Jasper and update.

The duck season has closed, and the wind during the biggest part of January was lethal. The Harris's could not manage that much wind so I kept feeding them, and keeping them at weight. It lasted so long that I began to feel sorry for them, and finally broke down and started giving them enough food that they were a bit more satisfied with life. Jessie has began her molt, so she is up for the year. There just isn't enough upland game birds to hunt her on. The Sage Grouse are still suffering from the West Nile outbreak that traveled through here three years ago. I had to keep pretty close to home due to Karen's restricted ability as well. In all honesty I am quite content to toss another log on the fire and open a book. It has been a great year. I have two new birds well on their way to making good hunting hawks. I am content to let the rest of the Jacks and Bunnies do their best to evade the Eagles that don't have some one to feed them. Perhaps there will be enough this next year that I don't have to leave the property to hunt rabbits. Right now Puddy is carrying an extra 6 ounces of weight. She weighs 2 lbs 2 ounces, but still thinks she is starved, while Yogi weighs 3 lbs 2 ounces.

Jasper however is another story. He has also had his problems with the wind, but as a falcon he can handle a lot more wind than a hawk can. The scarcity of dumb dicky birds has been his biggest problem. We went through a period of time that we were catching some Starlings, but could not get him a decent shot at wild birds. When he opens his wings the Sparrows and Starlings leave the area before he can begin to close the distance. That leaves us with a busted hunt and eventually tossing a bag when he begins to climb up to wait on. One of the side effects of this is that he has developed the belief that if he keeps pressing the birds he will eventually be able to catch them. Some of the flights are covering distances of 1/4 mile or more. I have to admit that we sometimes are relieved to see him break off the pursuit, because if he did catch them, we would never be able to find him.

Yesterday I went over to Tami's in the hopes that we would be able to get something going over there. She had caught a Starling, and I put it in my pocket just in case we couldn't get anything else going. Well it didn't take any time at all until he was the only bird around. We stood around a bit, hoping that something would show up to give him a chance to hunt, but he started climbing up in the sky circling right over us, and I couldn't resist. Out went the Starling with a yell and the chase was on. Out of the field, through the barn and around the chicken house, behind the house, and Jasper was closing the distance.

That was the last that we saw him. We began our search. Tami went down to the creek and the shoulder high Tules, while I looked around the house. Nothing! No sound, but no Jasper either, a sure sign that he had caught it. We looked all around trying to listen to see if we could hear the distress cries of the Starling. Wind blowing, Dave working with an excavator, nothing! We started working our way up the creek, Tami low, me on the road, checking high. Finally I suggested that Tami swing the lure, just in case. As she started swinging it, he flew up into one of the trees by their house. He saw the lure and came over to us, but really didn't seem all that anxious to come to her. He took a perch in the top of one of the trees. She tried to call him to the fist, but he ignored her. We tried walking off from him, but again he didn't seem inclined to follow us. Finally both of us agreed that we didn't like his actions, so we decided to end the hunt by calling him to the lure. He did come to that, and Tami picked him up after he finished the garnishment on the lure. She noticed that he had fresh blood on his feet and beak. Tami has a big old Tom Cat that hangs around the house. We are sure that the Cat took his bird from him. At least he was smart enough to not wait around to discuss ownership with it. We also could not find the cat any where. Usually he is under foot.

Tami called this evening and related that he was a bit fat, but he had been agitated all night and wanted to hunt. He is really something else. When he kills, he is as contented with life as one can be, but when he misses, he is as grumpy as an old bear. The fact that he only weighs 3 ounces does nothing to dispel the image.

She came over around 5 PM and though there didn't seem to be many Sparrows about, we turned him loose to see what he could do. He took off the fist in a sneak attack about 12 inches over the ground and flashed up over the fence at the Pigeon house. Nothing seemed to be in the area, so he took a perch on a post between the loafing shed and the Chicken pen. Tami went to the loafing shed and I went on the outside of the fence to the old truck parked there. I must have scared one out from under it, as Jasper chased it around the yard between the pens and into the rock wall by the Pigeons. I kicked as many rocks as I could, but could not get it to bolt. I went back out to the truck again and apparently managed to flush another one. He chased it through the yard, over the fence, back over the rock wall and slammed into it as it tried to take refuge in the back wall of the loafing shed. Tami scaled the fence and we both got to him at about the same time. She helped him pull the Sparrow out of the rocks. As soon as he was clear he jumped to her fist with the Sparrow and began to eat the tidbit that was on her fist. He had to finish that before he broke into the Sparrow.