New Camera, and Sue update.

Some of you may remember, I have been shopping for a new camera with better quality and longer recording time. I had good advise, that I of course chose to ignore, and bought a Holdr HD camera. While it took some very good videos, I could not play them on my TV, had to use Quick Time to view them, had to buy Quick Time Pro from Apple to edit it. (The program would not read music without buying another program.)  If I converted it to AVI, there was no sound and the quality was degraded with each conversion. Some of the clips wouldn't play. The Camera had something wrong with it so that the computer would not recognize it. They offered to repair or replace the camera. No thanks!

 

I decided to go with John Bickham's recommendation of the Tachyon XC. It is bigger, but quite a bit cheaper than the Vholder. My problem was with the mounting of the camera. John put his on his wind screen and his apparently does not have as much vibration as mine. I tried using a side mount with a foam base, but there was harmonic vibration in a test that I did this morning.

So I reverted to my original mounting point and put it on the nose. The view is better and the vibration is less.

 

I was a bit short on camera threaded screws, but this one will do until I get another one. You will notice that there is no padding under the swivel mount, but I think the video is acceptable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y7C-lShJdc

 

I just viewed it on You Tube, and of course the quality sucks, It looks great on the computer and on the TV, but I guess one can't complain, You Tube is free.

 

Now for Ms Cranky Pants.

 

I waited a full day after her last lesson with a dead Jack Rabbit, and decided to change her flying time to morning. That way she doesn't have to sit there and watch the other two birds eat, and the wind will be a lot quieter. The game will also be more active, and perhaps I will have a better chance to find something for her to chase. Right now she is pretty locked onto me for food, and expects me to call her to the fist. I was considering where I could take her to find another rabbit, when I notice that there are three in the field below the pool, so I decided to be lazy and see if I could get one of them for her. Perhaps I should check the sighting on my rifle, either that or find some meds for my apparent palsy. I managed to kill this one stone dead. I picked her up and called her to the fist a time or two and then walked out to where it was. She eventually landed on it and I again let her eat her fill, before putting her in the weathering area for the day. This morning when I went out to set the birds out, she again threatened me, so I wallowed her unmercifully, petting her head, back  and goosing her every now and then. Her weight was up quite a bit, so tomorrow I will take her to a rabbit field and let her look at running rabbits. Perhaps we can find some half grown stupid ones. 

I am considering changing her name. Sue B comes to mind. Perhaps Sue the B?

Sue's first taste of fresh Jack Rabbit.

As the evening zephyrs subsided to gale force, I picked up Sue for her evening lesson. I could see the Jack Rabbits coming into the field below the house and it was my plan to shoot one for her,  to let her know that they were the preferred item on the menu. I had the 22 rifle and pistol set up and ready, so I weighed Sue and activated her transmitter. As I got back to the patio, I could see a Jack just past the garden fence, so I put Sue on the barbecue and got the rifle. Now once upon a time I could shoot well enough to make almost anyone envious. That  was then, and this is now. I missed that rabbit twice, and killed it stone dead on the third shot. Not what I was trying for, but better than nothing.

I called Sue to the fist, and started walking through the gate. She found another rock jack to fly to, so I called her again. She came to me quickly, and I walked to where I had seen the rabbit last. It was dead, so I picked it up and gave it a toss to an open spot in the weeds. Sue looked at it, and swooped down on the rabbit, and began doing her best to kill it. She was excited! She had her wings mantled out, head down with all her crest feathers standing straight up. I picked a spot with no thorns or Goat heads and sat down to watch her. After a few minutes I  started flipping pieces of meat to her and giving the food whistle. She finally came back to earth and started tearing at the Jack. I let her eat most of the shoulder and rib cage before I moved at all. I would take a few steps and she would drop her head, looking at me from the side. I would stop until she started to eat again. Finally I was close enough to reach her, and started giving her tidbits that I had prepared for her earlier. She would stop and take them from my finger. I got one of her jesses and secured her with the leash. At that point I just sat back and allowed her to eat all she wanted.

When she started slowing down, I offered her the chunk of rabbit that I had prepared earlier and picked her up on the fist while she continued to eat my offering. I stepped over the rabbit and put the remainder in my bag. I took her into the shop and secured her to her perch with the rest of her meal. She showed  her appreciation by trying to foot me. I chose to ignore it.

All in all the falconry Gods have smiled on her training. So many things can go wrong, that will adversely shape the birds attitude and be very hard to overcome. Every thing has gone smoothly with Sue.

It will take her at least a day to put all that food over and be hungry enough to fly again. That should be Monday. Since it is so hot, I may change her feeding time to mornings when it is a bit cooler. That way she won't have to set on her perch watching the other two birds eating all they can hold, ( I feed them in the mornings ) and the temps and winds will be a bit more comfortable. I will walk with her in places that the rabbits frequent to see what her reaction to running rabbits will be. If necessary, I will shoot another rabbit for her. It will take several setups like this before she learns enough of their tricks and evasions to actually be able to make any contact with running rabbits.

Free, Free at last!

Sue flew free tonight. It has been 14 days since I picked her up from Marsha. Had we not had some misunderstandings about who was the boss, she would have flown free a couple of days ago. I think we finally have that worked out. While I have not tried to hurry her along,  she has set a pretty good pace for me to keep up with.

My general method of starting a hawk or falcon is to get it used to me and people movement. ( Manning ) I teach it that I am the source of food, and if you want it, you had best take advantage of it when offered. It will not be there if they delay, and it only gets farther away at each refusal. ( I hate to chase a bird, and they are smart enough to train you if you are not careful. ) Once the bird is coming to the fist as soon as it is offered, I then introduce it to the lure. When they respond immediately to the lure, it is time to teach them to follow me. Once they learn to keep up with me when I am walking,  live game is introduced to the lesson. After that it is hunting as often as they can be ready to do so. Of course the outline here is tailored for a Harris Hawk. Falcons require different training after flying free.

Two days ago, Sue and I had our last misunderstanding as I tried to pick her up to take her out of the shop to put her in the weathering area. That evening she was reluctant to come to me in the weathering area for food. I gave her a good chance to come to me, but she turned her back and I left, coming back 30 minutes later to try again. The result was the same, so I left her outside without feeding her. (That is a good indication of whether a bird is ready to hunt. any hesitation, and they don't go) The next evening, she came to the fist and we went for a bit longer walk than usual down the runway and back to the yard for training. She did well, flying several times to the fist for tidbits. I threw the lure in front of her with a rabbit leg on it. She ate the rest of her meal on the lure. I was able to pick her up on the fist with some tidbits with no problem. Last night after Karen and I clipped a tail mount on her center deck feather for a radio, was the same routine only I tossed the lure away from her, she went after it with enthusiasm.

Karen is attending an Oregon Falconry meeting, so the dogs and I are "batching" it, therefore there are no pictures of this event.

Today has been the hottest day so far, so I waited until the sun went down to pick her up for her lesson. She was anxious to see me, and came to the fist with little hesitation. I found her weight to be down a bit more than I had thought, ( 930 with a 12 gram transmitter ). Actually that wasn't a bad thing, its just that I think some of her aggression is due to a lower weight than she wants to be. She was nice however and respectful while I got her ready to fly. We went out and did a shortened walk just around the hanger while I took her swivel off. When we got by the fence, she flew to it so that I could call her to the fist. I maintained about 15 feet between us, and she ran down the fence screaming quietly as she did so. When she could go no further, she flew the rest of the way to me. I kept walking and put her on a stone barbecue and kept walking, her flight was about 20 feet this time. I walked on and sat her on the front of my drift boat, and at about 20 feet stuck my fist up, but kept walking. She came so fast that she didn't think that she could land, ( she is fast and flies harder than Peg ever did.) so she circled around and landed on the top of the hanger. That put her about 25 yards away and in jeopardy. A King bird has a nest on the support for the transformer that supplies power for the house. Both parents were zipping her, making it very uncomfortable to sit on the roof. She flew down but again was going too fast to land and went back for some more bobbing and weaving. I kept walking and she finally flew to me, controlling her flight enough that she could land. I walked on around the hanger and back to the grass. When I got close enough, I threw the lure to the grass and she was on it with great enthusiasm.  After she finished the food on the lure, I had to coax her to me by throwing tidbits in the grass between us. She has about convinced herself that there is more meat on that lure than can be seen without close examination. Now that I have her convinced of its magic, I will not use it again unless there is an emergency or I am forced by circumstance to use it to get her back. Most hawks and accipiters regard a lure the same as they do a kill. The point of this is that it can be overdone.

I am very pleased with her, and eagerly await her introduction to the rabbits that seem to be very much on the upswing this year. She is very flashy, and I expect great things from her.

Call me Sue!

I have had several people comment on whether naming her sue was to make her mean enough to be able to handle a cruel world. I actually didn't, and from the looks of things didn't need to. It appears that she has enough moxie built in to take care of the problem. My intention was to be able to call "Peggy- Sue" and have both birds respond.

I have noticed in the last few days that she has been flirting with the thought that she could threaten me, and have caught the beginnings of several aggressive moves. This is totally out of character for a young of the year Harris to act that way. When they are three or four, yeah. I have been thinking of how to handle it, and finally last night I decided on a course of action to nip this problem in the bud, while I still can. Harris Hawks are very social and the young stay with the parents and even help raise the young from succeeding broods, so they develop a pecking order that keeps things running on an even keel. I have seen a female whose kid was getting too pushy, tower over the young one and scream at them. This is generally enough to keep order and perspective in the young ones.

This morning I picked her up and put her on the scales to weigh her, and found that her weight was just about right. When I picked her up off the scales she did it again, screaming and flaring her wings at me. I gave her my best blood curdling scream with barred teeth, and she fell off the fist. When she regained the fist, I acted as though nothing had happened, and took her outside to the weathering area. When I tied her down she did it again, and I treated her to another aggressive scream and she again fell off the perch in surprise.

This evening after I had cut up her meal for the lesson, I went out to get her, and she jumped to the fist with no sign of aggression. I weighed her and we, and the dogs went for our walk. When we came back I set her on the fence and called her to the fist. She did well, with no signs of fear or aggression. I am not sure what her thoughts are, or why, but she is too big and well armed to mess around with. Hopefully I have taken the right course with her and she will stop this foolishness.

Click on the pictures and they will open to full size, hold control and roll the wheel and they will enlarge.

Sue, and sunsets.

This was the view to the West into the setting sun, while in the East the view was just as spectacular if not more.

You can see that there is rain at the bottom. I quite frankly have never seen a cloud that looked like this ever before. The sky in between was just as blue as could be.

Now for Sue. She is quite different. All birds are different, but she excels in different. She is aggressive! Much more so than any Harris that I have ever seen. She is very smart, and three days ago I got her to walk to me one step on the back of the couch. One day ago, we took a walk down the runway and when we got back I sat her on the fence rail and got her to jump the length of the leash to the fist. I called her four times and then gave her a pigeon wing to pull on. Tonight we went for a walk again and upon approaching the fence, she tried to fly to the fence when we got within 15 feet. I find it amazing that a Harris can remember what produced food in just one lesson.  I had found some Bunny in the freezer (low calorie stuff ) to feed her, so I was able to feed her more than she had been getting. Tonight she flew 10 feet to the fist. I gave her a Bunny hind leg to finish her meal. The most food she has had so far. It appears at this time she will fly in the middle 900 gram range. She weighed 32 .5 ozs tonight. That is pleasingly heavy.

With a Harris Hawk it becomes a challenge to find food that is low enough in calories that one can be fed enough for the bird to feel satisfied, but not make her fat. When she is hunting, you can skip a day, so you can give her too much food and make up the difference by not giving her anything the next day. However when beginning training, you need to keep the lessons going so that the bird gets past the creance as quickly as you can. ( training line)

 If I can keep her aggression confined to quarry and not the handler, she is going to be a good one.

Sue update, and rat hunts!

It is time for an update. Sue is doing quite well, and shows every sign of being a great hunting hawk. She is not afraid of much of anything, yet is calm and very tame. I have changed the way that I am handling her based on her reaction to me. With Peg, I kept her in the house on a pole perch to tame her down. So far, Sue has not seemed to need that. It is a bit of a hassle to have a bird in the house that is capable of crapping in a large circle, so neither Karen or I are displeased.

I have been bringing her in and sitting with her while I catch up on the latest political crap. Actually I try to quit before my mood gets too foul to handle. :-) Of course the dogs, Curly, Indie and Betsy are moving around, and Sue doesn't like them at all, so far.

She will get over it in time. I do not have to use the dogs for Rabbits, so its not that big of a deal. If the Chukar populations are good this year, then they will soon learn that the dogs are a plus, and work with them.

Sue is weighing around 940 grams right now. about an ounce and half more than Peg flies. She is accepting tidbits and about to start stepping to the fist for them. I am in no real hurry to get her flying, and will take it at her own pace, but I will keep her as fat as I can to cut down on the vocals.

Living here in the desert is great, but it does have some downsides. Of course there is the wind that seems to blow most of the time. Since it is generally late in the day, when it is the hottest, it actually doesn't hurt, as long as it is less than 10 MPH. This year has been worse than anything that even the locals can remember, but what the heck, it could be worse. One of the other downsides is the rodents. I run a trap line for Mice, catching them in the attic, over the cool room and in the Motor home. It is nothing to get 4 or 5 a day, every day! The other and by far the worst is the Pack Rats!

http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/apr/papr/packrats.html

The above link should tell you all that you would ever want to know about them. This is the time of the year that the young are trying to find territories for themselves. This year seems to have suited the species very well, and the populations are booming. They are every where and in to every thing. I talked with Harry Stoddart yesterday and he was telling me that he lost his food freezer because a Pack Rat got into the back of it and chewed all the wiring up badly enough that it was not repairable. Any vehicle left for any amount of time will have one building a nest under the hood. I have one living somewhere around the Chicken house that spends the night packing the feed tray as full of dried Chicken crap that he can, so that the chickens can't eat his hoard of Egg Maker. With all that food, he seems impervious to the lure of anything that I can put on a Rat trap trigger. I'll find something to tempt him yet.

Every morning Curly conducts his Rat hunts. Most mornings he is successful, and although killing rats is not what he was designed for, Brittany's are very adaptable. Terriers bite and shake making for a quick end to the problem. Curly, more used to pointing, uses a "bite and spit" method that reduces the amount of bitten lips and noses. His biggest asset however is his nose. Of course he needs help, and that is where I come in.

One of their hiding places are these Rock Jacks. A water hose will eventually "flush" one out of them where Curly can catch them.

This morning was no exception. I was still lying in bed, 6 AM, trying to discover how crippled up the night had left me. ( you old farts will know what I mean by that.) Karen let the dogs out, and it didn't take long for Curly to find that one was hiding on the back porch by the entrance to the root cellar. I have a 55 gallon drum down there that I store the empty pop cans in until we can get to a store, and apparently he was hiding there. So I put on my "Berkies" to improve my mobility and went to help. It didn't take long, and there were very few places to hide, so Curly soon had him. Now the routine is that when he catches a Rat, he gets a Dog Cookie. Works out great for both of us. He is always very proud of himself and if you are quick it is possible to get a picture. He soon spits it out and goes straight for the cookie jar. Karen got the camera, but was hampered by trying to keep my wrinkled old naked butt out of the picture, which was fine with me, so I took the camera, and she held the dog still. I was surprised to learn today that the little "Squeaky toys" that you buy for dogs, make the same sound as a chomped Pack Rat. No wonder he likes them.

The extra one was hiding in the pool cover compartment. These are the White Footed Pack Rat. They get pretty large, about as big as a Fox Squirrel. The reason their fur is so soggy is that he tends to slobber when he bites them. A nice side effect of these hunts is that Peg gets them for breakfast.

We also missed one that had burrowed under the Hawk house where I am keeping some replacement Chicks. Perhaps soon we will run out of Pack Rats. Yeah right!

Sue

Well, Sue has finally arrived. Karen and I drove to Vale, Oregon to meet Marsha Flamm, the lady who bred her. Sue is one of her first breeding successes with Harris Hawks. She was visiting Joe Atkinson who lives in Vale, and was kind enough to bring her down to me. A great deal all the way around.

Sue is about 14 weeks old, and is very calm and easy to handle, which is one of the traits of young Harris Hawks.

I was checking to see if I could feel her keel, one of the ways that one can judge condition on a Hawk. She really does not have one that I could feel, so the little girl is pretty fat. Even though she is very malleable, she has not been handled very much at all, and is unsure what my intentions might be.

Peggy, who has almost finished her molt, is looking very mature, and grumpy in this picture. She will get over it, but right now she wants the kid to know who is the boss around here.

Sue is doing her best to not be a threat. She looks a lot smaller than Peggy, but in actuality, has a larger frame and will most likely fly at a heavier weight. I will be starting her training tomorrow. Mostly it will be a lot of handling, with very little food given in small amounts and very often. I will get her used to us and the dogs and to being carried on the fist.

Joe Atkinson flies and rehabilitates Eagles, which was the purpose of Marsha and Mark Hunt, her companions, visit to Oregon. Joe took us out to a hill top outside of Vale to fly a female Golden, Widow.

     Joe put a transmitter on her tail just in case.

The idea is to let her search out a thermal, get to a hunting height, then give her a lure to call her down. She is familiar with the game and will go up several times. Joe feeds her anywhere from two and half to three quail each session.

Joe has chosen this area because of the thermals and upslope winds that can give an Eagle a little help in getting height. Eagles do best in wind, the stronger, the more they like it. When she got her height she came over us waiting for Joe to throw the lure. The picture below is with a telephoto. She was quite a bit higher than the picture indicates.

Eagles, when they stoop do not fold up like a falcon. They basically fold their wings about halfway, drop their feet and come bombing down out of the sky. With their wings out a bit they can still control their angle and flight path. Even though it is slower than a falcon, it is still faster than their prey and very hard to avoid.