Pud gains weight, Jasper gets serious!

Jasper was down to weight tonight, and Tami, Reuben and Karen took Jasper out to see if they could find any birds on the ground by the Hack tower. I went to get a Black bird out of my Starling trap in the chicken house. I tied fishing line to the birds leg. ( Thanks Randy for the suggestion) and started towards them. Jasper tiring of finding nothing to chase there, took off, circled up into the considerable wind and started hovering, looking for something to catch. Since he was right in front of me, I tossed the Black Bird out and yelled at him. The bird was tied to my fishing pole, which was in free spool, and it took off towards the hanger. Jasper did not hesitate, but used the wind to cut off the Black Birds escape, and after some interesting dodging and diving, caught the bird. This was the best that he has done so far. I am sorry that there are no pictures, but I have my hands full just trying to set things up.

This is the first time that he has given chase to a bird that is flying. He has refused birds that were so handicapped that they could barely maintain flight. Now if we can encourage him to take a height and hover, which is their normal hunting pattern, I can toss him birds to chase. This will then set up hunting situations for wild game, which is of course the goal.

Unfortunately Pud did well enough that I over fed her last night. It really doesn't take much, as she has a really slow metabolism. She weighed 805 grams tonight. I tried to call her to the fist while I was fairly close to her. She avoided the fist and flew to the gate about a 100 yards away. I tried to call her, but she just sat there. I swung the lure and tossed it in the yard. She flew to it without hesitation. She is hungry enough to be clutchy with the lure, but not enough to come to the fist. I only fed her a minimum amount and put her up for the night. I will restrict the use of the lure from now on. She knows well what it is for, and that is all I need.