.

Today was Tara's introduction to the type of falconry that she will be doing when she gets her license. At least what I would expect for her. Her sponsor hunts nothing but long wings and some very nice birds at that, but most beginning falconers start with birds like Redtails, Goshawks and Coopers hawks, rather than at the top of the "falconry food chain". These birds are free for the taking, and a good beginning on the Falconry journey.

While it was still very cold for a Harris Hawk, and the outcome as far as a willing Harris was far from settled. We took Peg to Arock for our hunt as the snow and ice was thinner there than anywhere else. Tara had never seen an experienced Harris hunt. She had been out when I was first starting Sue, but it was mostly just a hike rather than a hunt. I hoped that today would be different. Peg hopped right up to the tee perch that Tara was holding and we started into the field. Peg flew to the top of the telephone pole just like it was a balmy day rather than the 18 degrees that the thermometer showed. We had not gone far into the field when she took off after a Jack. He of course evaded her, but it looked as though she was going to play the game. We picked her up and moved on. We soon jumped another Jack and she chased hard, but failed to catch him. She was cold and showed it. She kept pulling alternate feet up trying in vain to keep warm. She wasn't getting wet, so she was willing to hunt.

We chased a few Bunnies, with her just missing on several occasions. One of those chases ended with her crashing into a bush, literally and kind of stunning herself. The fact that there were two bunnies in there was a bit of a surprise. She chased another bunny that took refuge in the rocks. I picked her up and walked right into the remains of an Eagle rabbit kill. Of course there was enough parts there that she was quite satisfied to stay right there, but I was having none of that. I finally got her away from there and continued on our way. We had not gone far when Travis saw a Jack hiding under a bush. I got into position and had Travis scare the Jack out for us. He finally started out and I saw that he had a broken leg. It didn't take Peg more than 15 feet for her to catch him. I'm not sure how he broke his leg, but there was no way that he was going to heal up from that. He was going to be food for someone soon, might as well be Peg.  I killed the Jack for her, and tossed her a front leg to eat while I cleaned the Jack. I gave Tara my glove and a hind leg to feed Peg when she finished her snack. She flew to Tara bringing the rest of her front leg with her.

You can see the broken leg jutting out. I am puzzled as to how it could have happened. There was no bruising on the rest of the leg at all, and to all appearances it was fresh. I had found blood back in the sage as we walked forward, and it was possibly from this rabbit.

Tara kindly carried and fed Peg on the way back to the car. It was a fitting end to the season. They should all end on a positive note.

Starting the new year right, by Hawking

Our temps have been really cool, yesterday started out at -4. Tami's sister, Tara, and brother Travis have come for a visit and in Tara's case to do a little hawking. I have actually kept the birds going, waiting for Tara to arrive. Harris's just don't do well in this kind of weather. The biggest problem is the snow, or in our case, ice. There is no more snow, just ice. We will go rabbit hunting today, or perhaps it will just end in a hike.

Tara and Tami both decided that they wanted to become Falconers last fall and went with hawking with me when I was first starting Sue. Tara had quite a bit of personal things to take care of this fall, and while she has passed her test, just hasn't had the time to finish the steps needed to actually get a bird. She is being sponsored by a friend in her home area, but time constraints and business has conspired to keep her out of the field more than she likes. She has been looking forward to a week of hard hawking. Unfortunately this time of the year is the worst for us.

We started the day at 0830 as the sun came up, on a raptor viewing trip. The Portland area where she lives has a few raptors but nothing compared to this area of the high desert. We managed everything from Bald Eagles to Kestrels. Bruce Haak rolled in at 1:30 with his two falcons for a bit of duck hunting at the ranch. I picked up Jessie and we were off to the next phase of the day.

Jessie has been going through a dry spell with every thing, especially the ducks, conspiring against her to keep her from catching anything for the last week or so. Actually the last time she caught a duck was before the snow came. She was almost desperate to go flying and I was sure that with any kind of a chance at all she would do well. Hunting on creeks and ponds that you cannot check for ducks is just asking for every thing to go wrong. There are spots that seem to almost always hold ducks, but the key word here is "almost". Some of our problem has been caused by hitting those "sweet" spots too often, and the last two trips have been to spots that I have hit too hard and the ducks were elsewhere. The lake has been good, but Jessie has been missing there due to a unique problem that has not bothered her prior to this year. She is flying higher this year than ever in the past, and by being high, the ducks have the opportunity to get back on the creek before she can get to them. Even if she hits them, they are safe in the water.

Unlike most days, I had enough of a supporting cast that we could force the ducks over land where she could get to them. I gave Bruce a radio, and asked him to get close enough to the Lake from the top that he could see the trees, but wait out of sight while Tami, Tara and I got into position below the dam. I turned Jessie loose out of sight of the Lake and she lost no time getting over the Lake and holding tight circles right above the Lake. I knew from her actions that there were ducks there. She is almost as good as a Pointer when she is serious.

I called Bruce on the radio asking him to flush, while we were going to act as blockers. The ducks came off the lake climbing above the trees on the lower side of the Lake, quacking in alarm. Jessie came streaking down out of the sky as the ducks made the turn towards the swamp below the Lake, zeroing in on a hen Mallard. She saw us blocking her escape zone and tried to turn back towards the Lake. Jessie was not to be denied however, and smacked her into the top of one of the trees. The duck hung up in the bare limbs of the tree, while Jessie used the rest of her momentum  to whip around in a loop and grab the duck while it was struggling trying to get out of tree limbs. They tumbled down to the ground fighting. The duck broke loose, and escape was within a yard or less for the duck. Jessie was not about to lose this one however. She and the duck had cleared a pretty good patch of snow by the time that I got there to help her. We sat there and talked while Jessie got to enjoy her duck. I was a bit surprised to find that the duck was not packing as much fat as one usually sees in Ducks that have come down from the Northern provinces. I am not sure if the Northern ducks have not gotten to us or the foods that they normally pack on the fat with, is not available. For whatever reason, this duck had barely an eight of an inch of fat on its breast. It was in good flesh, just no reserves.



We went back to the ranch, dropping Tami off to relieve her daughters from baby sitting duties. Tara, Travis and I went through the ranch to another spot to fly Purdey, a passage Tundra Peregrine. While Bruce was getting ready, I saw several Ducks landing in the area that we intended to hunt. On the way there, Betsy was continually going on point at the Quail that were hiding in the Grease wood scrub. Bruce turned Purdey loose and she began to self hunt, stooping on running Bunnies and the various Quail as well as ducks swimming in the creek. She finally ran out of things to harass and was finally getting a bit of altitude, when along came a Northern Harrier that wanted to screw things up. They chased each other a bit before the Harrier decided that she might be over matched. She finally came over us and we rushed the ditch together forcing the ducks out over the ground. Purdey lost no time in grabbing a Gadwall. While Bruce took care of her, I took Betsy back to the Quail and we had a good time finding and pointing Quail. When we had finally cleaned the brush of Quail, I called Betsy to me and we went back to the creek where Bruce would be coming back. I had a hard time getting Betsy away from there earlier, and she went back to insisting that there was still Ducks in the reeds. We were standing about 20 feet from the reeds and Betsy was homing in on a scent right in front of us. To our surprise a Duck flushed from in front of Betsy's nose from her hiding spot in the reeds.

Betsy had been running hard since about 2 PM for three different falcons. Almost all of it in swamps and reeds well over her head and tangled to the point that you or I would have had a hell of a time getting through it. I have a neoprene vest to help preserve some of her body heat, as her hair is only about a quarter of an inch long. The vest gives her some protection but she always comes back from one of these hunts with her sides bloody because the Grease wood cuts the end of her tail and that paints her sides red with blood. She is heedless of either Barbwire or Grease Wood in her quest for game. Its a bit funny since every time that we went swimming in the summer I had to force Betsy into the pool. She hated it, but she would finally get into the pool, but only long enough to satisfy me. Now with a hawk in the air, you can't keep her out of the water or the swamp. We finally got back to the vehicles at dark. When we got home Betsy was sore and limping on her right front shoulder. I gave her a doggy aspirin and a rub down. She was quite happy to curl up on her bed by the fire and sleep the rest of the night. Well most of the night, since she got me up at 2:30 AM to go pee. Its funny, but at home she will not go out into the yard to pee, ( its too cold ) but she has no problem sloshing through the swamps at 18 degrees if there is a duck there.

All in all a satisfying day, but a hard one. I was just too tired to write the blog last night. Betsy will get a rest and we will go Rabbit hunting after noon today. Whether we are successful or not, it will be the last until after the moult.