Jasper and Sparrow

Tami, Isabel and Thayen came over this evening with Jasper. He had finally got back into his flying weight range after an apparently exceptionally plump Starling that we had given him on his last outing. The Starling are on their swing back north after spending the harsher winter months in the land of thawed french fries. Last year I caught over 600 in less than a week, and have been feeding my hunting hawks on them ever since. Tami is stocking up as well and in the process saving at least some of her chicken feed for the intended recipients. We also keep a few fresh ones alive for the days that the wild population outsmarts us. The plump one that Jasper had eaten was one of those. It is a bit amazing how soon these Starlings lose condition after being caught. Tami feeds them well on Cat food, but they apparently loose quite a bit of muscle. Jasper caught this one with little effort on his part. Well that is if you don't count the fact that he crashed into the ground at least twice in the pursuit, giving Tami a serious case of the giggles. This time I asked her to bring at least three fresh caught ones for our "just in case" scenario.

When they arrived the Starlings were lined up on my Chicken house. As soon as Jasper opened his wings a cloud of Starlings and Sparrows hit the sky getting as much distance between them and the ground as they could. As he streaked across the ground, I saw a Sparrow take refuge under one of my trailers parked by the outside Chicken house.

Jasper was working the captive pen, and getting a few chases but nothing would give him an even chance. I decided that I would try to get some video this time rather than try to take pictures. We were checking the rock wall by the chicken pen when he abandoned us to try for a Sparrow by the outside pen. We all trekked back to see what he had found. By the time we got there he was sitting on the back of the outside pen and had cornered one behind a tool box stored there. I started the video as Tami rousted the Sparrow out of the hiding spot. The Sparrow flew under the dog house and on out, but Jasper didn't see him leave and went under the house looking for him. He finally came out and took a perch on the Dog house, then up on the Hawk house thinking the Sparrow might still be hiding there. Tami got him on the fist and we moved to the back of the outside chicken house to see if Karen could flush one in our direction. One did come to the escape hole, took one look and bolted past Karen out the front door. Jasper gave chase, but lost him in the corral. Tami called him to the fist and we went to check the Sparrow that I had seen hiding under the trailer. Tami went on one side and I started kicking the trailers on the other. The Sparrow flushed and Jasper soon put him into cover under my old Ford PU. Tami came up just in time to force the fleeing Sparrow back under the truck. Jasper went back after him, and chased him around the tires a couple of times with the Sparrow screaming at every turn. Tami was bending over to look under the truck when the Sparrow decided that it wasn't such a good place to hide after all. The Sparrow came up over the hood of the truck scratching and flying for all it was worth. When it saw Tami it hesitated just a bit and Jasper caught it by the radio antennas. They were going quite fast and they both slid over the edge. Thayen watches all the chases and does his version of trying to help. He came thundering up waving a stick about the same time they slid over the edge so Jasper continued to a farm disc parked by the truck. He is so used to Thayen and every thing around him that he seldom pays attention to any of the mayhem that usually occurs during the mayhem of a hunt. That is of course the key to successful hunting hawk. He can then focus on the prey rather than worry about the people.

 He sat on the disc and finished killing the Sparrow. Tami walked up and offered him a Starling leg. When he looked up and saw her and her offered fist, he jumped to her to eat the offering. If you will notice he is eating the leg and holding the Sparrow in his left foot. Next to bird brains he likes the skinned offerings the best.

http://vimeo.com/36971119

The above link will take you to the video of the hunt.

Jasper and thoughts.

 An interested bystander to the hunt.

Things here are winding down for the hawking season. Some people hunt until late March, which is the end of most of the legal seasons for Falconry. Duck season is over near the end of January, Grouse ends in December. Upland game such as Pheasant and Chukar are open until the end of March. Rabbits have no seasons, but they begin their breeding season in March. You have heard the phrase Madder than a March Hare? That is because when their hormones are raging, they are much like a teenage boy. Little sense, lots of testosterone. You can see them running all over the place with little regard for safety. Just too easy and I fear that the one that my hawks kill will be the one responsible for the perpetuation of the species. :-) 

So all of my birds are fat and molting. Weight, as well as hours of daylight, are the factors that trigger molt. My shop looks like the scene of a pillow fight, feathers and bits of down are every where. Sadly enough, I miss the time spent relating the events of the hunts. Putting it into print clarifies my understanding of what my birds are thinking and their reactions to the things that happen due to my influence and actions. So all I have left is watching Jasper trying to catch Sparrows here at the house, and trying to clarify training techniques to Tami. It is not as easy as it may seem, to teach something so nebulous as interpreting as a Raptors thinking processes. Most of the stuff that I do is instinctual and the reasons for it, not thought out. Then to explain why, takes a lot of thought and sometimes words. So while this process is fresh in my mind, I will try to clarify some of my thoughts on preparing  a raptor to hunt. The following is an attempt at clarifying a Raptors thinking process and may either be repetitious or boring, so I have included some pictures of Jasper's hunt yesterday, at the end of this piece. So feel free to skip to the pictures at any time.

Of course the first thing one needs to understand is that a Raptor's thinking processes are a lot different from any other animal that we deal with. One of the biggest things to overcome is that tendency to think that Raptors suffer from the emotion of gratitude. Raptors have evolved by being able to exploit weakness in their food supply. Food and the obtaining of it is the primary drive in all Raptors. If there are two Raptors and one of them has food, the other will try to take it. Even in youngsters at the nest, when the adult comes in with food, a youngster will grab it and turn its back on the adult that just brought it, in an attempt to hide it. This behavior does not change through out all its life. The hungrier that it gets the more pronounced the behavior.

The success of a falconer depends on their ability to observe. Of course to solve a problem you first have to understand it, and the factors that influence it.

When a Raptor is first caught, it thinks that you are going to eat it. That is what happens to every thing that it catches. When you first lay your hands on it, it goes into shock, which is the bodies way of preparing one to die. This shock will last for roughly a week or so. As a side issue, during that time the bird is more susceptible to any of the common afflictions that they normally carry in the body, such as Frounce, and Aspergillis. In other words their immune system is shut down. In the following days and week or so the bird is "manned", or in simple terms becomes used to you and its altered surroundings. It does not understand why you haven't eaten it, but that thought is of course in the back of its mind, and until it forgets that, it will not act in a fashion that is normal to it. You can, during this time make mistakes that will cause you problems once the bird becomes used to you and its situation. It will not react that much if you take food from it, because it expects to be eaten, but it will not forget either.

During this time, the falconer is laying the groundwork for a relationship that will last the birds entire life.  One can teach a bad habit in an instant, and never be able to erase it in a lifetime. So you have to be very careful what you do.

 During the manning process you teach the hawk that food can be found on the fist. Its weight is controlled to the point that it is eager to eat at the time that you have chosen to interact with it. This is enhanced by long walks with the bird followed up by the reward of food either during or immediately after. The bird learns to first step to the fist, then to fly to the fist. Then the lure is generally introduced as a safety feature or a "Panic button" if you will. Hawks generally do not require a lure to get them back, but a falcon needs something that is readily visible from long distances. I always train my hawks to the lure as a means of getting an instant response and return. Once they have finished these steps they can then begin the process of hunting.

It takes about three lessons to establish a link in the birds mind that the lure is very desirable and they will come to it when they will respond to nothing else. Some, like the Accipiters think of the lure the same way that they feel about prey. The object is to link the lure to its full meal. So that when the bird gets the lure it gets to eat enough that its hunger is satisfied or at least appeased. It takes very little time for the Raptor to become very possessive of the lure. Think of it like this. When you throw the lure the bird does not think of it as a gift, rather that you might have dropped it, and if the positions were reversed, the Raptor would be trying to get it back.

During the training process the Raptor is on a "creance" or line, so you have control. If the Raptor tries to drag the lure off, as is its instinct, it is no big deal. Keep in mind that any raptor that sees your Hawk with food will either try to take it or kill the hawk, and then take it.  In the wild, Hawks will drag their food under cover so that they are not observed. They will "mantle" or spread their wings to cover the food to make it less visible to other Hawks. All this is so that you can understand what the Raptors natural instinct compels it to do. We counter that tendency by putting weight on the lure or line so that the bird cannot fly off with the lure. Most times that is enough, but if the bird ever learns to distrust your motives, you have taught a lesson that will plague you for the rest of the time that the bird is with you. If your bird is free and you give it the lure, there is nothing to make that bird stay with you if it did not want to. So it is in your best interest to make sure that it knows there is more on your fist and you are not going to try to take the lure from him.

To make the bird anxious to come to that lure, we must put enough food on it that the trip is worthwhile. We must also make sure that the food cannot be pulled off, but has to be eaten on the lure. If it ever pulls off a chunk, it will fly to a nice quiet spot to eat it, and will try to repeat that process each and every time that it comes to the lure. I prefer to have some food with a bone in it for the larger Raptors to prevent that. If one puts enough on a lure to fill the birds crop, the problem of how to pick it up arises. If you don't put enough food on it, then the bird will see little reason to come to it in the first place. If you put too much there is no reason for the bird to remain in your presence at all after it has eaten it. Most of the time that a lure is used, for a Hawk, is when the bird is too fat to hunt and is showing signs of disinterest to the point that it will not come to the fist.  I prefer to put about half of its meal on the lure, then make her come to me for the rest of its meal. I try to never touch the lure until the Raptor is on my fist and secured. That way if the Raptor wants to drag the lure under a bush, it knows that to get the rest of its food it will have to come to my fist to get it. I try to never give the bird any reason to think that I am going to take the lure from her, or that it holds any value to me at all. Remember there is no gratitude involved, it is all learned behavior.

Your job in the "Manning" process is to lay the ground work to serve as a solid base in your relations with the Hawk. If you do it halfway, you will suffer for as long as the bird is with you. You have a window that you can establish a relationship with the bird that will make it look like it is easy if you do it right, or make the entire experience miserable. Tami has done an excellent job with Jasper in her manning. I have drummed into her the two lessons that I feel are the most important in handling a Raptor. Never cheat or lie to your hawk. If you offer it, then give it. Never take food from it. She has done that so well that Jasper will fly to her with a Sparrow that he has just killed. He trusts her completely. I cannot tell you how rare that is. We will see if she can repeat that with the Kestrel that she will get this summer. It is about time to release Jasper so that he can live the life that he was intended to have. A wild caught bird is a gift. Jasper has had his horizons expanded by his association with Tami, and Tami has learned much from him. Hopefully this little interlude in his life will help him in his quest to survive and reproduce. He is beginning to drop body feathers, and soon the urge to mate will be upon him. We hunt him here at the house, but the Sparrows are cagy and far from easy prey. If we spent longer and put more effort into it we would be catching some, as he always tries very hard for us. They clear the area when he opens his wings, and when the daylight fails us, we amuse ourselves by making him "wait on" in the fields around the house and tossing him Starlings that Tami has trapped at her house.

 Vantage point after a chase.

 On point over a Sparrows hiding place.

"Got him, but he has me too"

Starlings are tough prey for a little Kestrel. This one was holding one of Jasper's legs while Jasper was holding him. They can impose a nasty wound with their sharp beak, so it is to Jasper's advantage to have Tami helping him.