Jasper Update.

Well it has been 8 days and an update is due, since I am sure most of you are wondering how his readjustment is coming along.

It appears that he might just claim the place here as his "Territory". He has not been loath to help himself to the Sparrow population, and I have seen him many times with a Sparrow in his feet. He seems to like to eat twice a day. A Sparrow in the morning to start the day out right and a Mouse from my live trap in the evening. He seems to have little desire to take on the Starlings or Black birds that are helping themselves to my Chicken food. A smart move to my way of thinking. Both are dangerous without immediate help.

I would always see him in the morning if I got out early enough, gone through the middle of the day and then back again in the evening to hunt the Sparrows and Mice that live here. The weather has been moderate as far as the temps are concerned. The winds however have been howling, but that is not a problem with a Kestrel. He can handle the wind better than most of his prey species.

Tami finally got enough of a pause in the hectic schedule of the Ranch to come over to see him. I called her when he showed up, but it took her a bit to get her kid crew fed, and when she got here he was not to be seen. I had noticed the day before that when I had done some shooting, he showed up. I had been trying to eliminate some of the ground Squirrels that seem intent on carrying off as much of my Layer mash as they can, mouthful by mouthful. He has been hanging out on the fence line some times, but he was nowhere to be seen. I got out my 22 and began shooting at the Pigeons that were flying overhead. Nothing! Tami and Grace loaded up to leave and as soon as they started the car, I noticed him sitting on the gate post.

I checked my live trap, and found that the only Mouse in it had managed to kill himself by tripping the trap from the inside and getting caught in the mechanism. I gave it to Tami and she waved it calling him. He flew over to her, hovered over her hand, but did not land. He flew instead to the top of the Hanger. Tami called again and tossed it to the ground in front of her. He flew down, picked it up and flew to a post by the gate. We watched him, discussing how pleased that she was to see him. About that time he flew to the rock jack that anchors the fence, and cached it, flying back to the hanger.

I got a dead Starling that I was intending to give to the Harris Hawks, and gave it to Tami. She again waved it calling him, and he again hovered over her fist, almost landing. He flew to the front of the tractor, watching her. She again tossed it to the ground and he flew down to it. He immediately started trying to break in to the brains. I think I have mentioned a time or two that he loves the brains on the birds that he catches. After eating a while, he attempted to fly off with the Starling, but could not as it probably weighs as much as he does. We watched him eat until duty forced Tami to go home. I went out later to see what he had done with the Starling, but could not find it anywhere. I am not sure where or even how he managed to drag it off, but the only thing left was the remains of the head. I checked later to see if the Mouse was still cached in the rock jack and it was. The next morning when we went to town, it was gone, so we knew what he had for breakfast.

He is of course getting a bit more independent each day, and more used to feeding himself. I tried with three mice that I had caught yesterday to give him. He was content to watch them run to cover each time without making any attempt to catch them. He is not concerned with me or my presence. He only stays high enough that the dogs do not pose a problem to him. I am able to walk within a few feet of him, without him feeling the need to move.

Two days ago I noticed that I needed to spray some weeds that were beginning to come up in the runway, and as I approached the wind sock, I saw a bird fly to the front of the sock. I drove up a bit further to where I could see and there was Jasper sitting on a bar inside the wind sock. The mystery of where he has been spending the night is now solved. The little rascal is sitting inside, dry and out of sight each night. I went back to the house and called up plans for a Kestrel box on the computer. After I finished it I fastened it to the windsock pole. Hopefully he will begin using that and even better find a wandering female to nest there.

I had thought that he might wander off, but there is the faint possibility that he might stay here. The thought causes me great pleasure. I had first thought that the "Hack Tower" might provide a home for him, but two Barn Owls have moved into there, so the windsock is the next best.

I just finished my morning chores and found Jasper sitting on the corner of the Chicken pen. I closed the gate behind me and went to my Starling house trap that was currently occupied with two Starlings. I took one out, wrung its neck and tossed it out to the open area by where he had been sitting. Nothing! I took the other out and did the same, tossing it a bit further out. Still nothing. I looked around the corner and he was just sitting there watching them flop, but showing no interest at all. I picked up the dead birds to feed to the Harris's and went to my Mouse trap. (It is a repeating trap that can catch up to 10 or more mice at a time.) There were four of them in there, and they were quite hyperthermic, so I reached in and tossed one out in the open area in front of him. Nothing! I did so with the other three, and he still didn't move. At that point I was convinced that he was in no danger of starving, so I turned to go. I noticed him turn with a bit more interest, then he apparently decided that he might be able to hold another mouse or he decided to cache it.

All in all, it has worked out much better than I could have hoped for.

Spring has come to the High Desert!

Spring has indeed come to the High Desert of Eastern Oregon. The calendar has officially decided that it is spring. The hours have changed to daylight savings time. Not sure why, but it is not my place to ask. Already darkness has retreated to 8 PM. Our winter this year has been the gentlest that we have experienced in Karen's and my entire lifetime. We have had 2.4 inches of moisture since early November, but the rainy season here is still to come. The months of April, May and early June often have the worst weather of the entire year if you discount the cold of December.

March has been the windiest that we have experienced. The wind has been unrelenting, and hitting as high as 59 MPH. The average temps have been climbing steadily, and the migrants are returning to their summer homes. Killdeer are hunting worms in the lawn that is now beginning to green up. The Say's Phoebe has returned to claim his home under the back porch. While watching the Red Tail Hawk, that is determined to bring off a clutch of young from the telephone pole down by the creek, I saw a flock of Swallows in flight over the house. Of course I am not immune to the promise of spring either, as I was  rototilling the garden. The daytime temps are in the 60's when the spring storms have made their way into Idaho and points East.

Since it is Spring, it is time for Jasper to have the freedom that we promised him when we first held him in our trembling sweaty fingers. He has held up his end of the bargain, and now it is our turn to honor our promise.

A pretty forlorn little guy!

I find it a bit amusing that many of our falconer acquaintances do not understand why we are releasing Jasper. I can only guess that their definition of falconry and the apprentice program is different than the one that Karen, Tami and I believe in.

It is true that Falconry, and the goal of Falconry, is to hunt wild game with a raptor. It is not merely the possession of a hawk. Most people are content to have a hawk that will actually kill wild game. I require something more. I want to learn to understand better the processes that enable a raptor to hunt with a man.

Now the goal of apprenticeship is not the same as that of Falconry. In a nutshell it is to learn the art and the process required to train a raptor to be able to hunt with a man or in this case a woman. It is to learn the nuances of the raptor mind. It is to learn their language, so that they will be able to catch any species of raptor and guide it to a hunting partnership. One cannot do that by keeping the same raptor, no matter how good or successful it is, throughout the entire 2 year apprenticeship. Any sponsor who is content to give that kind of effort to his or her apprentice is cheating them of knowledge. One time, does not make you an expert, no matter the circumstances.

Sponsorship is basically "paying it forward". In most cases someone took the time and energy to impart to the current crop of falconers whatever knowledge that they had gleaned through out the years and raptors that they have handled. There is also a "protection" feature to it as well. It is the opportunity to instill a set of ethics that ensure that falconry is treated with the respect that it deserves and requires to exist in a society that is ever more "politically correct". It ensures that the raptors in our care are treated and cared for in a responsible manner. It is our duty to impart as much knowledge and understanding as they can in the two year period that the apprentice is bound to them. That is not done with one raptor. Tami will have handled and trained a minimum of three Kestrels by the end of her apprenticeship this coming November. She will be ready to go with confidence to the next stage of her falconry career. She will have learned weight control. She will have learned how to care for and keep in flying condition a raptor, and she will have an understanding of how to enter a raptor to wild game. She will also have learned about the quarry that she will pursue, how to set up the hunts, and the limitations of both her raptor and the game that it hunts. She will also be able to impart and improve on what I have been fortunate enough to teach her, and through her efforts be able to "pay forward" once again the joy of Falconry.

I basically had no sponsor. I met my first genuine Falconer on the day that my Kestrel, that I had purchased from a guy advertising in a LA newspaper, caught her first Sparrow. I didn't have long to learn from him as we soon moved to Oregon, but one of the things that he said that  burned its way into my mind was that "Raptors are a gift from the Gods, and it was our duty to return them to the wild in as good or better shape than when we took them".  Of course in those early days, captive bred raptors was only an unfulfilled dream. That has of course changed and the entire equation has changed with it, but it is still my pleasure to be able to release a raptor back to the wild from which it came. I admit that I try to instill that rather romantic notion in those that I have sponsored. In many ways my path was much more difficult, and my arrival to this point has been due to my hunger for understanding.

We have waited until this date to release Jasper. Tami has been fattening him for his readjustment to the wild. We are releasing him here at the house, since the resident Kestrel has returned to the ranch. If we turned him loose there, a fight would of course ensue, and that is his rightful territory. Jasper has done most of his hunting here at the house, and if he decides to stay, I can supplement his diet as he requires. I seriously doubt that he will need any help, as I have rarely seen a better hunting Kestrel than him. I also doubt that he will stay long. I do not know what pressures his intensifying hormonal levels will put on him. I am guessing that he will make his way to Rome and the area around the Owyhee that had been his home before we came along.

Just in case you are curious, I gave Tami the option of keeping him for the summer. Primarily to see what she would do. She did not disappoint me, when she said that she would miss him, but wanted him to have the opportunity to be free.

Its here, Jasper's first day of freedom!

 

After some false starts we managed to cut his Jesses, and he was sitting on the fist free. Finally he decided that he would make another try to get to the Chicken house so that he could hunt. His weight before Tami brought him over for release was 124 grams. That was about 15 grams more than when we caught him, so he was in no danger of starving to death any time soon.

 

 http://vimeo.com/39102952

 

He flew to his regular perch by the free chickens, and then chased a Sparrow over to the other pen. I went inside to see if there was any that I could flush. The Sparrows had all vacated the premises as soon as he had flashed up over the rock fence into sight. I was keeping an eye on him to see what he was doing, and after a bit, he started jumping up and down on the post, grabbing (footing) all over the top to the point that he fell off. He then went to the next post and was doing it there as well. Karen thought that something was the matter with him for a bit, because he was acting so strange. Tami and I could see him better and both of us were cracking up watching his joy at not having all that weight on his feet. I can't actually say that he "moon walked", but he threw almost every other hip hop move in there that he could think of.

 

We retired to the hanger to sit down and watch from there to see what he was going to do. He flew around a bit and spent at least a half an hour harassing the Black Birds that were landing on the Chicken pen.  When he tired of that he flew to the free range chicken pen. Then he flew to the ground and started playing with a chicken feather. After a bit he jumped up on the water pan for the chickens. Then he jumped in the water and started bathing. Tami was amazed as he had never bathed the entire time that she had him. He would drink water off her finger, but refused a bath. The Pigeons thought that was a good idea and wanted in as well, but didn't trust him.

When I went out to pick up eggs and put things up for the night, he followed me to the captive pen. There was a Starling inside the pen, so I pinned it in the corner with Jasper's help and took it outside for him. I tossed it for him and he caught it on the ground. They were fighting pretty good, so I got down and went in to him. I broke the birds neck and backed off. He plucked on it a bit, then the next time I looked he had flown up to a near by fence post and was eating it.

 

I am not sure where he spent the night. I went out this morning to do my chores, looking for him all the time, but did not see him any where. As I was walking back to the house, he flew by me from the area of the free range Chickens carrying a Sparrow. He flew up on the power lines, then from there to a bit easier spot to eat his breakfast. We were all so very pleased with the little rascal that we could have burst without too much effort.

 

Karen and I had to go to Boise, and did not return until about 7PM. We flushed him off the drive way gate as we drove in. I went out to do my evening chores, but did not see him. I also noticed that the normal flock of Sparrows and Black birds were not in much evidence either. The thought crossed my mind that it would be real nice if he stayed. As I went to the free range pen, I checked an automatic mouse trap that I had set outside the door. There were 5 mice in it, so I called Josie and gave her one to play with. I thought I saw a flash across the Sun, but couldn't find anything. I was standing in the drive waiting for her to maul hers to death, when I saw Jasper sitting on the fence watching. I tried calling and waving my hat to him, but he ignored me. Finally I reached in and grabbed one of the Mice. I called his name and waved the mouse. Off he came and I tossed the Mouse. It stopped still and he couldn't find it. He flew up on the hanger roof, so I walked around and herded the Mouse towards him. As soon as he saw it run, he swooped down and snatched it up, flying back up on the roof to eat.

 

As long as he stays, I will make sure that he has food if he needs it. If he decided to stay here, I could save enough Chicken food from the hordes of Black birds that normally empty my feeders, to ship in food for him. 

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.

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.

Sunset

I had thought that I would be efficient for once and write the blog early so that I could watch the football games. Well unlike Karen, I get bored pretty quickly and do just as well listening to them while I am doing something else or sleeping, which I do best. All was well, I was reading a bit, reading emails, and then it was time to do chores. I put the hawks up for the night and after turning the corner of the hanger, here was a great sunset. I managed to ignore it for a while, but it kept getting better and better. Finally I decided to go for the camera, thinking that it would fade before I got back. Well it did not, and it still improved.

 I kept trying to finish my evening chores and every time I looked the sunset intensified.

 These clouds seemed to be rolled on the outside edges.

 And then they got puffy and more interesting

 Looking straight West it was hard to not let the lens be overpowered.

Finally I just had to turn my back on it and go into the house. I still shot 16 pictures of it. These are the best.

All Jasper today.

I knew it was too good to last. We actually have a storm blowing in form the Southwest today. The temps jumped up to 54 degrees, and the wind was gusting to 24. I had intended to fly the Harris's but with this wind, the best thing was to feed them enough to hold them over to tomorrow.

I had two Starlings in my trap, so I wanted to get Jasper started on the kite. I got the quad out of the doors to the hanger, but didn't see the need to go that far away since the wind was blowing away from the hanger. The only thing that I didn't take into account is that the wind shadow from the hanger was going to make for some squirrely wind. I got the kite up in the air, and once it reached about 50 feet it turned over and slammed into the ground breaking the rod that makes up the spine. Time for plan B.

The wind was still screaming, and Jasper really had to hang on to the fist to keep from being blown away. He first took a perch on the free Chickens house, but the Starlings and Sparrows were all over to the captive pen. He soon zipped over there and the usual mayhem ensued. He was here, there, chasing this one, missing one in the rocks. Off again after another, then we were out of Sparrows and opportunities. Just as we were about ready to go to a bagged Starling, a batch of Sparrows flew back in and the chase was on again. Once again, he frittered away all the opportunities, and Tami, who was outside the pen started to go through the fence, flushed another Sparrow. This time he was determined to catch it. The last I saw of him as he disappeared around the loafing shed, was just about a foot in behind the Sparrow. He didn't come back, but a large group of Sparrows that had taken refuge in front of the house lifted off and came to the pens to hide.

We waited, but he didn't show up, so we started a search for him, sure that he had caught something. One of the big problems with him is that he is hard to see if he is more than 50 yards away or down on the ground. If he was the type to be secretive, she would have lost him long ago.

 I finally found him on the ground by the back of the house, almost under the eves. The flight had gone more than 100 yards. This is the first time that he has really pressed the pursuit. The hardest part of flying any kind of game is to convince the hawk that if they keep pressing they can generally force the quarry to try to take cover. He has been discovering the consequences of not catching anything, and he hates it. Tami says that he is restless all night when he misses.

 Well he won't be restless tonight.

 Tami offered her fist to him, but the wind was still howling and if he had turned around he would have ended up on his beak. He is looking, but held his ground.

 When she reached down to get him, he still didn't turn around, but sidestepped up on the fist.

We retired to the shop to get out of the wind so that he could eat.