Experimenting with weight

Orrin apparently retained a little too much Starling from yesterday as he weighed 106.5 grams today. The wind is howling as well. When Tami called with his weight, I left it for her to decide if 106 was too much for him. She of course wanted to know what I thought, and I refused to tell her yes or no, but opined that while he might be pissy, I didn't think that he would go away. I also laid a bit of guilt on her, in that we should really be flying him every day to advance our program. ( What are sponsors for?) She finally decided that since she had too much to do this afternoon to wait, we would try it.

We turned him loose at the edge of the field, and he made his way to the top of the barn. We walked out into the field and he soon came over us and began hovering. I tossed a Sparrow that was not handicapped in any way and the little stinker caught it. Welllll! that made things suddenly interesting. He soon came up out of the bush and landed on a post. After a bit of tail bobbing he plucked a few feathers to confirm our fears. ( A bird at weight with a very portable item is not nearly the cause for alarm that one that is already high) We experimented with his reaction by putting a live bird on the lure and tossing it near him. Not interested! Soon he started bobbing his head, then lifted off and flew across the creek. We watched for a while, and soon I saw him sitting on the Telephone wires across the creek. I swung the lure and tossed it into the air. He came off and flew over, but did not go down to the lure. He sat around a bit, but would not go to the lure, or Tami's fist. We tried a few more things to tempt him, but he took off and started hovering over the field. Still looking for Mice. I tossed a Starling and he put it into some brush by the creek. We thought that he had caught it, but he soon flew out and started hovering again.

I again swung the lure, but out of nowhere came a Tiercel Prairie Falcon. It was pressing him pretty hard, but Orrin kept dodging his attempts to catch him. Finally they went to the ground at the end of the field, and neither came up again. We walked down there and saw the Prairie sitting on a post. When he flew he didn't have anything in his talons, but we couldn't find Orrin. We made a search through the area, and finally Grace who had come with us, saw him fly up off the ground and into the tree. Apparently he had taken refuge at the bottom of the tree.

Orrin was understandably jumpier than usual, so Grace and I walked off a ways while Tami attempted to call him out of the tree. Finally he came down to the fist, and we walked on home. Tami of course had quite a scare with the Prairie trying to catch him. I assured her that the Prairie couldn't catch him, since he was so much more maneuverable.

On the way home, I saw a really large flock of Horned Larks flying. They are a really small quick ground birds that are reputed to be part of the Prairie's normal diet. Sure enough the Prairie lifted off the ground carrying a Lark. I am not sure if Orrin could catch one of them in a fair flight. :-/

Conclusion: 106 is a bit too high. While he flies well at that weight, he is a bit too flighty. We will also start pulling his jesses before flying, as I am sure that is what attracted the Prairie.  It was also confirmed that he really only trusts Tami. Today he would not come to her until Grace and I walked about 50 yards away. On the way back he would keep bating until we gave him a 10 yard wide berth. We were apparently too close when he was sitting around after he caught the Sparrow. I had thought that he would grow used to us being there, but he has not. Most hunting hawks would prefer their handler to be alone, since most of the time they are working one on one with the hawk, but Tami has always had me with her on every trip. I am  sure that the elevated weight had a lot to do with his reactions, but the fact remains that he doesn't want anyone else near him.