Phoenix Fire Falconry

Back in the Saddle Again

2012-01-25T17:07:00.000-06:00

It feels good to be feeling well enough to resume some of your previous activities. I still have a few complaints, minor, from my illness, but today finally felt well enough to get my birds out. Both were way too heavy to really fly in earnest, but they have not been flown for almost two weeks now, and were over-fed while I was unconscious. I've been slowly trying to get their weight down, but they have been very resistant in the reduction. Winter also arrived in earnest while I was out. The snow level is enough to make hawking a bit harder now.

Hit Girl was flown first, and I was ever so slightly uncomfortable about that, as she usually flies at about 1300, and today was 1365 grams. However, she flew with us, and we had many squirrels in the park that she chased. In fact, she even did catch one of them, but when she hit the ground from parachuting down from the top of the tree the squirrel broke free, and she didn't re-catch it. She got to fly and chase for about an hour, active, and then I decided to bring her down as she obviously wasn't highly motivated to finish the job, but was mostly just harassing the squirrel population.

Sassy was brought out and flown. I'm having to use the leg transmitter on both birds now, as I clipped her back pack off. This happened just prior to my getting very sick. On our last hunt both birds were cropped up, but the next day Sassy hadn't put over her crop. I didn't know if this was from the back pack blocking her ability to move food into her stomach, or also if a possible injury from a couple days before that was impacting her. She dove into a very thick cover for a bunny, which she missed, but bruised her cere very seriously, and may possibly had bruised something else in her chest. Either way, not moving food out of the crop is not good, as it is not bathed in digestive juice, so proceeds to decompose, and grow bacteria. After snipping the back pack off, within an hour, she threw up her meal. I then fed her very small meals for the next two days, hoping she would be OK. She did seem to get better . . . however as she improved, I got worse. My medical records even state that my husband and I "raise and train hawks, and one of them had been sick" . . . just in case that was significant. Ultimately, no one really knows why I was sick. I was diagnosed with Encephalopathy acute due to viral illness.

We moved down the park and focused in the area where we could find bunnies. Sassy followed like a trooper! After awhile, Richard did kick one up, and she was right there, ready to catch. It was a full-sized bunny, and a good catch for this girl who was very heavy! She is normally flown at 1030 give or take. Today she was 1085. Both girls did well . . . and the exercise was good for me too. Richard recorded another GoPro film, but not a whole lot of excitement on there. Once I see it I'll decide if I want to post it.

This was bunny #9 for Sassy!

Illness

2012-01-14T19:49:00.000-06:00

I have just gotten home today . . . from the hospital! I was there for 3 days. Richard had me transported on Wednesday night by ambulance to Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I had a cold, but it went into something worse. The Infection Team diagnosed influenza, even though all the tests they took didn't indicate such. I was in a fog most of this last week. I missed a lot of "fun". There was the ambulance ride. Then the Emergency Room and Gundersen. I was given a neb treatment . . . which is too bad that I wasn't awake to appreciate it. Richard says I fought it. They did a Spinal Tap on me . . . lot of fun missed! I then apparently spent some time in the CCU. My final move was to a normal room. I woke up on Friday. Richard was very glad to see me normal. I was surprised to find myself in the hospital. It has been a very unusual event! I've never experienced anything like this. Hopefully, I'll not experience it again. This was my work weekend. My co-workers kindly picked up my shifts. I thank them for that . . . I'll get back to work on Thursday and Friday.

Double Doubles

2012-01-08T20:50:00.006-06:00

Today was an all-time first for me. Today I accomplished a Double Double!

It was a wonderful day to get out hawking. It's amazing the change a week can make. Last week it was in the 20's with a brisk wind. Today it was in the higher 40s, and very minimal wind. Everyone was out and about . . . both humans and their dogs (and hawks) and squirrels and rabbits. I was accompanied today by Christina, who has been interested in falconry for a long time, and waiting for her life to fall into a pattern that will allow her to pursue it. New man on the field was Brent, who is my brother-in-law's Schwans delivery guy. He found out a month or two ago that I was a falconer, and spent an hour or so talking me up about it. I told him sometime I'd invite him for a hunt. He definitely chose a good day to come.

Only a couple minutes into the same field we started our hunt on Monday at, and the first (and only) squirrel was spotted by Christina. I whooped, and Hit Girl responded and came over. She quickly engaged squirrel, and before we so much as had a chance to get into position to watch the show, she was diving, and then was on the ground with her prize. I decided to trade her off, and put her back up and go again, as that was just too quick. The trade off didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, and she pouted a bit after that. However, she then re-engaged when she saw us poking in the grass. We moved a bunny out in front of us, which we didn't see, but she did. She dove in and had her first bunny catch with me. I let her crop up on this catch, then put her away and let Sassy have her turn.

Sassy quickly got to work, and followed us into the other part of the field we had not yet worked. Under a large brush pile I kicked out the first rabbit for her. She pursued, and chased it down, bringing it to the bag. I traded her off this bunny, and we went walking again. We hadn't gotten very far, when she had bunny #2, for her, for the day. Like Hit Girl, I let her crop up on her dinner. Both birds were put away, well fed, and I and my hawking team for the day posed for pictures, then went for lunch.

Hit Girl: 8 squirrels / 1 rabbit Sassy: 8 rabbits / 2 squirrels

I am having one hell of a good time this year!!

Preemie

2012-01-08T20:36:00.001-06:00

The other day, on the farm, one of the cows gave birth . . . too early. The baby was found by one of the farmers, not sure which one. Baby had been licked clean, but mamma was nowhere nearby . . . nor has any cow been making any fuss since looking for her baby. The baby is small, for a new calf . . . a preemie, but vigorous. It has been isolated away into the barn, given a warm, dry bedding area, and is being hand fed. Most of the other calves are not expected until about mid February to early March.

It's a cute little baby . . . not sure if it's a heifer calf or a bull calf. It moos sweetly when you come in,
and gets up and toddles around, wanting attention, and wanting food.

If you offer your fingers, "she" will suck on them!

My Girls

2012-01-06T11:02:00.001-06:00

Just a couple of nice pictures of my two girls from recent hunts.

Hit Girl (above) has brought 7 squirrels to the bag, and a very large (unmentioned) miscellaneous.

Sassy (below) rests for a moment on the top beam of an old collapsed barn, as she ponders the moon.
She has caught 2 squirrels, and 6 bunnies.

Both GREAT hunting hawks!!

A Nice Long Video of a Red Tailed Hawk Hunting a Squirrel

2012-01-05T18:18:00.003-06:00

This was our hunt on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 here in the Spring Grove park. You can't really tell by the video but we are walking and moving through an incline. Rich bought a mutual gift for Christmas, a GoPro HD Motorsport Hero camera. It's mounted onto his hat, so sees whatever he looks at. This was the second time we've used it. It also was adapted from our last use, and is now set for better sound capture . . . to the point where you can hear him breath, and chew his gum, and spit. Nice! It's a wide angle capture, so no zoom features. We worked this squirrel for quite awhile. Usually they are lost, running into a hole. However, there must not have been any holes for its escape. Rich's brother, Brian, came along. Our job is to keep the squirrel in the tree. Yes, that's me making all the whooping noises. The bird learns based on that noise that I see something. Hit Girl does the rest of the work. She made quite a few attempts before finally capturing her dinner. Rich didn't record what happened after the catch. Hit Girl says "yum yum"!

The video seems to be more High Definition over at YouTube. Here is the link if you would like to look at it over there: Hit Girl Squirrel Hunt

First of the FREEZING Year

2012-01-02T20:27:00.002-06:00

On Monday, January 2nd Justin and I had agreed to get together to hunt our birds. Dave found out about our plans and asked if he could come. He indicated he would be inviting several other people. "The more the merrier" I said! We agreed to start out the morning at Panera's in La Crosse, for bagels and coffee. I also invited a few people, but it just turned out to be Rich and I. Justin brought himself only. Dave invited his lady-friend, Dorothy. The others invited couldn't make it . . . so we were a party of five. It was one of the coldest days so far this winter. The temperature probably never got any higher than the 20's, with a wind, although nothing like the wind the previous day. The previous day(s) I've been incubating a winter cold. I had decided Sunday night that on Monday I was either going hawking, or I was going to Urgent Care to get tested for strep. You see which option won out, eh? The next several days I've gotten out as often as I could with the birds . . . and probably paid for it with my cold symptoms lasting longer than they normally would. Yes, I'm nuts. I know! I did get myself tested when I had to work on Tuesday. They said no strep . . . so just a virus I need to work through. Apparently, cold fresh air isn't the best treatment. Cough Cough!

It was decided to fly Hit Girl first. It turned out she was the only one that day to get skunked. We flew her on the patch of land as you cross over to French Island. I've caught squirrels at that location before, but today the tree rats stayed in their warm nests. We did flush several bunnies at that location, but Hit Girl hasn't caught a rabbit yet with me. Well . . . not quite . . . her last outting being a catch which didn't come to the bag. Rabbit hunting is pretty much instinctual for a red tail, but my girl just didn't have her timing right. After about an hour we put her back into her box, and went to a different location to fly Justin's bird, Goldie.

I took them to a different location which has also had squirrels, but again, no squirrels were produced today. Dave agreed the place looked good for them. Goldie may have seen one, on the other side of a deep creek, on someone's private land, so it was good that she didn't pursue it. We also flushed a couple cats, which may explain why we found no rabbits. After awhile we relocated, again.

Dave's new hawk for this year, Hawquila *above* (Think Hawk and Aquila . . . the Latin for Eagle) was up next. She's a big girl . . . flying at 49 ounces. That's 3 lbs, 1 oz folks! Hit Girl was trapped at that weight. Dave says she is super sweet, and a good hunter. We went to my all-time best field in the area that is big enough to share. I've been somewhat careful going there as it is located next to a factory where I've been challenged before, a couple years ago. I was surprised to see the factory building was . . . gone! Torn down! Well . . . no one to tell me to get lost now! I never understood the fuss anyways, as it is one of our typical brushy waste land areas . . . good for growing rabbits, and dumping garbage. I'm after the rabbits.

We were barely in the field when Hawquila got her first chase. It's always the same spot . . . a very overgrown place of briar and bramble over a fence. Bunny got away. We continued to work the edge, which usually does not produce any flushes. As we got into the next good patch, we kicked up a rabbit, and Hawquila slammed it. First rabbit of the day, into Dave's bag. He decided to walk back to the car, and fly her there, stating he didn't want to "hog all the bunnies in the field." Well, before we made much progress to return to get Justin's bird, we kicked up another rabbit, and Hawquila caught that one too. So, two bunnies into Dave's bag. Well . . . what else can we expect from The Falconer (yes, capitals on that).

Justin was up next, and Goldie got lots of good flights, finally connecting at the back end of the field. Justin had to leap a fence to get to her. Well, better him than me. I don't do fences very well. Barb wire, sure, but not those chain link things. I try to avoid them when I can. And water. Like to avoid that too. I neither climb nor swim very good with all my hawking gear on. With Goldie being fed, that field had been pretty much worked. I decided to go to my personal favorite, small field, located very close to where I lived when I was in La Crosse. It is always good for bunnies. It is also right up against the bluff, and has been sun warmed all day. It should be a good place to fly Sassy. It was still very cold, but less so from the earlier day.

Upon entering that field, we kicked up several bunnies, so their population has been improved since last year. We worked that entire field, pushing to the end, with Sass getting several slips, but missing them. Finally, at the end, a rabbit had been pushed into some bushes, it's location known, and it's routes to safety limited. Dave crashed the bush, out popped bunny, in swooped Sassy, and number Six rabbit for her season was had. Here I am above, eating my glove. Actually, I'm pulling burdock off Sassy.

We returned to the cars, posed for pictures, and then went to crop ourselves up on Bar-B-Que dinner. Always a fun time to go hawking with friends.

Raptor Ambulance

2012-01-01T20:31:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year!!

How did you spend your first day of 2012?

Richard and I spent ours driving to the Twin Cities, to the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul. In the back seat, inside a large dog kennel, was an injured juvenile male bald eagle.

I was visiting Karla over at the Houston Nature Center on Saturday evening, and she informed me an injured eagle was being brought in, which had been found by some hunters in the Brownsville area, far South-East corner of Minnesota. Karla is the regional entry-point for injured animals. When I heard about this, I asked her if she had anyone to transport the bird. She said no. I volunteered! I have previously taken the class and now I'm one of the injured wildlife transport people, with special skill (because I'm a falconer) to do pick-ups of raptors. However, I'm glad I didn't have to pick this one up. Karla moved him from the kennel he came to her in, into the kennel she had that I took with me. She had two large raptor gloves, though the bird did not give her much guff when she calmly got him out of the box for transfer. He did snap his beak at her some, but no foot action. He is well fleshed, so has not been starving. He has a wound to his right wing, which looks fresh, so injury may have been recent. He came to my house last night, and stayed in my warm mews, in the dark, covered with a blanket. This morning, as soon as it got light, we were on the road for the 3-hour journey.

It was a bit of a stinky journey . . . as he had muted into his box. What comes out of a bald eagle, digested fish and road kill, normally probably doesn't smell great. This guy is stressed, so is even worse. We were expected, as we had called ahead. Upon arrival, he disappeared into the back rooms to be examined and to receive care. No pictures of the poor creature . . . I didn't want to add to his stress with a flash, nor unnecessary disturbance. Even the trip to the Cities was silent, no radio, to keep his stress level as low as possible. Prior to leaving the Raptor Center I heard that they speculate he has a compound fracture to his wing. Any further injury would have to be assessed after they have given him some quiet time to relax after his trip. He probably received a hood as well, which I did not have.

The staff of the Raptor Center were then kind enough to show us around. I've been there one previous time. This was Richard's first visit. Above is one of the care givers. Sorry . . . didn't get her name. She may even be one of the vets. I don't remember the eagle's name either, but she is one of their education birds, weighing in at about 14 lbs. This just shows how big these birds are. This is a female eagle. The woman is a petite lady, but that still is a huge bird. Bald Eagles will accept manning and training like any raptor, but don't make particularly good falconry birds, due to their propensity to fish, or worse, eat carrion. Golden Eagles are an entirely different matter. They are just as big, bigger in fact, and are fierce and deadly to many things much larger than themselves.

A report was left with contact names for the Houston Nature Center, and for the people who rescued him from the wild. After what could be a couple weeks, they will give us a status update. Compound fractures are a very bad injury for a bird. Frequently the decision is made to euthanize, as the wing will never heal proper to allow return of flight function. There are only so many spots for rehab birds. I'm sure they have a protocol to decide which ones to save. When, if I learn his fate, I'll post here.

Because we were already there . . . we went for good Mexican brunch, and also brought home some fresh tamales (yum). It's very windy outside, but the roads were fairly good. It was a unique way to spend the first day of 2012.

Happy New Year!!

* * * Status Update * * *

I heard from Karla a couple days later that the eagle "didn't make it" . . . which means it was decided to euthanize. The injury to the wing was just too great to fix. Not all young birds (and this was a juvenile, first or second year eagle) make it to adulthood. At least he didn't starve to death out in the cold.

Rebloom

2011-12-27T13:02:00.002-06:00

Last year, just before Easter, I purchased two discounted orchid plants in tiny plastic pots from a nameless big box store. I've never owned an orchid before, and they were cheap enough I figured I wouldn't be out much if I killed them. Well . . . they both kept their blooms for far longer than I expected, well into spring, finally wilting as summer got going. I cut them back per instructions found on the internet, re-potted them into larger terracotta pots and then proceeded to pretty much ignore the plants for the rest of the year, giving them water once a week, when I remembered.

Here recently both shot out new flower spikes, and first one, and now the other, have put off a new spike off of the old ones. This past week the first flowers have re-bloomed. Very Pretty! The other plant's new stem will bloom in a couple weeks, most likely, and at this time has 7 buds. If they follow the pattern from last year, I should have lovely blossoms for most of the winter.

It is a touch of spring as we get into the dark of winter. Note in the picture the yard outside does NOT have snow! In fact, we had a rather Texas-like Christmas . . . into the high 30s, sunny, and clear. I should stop making blog entries about flowers . . . and go take my bird hunting!

*** Postscript ***

I flew Hit Girl behind the school in Houston. A few squirrel chases, but she really was not at the best weight to chase. Two bunny flushes, and she contacted the second one, unfortunately crashing with quite a lot of force, snagging bunny as it tried to escape into a huge brush pile. She caught it, and it was wailing, but she was so far in when I got there (just a twisted head and feathers poofing out of the branchy hole she crashed into) that when I was trying to figure out how to get my arm in beyond her to where her bunny was, and tried to gently lift her out by her wings, bunny popped free, and was home clear into the pile. Hit Girl was very frustrated, and downright crabby after that. Hopefully she will burn through what I let her eat to fly again tomorrow. She needs to kill something to get her aggression out . . . preferably not on me, or Rich.

Christmas Bunny

2011-12-25T21:35:00.001-06:00

It was an early morning wake up for me this Christmas day. I wanted to fly at least one of the birdies before we had to get cleaned up and dressed and go for family dinner over at one of Rich's sister's house. I had wanted to fly Hit Girl . . . but despite the fact that over the weekend she seems to have burned her calories fairly reliably, she didn't do so yesterday and last night. She was way over flight weight, and unsafe to fly. I tied her out in the fresh air and sunshine, hoping maybe later in the day she could be flown . . . but even then she was still too fat. She was put into her mews, with just a little food to hold her over through Monday, and will be taken out on Tuesday. The squirrels got the day off.

Sassy was way above flight weight too . . . but it just doesn't seem to matter with this girl. She was taken out, took commanding perches, followed well, and snatched up the first bunny we kicked up within 10 minutes into our hunt. If it had been any other day, I would have traded her off and kept going . . . however we were expected for lunch, and I had stuff to do before we left, so an end to the day's fun in the field was declared, she was fed up and we went home.

This is Number 5 for the Sass. She really is quite a great bird! This was not a great holiday for the bunny . . . but the start of a fun day for us. The remaining day was spent feasting and hanging out with Rich's family. They are a game playing group . . . always fun.

OK . . . gotta go to work tomorrow . . . so better get to bed.

Snowy Owls

2011-12-21T21:52:00.001-06:00

We are experiencing an irruption year for Snowy Owls. Those who are authorities on this matter inform us that sometimes irruptions (which are unusual movements of more Northern birds into more Southern territory) happen because of a crash in the population of their target prey species. However, this year we are informed it was a bumper crop year for voles up in the arctic, and as a result there was an unusually higher number of predators that were fledged. Now that winter is here, the younger, less experienced birds are getting pushed out of the territory which now can not support the extra numbers. Thus, we have the opportunity to see what are otherwise rare birds for our area.

I found out about this event from Birdchick. Here is a link to a listserve that is tracking sitings. eBird You can check to see if you are close to one of the hot spots. I happen to be close to one . . . the La Crosse Airport. Rich and I had reason to go to La Crosse today, so we left early, and searched for snowy owls. We found one . . . . almost at the edge of my optics.

I messed with my spotting scope and got only one 'ok' photo. Otherwise, we moved to 3 locations, with the last finding some professional bird watchers who let me peek through their better scope. I got to see him really well, face details, and watched him preen some. Pretty neat!

This was the best my equipment could do. Sorry it's not clearer . . . but hey . . . normally we don't see them at all!!

Here are a few links to articles in various La Crosse publications:

couleenews
lacrossetribune

Oh . . . and a really nice video!

Winter Solstice 2011

2011-12-21T08:13:00.002-06:00

This is the fourth year that I have made my own holiday cards - I like to keep my eyes open for things of beauty, and capture them with my digital camera. Some are nicer than others, and I wish I had a better camera. The above image was used with my cards this year . . . in fact, I still need to assemble some of them and get them into the mail. I also used this image below of the bluff that overlooks my workplace.

On this Winter Solstice 2011, the shortest day (as far as sunlight goes) I would like to wish all the best to those who visit my blog ~

Happy Holidays

What's Justin Up To??

2011-12-20T22:19:00.004-06:00

He's out there . . . killing critters, with his trained hawk! It was a bit of a slow start for him, due to the loss of Annabelle early in the season, but he got Goldie going, and as of today she has caught 7 squirrels, and a couple bunnies. Like me, he is having a hard time finding bunnies, but Goldie is just as keen for squirrels . . . . and I think he prefers that. She did take a bite today to her suborbital ridge (the bump over her eye). He'll keep an eye on it to make sure it heals OK. He also, FINALLY, sent me some pics, so here they are:

I think this may have been his first head of game, a cotton-tail rabbit.

Here is Goldie's most recent conquest . . . a 2.5 lb squirrel. That's as big as she is! Quite the catch!

Congratulations Justin! You are doing great!

I flew both my girls today, but in different locations. Sassy was flown later and on the property of one of Rich's old high school friends. We've flown there several times but not caught any of the bunnies stirred up. Today Sassy changed that stat, AND did so with Rich's friend watching. Bunny #4 for her in the bag. Sorry, I didn't turn bunny so as not to show the gore . . . but if gore bothered you, WHY are you reading my blog, eh? It's quite possible I may put her up for the winter, not because I'm not getting good response, or weather, as it has continued to be mild, but she is molting! Some time shortly after her coming to me she dropped one of her deck feathers, which I never found. I just noticed she was missing the feather. Well, she has a blood quill coming in right now, and I'd not like for her to break that. She's also losing downy feathers. I might have to go ahead and do a reverse-molt on her. I'm not sure what has stimulated this start to molt. She's on natural lighting, and tomorrow is the Solstice, although I have been keeping her cozy, at 50 degrees or so. Not exactly summer weather!

Hit Girl was flown earlier in the day, and we got permission to fly in a new area, which I will have to explore again at a later date. She did engage a couple squirrels early on, but after that encounter we didn't see anything else. Near the end of our flight time with her we also were getting screamed at by what was probably local hawks. The territory may be owned, so the squirrels there may be pressured already by hawks, and thus are good at avoiding them. We called it quits as she has sustained a wound on her foot in her mews, somehow, and flying today broke it open again. She even seems to have been favoring it. I took her home and soaked her feet, then let her dry, and applied a topical poultice. She will probably get soaked again tomorrow, and receive the same treatment. It looks like the girls will not be doing any flying for a few days, due to my plans to get together with my girlfriend for some shopping, and then my work weekend. Maybe we'll get out for a few hours Christmas Day. I get that day off!

Death among the Dead

2011-12-15T19:34:00.000-06:00

Work responsibilities brought me to Winona today for a few hours, to do my special "job". All employees have additional duties that have to be done monthly/quarterly . . . mine is doing regular maintenance on our crash carts, used for patient resuscitation. Today was one of those days when it needed major bi-yearly maintenance, so required some additional time while not doing regular job duties. I was going to meet up with Justin afterwards to fly birds, but it took me longer than anticipated. I called and told him to just go ahead without me. Once I was done, we went looking for a place to fly the birdies.

Our stretch of mild weather ended. Today was cold and windy. I was wanting to find someplace that was sheltered a bit from the wind. I knew of a place to explore. One of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Winona rolls back into the bluffs. Rich and I had been there last summer looking for the oldest known revolutionary war veteran's grave, which we found. It is a stately old cemetery, with very mature trees, and lots of quiet, secluded back areas. We entered and drove all the way back, finally ending at a compost spot tucked away. Upon releasing Hit Girl, we also discovered there are lots of trails all up the hillside.

Hit Girl flew strong and bold. She doesn't keep up with us, per se, as she should, however she doesn't fly off too far, and allows us to catch up with her. It took awhile to find anything moving. It was very cold, and the squirrels were hiding in their warm nests. However, it was deathly still in this protected valley, and I could hear the occasional alarm call. The tree rats were there, just laying low. We continued to walk the paths and follow her. It was rather a very nice walk, even if it was very cold and dreary weather wise. After about a half hour of walking, we finally bumped a squirrel, then two, then three . . . a hot spot. Hit Girl engaged. The first squirrel she chased with gusto made a break to the top of the tree, then jumped over to another where there was a nest. It missed in it's leap, and came crashing down to the ground. Hit Girl was in hot pursuit, but the squirrel had a bounce and leap ahead of her and got back onto the tree and back up to safety. However, the action in the tree got her attention there. At the very top was a leaf nest. When she made a go again, two other squirrels popped out. She managed to twist down the tree after one of them, and came to ground with #6 for the bag.

Rich and I both work tomorrow, and then we'll be going to Illinois to visit my sister, so this is the last chance the birds have to fly for a few days. I cropped Hit Girl up on her prize, letting her have more than usual, then hooded her and returned to the car. This lead through some of the older parts of the cemetery . . . 1880s were the dates on many of the graves. We got Sassy out, not to hunt, but just to stretch her wings some. It was getting late, and really was too cold for her to be out too long, but I did want her to gets some exercise. After a little walk around, calling her from time to time for a big hunk of food from my glove, we returned to the car and headed for home.

I was much impressed with this new site, and will probably return from time to time, and share the location with Justin. Most of the walking was in the forest and trails, but in my experience, many old cemeteries make very good hunting spots . . . for trained birds.

News Flash

2011-12-14T22:47:00.004-06:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog about Falconry in Rural Minnesota to bring you a very important Public Service Message regarding . . .

Flannel Bed Sheets

They are VERY warm and cozy . . . especially on cold Northern nights.

I grew up in Texas where we had more of a concern to bleed off heat, than to conserve it. I've always used cotton sheets, which are nice and cool in hot weather, but not so great in cold weather. Crawling into a fresh bed always takes an effort to warm everything up before settling in for sleep. Well . . . my husband kept telling me we should put the flannel sheets on the bed. I was skeptical . . . I equate flannel to stuffy, and static, so resisted. Well, finally last week I pulled out his set of flannel sheets and put them on the bed. Ooooooo . . . I admit to being very wrong! They are soft and static-free, and oh so warm without needing several blankets on top. I'm sold!

Tonight we were at a store looking at other things. They had flannel sheets on sale . . . so we purchased a new set . . . a Moose motif set. Fitting as a moose proposed to me, and essentially brought me to this bed that has the flannel sheets.

OK . . . we now return you to your regularly scheduled squirrel and rabbit killing.

Two-fer Tuesday

2011-12-13T20:58:00.002-06:00

Rich and I got out today to Rochester, and met up with a couple of artist friends for some hawkin. At the end of the day I had two hawks returned to their boxes, and two squirrels. A really good day! Rich is holding Sassy away from Hit Girl, as Sassy doesn't take a hood (I should work on that) but also I'm holding the squirrels back so she doesn't see them and want more, even though she had already been cropped up.

After lunch we found a place to fly Hit Girl. We tried a new spot that I've seen but never tried. We didn't get very far into the patch, with my big red tail laying into a couple of tree rats. They had some pretty good trees, thick, branchy, but no holes to duck into. Hit Girl pressured them hard for about 20 minutes, getting a lot of really good exercise, and some stunning strikes and misses. If I could offer her some ibuprofen tonight, she'd probably accept it if she could, as I suspect she could be sore from the hits she took on her dives through the branches. I was just about to call it quits and let those squirrels off the hook, and move on, when she made a last dive and scrape, knocking the squirrel off the branch, but following closely and sealing the deal on the ground. So her 5th squirrel was brought to the bag.

Here I'm posing with our hunting party today. Foxfeather is on my right (yes, that is her REAL name), and Amber on my left. Both are artists, and their work often incorporates their photography. They also took pictures, so I hope in the future to get to post a couple.

I had to include the above picture . . . Amber is getting wing whapped. There has been a lot of wing whapping going on this year . . . usually directed at me.

We then moved to a different location to fly Sassy. I was focusing on rabbits for her, but she had other plans. No bunnies were found, but she initially chased one squirrel, and then after it escaped, moved off to another part of the park we were in, and flushed a nest of them at the top of an evergreen. She caught one, but was stuck at the top holding her prize. She must have pierced it with her razor-sharp talons, because it died pretty quick. She then had to work herself free, and fall to the ground. I think the above picture was caught as she was on her way down . . . . bounce, bounce, bonk, whap. She might like some ibuprofen tonight too . . . if only they could swallow one.

This makes 2 squirrels and 3 bunnies for Sassy . . . . and 5 squirrels for Hit Girl. These girls are HOT!!

And I'm having a fabulous time with them!!

Thanks ladies for sharing the adventure today!

Motaki

2011-12-11T11:25:00.002-06:00

This blog that I keep and maintain is an open-forum creation. It is an open-book journal of my adventures, and sometimes my observations, though I tend to keep many opinions to myself, as I don't want controversy out here. I'd like to think of it as a positive advertisement for falconry, and how it can be a good and rewarding past-time, hobby, obsession in our modern world. Most visitors probably came here because I invited them over, however sometimes I get visitors who just find me out on the Internet, as this blog is searchable. Ms. Motaki (not her real name) is just such a person who found me, and has become one of my more loyal readers.

We have corresponded for awhile now. She asks me questions about falconry specifically, and about wildlife and nature in general, and shares her thoughts and dreams and stories about animals, and hunting (she has been spending time in a deer blind, just wasn't successful this last season).

A member of the Minnesota Falconry community hosted a min-meet on Saturday, December 10, and having the day off, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go to the Cities and meet her, and show off my birds, but also let this young person see other falconers and their birds. We met up for breakfast, she and a guardian, Dean (which I insisted on . . . she is a young lady after all). She got to see two other falconers work their hawks over bunnies, with one in particular who has a very nice, very well-trained cattle dog. Sassy was also flown briefly (it was pretty cold) and she furred a bunny as it escaped down a hole, but otherwise was distracted by all the mice in the grass, of which she did not catch any. I wanted to fly Hit Girl on squirrels, so broke away from the rest of the club and went with Motaki and Dean to a woods that they knew of. I figured this was a good move as well, because I wanted her to experience a personal hunt without the distraction of the hoard of people that turned out for the meet. I still don't know quite how well Hit Girl would respond with so many people in the field, and didn't want to find out the hard way, with her flying off.

We relocated to the new woods, and Hit Girl got to business quick. She was roving with a bit of distance and speed, making me ever so slightly uncomfortable as we were not keeping up with her, blocked by some pretty thick patches of marsh cattails, and houses, but then she/we bumped a squirrel, and the race was on. My Goodness . . . but this girl is quick when she means business! The squirrel was moved around on the tree only very briefly, for a twist or two around the branch, before she grabbed it and was down on the ground with it. I think Dean saw the grab, but I'm not sure if Motaki did. Both got to see what happens at the ground level. Hit Girl was fed up on the good parts, and then finished with what I had in my pocket. We then went back to the cars for pictures.

Motaki is fascinated by falconry, and thinks she just might like to get into this. She'd like to do so now . . . I've cautioned that it might take time, perhaps many years, but it never hurts to start learning now. Above I let her hold Sassy, and showed her how we position them on the glove. We even flew Sassy a little more in this park, and I let Motaki call her to the fist a couple times. I think she is hooked! I know I would have been at her age . . . . and wish I could have met someone like me when I was 12.

It was nice putting a face to the pen pal who has been writing to me for a few months now. I'd also like to thank Dean for bringing her along for the day's adventures . . . . and to her mom for letting her come. The Cities are a bit of a hike, but I could come that way from time to time, so we will definitely keep in touch.

Sprague Woods

2011-12-09T08:05:00.002-06:00

WHEW . . . finally my 6-day work stint is done. 12-hour a day schedule for six days can wear a gal down . . . especially if it's busy . . . and it has been the last couple nights. So was great to get out for a little walk today, even though I was pretty tired. Hit Girl was on fire and got to business right away. We were not in the woods we were working much more than 10 minutes and she had a squirrel. Rich's brother was along so got a picture of Mr. Russian Hat and I . . . usually Rich is behind the camera. Sprague Woods is minus one squirrel after today.

I don't have as tight field control over this gal like I did with Bailey last year. When hunting, she is very reluctant to come to my fist for a tidbit. She seems to be saying "Heck with those tiny bits of food you have, let's catch something bigger". She does have instant response to the lure, so I'm not too worried, so do focus getting to hunting . . . which is what we are supposed to be doing. However, today she demonstrated a behavior that she does manifest from time to time, and which is sooooo appropriate for her name sake. I'll offer a tidbit and call her. She will fly at me with incredible speed and force, and strike my fist, and keep going. Sometimes she grabs what I'm offering, most times she does not, as I'm holding onto it. She is definitely "HIT" girl . . . even if the name was given to her before I observed this behavior. Just as long as she never starts hitting me in the head.

Got Blood?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-12-09T07:45:00.000-06:00

I'm really having a good time this year with both my girls. Hit Girl is clearly getting the hang of what we are doing. I've got her target weight pretty well dialed in, and when I release her she gets about the business of hunting right away. Sometimes she is a bit far roving, chasing a few bunnies I kicked up for far too long when she was not in position when they first ran, but 'stick-to-it-ness' is a good trait. I should endeavor to set up an opportunity to expose her to jack rabbits, and see how she would do with them. That involves travel, 'cuz they are not found around here.

She was flown during a very small window on Tuesday morning, when I was involved in a shift change, from daytime the day before to the overnight on Tuesday. I was able to get out for a couple hours, then run home and get a nap and go to work. Rich and I were almost ready to call it quits . . . having worked the park for awhile, and had her chase several squirrels and bunnies unsuccessfully . . . when walking back to the car a squirrel bailed in the high top branches of one of the trees I had just walked past. HG zoomed in and plucked it out of the tree canopy, as easy as pie, and brought it to the ground. Number 2 squirrel in the bag.

No Hunting??

2011-12-06T07:47:00.001-06:00

Honest Officer . . . We were just out flying around!

These pics were taken and shared by Gwyn, of Birdin' & Trekkin', when we were out chasing squirrels. Thank You for sharing!

Entered!!

2011-11-30T16:37:00.000-06:00

Today Hit Girl proved she's got what it takes to be a falconry bird. The last few times I've flown her she was higher in weight than what I've come to expect to be a good response weight from her. This was proved by the fact she has been pretty lazy in the field the last couple times out. Colder weather has slimmed her back down to the 1300 grams, give or take, that she should be flown at. Today she was 1290, and flew aggressive.

We worked the park up town which is loaded with squirrels. I kept her hooded and climbed up a slope, hoping to kick out a bunny for her. After unhooding she took a commanding perch over us, and seemed to know her business. Rich and I were not in the patch we were working much more than a couple minutes when she came screaming in after a squirrel neither of us saw. She scraped it off the tree, and it hit the ground running, but she was in hot pursuit and wrapped it up like she's been doing this her whole life . . . which maybe she was up until the time she was snagged in my bow net. After suffocating the squirrel (there is no "stretching" like you do with a bunny, to break the neck, as squirrels are a heck of a lot tougher) I opened it up and allowed her to feed on her prize, again getting the best, warm parts (heart, lungs, liver). She then sweetly traded onto her lure allowing me to put squirrel away so we could take some pictures later.

This makes a complete set now. Justin's bird Goldie caught her first bunny yesterday. He has promised a picture for the blog, and as soon as I have it I'll post it. Hit Girl caught a squirrel today. Two new hawks, now Game Hawks!

Squirrels and Bunnies . . . . BEWARE!!!!

Gotta Love that Sassy!

2011-11-28T22:37:00.003-06:00

Today, Monday November 28, Justin met up with Rich and I in Rochester. I showed him one of my all-time best hunting spots in Byron. We flew his bird, Goldie, first. Both our red tailed hawks need to be entered. Goldie did pretty good, a bit stubborn at times, and she furred several bunnies, but didn't bring one to the bag. Justin had a very limited time to fly today, so after awhile she was brought down and had to go home. Instead of further pushing my favorite spot, preserving a few bunnies in there, we went and checked out a new and different place, as recommended by one of Rich's relatives. That spot turned out to not be so good . . . looked good, but we didn't flush anything. Also, Hit Girl is a bit heavier than I wanted her to be today, as I soaked her feet last night for several hours, to help sharpen up her talons which have gotten a bit dull, then let her stay inside the warm mews to dry off, so she didn't burn her calories as much as I would have liked. It was also a bit warmish today, high 30s being "warmish" for Minnesota in late November. I called her down to the lure, and we put her away, and went to hunt down some lunch. After lunch we looked for a place to fly the Harris Hawk.

The bad news is that one of my hunt locations that I've flown birds at is gone. It was a remote industrial park north of town which is abandoned, and which I flew my bird from last year in. This year it is active, being cleaned up, all the trees cut down, and the junk cleared away. So, that site was lost . . . . which is not too much of a loss, as it was marginal at best. The good news is I found a new site!! It is just perfect, a nice brushy, marshy spot in the middle of a neighborhood, and currently dry. In fact, as we worked it, and kicked up several bunnies, we even kicked up a deer . . . that's how perfect it is! Just as we were about to call it a day, Sassy snagged her third bunny. I dispatched and traded her off onto her lure, then fed her what I had in my pocket for her. After we got back to the car I dressed out the bunny, and then let her have the nice warm "good" innards (heart, lungs, liver). She was put away into her box very fat and Sassy! Gotta Love this Girl!! She's been keeping fresh bunny on the menu for both birds. Now it's time for Hit Girl to get her act together and start bringing home the bacon, or at least the bunny, as well.

This would be very bad . . . .

2011-11-24T20:05:00.000-06:00

Oh . . . I hope I never run into one of these while out hawking squirrels!

see more Gifs

Chasing Squirrels

2011-11-23T21:05:00.001-06:00

And making new friends . . .

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, I flew both birds in a couple locations in La Crosse. We were joined by Christina and her boyfriend, Paul (who is a pretty good shot with a Wrist Rocket) and by Gwyn, who I have known as "Birdin'" from Geocache team "Trekkin' and Birdin'". It was an enjoyable couple hours out in a snow-less fall, near winter day. Nothing was brought to the bag, but several squirrels had a pretty good scare today. I'm working tomorrow, someone has to at the hospital, so the birds will have a day or two off. So will the squirrels.

Hit Girl gets tips on how to find some of those elusive Geocaches.

Hit Girl

2011-11-17T20:30:00.008-06:00

Meet the new hawk. I'm calling her "Hit Girl", and she shows potential to be a downright vicious, hopefully squirrel-killing machine.

In this instance, vicious is GOOD!! I like a strong, pushy female red tailed hawk! :-D

She was trapped using a bow net overlooking the Mississippi River. Trap weight was 1400 grams (49.4 ounces . . . that's over THREE LBS!!) She's responded to the training quickly. Flight weight is around 1300 grams (45.8 ounces), give or take a little. I need to zero in a little closer, possibly higher, as she may be flying right now a little too sharp . . . or she is just being the bitch that she is promising to be. Read on for details.

She is a standard colored Eastern red tail, but it sure feels different having this big girl hit my fist, after the little wimpy guy I had last year. It's amazing what one more pound of pure power can feel like hitting your arm. Thus far, she is not as footy as Nina was, my last big female red tail, but this girl, unlike most red tailed hawks I have worked with, likes to use her beak. She strikes and bites often, like she was a falcon or something. I don't look forward to the day she does hand shake me . . . she has quite the grip through the glove.

(After the video be sure to click to see more . . . this blog post is doing weird things, going into an extended page, which I've never seen it do before. More content to see!)

OK . . . now to explain the name. Rich suggested the name for this bird, and so far, she is living up to her name-sake. It is taken from the 2010 movie Kick-Ass, which is based on a comic book. Really it is a lot better to just show some videos. This one is a preview that gives you a gist of what the movie is about. OK Folks . . . this also requires a warning . . . this is a Rated R movie, so we have us some bad language here. If you are a listening at home, and are of a young and impressionable age . . . put the head sets on. I'm sure you've heard this stuff before, but I don't normally use profanity in my blog . . . . but just can't be helped in order to explain the name.

Hit Girl is an 11-year-old assassin, trained from a very young age as an instrument of revenge upon some very bad guys. She's not all sweetness and light . . . not even close . . . but most red tailed hawks aren't either, so it fits. Here is a teaser just for her role in the movie. (Sorry, you might have to look at a commercial first.)

Kick-Ass Hit Girl Red Band Trailer - Click here for more home videos

Now, an extended clip of just her own special 'badness'. Be sure to click to go full screen.

KICK ASS - Hit Girl (Best of) from HellishTrickySoul87 on Vimeo.

And last, but certainly not least, a pretty cool music video.

I flew her free yesterday and today for the first time. Yesterday was late in the evening, almost dusk, and she unexpectedly decided something about Rich's head looked like a possible meal.

This is an act of aggression which needs to be tempered by getting her on game. We flew her in the park here today, but the squirrels were not as active as they usually are. She did attempt to make a few hits on both of us, living up to her name, but then started to focus on the squirrels we did move. No catches today, but the rest of the hunt went better, with her moving from tree to tree as she was supposed to, and with her not making demands for food. (Rich is only slightly jokingly shopping for a viking helmet to wear in the field).

I think she will work out to be a fine game hawk . . . we just have to finish up with the training, and with her learning my value in the field, to kick up quarry for her to catch. I'm looking forward to seeing what Hit Girl can do.

Sassy Strikes Again

2011-11-17T19:33:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, November 15 I met up with my girlfriend, Patti, in the La Crosse area, for a little shopping, a little hawking, and lunch. Rich came along . . . he doesn't mind tagging along with the girls. We are planning another get together soon, and will run to the Mall of America for the holidays. Rich will be our driver, 'cuz it's more fun that way, and also in case we wanna drink.

But anyways . . . . this was the first time Patti has seen me hawking. I even let her hold briefly my bird, as she is such a sweetie. We flew Sassy, and she performed stellar, catching her second bunny in quick order. Patti didn't see the actual catch, well, none of us did, as it happened at the bottom of a fairly steep slope. Rich got some pictures, but it recorded onto his internal memory on his camera, and we can't find the 'fire wire' to transfer. A new one is on the way, mail order, so I'll have new pics when that arrives. We also flew free very briefly the new girl. She is doing well. Her 'coming out' post is next.

**** UPDATE****

Firewire arrived . . . here are a couple more pictures from that day.

A nice bunny catch

Getting wing whapped

Farm Art

2011-11-17T10:25:00.000-06:00

Sometime in the unknown past year or two Richard went to a farm auction, and found this really unique piece of metal. He did auction battle with a junk man, and placed the winning bid on what he thinks was the bottom to an old furnace. He saw potential in this large and heavy chunk of metal, and here is the end result. He brought it home, and it sat idle for a long while. Then he got busy and sanded and primed it, then delivered to a friend, a co-worker of his, who has made several artistic creations based on photography that both Rich and I have taken with my various birds.

It combines two themes which are representative of our union. For me, the kestrel is a significant animal which I much admire, and always enjoy spotting in the wild. I had a kestrel as a falconry bird once, and plan to do so again, some day. For Richard, tractors have always been favored objects of utility, and of function, and dare I even say, beauty? The tractor painted above is a 1940 Farmall H, Rich's own personal tractor. When I first came to the farm, after meeting his family, I met the tractor. It lives in one of the many barns, and comes out once in awhile to make hay.

The artist is Karen Lewis, and she is available for commission work. If you click her name you will be directed to her own web page. Eventually I envision this lovely work sitting outside our front door, welcoming friends to our home.

Sassy

2011-11-10T22:06:00.000-06:00

Today Richard and I and the Harris Hawk made a trip to Rochester to meet up with some friends there, have some yummy Indian food for lunch, and fly the bird. I've been calling her Sassy Pants, or just Sassy, and it seems to be sticking. I like this girl! She is so nice, for a hawk, but she's a tough girl and hunts too. Today we worked a favorite spot along a RR track in Byron, and within 20 minutes, and about the third bunny flush, she caught this bunny. She's had two other catches of squirrels lately, scraping them off their branch and bringing them to the ground, but they were big gray squirrels that kicked her off. She's chased several others. She has heart . . . and I'm having a good time with her. When we arrived to Rochester we had to make a quick stop due to some of our cargo shifting, and when we stopped there were some city crows milling about. I'm told this girl will hunt crows, so I had to pick up a guide to find out when they can be hunted. We missed the fall season, but it will pick up again in the spring, so I just might have to do some car hawking with her. Soon it will probably be too cold to hunt her . . . . so the new bird is being groomed and will be ready.

New Bird??

Yes . . . soon I'll have the Coming Out Party for my new Red Tailed Hawk. Come visit again.

Meet Goldie

2011-11-09T16:57:00.002-06:00

Meet "Goldie" (or maybe that is "Goldy"). This is Justin's new bird, and I guess could be called my "step-bird" or "god-child bird" or something silly like that. She was trapped under my license, then immediately transferred as a gift to Justin, due to the loss of Annabelle. She retains, or better shows off the golden breast feathers which some of the Eastern red tailed hawk juveniles show, but which I have not noticed that prominently in all the birds I have worked with. Justin was going to adopt the practice of naming his birds alphabetically, starting with A on the first bird, then B for this one, but he got out-voted by his wife and kids, so his new bird is being called "Goldie". I guess I need to check with his wife to find out how she is spelling it.

I went over today to visit, and see how she is doing, and also to help Justin install a backpack. This is a relatively newer form of attaching a transmitter to a bird, one of the more difficult installations, but placing the transmitter on the best possible location. The bird wears a close fitting harness which gets tucked under their feathers and lays comfortably across their breast. The transmitter is attached to a smooth plate on their back. It is out of the way of their feet, is not at any risk of breaking any major feathers (another attachment location is a deck feather on the tail, which can result in the tail feather being yanked out) and puts the transmitter on the highest location on the bird for best signal pickup when tracking. I've watched the installation video by Marshall, and then saw two installed on my Harris Hawk and one of Dave's birds last week. It went fairly smoothly, and his bird took the whole process well with minimal fuss. She is ready, transmitter wise, now for her first flight . . . though she is not ready to fly free. She is coming to the fist outside, but needs further weight reduction for better response.

You can see the transmitter in this photo above. There is an antenna which comes out below. She's not too happy about it right now, and 'jazzing' with it, but should settle down after worrying it a bit, and accept its presence.

Here is Justin working with his new bird. I'm glad I was able to help get him back into his first season. He is eager to get his bird trained and get out hunting.

Little Video of the New (warm) Mews

2011-11-05T22:24:00.000-05:00

A New (warm) Hawk Mews

2011-11-05T21:02:00.004-05:00

OK, I have been holding off blogging about this project so that I could present the entire story, with a lot of pictures, though the project is not considered complete. There is still a lot to be done, but for now one of the first major goals has been achieved, with much thanks to my husband Richard, with a lot of help from his brother Brian.

Back in July Richard saw the following item up for auction on one of the many sites he follows. He pointed it out to me, and at first I was skeptical, but with further thought about it, decided it was not such a bad idea. We took the 3.5 hour trip to go see it, West of the Twin Cities. It was an electrician contractor's job shack. It has seen some wear and tear, but is basically sound, and a good shell to build up a "mobile" mews . . . that is, one that could be moved from the farm to our eventual home, once we purchase one. I decided it was a worthy project, so Richard was on hand at the end of the online auction, and placed the winning bid for me. With taxes and fees, it was $470. Not really a bad price for a little trailer.

It has updated wiring inside (they were electricians after all) and there is a propane heating unit, which up to this point still has not been tested, and may never be. It also came with two air conditioning units, one of which is totally shot, and was parted out. The other runs, but not sure if it cools. I'm not particularly concerned about it right now. Richard and Brian and myself made the trip back to where it was located, and Rich hitched it to his truck, and drove it back to the farm. It took twice as long to return as we couldn't go much faster than about 45 to 50 mph. They parked it alongside one of the many work sheds on the farm.

Both dogs inspected it when it arrived.

I've taken pictures of what the entire inside looked like, but for now I'm only going to focus on the one room (which is now the South room) as it is the first room to be converted. Originally I wanted to have a warm mews so I could get a kestrel, or maybe a merlin, but then the Harris Hawk became available and I added her to my license. So she was the bird that the room was destined for. Let me clarify as well . . . when I say I need a "warm" mews, I simply mean one that I can maintain above freezing. Harris Hawks are adapted to live in the desert, and it does get cold at night in the desert, but they are not adapted to deal with anything much below the 20s Fahrenheit. She will be comfortable in her new home.

This is the BEFORE picture, taken on site before we won the auction. There were shelves installed holding the electrician's equipment. After the auction all of this stuff was gone, but there were still shelves. This is the only room in the trailer, with a sealing door, so we started there. Also to clarify, I say "we" but really, I didn't do anything, other than dump money into my own personal money pit. Rich and Brian did all the work.

Out those shelves go! The parts were saved and reconstructed to make stand alone shelves which were moved into our storage shed, so my stuff in storage got re-organized as well.

As the shelves were removed, it was discovered that the floor and wall on the back side were highly damaged from a water leak. The leak was isolated, and fixed, but that side of the building needed to be completely rebuilt.

The insulation was substandard as well, so with the refit, all new insulation was installed.

Here they are completely rebuilding the wall.

And the floor . . . though the floor was actually done first.

Then there are some missing pictures, because a lot of progress was made over a period of days that I was working, so I wasn't around to take pictures. All four windows in the room were replaced with brand new ones, then the new insulation installed, and here below, the new panels over it all. These are bathroom style panels, easily cleaned up from the hawk poop (slices) which surely will be coating the walls quickly.

Rich is finishing up the new wall panels.

He then custom built the window bars as required by the falconry regulations, but went one step further and made them attached to hinges, so in the summer months I may easily open the windows to let the fresh air in.

At some point during all this construction they also replaced one of the two doors (the more inferior of the two) on the 'Hawk Shack'. This replacement door was also purchased from an auction. The other door opens into the room that is being converted. For now it is being closed off for the winter. Next year when it gets warm, I'd like to have a full door with the bars made so I can open that in good weather.

Rich used his welding skills to custom make perch fittings. Here he is installing one of them.

I had him pose with his drill. Actually . . . that's MY battery operated drill!! Behind him is the closed off door. The hawk gets to look at the Pink Panther all winter.

The final stage was to introduce the room to the hawk. She has taken to it quickly, and bounces between the windows to see what is going on outside.

So that is the one room of the 'Hawk Shack'. The rest of the shack has a lot of storage shelves, which I will be leaving to store all my junk. The floor at the door needs work, and the other side of the trailer could also be converted to a second mews . . . but that is a project for another day. For now . . . I am quite delighted with the gift I've been given from Rich. Thank You Rich!! And Brian!!

First Successful Hunt

2011-10-25T21:38:00.001-05:00

Today my new Harris Hawk proved that she's an efficient game hawk.

After my long work weekend I wanted to get out and let this girl stretch her wings. She's been 'cooped' up the last few days, sometimes being tied out in the weathering yard, if it wasn't too cold, at 4:15 when we left for work, but yesterday not because it was too cold. We took her to an old tree plantation I know about that has bunnies. I thought she would have a good chance to chase and catch one there.

After being in the field about 20 minutes or so, and not having bumped a single bunny, we moved through some of the trees, which now have grown to full size. The HH launched herself at a tree, and I looked up and yelled 'squirrel'! She dove from her perch, but missed the first time. The tree rat ran up the tree, and jumped to a neighboring tree. This girl is smart, compared to Bailey from last year. She knows to look up. She moved and repositioned herself, and quickly scooped up the squirrel nice and handy. Then, she was stuck up the tree, being preoccupied with keeping the squirrel secured. It took a few minutes, but finally she parachuted down, getting caught up a time or two, enough for Richard to take a picture, on the many branches.

I've learned that she is quite footy when on prey, but thankfully doesn't have quite the hand-shake that a RT would have. On our way out of the field I stopped for a picture. Just at that moment we kicked the only bunny seen in the field. The bird above had come back up onto her toes, ready to chase. Even with a full crop she was ready to hunt some more.

This girl came with the name "Oona". I don't really care for that name. Frequently I've been calling her "Sassy Pants". It's not an elegant name, but it fits. She's a sassy girl . . . . but she is a killer . . . and that is what a hawk should be!

Hawk Fishing

2011-10-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today I manned my own bow netting station. We were successful in snagging a few birds from the sky. I'll return soon to write about our adventures. For now, it is late . . . and I need to get to bed. Going into my work weekend.

Wish I could bow net all weekend instead of work. But . . . glad I have a job!

A Most Miserable Day

2011-10-15T20:57:00.002-05:00

I hate it that falconry is filled with these ups and downs. I don't want to give up hope, but at least this is one more forum where this can be reported.

LOST - Female Red-Tailed Hawk, Krider's color morph, wearing leg band number RO107178. She is wearing a transmitter which should have about a 14 mile radius, beeping on frequency 216.066. Batteries are brand new, and should last about 10 days. Last seen approximately 1 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2011.

We took her to the park here in my little town of Spring Grove. She was doing great, coming when called, quickly. We relayed her a couple times, then I had Justin take the creance off. She continued to come to him, no problem. I then had him move towards the woods at the edge of the park. She took a tree, and almost immediately started hunting. Within 5 minutes, she was chasing a squirrel. We pursued that squirrel for around 10 minutes before it was lost in a brush pile. Justin called her back, and we moved across the park to where there was an open grove of oak trees, which have lots of squirrels. Almost immediately, she engaged another squirrel. We helped by whooping and hollaring, and whacking the tree . . . . and she caught it. I though GREAT! But then as she should have kited down to the ground, instead she caught a wind, and surfed down the slope, into the valley where there is a creek. We lost sight of her as she flew up the creek, among some thick tree cover. We then began the searching. We never saw where she came down to ground. Surely she did, to eat her dinner. But where she went after that . . . we don't know. We spent the next several hours walking back and forth in the valley, and I got my telemetry out, but got no signal. I've spent the rest of the day and into the night making greater and greater circles out of Spring Grove, hoping to catch a signal. Nothing!! :-(

We had a fairly stiff wind out of the North West today, which would have taken her South and East, towards Iowa, then Wisconsin, across the Mississippi River. She is a beautiful bird! She is a good gamehawk. And she is my apprentice's first bird. I feel really bad about her loss . . . but he did everything he was supposed to.

I realize this forum is not a great place to advertise, but I'm posting it here nonetheless. I've also placed a notice on NAFA, and will ask the Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa Clubs if they could hopefully post a bird missing report.

If you spot, or hear any report of this bird, please e-mail at either ladyhawker65@yahoo.com or phoenixfirefalconry@yahoo.com. Sorry . . . not posting my cell phone number here for any bots to find, then bug me to death with calls. I'll check e-mail often.

One of those Most Memorable Days!

2011-10-14T22:33:00.001-05:00

My day started early, a full day off, with intentions to 'hawk stalk' all day. I planned to visit with Justin in the morning and see how Annabelle is progressing with her training. I found her sunning herself in her weathering yard . . . such a beautiful girl! She then displayed that she is doing great with her training, and ready to be flown free. Justin is waiting for a transmitter to arrive in the mail. I've invited him to bring her tomorrow to my home, to fly in a park down the street with one of my transmitters, which will offer a distracting new location, for us to test that she is just as willing to fly to him there as at home. If so, tomorrow we will give her a short free flight, and maybe even a short hunt. There are squirrels in that park that need chasing . . . which my hawk last year was simply not up to the job. I'll report later how the big day goes.

On my way over to visit with Justin, I received a call from Dave, my former sponsor, inviting me to come sit in his blind for bow netting. I am oh so very glad I accepted the invitation! I have all the gear assembled, and will be doing some bow netting myself on this side of the river. Today gave me a chance to witness the set-up in person, and to observe the process. Oh . . . and what the process produced today!

When I arrived, Dave was giving a 'Falconry 101' lesson to the landowner, who so graciously has let Dave trap there. He was up at the bow netting location, checking out the whole process, which was good as it helped me to locate Dave. He had given me directions, which took me up a hill, down a back road, through a couple farm yards, onto what was a private drive. After I arrived the landowner got back into his truck and returned to his farm. Dave and I then got down to the serious business of 'hawk fishing'.

As we sat with the incredibly high winds blowing, several red tailed hawks were trapped, assessed, and ultimately released for being too small. The bow netting station is at the top of a bluff, overlooking the Mississippi River, at an otherwise undisclosed location. The view is fabulous! We can see birds at a distance. There were many bald eagles, vultures, crows and pigeons. There is also the occasional odd raptor, a Coopers Hawk, a Merlin, the local peregrine hunting those pigeons. As we sat, peering out the blind's windows, waiting for the next hawk, a pair of birds at a distance caught our attention. It was a vulture being shadowed by a falcon. The birds matched movement to movement, the falcon chasing and harassing the vulture. They passed beyond us, out of our sight, with Dave pulling the lure pigeon vigorously. We both collectively caught and held our breath when the falcon began to buzz our lure pigeon.

Dave has a couple of dho-gazza's out, for just such an opportunity, but the intense wind had blown them down. However, we sat silent and hopeful. The falcon returned time and again, buzzing the setup, and finally committed and came to ground and bound to the pigeon. Dave froze. I froze. We waited for her to assess her safety, then bend and attend to what she hoped would be her next meal. Slowly, Dave inched the pair into the bow net center, and . . . . WHOMP . . . . he had her!!

Dave had drawn one of only three permits to trap a peregrine in the state of Wisconsin. Only two birds were going to be allowed to be taken from those three permitees, and unfortunately those two were already filled. He has been promised that if he gets a permit next year, he will be first on the list. It's too bad . . . for she was perfect! A very large female peregrine falcon, weighing 1083 grams (38.2 oz). She is HUGE, and larger by far than the two birds that were taken by other falconers . . . but unfortunately, she had to be released. We took pictures, then sent her on her way. After release, she climbed into the sky, roused on the wing, and went about her way, like we hadn't stopped her journey in the least.

Today I got to touch and hold a wild peregrine. No leg bands on this big girl. It was an incredible experience, and will go down in my memory as one very special day. I'm very glad I got to share the experience with my very good friend, and former sponsor, Dave Noble. Thank You Dave!

First Hunt

2011-10-11T22:30:00.002-05:00

At the encouragement of her previous owner, I have thrown caution to the wind, and taken Oona out to hunt almost immediately. The pictures here were taken on Monday, flying around the farm. Today, Tuesday, Rich and I took her to another location we have permission to fly in, for an official first hunt. No pictures taken today, so gotta use the ones from yesterday.

I like this picture above. I don't like the way I look in it . . . so I have edited myself! Oona didn't seem to know how to deal with corn. She wants to land on it, but it is not strong enough to hold her weight. She did make one dive from a tree after what may have been a mouse. There just are not many bunnies to be found on our farm . . . too many coyotes, not to mention my Mother-In-Law's dog . . . that likes to keep all other small mammals in line around the property.

Oona is not what I would consider to be "at weight" . . . however being a Harris Hawk, does not fly off, like a red-tail would. She is slow to respond to a call to the fist. She doesn't always take the best perches to advantage herself with the best view of the action. Just like my little Harris Hawk I had down in Texas, sometimes she likes to get down in the action. Only, in Texas the action was at the base of a cactus. Here, it is amongst the pile of burdock and branches, and all the overgrown greenery which is still very much alive and tangling. We did flush 2 rabbits for her, and she made a go at both of them, but missed them both. The second escaped into the stand of corn across the street. It is much harder to hunt while so many plants are still either alive, or standing. The winter snow beats a lot of this stuff down. It was also hot and sweaty work.

Oona is very responsive to the lure . . . but like several hawks before her, has a tendency to try and "snatch and fly". She tried that today. Fortunately, I had a firm grip on the lure line. Again, a sign this bird is both (A) Not completely familiar with hunting with me, and (B) not at weight. I think she may be improved, I hope, with bringing her weight down a little more. She also got really keyed up after the hunt. I don't think her aggression was sufficiently extinguished with just getting the lure. She would benefit from being hood trained, but showed me today she doesn't like that much either. She can be like velcro when she is unhappy. Well . . . I have some work ahead to positively condition her to how I'd like her to behave.

She really is quite a lovely lady! She does NOT have a very pretty voice. Anyone who has had a Harris Hawk would know this. She also reserves a specially hideous squawk for my little dog. She made a pot shot at her yesterday, while tethered on her tall perch. The little dog just ran by, never fearing anything from above. Oona missed her mark, so the point was not fully appreciated by the little dog. I'll have to monitor the two to prevent a confrontation.

I'm kinda inclined to want to rename this bird. However, I'm not sure exactly what to change the name to. I've been calling her 'Sassy Pants' mostly because she is, but that is no name to change to. I've tossed around the notion of giving her a Hispanic woman's name, as her species comes from South Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and all of Mexico, down into South America. I've thought of calling her 'Rosalita' . . . . but I'm not sure about that either. Time will solidify my decision.

For now, I'm intrigued by this bird's soft mumbles and grumbles while in the hand. Sometimes I'm a bit annoyed by the constant calling sometimes from her mews. She will not be heard quite so well when she gets into her permanent mews. She has some quirks I need to either get used to, or condition around. She likes taking her jesses out of her anklets . . . and is quite good at doing it quick. Usually falconers learn their birds when the train them. We have some learning to do, but we'll keep flying, and work out the kinks together.

Welcome Oona!

2011-10-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

Here is my new hawk, Oona. She was captive bred in 2008, and already an accomplished game hawk. I picked her up from her previous falconer yesterday at the Minnesota Falconers monthly meeting. It was nice to meet some new people, and after the meeting we did a little hawking with some of the members who brought their birds. Oona is finishing up her molt, but I'm told pretty much ready to go. I'm giving her a day or two to get familiar with her, and she with me, and will probably take her hunting this week. This morning I got her settled into my RT mews . . . she has her own, which I will be able to keep warm this winter, but it is still under constructed, and not quite finished. She has had a bath, some breakfast, demonstrated to me that she definitely knows what a lure is, and at this time is catching some rays on my tall perch. It is nice to have her here.

She came with the name. I'll decide later if it will stay. I'm guessing she was named after the willful fairy in the 1985 movie, Legend.

A hawk's heart beats "fierce and free" as well!

It Just Isn't Fair!!

2011-10-04T01:43:00.003-05:00

Introducing . . . . Annabelle!!

Here is Justin, my first apprentice, showing off possibly the prettiest hawk I've ever had the pleasure to see up close and hold. It is simply not fair!! I'm not sure who to complain to. This is his first ever hawk, and he trapped what appears to be either a Krider's Red Tailed Hawk, or at least a very light phase bird. When she molts this next year we will know if she is a true Krider's . . . if she keeps the stripes in her tail.

(Your bird is pretty, but maybe we should have considered your shirt when we took pictures, eh Justin?)

I've had 7 hawks, six of them red tailed hawks, and I've never had any bird even remotely close to these colors. Up until now, I've never even seen a Krider's in the wild, nor in person up close. He really is lucky to have trapped this bird, just about a mile and a half from his house. It's just not fair!

Despite some mutes in her tail . . . . Look At That Tail! The colors are really quite unique!

When she was trapped she had what turned out to be a lot of pine pitch on her feet. They were absolutely covered, and gave the appearance of more a serious foot condition. However, a good soaking, and scrubbing, and that all washed clean. She does have two wounds to her feet, but both I, and my much more experienced friend, Dave, judged them to be clean, and healing well. Perhaps she got them while hunting squirrels.

She's sitting the fist well, taking tidbits, and even jumped to the fist. So far, she is very sweet, and shows all the signs of a very delightful first hawk for Justin.

I tease him . . . . and tell him I'm jealous . . . . but really, I'm quite happy for him for trapping this beautiful bird. He is very enthusiastic about becoming a falconer, and Annabelle should make his first season very enjoyable!

CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN!!

Trapping . . . and soon a New Hawk

2011-09-25T11:40:00.002-05:00

Saturday started out as a cool, misty morning, which only became more gloomy as I drove closer to Rochester, but cleared in the later morning to become a bright, sunny fall day. Christina Thompson joined me to go 'hawk stalkin'. I've been out several times so far this fall, only having trapped one previous bird with Justin, which was a male, based on its weight, so we let it go. So far this season, the passage birds really are not moving in such a way as to spot them. I'm seeing adults, haggards we call them, everywhere. About 20 to 25 of them yesterday, but only one passage bird about a half hour into our trip, which was promptly caught. I judged this one to be a female, at 2 lbs, 10 ounces (42 ounces). I'd really like to take a bird that is trapped over the three pound mark initially, so it was decided to release her. She had very dirty feet, and really was not as "grippy" as the bird I trapped with Justin. The season is still young, and there is time. We need a really good, killing frost and some wind to knock all the leaves off the trees. Then the birds will be much easier to spot. We probably passed by lots of passage birds, hiding in the trees, that we just didn't see. Also, a good cold snap will hopefully get those passage birds from up in Canada moving our way. There is time . . . though sometimes the urge to get the next bird can be very enticing, making you want to hold onto whatever you trap. (Right Justin??)

Yesterday's adventures also included making my way across the state, to Hector, Minnesota, to see a woman about a hawk, as opposed to seeing a man about a horse, with no nefarious intents in mind. An advertisement was posted by a fellow Minnesota falconer on a falconry forum, looking to sell a 2008 female captive bred Harris Hawk. She is an experienced hunter, but her falconer is busy with two hunting gyrfalcons, as well as a gyrfalcon breeding project. I wanted to meet the bird, however felt fairly certain I would want to purchase her. We were introduced, and she screamed a lot at me, and everyone else, mostly because she was hungry. I was able to pick her up, and take her outside, and though not at weight for hunting, was instructed to let her fly up to one of the trees, which she did. I was given a chicken leg, and called her to the fist. She hesitated for only a short time, probably wondering who I was, but did come to the fist and started to eat. I returned her to her mews to finish her meal.

I've put a down-payment on her, and will come to collect her in the very near future. I want to finish my 'warm mews', before bringing her home. I have also been invited to come go hawking with her when I come to collect her . . . which would be great. She has caught jack rabbits, so I hope to do the same with her, though not around where I live as we don't have jacks here. As for our hunting here where I live, we do have lots of squirrels, which she is experienced at. I'm also told she catches crows. I'll write more about her when she comes to live with me.

The rest of our visit was involved in chatting, and meeting both the hunting and breeding gyrfalcons. Christina and I were allowed to hold them, so here is the gratuitous picture of that.

Beautiful creatures!!

Dispelling Misconceptions through Education

2011-08-28T07:59:00.009-05:00

I have recently had a brief e-mail conversation with a young person who finds falconry very interesting, and would perhaps one day like to pursue our sport. She has some obstacles in her path, with the primary one being her age. Her parent is also not enthusiastic about her plans. I decided this was as good an opportunity as any to make a blog entry which contains many of the points I like to make when I give educational talks about falconry. I strongly encourage and hope that any other falconers who read my blog would please feel free to chime in with a comment and add to this argument. After all . . . . we all are always needing to educate the public about what we do, and to quickly dispel misconceptions out there about the sport that we are so very passionate about.

Falconry has been practiced for many thousands of years. Different sources will credit it's beginning to different times and cultures, but suffice to say, it has been around for a very long time. Granted, for many of those years it was practiced only by the elite. However, today, especially in the United States, it is pursued by the common man. With diligence and hard work it can be practiced on a budget. Certainly, there are expenses, but it can be a worthy goal to make young people work hard at summer jobs to afford some of the equipment, and compel them to learn skills, or trade favors, to get equipment made.

Caring for and training a hawk requires a great deal of attention, and under the proper tutelage of a good sponsor, can instill compassion and responsibility in a young person.

Many of the birds that are acquired for falconry either were trapped from the wild, or were bred in captivity specifically for falconry. It is the common practice of many falconers to trap a new bird in the fall, train her and hunt her throughout the entire winter, then either keep her through the summer (intermew her) or release her back to the wild, a wiser, more fit, better experienced hunting bird. We only take first year birds, from those produced the previous summer. Statistics have found an approximate 60% to 70% death rate of those first year birds, in the wild. It's hard to be a predator!! Once your parent stops feeding you, you have to figure out how to hunt and feed yourself. You have to learn to avoid danger to your life from other predators, and power lines, and cars, and jerks with guns. You have to survive injury. Birds trapped and taken into falconry get an extra long training period to perfect their hunting, and they have a safety net in the falconer. If they don't catch prey today, they will still be fed. If they get hurt, they will get vet care. Those are the duties the falconer takes on when he borrows a bird from the wild. Yes, some falconers will keep their birds for many years, maybe even the entire bird's life . . . but MOST don't! Many wild caught birds regain their freedom a year or two or three after their time in falconry, and they return back to their wild nature very quickly. Some birds take their own freedom back. When we hunt . . . they are flying free, and sometimes they don't come back. We fly them with equipment that does not hinder that process if it should happen. (We also usually fly them with telemetry so we DO get them back!)

Restoration of the wild population of Peregrine Falcons in the United States owes a direct debt of gratitude to falconers! The Peregrine Fund was established by Tom Cade, Ph.D, a falconer. You can link over to their web site and read about the multiple conservation programs they have sponsored successfully, and their ongoing work. Falconers provided the birds to breed, and the know-how on how to breed them in captivity, and provided the results of those breedings to be released and restore the wild population. We love these birds, and we want them to have their place in the wild. Here is an article that I found which goes into much more detail about the process of and concerns with raptor breeding.

Talon Hunt

And here is the Wikipedia entry about the Peregrine Falcon. Be sure to scroll down and note it was falconers that stepped forward to save this American species.

The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine was co-founded by Dr. Pat Redig, a passionate falconer. It is one of the preeminent research and teaching facilities for raptor medicine. The Center's staff have healed and falconry training techniques have rehabilitated countless birds and returned them to the wild. Those which could not be rehabilitated fully survived their injuries, and have become ambassadors for their wild kin, to educate people about the wildlife around us, and to inspire conservation to remove dangers to them, and protect the wild places they live in.

In order to get a falconry license a prospective apprentice must construct a housing facility, called a mews, and also provide a "weathering" area, where the bird may be safely tethered outside in the sunshine and fresh air. The first facilities might be simplistic, utilitarian, but with time, many falconers build very elaborate housing facilities. Even now, I am working on a project to improve my own mews. More on that much later when I have results to report. The goal is to have a home, a Mews, for the bird that they are comfortable in, and safe. They do spend a lot of time in their mews and weathering area, but they do so un-hooded. They are not kept in dark, sun-less rooms, hooded and tied to a perch. In their mews they are often "free lofted", where they can move around as they please, into the sun, or away from the window, or up on the tallest perch.

Hooding - is a technique that is for the bird's benefit. A raptor's primary sensory input is through their eyes. When they cannot see anything that is threatening to them, they relax and are calm. A completely wild, newly trapped hawk that is hooded will sit calmly on the fist. Hooding is a training technique that not all falconers employ, and is not used all the time. It is only used when birds are being transported, if they would be upset by seeing the world zoom by them (some birds get used to being kept on a block or perch in a falconer's vehicle, and don't need to be hooded), or when the falconer is around other falconers with their birds, to keep the bird's calm from their own kind, or to prevent them from flying after prey when another bird is taking it's turn doing the hunting. Bird's are hooded only as needed, and do not spend a great deal of time in the hood. Some falconers don't hood at all.

Hunting! Yes, falconry is hunting! In fact, that is exactly what it is. Falconry is not pet-keeping. In the United States you have to have a license to engage in falconry. In countries like the UK all you need is the money, so pet keeping does happen there. In the US, Falconry is Hunting! Yes, small, cute and furry animals are caught and killed . . . . but Grow Up Already! That happens EVERY DAY in nature. Squirrels and Rabbits and Hares and Mice and Rats and Pigeons and Pheasant and Starlings and European House Sparrows and Ducks and many other such prey species have multiple offspring, every year. The natural environment cannot support all those animals indefinitely, so predators keep them in balance. Predators weed out the sick and the slow and the stupid, so only the healthiest and fittest and cleverest live to the next season to continue their species. Predators pay with their bodies and their lives to keep this balance. They will continue this cycle whether we are involved or not. Falconry is conditioning a bird of prey to let you come along. We don't train them to hunt. That is instinctual! We don't train them to bring prey back to us. We train them to let us come along, help them, improve their hunting success, and watch the eternal struggle between predator and prey. The prey animals get away . . . . A LOT! Sometimes the near misses and escapes are the most exciting to see. Many bird watchers only wish they could see some of the behavior that falconers get to see up close and personal, every day we go out with our birds.

I think I'll bring this post to a close with a fairly famous quote that most falconers know. Aldo Leopold was "influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for wilderness conservation." This quote was taken from the Wikipedia entry about him: Aldo Leopold

The following may be found in one of his most famous publications, A Sand County Almanac with essays on conservation from Round River, Oxford University Press 1966. This is excerpted from the article 'A man's leisure time'.

The most glamorous hobby I know of today is the revival of falconry. It has a few addicts in America and perhaps a dozen in England – a minority indeed. For two and a half cents one can buy and shoot a cartridge that will kill the heron whose capture by hawking required months or years of laborious training of both the hawk and the hawker. The cartridge, as a lethal agent, is a perfect product of industrial chemistry. One can write a formula for its lethal reaction. The hawk, as a lethal agent, is the perfect flower of that still utterly mysterious alchemy – evolution. No living man can, or possibly ever will, understand the instinct of predation that we share with our raptorial servant. No man-made machine can, or ever will, synthesize that perfect coordination of eye, muscle, and pinion as he stoops to his kill. The heron, if bagged, is inedible and hence useless (although the old falconers seem to have eaten him, just as a Boy Scout smokes and eats a flea-bitten summer cottontail that has fallen victim to his sling, club, or bow). Moreover the hawk, at the slightest error in technique of handling, may either ‘go tame’ like Homo sapiens or fly away into the blue. All in all, falconry is the perfect hobby.

(As a side note to the above quote, it should be stated that falconers do not hunt herons as they are a protected species. The above quote was written in the early 1900's. Falconers must comply with all hunting regulations regarding target species, hunting seasons, and daily bag limits. Some states do have a 'let it lay' law, where if your bird does kill a target species that is out of season, or worse, not a huntable animal, the bird may feed on the kill, so there is no waste, but the remaining carcase cannot be made a part of your game bag. Not all states have this law, so residents of each state must be knowledgeable of the particular laws of where you live.)

Bubble Tea

2011-08-28T06:58:00.000-05:00

On Saturday I took a road trip and met up with my girlfriend who lives in the Necedah, Wisconsin area (where I used to live) and took her to Madison for the Farmer's Market, and a little gratuitous economic stimulation (shopping). On my list of things to do while in that college town was to hunt down a place that serves "Bubble Tea" and give it a try. I heard about this on an NPR show, This American Life. I asked myself . . . "Self . . . What the heck is Bubble Tea?" So, the Internet filled me in.

Bubble Tea

The Internet then also helped me find a place where I could explore this libation. Here is a link to the tea shop I found, and a very nice article about the owners.

Jade Mountain

I chose a black tea with mango. It was a slushy, cold concoction, sweet, though I'm unsure of where the sweetness came from, as I didn't have to add anything to it. Floating at the bottom are big, black, squishy tapioca balls. That's the intriguing part of this drink. It was tasty! It was fun! I'll have to try it again sometime, a different flavor, and maybe next time have some pot stickers.

The Migration is On!!

2011-08-16T21:17:00.001-05:00

Well . . . at least the observers up at Hawk Ridge in Duluth have started their fall migration raptor count, as of yesterday, August 15. Here is the link:

Hawk Count

And look . . . one Red Tailed Hawk, two Kestrels, and two Merlins for the first day!

I'll be following this site for the next few months, as we gear up to get out there and start trapping for the next falconry season.

Another Artist

2011-08-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

The picture above is a terribly nice close-up of my last Red-Tailed Hawk, Bailey. Last year we went hunting in Rochester along with two ladies, both artists, who also work in photography. One of these two ladies, Amber Hill, was kind enough to allow me to place her picture here on my blog. I just love the exquisite details of this picture! Click one more time on the picture for an even more close up view.

Amber is a graphic artist whose creative work is inspired by nature. You can view her work at this link:

Artist Amber Hill

Well Here's a Cool Site!

2011-08-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

In my quest to come to understand how to identify passage Merlins from haggard (adult) Merlins I found the following site. Kinda cool!

Feather ID

Of course, this comes with the disclaimer that all native bird species are protected, and to possess even their molted feathers is illegal. Falconers are allowed to keep the feathers from their legally acquired and kept under permit birds, so we may use those molted feathers to repair (imp) any broken feathers on that bird, or future birds we may have under our permit.

Merlins

2011-08-02T10:07:00.005-05:00

I have an interest in trying to trap a Merlin (Falco columbarius) for this upcoming falconry season. I'm not letting it be a driving interest, as in seeking out a trapping location up in Duluth, or driving out west for a couple weeks, but a mild interest. I'm trying to secure a location along the bluffs next to the Mississippi River to set up a trapping station, for both Red Tailed hawks, but also Merlins could be caught on migration. I've been seeking out information to assist in identifying this middle-sized falcon. Knowing that the bird in my hand is a Merlin is not a problem. Knowing what sex it is, a little harder, but do-able. Knowing if it is a juvenile . . . there is the problem! Juvenile and Adult Female Merlins are very closely feathered. I've found some resources . . . now I just need to arrange to put myself where I could possibly catch one. After some effort, if I am unsuccessful at catching a passage Merlin, I'll go for a kestrel. I feel fairly comfortable in my ability to sex these smallest of falcons.

Here are a couple really nice video links I found while searching for information. Those who love raptors . . . and that pretty much includes just about anyone that comes to this blog . . . will appreciate these very well made natural observations of Merlins.

In case you would like to stalk one of the Decorah eagles

2011-07-28T20:43:00.000-05:00

The web cam all summer has been a hit with the public. The Decorah Eagles are famous, and have a lot of fans!

The Raptor Resource Project has decided to band and place a transmitter on at least one of the birds. They may do this for more than one, but at this time I'm only aware of one having been "beeped" up.

Here is a video of the release of the bird, who has a backpack installed. This is the kind of transmitter I'm thinking about getting for my hawk this year . . . only the eagle has a much larger package as it has to carry a battery that will last a long time.

Eagle Release

A web site has been established that will track daily the movement of this young eagle. So far, she is not moving much from the nest area, and who can blame her, as there is abundant fish, and the parents have not decided to chase them off yet.

So, click on the link, and follow where she goes.

Decorah Eagle Transmitter

A Falconry Talk in Wonewoc

2011-07-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I was invited to fly my hawk at the Wonewoc Outdoor Living Area for a class with the high school. The lady who invited me took this video. It is a good, general introduction talk about falconry. Unfortunately, she ran out of video just as we were going hunting. We did catch a bunny that day.

It's Been Hot!!

2011-07-20T19:32:00.004-05:00

Not much to blog about right now, mostly because it's just too hot to go outside and do anything.

SIZZLE

I'm actually glad that I don't have a hawk in my mews right now, to worry about keeping cool and hydrated.

I will have an interesting post, I hope, in the near future. Rich found an item on an auction site recently for me, and I backed him up with the finances to win the final bid. It's a falconry project to be worked on, once it stops being in the high 90's, with a humidity that pushes us into the 110s heat index wise. I'm excited by the possibilities . . . but don't want to reveal anything about it here, yet, until I have some progress. There is some dirty, sweaty work in the near future, but I think I'm going to have something fabulous when I'm done.

Come back!

Until then, stay inside and keep cool!

Aplomado Falcon

2011-07-01T11:21:00.003-05:00

I was unaware of a reintroduction project to return this falcon to its historic range. The following clip on my Facebook page informed me.

Aplomado Falcons

I'm quite aware of the Whooping Crane reintroduction project which has been ongoing for years. Here is a link for that for anyone that is interested to know: Operation Migration At least Aplomado Falcons don't have to be shown a migration route. I'm guessing they will be set up in a hack box , and then just be allowed to self release. Many falconry techniques have been used to restore native raptor populations.

Here is an article about the birds and the project:

Peregrine Fund

Bal Chatri Trapping

2011-06-28T22:38:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a lot of surfing for videos lately, looking for any regarding bow netting, or Bal Chatri (BC) trapping of hawks. A different search on a different day will bring new videos you've never seen. I found this one, which is quite clear. It's almost a calm presentation of what is usually a very tense and exciting time, back at the car, behind the binoculars, as we watch to see if the hawk is caught. As you can see, it takes quite awhile until the hawk truly demonstrates that it is caught, so the falconer doesn't move in right away. I'm impressed that even though this hawk may have been caught early on it's time on the trap, it continues to be VERY interested in that rat. I told Rich this also demonstrates one vital piece of equipment our trapping has lacked . . . a camera!

BTW . . . I'm getting very excited about this next trapping season. There is still a month and a half to go until it opens, and at least 2 before I can reasonably hope to see passage red tails . . . but kestrels should be more easy to find by late August. I'm also going to be sharing the experience with a new apprentice . . . infecting him with my own enthusiasm (obsession). It's a good "disease" to transmit to the right people.

Telemetry Decisions

2011-06-15T14:11:00.002-05:00

I'm thinking about buying new telemetry for this upcoming season. I currently have two of the same brand of leg mounted transmitters, one of which is now dead, dead, dead. The other is showing some signs that it wants to go the same way. Because of this I'm motivated to try a different brand of transmitter, and take this opportunity to explore mounting other than on the leg. The most complicated, yet apparently most effective method is through installation of a "back pack". I'm not certain if there are any competition models, but I'm researching the Marshall Track Pack. Here are a couple videos that demonstrate how to put it on the bird.

As a side note . . . I must say I am completely impressed with the tiercel they used as the model. Sometimes he almost looks stuffed, he sits so very calmly while this whole procedure is taking place.

Track Pack Installation 1

Track Pack Installation 2

Here is a photographic demonstration from Marshall.

I'm planning to take a small falcon this season, as well as a red tailed hawk. It will be either a kestrel, or if I am lucky with my bow netting efforts, a merlin. (Here is a nice, short and well filmed video on merling training.) However, I'm thinking it would be wise for me to work with the kestrel first, with the goal of getting the merlin in a subsequent year, after the "practice" with the smaller falcon. Here is a little video with a suggestion for telemetry mounting for a kestrel.

Kestrel Telemetry

Anyone know of a video showing tail mounting, other than just the clamp on, which I saw? I'm open for suggestions too, if anyone want to e-mail me with them, or their experiences.

Inspiring an Artist

2011-06-09T08:37:00.002-05:00

In January 2009 I was able to make a fabulous trip to Peru. One of the highlights of the visit was being able to meet Jose Antonio Otero Corbetto, and tour his raptor facility, El Huayco. If you've not found my previous blog, please come visit and view the pictures of the trip here!

This particular blog entry has generated the most comments and requests to contact Jose, and to find out more information about the birds he keeps and breeds. Recently I was contacted by an artist, Katie Grider, who asked if she could use some of these pictures as inspiration for her art. Not having any kind of copyright on my pictures, nor any income from them, I didn't mind sharing my work. Here is the result of her labor, with the inspiring picture following.

Black and White Hawk Eagle

Please come and visit her online store, to either purchase a print of her work, or view her other watercolors. This is the link.

This is MY original link to my posting about Peru, and specifically my time at El Huayco. Come visit here and here2.

Eagle on a Silo

2011-06-05T09:39:00.003-05:00

This Sunday morning I was sitting outside, having a cup of coffee, and reading a book. I began to notice the farm yard birds (grackles and red-winged blackbirds and starlings) were alarm calling. I looked up, and saw the very large bird above on top of the 70 foot silo. At first I thought it might be a red tailed hawk. There is a pair that have nested on the farm for several years, however unfortunately not this year at the usual location. They have been seen, so may have moved their nest further into the woods. I got my binoculars to get a closer look.

It was NOT a red tailed hawk . . . but instead, a juvenile Bald Eagle.

I am guessing this may be a second year juvenile, possibly three. First year Bald Eagles have a black beak. As you can see above, the beak is yellowing up. However, the eyes are still brown. Adults have yellow-golden eyes. Adults also have the white head and tail, which they do not acquire until about their fourth or fifth year. Until that time, they are very brown and white splotchy.

The eagle stayed in position for about an hour, basking in the morning sunshine, preening his or her feathers. I have no idea what sex the bird may have been without being able to compare to another bird. She or he gave me plenty of time to get my spotting scope out and set up, and to also take some digital pictures. Again, the view through my scope was outstanding! My camera just does not capture what I'm seeing. It is still pretty impressive, but not professional by any stretch of the imagination.

The eagle just looked around from it's lofty perch, perhaps wishing there was more than just barn cats wandering around the base of the silo. Our chickens are kept safe from just such predators, as well as our dogs. It tracked the birds which flew around, alarm calling, but pretty much ignored them. It occasionally scratched and flinched, most likely being bothered by the same small flies that were buzzing around me, tickling as they landed. Through my spotting scope I could see the new, darker feathers that are growing in, compared to the lighter brown from the previous year. The feathers on the head are only tipped in brown, the rest being creamy white, which you could see easily as the wind gently ruffled them.

It is nice to live somewhere were such noble creatures come to perch and to preen, and to allow themselves to be admired.

A Really Good Video

2011-06-03T22:20:00.003-05:00

During my time as an apprentice, I got the chance to meet Danny Denham, who lives in Kentucky. He is very best friends with Dave Noble, my former sponsor. I stumbled across this video, and find it to be a very quality demonstration of the kind of hawking I do . . . hunting with a red tailed hawk. The equipment all looks like mine, and even some of the terms (rebooting the hawk after a catch, for a second attempt) as these were all things I heard Dave say when he was training me.

On YouTube this video has been "Adult Contented" . . . although why, I don't know. There is no foul language, nor blood. Maybe just because it is hunting.

It is a quality demonstration of a dedicated falconer. Dave told me that Danny drives a truck for half the year, hard . . . then takes the winter off, and hawks, hard! A very dedicated falconer!

KRAP Update

2011-05-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

The nest boxes, as placed by the Kestrel Residential Accommodation Partnership, have been out for awhile, and of the six that were made, we placed 4 of them. Two were given / donated, and I don't know what happened to them. One was given to the Houston Nature Center . . . so I should ask where they put it up.

I checked them over from a distance the last couple days . . . and our residents are as follows:

1 Yellow-Shafted Flicker (also called Northern Flicker) at the Wisconsin site
1 Eastern Bluebirds . . . I mean really . . . it's a very spacious box for them, but that is what moved in

2 boxes of Starlings

I'm going to have to decide and act on the Starlings. I might wait and steal the babies when they are fully feathered, and keep and use them for kestrel training this fall. Either way . . . it's 50% good native birds who will be unmolested, and allowed to finish their nesting cycle, and 50% crap birds who won't . . . and 100% NO KESTRELS.

The boxes may need to be up for at least a year for the kestrels to find them. Either way, glad they are being used.

Very Poor "Digi-scoping" Pictures . . . but more importantly, a Sad Story!

2011-05-24T10:20:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a friend of mine, Laurie, who I met while going to school at Western Technical. She works there. She has a fascination for hawks, and wanted to let me know that she, "had some red tails nesting in a tree outside her home". I responded back that I thought it was more likely a pair of Coopers Hawks, or Sharp Shins, but that I would come and visit and check it out. My visit did confirm they were Coopers Hawks. This is not too uncommon in the neighborhoods of La Crosse . . . as I know of another Coopers Hawk nest near the home of the lady that I house-mated with while going to school. These birds are completely habituated to the suburb, and dine on all the starlings and pigeons the city has to offer.

I returned about a week later, this time with my camera equipment, along with my spotting scope, to try and catch some of the action. I'm new to my equipment, and not particularly proficient at using it. I've also determined that the weak link in my equipment is my camera. **SIGH** I really should get a better one. Nonetheless . . . I was able to take some pictures. The male is above, holding some tasty item he had captured, and while hanging around the nest for well over an hour or more, we saw him do a food exchange several times with his mate . . . along with his reward . . . multiple noisy copulations.

The female was on the nest. I cannot know if she had already begun to lay eggs, but she certainly was sticking pretty close to the nest . . . . although not apparently brooding down onto any possible eggs. Perhaps she was just sticking close to guard them until her clutch was complete.

I took lots and lots of pictures of her. Some had a lot closer vantage, but were blurry. Some were clear, but too dark. The view through my lens and my scope were pretty awesome . . . up close and personal . . . and I was able to share the view with my friend Laurie, and with Christina, who I had invited to come along to view the birds. The view we had, however, did not translate into the pictures I took. We watched, and I attempted to take pictures, until it got late and I needed to get going home.

Over the weekend . . . a very intense series of storms came through our area. I heard that an unconfirmed tornado touched down in a section of Southern La Crosse. I got a message on Sunday evening from Laurie that the nest tree had been knocked down . . . along with a lot of other trees in the area. Here is a link to the local newspaper with more pictures of the storm damage.

Laurie indicates that she has only seen one of the birds, not both. It is possible one of them was killed in the storm. Definitely, the storm brought an end to their breeding attempt.

Unlike Joplin, MO, La Crosse's storm, and the same one that blew through rural areas of Minnesota, and then touched down a tornado in Sparta , Wiscosin, did not leave as much damage. Certainly, homes will need to be repaired, cars will need to have hail damage and windows replaced, but for the most part, it is my understanding no homes were completely destroyed. Many old trees were knocked down. To my knowledge, no lives were lost here. The same can not be said of Joplin . . . and my heart goes out to those living there through their tragedy.

For the hawks . . . . they are not an endangered species . . . . and they will pick up again next year, to include finding a new mate if one was lost. They do not shed tears . . . but instead will spend the summer off nest duty from egg brooding and eyas raising. It is unfortunate though . . . as I would have enjoyed going back and taking more pictures of their private lives.

Happy First Anniversary

2011-05-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

This past week marks Rich and My First Wedding Anniversary. We were married legally at the courthouse in Caledonia on May 10th in 2010. We were married ceremonially in Norway on the 15th. We went to Piggy's in La Crosse for a celebratory dinner. If you live in our area, and have need to go to a place that will present you with a fine dining experience, I highly recommend this place!

Happy First Anniversary Rich!

I Love You Very Much . . . and you have made me Very Happy!!

Falconry Equipment

2011-05-07T10:32:00.016-05:00

This year will mark the first time I will have an apprentice to train for falconry. In my humble opinion, the young man is ideally suited to join the sport. He is already an outdoorsman, and a hunter, and possesses the drive and initiative to excel. He does not require anyone to 'hold his hand', and only needs someone to escort him into the ranks, and give advice when it comes to the training of his first bird. I've told him that I can only truly teach him about training and hunting a red tailed hawk, as that is primarily the bird I have worked with.  Harris hawks train pretty much like the RT, only easier. I did work with a kestrel for a season, and have plans in the works to take and train a new one this next fall . . . or a merlin if I can possibly trap one. After his apprenticeship, if he wants to get involved with the falcons, or accipiters, he's on his own, as I cannot offer much in the way of guidance there. I'm sure he will be quite capable of achieving anything he sets his mind to. He has already taken and passed his falconry exam, and is well on his way to having his mews built.

Anyway . . . I thought it might be a worthwhile exercise to list exactly the equipment that is pretty much required if getting into this sport. So . . . here goes!

Minnesota Falconry Regulations require the following:

Indoor facilities (mews). This can take many forms, and can range from an inexpensive protective "shed" to a palatial construction. It sounds like Justin is making a really nice facility along the lines of "palatial". It will have built-in electricity and maybe even some heating, as well as an attached work room where he can keep his scale and falconry equipment. I look forward to coming and seeing it when it is built.

Outdoor facilities (weathering yard). This can also take on many forms. Some falconers have a small yard built onto their mews to serve the purpose. In my case, I have always used a 10 x 10 dog kennel, which is top fenced. Each state's regulations should be reviewed for specific requirements that each facility must meet.

Alymeri jesses (at least one pair). I'd advise several pair be kept on hand, and it is good practice to make a few sets while getting all your equipment together.

One flexible weather-resistant leash. Again, more than one is a good idea. Some falconers use the parachute cord material for their tethering equipment, and learning how to work with it and braid it is another task that can be learned while waiting to take your first bird.

A strong swivel. I think the only appropriate equipment for this is a Sampo swivel. Some of the smaller kinds can be acquired at the sporting goods store and fishing suppliers, but the large ones needed for a red tailed hawk need to be bought from the falconry suppliers.

Drinking and bathing container. Farm suppliers often have appropriately large enough equipment for the job. If all else fails, a cat litter tray is big enough, and cheap!

"Weathering area perch". This translates to me to mean "bow perch". A staked bow perch is a semi-permanent placement of a perch that will not move once staked into the ground. Though not a requirement in the Minnesota regulations, I also like to have a movable bow perch . . . one that is either attached to a strong metal base, or that is weighted, so you can tie your bird out just about anywhere when you take her traveling to those far flung falconry meets. The staked bow perch is great during the warmer months, but gets really hard to push into the ground when it is frozen (which falconry season usually is up here in the North) and can be almost impossible to remove from the ground if it is frozen in. My staked bow perch stays at home in the winter, and my movable perch goes with me when I travel with my bird.

Reliable Scale. OK . . . this is a terribly important piece of equipment. Don't cut corners when buying or acquiring this. Many falconers will use a balance beam scale, which works great if it will be stored in the cold. I like to use a digital scale, but it has to be kept warm to read accurate. Many times this may be your only clue that something may not be right with your bird. Accurate weight management is an absolute necessity for training, hunting, but also for health management! My scale reads to the gram, which is pretty precise.

OK, that's it as far as Minnesota is concerned. However, there is a lot more equipment which should be acquired. I'll try to rank this in order between "Necessary" and "Just Plain Nice to Have".

Gauntlet. If you are gonna work with that bird who has strong pointy toes, you'd better be wearing something to protect your hand. For the beginner, this could be as easy as a welding glove, which you can get pretty cheap from the hardware store. When you can afford the fancy leather glove, the falconry suppliers have lots of nice models to choose from. Or you can make one yourself if you are handy with leather. Just remember, whatever you train the bird with is what you should use. She knows the difference! If you train her to come to you with the blue welder's mitt, she may balk the first time you use the fancy (clean) leather gauntlet. So don't embarrass yourself around your friends by taking her out on your first hunting trip and surprising her with that new leather glove.

Bells. These are instrumental in keeping track of your bird when hunting, and can also tell you a lot about what she is up to in her mews or weathering yard. They are also, for me, the "sound" of falconry. I am very biased in my opinion here as well . . . and will only use Noble Bells . . . mostly because he was the man who trained me, and I know how to get a set of bells from him quick when I need to. Dave's bells can be bought from most falconry suppliers, and can be ordered direct from here.

Hood. OK, if you get into falconry, over your 'career' you will probably acquire a lot of different hoods. Start with an inexpensive one to the size of what you are expecting to trap. It is really nice to have this the first day you trap your bird. However, with time, you can then custom fit a hood to your bird, and get more and more fancy (and expensive) the longer you have her, and the more proud you are of her and want to grace her head with a fabulous top knot. There are lots of great hood makers out there, and I've purchased from different guys through the years. Be warned, this could become a side hobby, as most hood makers are falconers who take up the challenge.

Leather working tools.  It really is best to learn how to make a lot of your equipment yourself, especially the anklets and jesses. You'll need a cutter of some kind. I just use an artist's matt knife. You'll need a hole punch. You then need grommets and a grommet setter. To finish off your work, you'll need jess grease to make your leather, and keep it, nice and soft. Neatsfoot oil can be bought from any farm store that caters to horse people. Fancier jess grease can be had for a reasonable sum from the falconry outfitters.

Lure. I firmly believe in training your bird to the lure. It is the 'insurance policy' to get your bird back in a hurry. You can make your own with those leather working tools, with the addition of an awl and leather sewer.

Creance. You can make your own, but I really like my professional training leash I purchased. Individual choice for each falconer.

Whistle. Probably one of the cheapest items you'll have to get. I like having mine on a lanyard.

Whacking Stick. Another cheap item! Sure, you can pick one up in the field if you like, but I have broken and lost more of these than I care to count. My husband gave me a great gift a few years ago . . . a waxwood staff, as used in martial arts. It is practically unbreakable! I left it in the field once . . . but went back in the dark to get it. Old ski poles work good too.

Hawk food. You gotta have food on hand for your first bird. If you don't raise quail or rabbits yourself, or can't borrow any from your sponsor and their friends, you can mail order this stuff (rats, mice, day old chicks). It is fairly reasonable . . . it's the shipping that is expensive!!

Dedicated freezer for storage of hawk food. OK, guys . . . if you are the falconer, and your wife is not, she probably will not like having those dead things in her refrigerator. As soon as you can purchase a freezer to store your hawk food, the better your marital harmony will be. If you are the woman falconer, well then it is your call if you want those dead bunnies in next to your hamburger. If you are serious . . . and only serious people should get involved with falconry, you'll get a dedicated freezer as soon as you can.

Hawk vitamins. A nice addition to your supplies to keep your bird healthy.

Hawking clothes. This includes a vest to hold all your equipment while in the field, as well as brush guard pants.

Giant Hood. This is a special box to transport your bird. Like the mews and weathering yard, it can be fancy, or utilitarian. Making your own saves lots of money.

Your own trap(s). An apprentice should make the first trap that catches their first (and future) hawks. I've had several traps, and keep making new ones.

Transmitter. This will be one of the more expensive items a falconer will need to acquire. You can probably get away with using your sponsor's receiver at first, but you should not fly your bird without telemetry.

Receiver & Yagi. You'll need one of your own eventually. Sometimes they can be purchased as a bundle bargain.

As a final addition of things you should have (things you will be spending money on . . . or at least SHOULD be spending money on) is membership to your state falconry club, membership to NAFA (they are our legislative voice - and should be supported) as well as subscription to outstanding falconry magazines like American Falconry.

This is just a fairly basic lineup of the equipment needed. I often jokingly retort about having to drag along 50 to 100 lbs of equipment just to fly a 2 to 3 lbs bird.

But I wouldn't have it any other way!

Soon!

2011-04-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

On slow, cold, wet feet

Spring's yearning grows much faster

than Spring itself comes

Happy Earth Day (one day late)

2011-04-23T09:29:00.006-05:00

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Frequently, when I have time, I like to just surf around, and discover new blogs. Some that catch my eye I link to for frequent visits. This AM I came across the video above. Click it and watch it in full screen. It is quite beautiful. If you would like to read about the creator or where it came from, check on this link.

It is one day post Earth Day (I worked yesterday so no time for computer play). OK, it is also one day post Good Friday . . . but that is no longer a part of my life or practice. The family is getting together tomorrow for a big Easter feast, and cleaning of the house has been a week long project for my MIL. I'm soon about to contribute by bringing the bathroom to a state closer to hygiene and order. It has been a cold and wet April. However, looking out the window, the grass is greener (the snow melted) and the pear tree buds are threatening to burst forth soon . . . very soon. Spring is coming on slow windy feet this year.

Regardless of your views . . . it is a beautiful world we live in! The news is filled with human stories of violence and death and environmental degradation. Whether you believe in climate change or not really doesn't matter . . . . observation, in my humble opinion, says it is happening. The world will go on without us if it has to. If we push the envelope too much, a sustainable environment comfortable to support us may evaporate from our grasp. Maybe not for many years to come . . . some things take time. Many beautiful things and life forms could be lost . . . but the world will go on, evolving, changing, and bringing forth new life, without us. Some day sentient roaches may believe they are quite beautiful, and the epitome of what their god had in mind when 'he' made the universe. **grin**

I'd like to think we could get our proverbial 'shit together' and solve our energy problems, our population problems, our pollution problems. When we stop arguing and fighting and killing over whose world 'god' intended this to belong to, maybe we could come together as the whole family of 'Earth's Children' . . . both human and all it's myriad lifeforms . . . and accept that it is OUR world. If we don't care about it, and nurture it, and preserve our nice warm, watery home . . . no one will.

WTF!!!!!!

2011-04-19T17:20:00.002-05:00

I mean . . . REALLY!! Not to be rude, but WTF!!!!

It's April 19th, and all the snow has been melted for about a month . . . until today. We even got a bit the other day, but it melted during the day. This stuff just keeps piling up. I dunno . . . there is probably 5 or 6 inches, maybe more out there. It is heavy and wet, and I had a hard time getting up the driveway to go check my mail in town. I have to get up and drive in this in the AM. It will probably be a long drive in . . . SIGH!!

The farm has had a fairly large flock of red-winged blackbirds that returned in the last couple weeks. I think they are confused about the snow. They have been visiting our bird feeder all day. Recently I made a sparrow trap, but it is not being used today, as a lot of native birds are seeking food right now. It's an awful lot of little black jobs . . . . red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles, with a few odd starlings thrown in. All untrappable, well, except for the starlings! All the farm sparrows have been hanging out over at the shop today . . . and I'm not inclined to hang out over there in the snow to catch them. I know late snowfall in the Upper Midwest is not far from normal, but that doesn't mean I have to LIKE it!!

I took the picture above a little later. This is overlooking the pear tree, up close, the grape arbor, in the middle, and the apple tree in the back. The apple tree looks like it is covered in lots of little, black feathery, cold apples, who are wondering where spring went. I'm wondering the same thing.

The Kestrel Residential Accommodation Partnership

2011-04-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

So . . . I really like Kestrels! I don't know if I've ever said that here on this blog, or my other blog. I really do like them. They are such pretty little raptors. I am thinking perhaps this fall I will trap and train another one . . . I did that in 2004. I never got little Rigel on game, but I managed to keep him alive and healthy, and released him after the season back to the wild. I'd like to try again. This time I plan to be more prepared, and have some sparrows on hand for training. It will either be a kestrel, or if I can manage to make the arrangements and get lucky, perhaps a merlin. Either way, I do like these little falcons. Some of my summer activities include building some new equipment, and learning how to trap some of these junk house sparrows we have on the farm in abundance.

In an effort to increase the population of kestrels in my geographic region, I commissioned Rich to make me a kestrel nest box. I financed the purchase of the supplies . . . and he made me three! He then went on a few weeks later, and made three more. His brother Brian helped. As soon as the ground thawed out enough to allow for digging, we put up several of them. One was given to Dr. Gray, the vet who came to medicate and castrate the calves last fall. He likes kestrels too . . . so Rich thought it would be nice to give him one to put up on his land.

Here are pictures of the "Partnership" establishing the kestrel nest box distribution. Rich and his oldest brother Brian attach the box to a 12' pole, which when sunk into the ground will put the box at about 9 to 10 feet high.

A 'predator guard' is attached to make access to the box possible by wing only. No free meals to cats or raccoons. Unfortunately nothing prevents starlings from moving in . . . unless I evict them.

Post hole digger to make the holes to sink the posts into.

Brian holds the pole as Rich fills in the hole.

The first box was placed within sight of the farm house. It is along Hwy 44 facing South towards an open farm field, which has the patch of land between the road and the field, which is often hunted by a local kestrel, as well as overlooking the drainage grass belt, where mice are often found by the farm dog, Tasha. That's me at the base holding Puddin, the Pomeranian. Tasha the husky is snuffing around for gophers, which were beginning to awaken from their winter hibernation on this spring day.

Another box is placed on the far back side of the farm, overlooking a valley. All boxes are placed in the open with no trees nearby. The inside has a layer of clean wood shavings. The kestrel-sized hole faces South to South-West.

We gave one box to our Wednesday Night "Movie Night" hostess, Laurie, to hang on one of her old barn buildings that overlooks a valley, in Wisconsin. Rich attached it for her.

Laurie's daughter, Emily, points up at her own personal kestrel nest box.

The final box was placed on "Olga's Farm", an elderly neighbor who has now died, but whose property the Hanson family still rents the land to grow crops. It also overlooks an open field of mixed grasses and low shrubs. It all looks like good kestrel habitat to me.

The Landlord of the Kestrel Residential Accommodation Partnership (KRAP) stands waiting, inviting (really) for some colorful little raptors to move in and make lots of babies. Rent is reasonable . . . payment in the unknown future of an eyass to take by his crazy wife for falconry. Until then, it would be nice to just watch them from a distance in my spotting scope.

Those Famous Decorah Eagles

2011-04-08T21:29:00.001-05:00

Unless you have been living under a rock lately, and if you are tuned into the Internet or the news and national talk/personality shows, you have probably heard about the famous Decorah Fish Hatchery Eagles. This particular pair of Bald Eagles have been raising eaglets in this nest for the past four years, including this year. The male of the pair has "owned" this nest and territory for far longer than that. Bob Anderson, with the Raptor Resource Project has operated this web cam, and many others like it, for many years, researching the lives of various raptor species, to include eagles, peregrine falcons, owls and ospreys. This pair of eagles were featured on a PBS special in 2009 called American Eagle. Here is a link to the full show if you did not see that.

Living about 30 miles or so from Decorah, Iowa, I decided I would come and take a few pictures and make a blog posting. Rich and I visited this nest two years ago, and then saw their three eaglets, which were already the size of the parents, and would soon fledge. It was much harder to see them, as the tree was all leafed out. Soon those leaves will burst forth as Spring progresses, so opportunities to play Paparazzi were limited by the increasingly warming days.

This nest is very well situated by the Decorah Fish Hatchery. Previously I have either heard or read that some fish are tossed out of the hatchery, those that have died, so there is an abundant supply of fresh fish to be had. I imagine the eagles may also steal some fresh fish out of the raising ponds. Of course, they hunt regular prey as well. Recently viewers to the web cam have seen an increasingly varied stack of dining choices, to include rabbit, crow, muskrat, and the ever present fish.

From a distance, you can get a perspective of just how big the nest is. That small speck to the left of the nest is one of the parent eagles. Below, I give you the view you can't get from the web cam. My husband very recently surprised me with an early birthday gift. He purchased a spotting scope for me. Well, today I tried my hand at very amateur digi-scoping . . . that is, using your digital camera with your scope. It was an effort, and many of my attempts didn't work, but I did catch a couple of good pictures that allow you to see back the other direction, at what the web cams look like. I took the pictures from the bridge that goes over the creek. When you look at the web cam, I stood where the road crosses just above the nest.

Here is the address in case you don't know it and would like to see the close up.

http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html

When that screen opens up, click on the black box for an up close and personal view of the intimate lives of this pair of eagles. They have hatched out 3 eaglets so far, and the family is doing fine!

This is what the area looks like. A creek runs by the nest tree, which is located on private land, a farm.

Above is the view looking East.

And this is the view looking West, from the bridge.

Here are some of the neighbors living on a few of the retaining ponds on the Fish Hatchery land. Often I hear them flying while watching the nest cam. The eagles track them, perhaps wishing to go chase and catch such a big tasty meal.

The cameras are on 24 hours a day. At nighttime there is an infrared camera, so you can watch the eagles sleeping.

Come visit!!

Returning to the Wild

2011-03-29T19:57:00.007-05:00

On Tuesday March 29th, on a nice sunny spring day, Bailey was given his freedom to return to his wild life. He was released overlooking a nice valley not far from the Mississippi river. This was on the land of Justin, my soon-to-be first apprentice. Bailey weighed in at 1200 grams!! He has been flown at around 865 grams. I could not feel any keel on him . . . he has a lot of energy stores just in case it takes him a few days to get his bearings on being on his own again . . . but he's always been a good mouser, and I know this valley has mice, as he caught three there on the previous fall.

He continued to sit in that very spot for an hour, before finally flying off into the woods.

Good Bye Bailey! Have a Good Life!

A Trip to Texas

2011-03-26T20:30:00.016-05:00

Rich and I just recently returned from 10 days in Texas. It was part business, part pleasure. We went down to help move my father from his apartment into a different residence, more secure, where his meals will be provided to him, and help is close at hand if needed. However there was time for a quick trip down to the beach, and a little soaking up of sunshine and warmth as Spring has arrived in Texas. We gave it directions to head up North. The picture above is one of the nicer ones from the Dallas Arboretum . . . a lovely bench among the azalea. More flower pictures below.

I wanted to take my guy to the beach, and let him experience a little of what I have very fond memories of while I was growing up. We took our family vacations in South Texas, and visited South Padre Island. The terrain is the same, so I choose to go to Corpus Christi, and North Padre Island. However, at this time of the year the beach is covered (and at this time I do mean absolutely covered) in sea weed. Technically, it is called Sargasso. Either way, it was green and a little slimy, and made the beach not so very fun. But I did make him get his feet wet . . . so he has touched the Gulf Coast now! I'm threatening to drag him back in the fall, when there usually is no sea weed, to pursue possibly some of the wild Harris Hawks which I believe I saw, and which I have read that area and southward is the highest concentration of their numbers in the US.

On one of the mornings during our brief stay we got up early and joined a birding group. Those folks were mostly interested in looking at ducks, of which there were a wide variety in some of the fresh water pools that dot Padre Island. I took the picture above of one of the common flowers which are in bloom. This is called "Firewheel". It's Latin name is Gaillardia pulchella.

WHAT . . . did I find Gold in Corpus? Well, not really! I did find something of value, but not in Corpus. As we traveled down to the Gulf Coast, and then on our trip back, we brought dad to visit his sister Bertha and her husband George. They live in Fredericksburg, Texas. We coordinated on our return trip to arrive at such a time that my Uncle George could take Rich to a World War II museum in that town. Fredericksburg is the birth place of Admiral Nimitz. A museum has been established in that town, filled with lots of historical items from that period of time. Now, I'm not downplaying WWII. It was a terribly important war I think. But, I'm not terribly interested. So . . . I went with them to the location of the museum, but let them go check that out, and then I walked up and down the main street of Fredericksburg, which is filled with lots of bakeries and restaurants and wineries and curio shops. During my travels I came across a chocolatier, where I purchased the above little beautiful item. It is a small sample of Fortunato #4. What is that you may ask! I heard about it on NPR. Check out the links below and you'll get a description. The Facebook page also has a nice video about the store. I purchased this little nugget of rareness . . . but not being a chocolate connoisseur don't really notice much difference between it and regular top grade dark chocolate. But it was an experience!

Fortunato #4

Chocolat-Fredericksburg-Texas on Facebook

As we drove around Corpus Christi, and then the next day towards Kingsville, and Robstown, we managed to find the old farm where my dad grew up during his elementary days. While there we even managed to find a neighbor who still remembered dad. Above is Bob King. The two codgers exchanged tales a bit, and showed each other their surgery scars.

Our last full day on the coast area was spend searching down remote fish restaurants which turned out to be pretty good eating. Finding them, however, was a bit daunting. Missing a turn we did a fair bit of driving. I had forgotten to bring my Texas map. But I bird watched! I saw lots of caracaras, and I do believe a family of Harris Hawks. The other folks in the car wouldn't let me stop to oogle through my binoculars to confirm. On the morning of our departure, I got up early and searched through some local birding hot spots, hoping to glance some of those caracaras, or maybe even if I got lucky a Harris Hawk, but instead saw another bird that I have wanted to see while in the Texas Coast. I did NOT take this picture above, but I did see the bird, rummaging around in some grassy overgrown areas just outside of Kingsville. It is a Green Jay! It was their sound that gave them away! I was traveling slowly on the side streets with the windows open, and I heard a raucous sound I did not recognize. I was quite delighted to view them, as I was not looking for them. Those other birds, I've seen them before. This was a first for my not too officially kept bird life list.

Kingsville is very near the world famous King Ranch, which is a birding Mecca. My trip did not allow me any time to partake in any of the organized tours there . . . and besides, you have to have reservations. Perhaps at some future visit!

Returning Dad back to the Ft. Worth area, we came through Dublin, Texas, which is the home of the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company . . . the only producers of Dr Pepper that still use pure cane sugar. They have a museum there, and an old fashioned soda bar. We stopped for a break, and I purchased a case of Dr Pepper in the bottle to take back. I shared with my sisters, and shipped 12 of them home. This makes me a 'Bootlegger' . . . as this Dr Pepper cannot by contract be sold (delivered) outside of a surrounding county area. However, you can mail order it, and of course, purchase and take out of the area. Above I'm accepting a bottle of the brown Ambrosia. Click below if you'd like to read more about the plant.

Dublin Dr Pepper

We had a soda fountain made Dr Pepper. It was quite tasty! We marked their "Where Are You From" board . . . I wonder what the Spring Grove Pop people would say? They make their product out of pure sugar too! Spring Grove Soda Pop

But they don't have a Soda Bar!

And, OMG . . . look at the size of the can of Dr Pepper I found there! It's gonna take a LONG time to drink all this. I didn't see a glass as big, or ice . . . and I like my DP iced!

When we returned to the Ft. Worth area, I wanted to do a few things other than visiting relatives to give Rich a bit of a vacation. So, on one of our last days there we went to visit the Dallas Arboretum. So . . . scroll through and enjoy a bit of a taste of Spring, which has come to Texas. It is still yet to come to us folks here in Minnesota.

I really like this picture above. As we came out to overlook a long green lawn that slopes down into White Rock Lake I saw this young girl running with child-like abandon. I took several pictures, with this one coming out just perfect. This is the kind of pic you would enter into a contest, or something like that. Well, no contest for me . . . but it does capture some of the rebirth and renewal energy inherent with Spring, and Children.

Above is a little clip, of the Sound of Spring in Texas. This is a Mockingbird. We do not have them this far north. They can sing all day long, and during the breeding season sometimes all night long, repeating their phrases continually. I associate them with the South. This particular bird sang on and on, inside this bush, not caring that I recorded his song. They are known for mimicking other birds. I'm certain I hear some robin song in there near the end.

After our visit to the garden in Dallas, we hopped on the expressway, and zipped over to Ft Worth to the Science Museum, and the Omni Theatre. There we watched a movie about tornadoes in the 360 degree dome Imax format. Afterward we goofed off with Alice the Allosaurus above!

Save Me Rich!! She's going to carry me away!!

So the reason for the trip was to get Dad moved from one place to another. He didn't have to lift so much as a finger to get the job done. I think he has gotten settled in pretty good. Above was him in his old place . . . sleeping . . .

. . . and here he is in the new . . . sleeping. I guess the move suits him!

I'm in the Newspaper!!

2011-03-05T16:40:00.001-06:00

Falconry Quest - Spring Grove Woman Enjoys Ancient Sport

Season Winding Down

2011-02-22T10:25:00.001-06:00

Last week we were teased with the impending spring to come. The temperatures warmed above freezing, some days even touching the 50s. A great amount of the snow on the ground began melting, and the walkways became much more safe. Then this past weekend, we had another storm come through. My particular area of far South-East Minnesota did not get the amount of snow and ice that we were potentially forecast for, but we still got a few inches to again cover all the walkways with a mixed snow/crunchy ice layer. Rich and I got out yesterday for a hunt, hoping with the melt that some bunnies may be found, but they continue to be very elusive. Above he waits for us to flush something for him. You can see his nictitating membrane as it flicks across his eye. Below he found his reflection, thinking it was another hawk that was just his size, and perhaps he should fight with it. Neither hawk nor reflection were harmed!

It has been a difficult hawking season, for me. I've established a few places to fly my bird, but I need to work over the summer to acquire permission for many more. The snow has been a challenge, and I think the bunny population is very low as well. I hope they get busy here this next summer and make lots more of themselves. I've made a 'To-Do' list for myself and hope my efforts on the off months will improve my outcomes for next year. There are still a few days left until February is over, and I will try to hunt as many of them as I can. I will then fatten Bailey up a bit, build up his calorie reserves, then release him to continue his mouse-hunting life. He's a pleasant little hawk . . . great if he was a 'pet' . . . but we do not keep pets in falconry. Hopefully next year I can trap a big female gamehawk, who will hunt the squirrels we do have, and improve my falconry endeavors here in Minnesota.

A Very Good (but short) Video about Falconry

2011-02-20T08:07:00.003-06:00

2011 Wisconsin Falconers Meet

2011-02-07T23:21:00.007-06:00

The 2011 Wisconsin Falconers Meet was held in its usual location, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on the weekend of February 5 and 6. For this particular meet I was responsible for inviting a whole "posse" of people. Our first guests arrived on Friday night, driving the 1.5 hour trip from Rochester. Foxfeather and her husband Roman were going to caravan with us to Sun Prairie, so were guests in our home. Fox already has rather extensive experience with animal, and specifically bird husbandry. She has assisted with rehabilitation and has taken training with the Raptor Center in the Twin Cities. She is interested in exploring if falconry may be something she would like to get involved in. She is already the caretaker to several high maintenance birds (special needs parrots, intelligent parrots, a pair of pied crows) so already has the drive to meet the challenge of a raptor.

We began our journey at 4 AM on Saturday. On our way we stopped in La Crescent, MN to pick up Justin, who was also joining us for the meet. I was hoping especially for Justin to be able to see red tailed hawks hunt and catch game, as he is the one person among the group invited for this weekend who is the closest to getting his license and first hawk. He recently passed his written exam, and this summer will be getting his equipment together. We will trap together this fall. During the times we have gone out with Bailey, nothing has been caught . . . but that did change this weekend.

The group above is the one that hunted after lunch, which was at least half the size of the group that hunted in the morning . . . but more on that later! I won't list names of the people above, though I know many of them, I do not know all of them . . . and don't have permission to list them. The three hawkers are Dave and Patti, Phil and Lady, and myself and Bailey.

Above is my "Posse". Justin on the far left, next to Rich and myself. Foxfeather is to my left, with Roman next to her. We were also joined on Saturday by Christina, who I have known for a couple years, and again as I have indicated in my blog, is interested in getting into falconry, but right now she is busy with her education.

The three hawkers show off their birds. You can see how much smaller Bailey is compared to these big female hawks, which by the way recently I have been reading should be called "formels". Bailey is doing the 'vulture' thing with his head and neck . . . I think he was quite intimidated to be nearby such large birds. Earlier in the day Phil and I both flew our birds in the same field, one after the other. As Bailey was flying some squirrels were bumped, so I called him down and Phil tried his Lady on them, as she will hunt them. I was warned by Dave to hide Bailey behind him, as Lady is a particularly cantankerous formel, and would be happy to kill not only rabbits and squirrels, but small dogs, cats, and other hawks . . . to include mine! She chased her squirrels, but did not make any attempt on my little tiercel, and he continued his hunt once she failed to catch a squirrel and was called back to Phil to be re-hooded and taken out of the game.

As implied earlier, a very large group went out into the field for the red tail hawking. As a new twist to the normal schedule practiced in years past, we had our educational presentations in the morning, and went hawking afterwards. Phil flew his bird first, and she got a bunny fairly quickly. She did have an opportunity at a hen pheasant at the very beginning of the hunt, but that game bird managed to elude the hawk by sticking really close to a thick bramble bush. Once Phil was done with the first bunny, I was requested to get Bailey. It took awhile to make my way back down to the vehicles and get everything ready, and make my way back to the hunting party. The snow was no less deep in Madison, in fact even deeper since they had received an additional 15+ inches just days before. Snow shoes were a requirement, and many wore them in the field.

Bailey made me very proud. He flew well, ignoring all those people in the field, taking nice high perches, and keeping near me as I and others worked the field. He had three unsuccessful, but close slips prior to the final slip where he caught his bunny. I was experiencing snowshoe difficulties which delayed me to get to my bird, so I instructed Justin, who was standing nearby and saw the action when Bailey caught his bunny, to grab the bunny's feet. He informs me that Bailey had the bunny by the head, so wasn't going anywhere. This was Bailey's third successful bunny catch. He's tagged at least 5 others. I realize this is not a very impressive showing for a season of falconry, but I'd like to think that at least my bird is learning how to subdue rabbits. Given his 'druthers, he'd rather hunt mice, but he'll take the opportunity for a bunny if it comes his way. He was allowed to crop up on his kill as the others made their way out of the field.

Back at the cars several flight demos were presented. While I was busy with Bailey a Merlin was flown, but I missed that so can give no report. A gyrfalcon hybrid was then flown to the lure. The final flight was a peregrine on a chukar. Rich got to see that action up close, as the game bird, when released, looped around and flew over the crowd and clipped Rich's hat. Fortunately the falcon didn't clip his hat as well. The birds were then put away and we all went to lunch. After lunch a few more red tails were flown, and finally the group above broke away, and Phil flew his hawk for a squirrel, which she did catch. We then all returned to the hotel for the evening dinner and program.

At the meet today were the following birds. I was not the efficient reporter that I have been in the past. I have pictures that mostly Rich took, and did not get permission to show people, so only have the birds. Above is a male American kestrel.

During the morning programs a couple of goshawks were present in the room. I know at least one of them went on that day to catch a duck.

Here is the Merlin whose flight I missed as I was fussing with my bird. Too bad, as I would have liked to have seen that! The gyrfalcon hybrid is below. Both of these birds are flown by the same extraordinary falconry woman . . . but again, I didn't get permission to mention her, so I won't.

Below is the falcon with the chukar it caught.

Our guest speaker was Joe Atkinson from Oregon. He is a golden eagle falconer, who is one of the world's most prominent authorities on the management, training and handling of these majestic birds. The link to his blog can be found to the left on my blog list. Here is the link to the International Eagle Austringer's Association: EAGLES Joe was not able to bring one of his birds, but another eagle falconer who lives in Minnesota was able to come, and bring his tiercel eagle. Yes, that huge bird above here is a male, meaning he is smaller than the female. Even as a smaller male, the bird is massive, and I would not want to work with him. As Joe says, when you are an eagle falconer: "It is not a question of if, but WHEN you are hurt by your bird." Again, the gentleman above holding the bird will remain unmentioned, as I did talk to him and ask him questions about Ferruginous Hawks, as he also flies one of them, but did not get permission to mention him here. I was a really lax reporter this weekend!

You can see above the size of the talons to the man's hand, and below the hallux (back toe). Those talons can be driven by incredibly powerful feet that ratchet closed. If an eagle grabs you, the eagle has to let go . . . because they can not be pried off. I am definitely not interested in flying them . . . but I would like to see them flown. It was a very enjoyable evening, which ended with us all in the basement of the bar watching eagle videos. Nothing important was won by me at the raffle. Too bad!!

The following morning we gathered again with Foxfeather and Roman, and Kaylynn (a possible future apprentice for Dave). Her experience is with training obedience, agility and therapy dogs, specifically rottweilers. We purchased books at the Half Price Bookstore, then enjoyed wonderful Indian food buffet, and finished up visiting the Mustard Museum, where Roman was successful in finding some mustard from his home country, the Czech Republic. The Curator even played the Czech Republic national anthem for him. After our mustard adventures we all went our separate ways.

Rich and I made our way to Milwaukee, where we spent the evening with his cousin Barb and her husband Dickie. No one was particularly excited by the Super Bowl, but it was TIVOed, and fast forwarded through to see key commercials, and specific action on the field. Rich and I are showing off our meet shirts below.

Cousin Dickie was particularly interested in meeting Bailey. For his part, Bailey tried to poop all over their kitchen table . . . but I was quick enough to prevent that . . . Thank Goodness!!

The next morning Rich and I went out to breakfast with Dickie, as Barb had to work. We finished our visit with a brief flight demo in a patch of woods near the restaurant where we ate. While in the field we gathered the attention of a local law enforcement officer, in fact a K9 officer, but once he knew we were not up to any trouble, he was very interested and wanted to meet the bird.

It was a good visit, a really great weekend. Rich and I dragged ourselves home late on Monday night.

The hawking season will continue until the end of February, when the season for bunnies ends. I will get out as often as I can . . . but it can sometimes be difficult as today we have subzero weather even with the sun out. I am truly ready for winter to be over, and for all this snow to go away!!

Hawk on Ice

2011-02-04T10:52:00.002-06:00

The last few days have been punctuated with fairly high winds. On Thursday it got into the high 20s, so the wind was not as biting. Rich and I flew Bailey at the old tree nursery. Our snow shoes made working that field a lot easier, but it was still tough. He had one single flush, a bunny which he almost caught. It reached the tree line just as he did, raking him off. Any further bunnies in that field, and there was plenty of sign they were there, were tucked down deep holes. I stomped several, but no one volunteered to come out and play.

This morning Bailey opted to sit in the snow rather than on top of his tall perch. The sun is shining, but the wind is still brisk. So, he was moved into his mews. Tomorrow is the Wisconsin Falconer's Meet. It is forecast to be in the high 20s with only about a 5 mph wind. For you folks down South . . . that's GOOD falconry weather! I'm going . . . Rich is coming . . . and a whole bunch of people are joining us. There will be many pictures to follow, and hopefully interesting tales, and maybe even another bunny in the bag for Bailey. I can hope!

It's Fricken Cold Our There!!

2011-02-01T19:26:00.001-06:00

Was going to hawk today. We even got everything together, got into the truck, and went to the place I wanted to hunt, about 15 minutes away. We passed a sturdy Amish buggy . . . I'd definitely not want to be Amish in this weather! In fact, I can't think of ANY reason why I would want to be Amish!! When we got to the place I wanted to fly, we got out, and I caught my breath. It's above 0, but the wind is picking up . . . and I decided then and there I just really wasn't serious about hunting today. My bird has never flown away . . . but he could end up doing that today whether he meant to or not . . . very high winds. The farm is protected in a patch of trees and I didn't realize exactly how much the wind was blowing. I took Bailey home and fed him up. Tomorrow doesn't promise to be any better. Minnesota is north of the blizzard that is hitting South of here, and pushing Eastward . . . but we are still catching some of the wind. Sounds to me like a good day and night to stay home.

My bud in Illinois is in the "You Should Buy Liquor" portion of the map above. I also stole this image from her posting on Facebook. It's nice being North of all that and being able to sit back and watch and not worry that we'll have a lot of digging out to do tomorrow. Of course, on the farm, I never dig anything out. That's what farmers are for . . . and winter farm toys.

Enjoy the Blizzard everyone!!

WhooooooHooooooooo

2011-01-30T17:58:00.001-06:00

OMG!! I was actually practicing falconry today, and not just a walk in the woods.

I went to La Crosse to visit my previous housemate, Liz, and to hunt the bird, and make a visit to my favorite hangout . . . Paneras. Liz was happy to see me, and the bird, and decided she would like to go hawking with me, so we went and visited the little patch of woods not far from her home, that I've poked around three previous times this season. The last time I didn't flush any bunnies. The two previous to that, I did, but Bailey didn't catch anything . . . . only tagging one briefly. Liz used Rich's snow shoes, and we had a nice walk going. Bailey was following like a trooper, and was sharp to what was going on around him. The cattail bed in this field is pretty mushed down with the snow, but another patch of brush looked promising, and I had Liz stomp it. Sure enough, after a bit of stomping out popped a bunny. Bailey was hot on this bunny and grabbed at it. Bunny started to wail . . . and I ran over as fast as I could. Liz was shouting "He Got It!" . . . and I was shouting "Not until I get there . . . he's been losing them!" But not this time! Bailey finally had his bunny by the head . . . so officially, this is #2 in the bag.

This time I fed him up with what I had on the lure and in my pocket, because I wanted to get a picture of hawk with bunny. He'll get to eat this bunny over this next week.

I told Liz I'm going to have to start calling her "Good Luck Liz" . . . as she was the missing part that made this hawking effort successful. THANK YOU LIZ!!!!

Mobility

2011-01-27T13:12:00.001-06:00

Rich and I went to the Cities yesterday for some shopping, and picked up a pair of military surplus snow shoes. After figuring out how to put the straps on, we took em for a spin about the farm yard, where there is much deep snow and drifts. They did GREAT!! We will take them down to the park in town and fly the hawk, who is at weight, and see if the squirrels are out, or if we can find that bunny that has been hiding in the brush. I think we will be able to move a lot easier. Modern snow shoes can go anywhere from $100 to well into the $300 range. These were $40 a pair. Hopefully they will improve the hawking experience. I'll report back later.

**LATER**

It was a great hawking experience, even if we, again, brought nothing home to show for the hunting effort. We went to the park uptown, which has a LOT of snow, but with our new snow shoes, we just glided over the hills. The big shoes also work nice to stomp down brush. It is a little hard to work through the brush, and going backwards is really hard, but I floated on top of the snow, and didn't sink. As you can see above (though you can't see the snow shoes) I only have snow up to my ankle area, not up to my thighs. It was pleasant to not work so hard to simply walk. It was also a relatively warm day, for a Minnesota January (in the low 40s) so was a really nice day to be out and about flying the bird. See . . . no coat!

We didn't flush any bunnies, but the hawk did make a go at a single squirrel. There were several others out, and we tried to bring the bird's attention to them, but Bailey just doesn't get the concept of looking up. When I give the game call, he flies to the tree and looks down at me.

Above I'm showing off the shoes, pretending to about to squash the hawk . . . . but no fear . . . no hawks were squashed . . . just fed from the food in my pocket. Next week Rich and I will go back to Canton and try the tree farm. I know there are bunnies there, and now we should be able to move a lot easier. We are both going into a work weekend . . . so no hawk flying for a couple days.

The Falconer

2011-01-24T08:23:00.001-06:00

Recently my husband has been subjecting me to all of the clips out on the Internet that he can find of an old Saturday Night Live skit called "The Falconer". It's the same story each episode . . . the falconer, named Ken Mortimer, is in trouble and needs help, and sends the falcon, Donald, off to find it. But always the falcon goes and finds his own fun. The attached clip is one of the cleaner ones!!

((Donald is a VERY bad boy!!))

Finally . . . Bunny #2 . . . with some help

2011-01-20T18:12:00.001-06:00

It was a cold day that found us at the Houston Nature Center, on our way to Winona for a few errands. I stopped in to see Karla, and check out what's been going on with her owls. You can find her link below here on my blog links. She has an education owl, Alice, who normally comes to work with her and sits staring out the window most days. I was informed that Alice is on maternity leave. She has laid her egg . . . infertile . . . but she doesn't know that, and will sit on it nonetheless for the required incubation time. Karla is also conducting a breeding project and owl vocalization study. Her link will also bring you to a webcam, where you can peek in on Rusty and Iris, a pair of non-releasable great horned owls. Rusty is doing his best to woo Iris . . . . Iris is not yet so sure she wants to be wooed. Everyone associated with the project hopes they will be successful and breed.

The day promised to get only much more colder, so we decided to fly Bailey at the marsh after the bunnies that the snow told us were there. I didn't intend to work too hard, but my bird needed to be flown and fed, and it was a good place to do it.

We began to work the marsh, and after a short time, Rich indicated that he had seen a rabbit run. Bailey had also flown briefly over the marsh, hovering, looking, looking . . . so he too saw something as well, but he didn't stay there, but went back to his tree perch. I worked my way over to where Rich was, and bumped the bunny, which left the marsh we were in, ran over the rise, and into the next frozen pond and brush . . . with a hawk on it's tail. Bailey wasn't too close behind, so bunny made it to the brush and cover.

We followed. As we made it to the marsh and began working the edge, Rich pointed and indicated he could see the bunny. I walked over, and sure enough, it was hiding in a bunch of cattails. We both got ready . . . I poked, bunny ran, and then Rich whomped it with his stick, which slowed bunny considerably, and then I grabbed it. All this time Bailey just sat in his tree and watched the action. I had to waggle the bunny at him before he realized we had lunch. This is NOT how falconry is supposed to work!!

Every hawk is an individual. I'm not greatly impressed with my current bird. He is guaranteed to get his freedom when the season ends at the beginning of March. I'll feed him up for a few weeks to give him a fat reserve, but he will return to the wild to hunt mice to his heart's content. Justin informs me that he has passed his falconry exam. This summer he'll get his equipment together. I'm going to build a bow net trapping setup. This next fall I hope to be able to trap multiple birds, and pick a large female for next season. I'm also slowly making contacts and securing locations to hunt. Many are farm yards, but still have bunnies. Hopefully, next year will be a better season.

Sometimes it is just a Walk in the Woods

2011-01-16T20:37:00.000-06:00

It can be easy sometimes, to forget to mention that what we do when we hawk, sometimes, is just downright cool. I am focused on the goal of trying to locate and capture quarry, because that is what falconry is . . . the hunting of wild game with a trained raptor. However, there are times when I am reminded that there is something almost spiritual when you are out in an open, wild area, the sky is clear, the air is cold, and the only sound is the scrunch of your boots in the snow, and the occasional sound of the bird's bells as it moves from tree to tree.

Today I took a walk in the marsh in La Crosse. It is all frozen over at this time. It was a nice walk, in which I was unsuccessful at finding any bunnies. However, Bailey did find himself a mouse. He is pretty good at finding them. Not exciting . . . but it is high quality hawk food. It was pretty cold, but very quickly the body warms up as you walk, and you don't notice it. I came across tracks in the marsh that walked a similar path that I took, and poked at some of the same spots I was interested in poking at . . . looking to flush bunnies. Perhaps another falconer has been in the area recently. I wonder if he or she found any bunnies. I did come across several couples out walking along the marsh path . . . and all are excited and interested to see the bird, and ask questions.

It is cool what we do. I would prefer to also add catching quarry. I've done this before, with previous hawks . . . so perhaps it is just my little mouse hawker to blame. And maybe the bunnies are also scarce. Whatever the reason . . . I'll still take him out as often as I can, and keep trying until the season is over.

I'm Sick of Snow!!

2011-01-13T19:52:00.001-06:00

In case no one has heard me bitch yet this year about this . . . I am so sick of deep snow!!

I have been doing what I'm supposed to be doing . . . getting out several times during the week to fly my bird. We have been focusing on small areas, farm yards, brushy spots along RR tracks, and today a nice place outside of Winona, where I work. This last week I've brought several people along for the experience. Bailey has flown nice, kept near me pretty good, had a few slips, but not nearly as many as I would like. I am constantly finding myself sunk into snow drifts up to my waist, stuck in brush and briar that I can't see under all the snow, tripping and crawling on my belly to try to get traction. It's very frustrating!

On Monday I took out a couple of young ladies who live in Rochester. Bailey had 4 good slips. He caught the first one . . . better than the 'tag' that I've been crediting him with most of this winter. He had this bunny and it was wailing. It had fled with the hawk hot on it's tail and squeezed between an outdoor kennel and a canvas hung to provide a wind break. It wailed for like 2 to 3 minutes as I struggled to get through the drift, as this was on a hillside. Just as I reached and went to grab, my traction below me gave out, and I fell. The bunny did a flip in reverse, twisted the hawk, hopped over him, and over my hand . . . . and gone gone gone!! It was the closest thing to a bunny in the bag this week.

On Tuesday we flew the field and farm of the man who owns the bowling alley that Rich has a men's league on Thursdays. We had about 4 slips there too . . . but it was a hard slog and dig . . . the bunnies are under some pretty heavy snow drifts. This man also has a 'bunny fortress' across the street . . . a huge brush pile the size of a couple houses. The tracks in the snow and the turds on the edges are just mocking . . . there is NO getting these bunnies out.

Today we flushed one rabbit for sure, just as we entered the field, after I managed to get Bailey to come away from the backyard where I heard quail putting up a fuss because of the hawk eying them. I'm glad he didn't try for any of them, though I'm pretty sure they were securely housed. He chased that bunny down the hill and under the RR bridge. Sometime shortly after that he disappeared again, and came back wet, with the water freezing on his feathers, and his bells silenced. I think he made a go again at a bunny, and missed hitting the creek.

The rest of the afternoon was spent struggling through deep snow, and finding nothing. We were followed into the field by Justin, who works at the hospital I work at. I believe he may become my first apprentice . . . . and he seems very appropriate for the sport. He is going to take his test next week . . . and I'm sure he will do fine! This summer he'll get his equipment put together. So, hopefully, next fall we can trap together. He has his home along the Mississippi river, close to it, so should be a good place for a bownet setup.

The hawking has pretty much sucked this year!! Rabbits are hard to find, and I'm tired of deep snow. I've been wanting to get a hawking dog . . . . and was looking at a pup at a shelter near here . . . . but I think now I will pass on the mini dachshund for now. Next year I need to make sure I trap a large female hawk. Maybe over the summer I'll raise up a Jack Russell Terrier. So many ideas to improve my hawking . . . . I hope for the best.

Hawking Posse

2011-01-09T21:54:00.003-06:00

On Saturday January 8th I got to get in some hawking with my former sponsor, Dave, and was able to show falconry to a couple of new friends. I have Kaylynn, pictured above, to thank for these pictures. Dave was flying Patti, his passage RT hawk. I flew Bailey later in a different field, but didn't get a picture of the both of us with our birds.

From left to right is first Christina, a young lady I have known for several years, who wants to get into falconry as soon as her life will allow her. She currently is finishing up her education with massage therapy . . . so I will know where to go and who to send people to very soon when they need to get that stress and muscle strain worked out. Next is me . . . complete with my cold weather hawking gear patched up with duct tape! I'm trying to get one last year out of it before I buy new stuff. It was a pretty cold day (single digits with a light breeze, but thankfully sunny) requiring the heavy duty stuff. Then there is Dave. On the far right is a young man from my current workplace. Justin is very interested in falconry, and may possibly become my first apprentice. This was his second opportunity to go out hawking with me, and I think he is thoroughly hooked. He was the best dressed of all of us!

My hawking posse met up with me at Panera's for coffee and bagels as we awaited for Dave to arrive. After a bagel and some coffee of his own, we left to go to a field in La Crosse that I've not visited for two years to first fly Patti. We had a tough walk at times, but much better than some of the fields I've been working in Minnesota. Patti got several flushes but just didn't manage to connect with any of the bunnies. Dave told me he has been mostly flying her in the afternoons, so she may have been a little confused by this morning flying. After a couple hours Kaylynn had to leave, so we relocated to a different field. I then flew Bailey, who also got a couple of flushes, but also did not catch anything. The final move was to the tiny field I've flown multiple time to try for that bunny that keeps getting away. We didn't see it at all this time. So . . . we were skunked that day . . . but it was a good day out letting our birds exercise, and ourselves too.

Many, if not all, of these people are going to try to make it to the Wisconsin Falconers Meet which is the first weekend of February. I'm looking forward to it!

2010-12-24T12:25:00.001-06:00

May the Peace of the Season bring peace to each and all! (If I had taken this picture before today, I would use it for my holiday card. Maybe for next year. This is taken in my front yard. The snow is pretty! Just very hard to walk through!)

Happy Holidays 2010

2010-12-24T08:45:00.007-06:00

Two years ago I decided to make my own holiday cards with my own pictures. I liked the idea so much I've started to make it a 'tradition' of mine. Below are the best of the pictures I took for this year's card. The top two are the ones I went with. Anyone that got a card from me that also check in here have already seen these pictures. At one of the farms I was invited to hawk at on the first major snow day I took the above picture of a rustic out building, flanked by a lot of burdock. I don't particularly like burdock, but the picture was really nice. There was another patch of weeds further up the hill which may have made a very nice closeup image, but after having already been up the hill once, and found nothing for the hawk to hunt, I didn't really want to slog up the hill again. So, that image 'got away'. There are many fruit trees on the farm, and the guys have built a grape arbor which has several varieties of hardy grapes growing. The apple tree is next to the arbor, and some of the grapes wound up into the tree. No one harvested the grapes this year, so some were left on the vine, as well as a few apples up high that didn't fall off on their own. After the first winter storm, which left everything coated in a layer of ice, I scaled a ladder to capture this apple and grape pair. I don't think the image catches quite the sparkle on everything . . . but it still turned out to be one of my favorites. The rest of these pictures are images I saw and photographed, but just didn't choose for my card. They are still nice, so I'll share them here. It snowed again outside! I need to get moving and go out and scrape off my car and make an errand up town. I also will have to catch a nap, for I get to work tonight . . . doing the overnight shift . . . working when Santa works. Hey Santa . . . how about some more bunnies! Or maybe, some courage for my hawk to go after the squirrels I keep showing him, but which he still has no interest in. How about an early melt so there is not so much snow to slog through. I'm feeling very disappointed in this hawking season.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

A Visual Demonstration

2010-12-22T09:53:00.002-06:00

How much snow do you have?

This much! This is the average depth. In some places it is deeper . . . see the snow up to bottom of my jacket? In a few places it has blown off, so is not so deep. But this is the normal depth. All I see of rabbits is some tracks, and maybe a few turds. Bunnies are tucked in safe and hard to find. I had an enjoyable IM chat with my former sponsor yesterday. I deeply admire this man, and feel very honored that he was the person who mentored me into the world of falconry. He is also having difficulties with finding rabbits, so that at least gives comfort that it's not just my imagination, or lack of effort. The difference is that he has a nice sized female RT, and the skill to get her on squirrels. I'm not even seeing the tree rats now. If nothing else, this season is making me form a to-do list. 1. Possibly consider getting a hawking dog and train up over the summer. 2. Build a bow net set-up, to expand the possibilities of trapping more birds, to make a better selection (i.e. A BIG female for next year). 3. Build another mews, a warmer mews, and consider another species of raptor. A kestrel for all the sparrow around here? A merlin? Can I figure out how to trap one? I don't think I'm crazy enough yet to take on a Coopers or a Sharpie, but they could certainly go for all the sparrow . . . . and I'm pretty sure I could find some more farmers around here who would not mind me knocking those down for them. Falconry is not an easy sport! It is an obsession! Sometimes I get discouraged, but I keep coming back, keep coming back. I read of the successes of others, and remember my own successes in the past. I'm frustrated that the area I'm living in is not proving to be a good hawking area. Will I ever live in one?

ENOUGH already!!

2010-12-20T16:06:00.006-06:00

It's snowing outside, again! Probably about an additional 6 to 8 inches, on top of the approximately 19 or more we already have now. It's pretty! It's hard as hell to walk through! It's almost impossible to find anything to flush for the hawk. Despite all this, Richard and I did go out to at least get him some exercise . . . and us too. Surprisingly, he did manage to find a vole today. Nothing else was flushed, despite bunny sign, bunny tracks in the snow. I've dropped Bailey's weight, due to his poor performance the last time we went out. Today he was 800 grams . . . a very big drop, but he seemed a heck of a lot more attentive to what was going on around him. I believe 800 is too low, and will return him to the mid 850s. Mostly today, he was hunting me. Above he found me while I was moving through a thick grove a pine trees, perching like a parrot instead of the hawk he is. When I tossed him off toward a tree, instead he landed on Richard. We are getting very nice snow pictures of the hawk, but that's about all we have to show for our trips out into the deep white stuff. I have hawking envy for all those folks in the blogs that I have bookmarked on my page here . . . for all their success. Game is hard to find, and my weapon to catch it is not performing like he should. I hope this gets better before the season is over.

Deep Snow

2010-12-14T18:07:00.005-06:00

The Upper Midwest was hammered with snow on the weekend of December 10th and 11th. I decided to try my one close-by field that we've been successful at catching the only rabbit that has gone into the bag with this bird. The snow was beyond belief in how deep and difficult it was to work the field. Most of the time I was up to my knees, but occasionally you'd find yourself up to your thighs or hips, as this field is an old tree nursery, so there are holes where trees previously were growing. With the snow, you don't see the holes, until you are in them, but at least the deep snow cushions the fall. It is now an abandoned field, perfect for bunnies to inhabit . . . and inhabit they do! There was sign of rabbits all over, and a few were spotted . . . but it was incredibly hard work to flush them. Richard took a picture of Bailey perched atop one of the many pine trees still growing in the field. I should have taken a picture of the snow-covered trees, but didn't realize a camera was along. Upon returning home and talking with one of my hawking friends who frequently travels to Alaska for work, she indicated the falconers there utilize snow shoes. This prompted an Internet search, and I think very soon I will purchase a pair. I might not be able to stomp brush as well in them, but at least, hopefully, I'll be able to walk the field with a lot less effort. With the snow dumping has also come some sub-zero temperatures. I have been allowing Bailey's weight to maintain a little higher. I think I'm guilty of allowing my sentiment for the animal to cloud my falconry wisdom . . . as he tells me he's starving, but field performance proves otherwise. At the end of our time in this field I had herded a rabbit towards the front of the field. I was just about to give up and go home, when I exited the tree line, having already tossed Bailey towards the large tree at the end of the field, to notice the bunny I had been chasing was sitting in very short cover between myself and the hawk. It was a perfect set-up, for any other bird. I gave the game call, and Bailey whipped his attention towards me, as I ran towards the hiding rabbit to flush it. It did flush, and ran out into the open field towards the trees . . . and my bird just sat in his tree and ignored it!! This is sure indication that the 890 grams I've been allowing him is just too fat for true response. I had determined his flight weight earlier in the year to be 865, and 865 or below is where he needs to be. Since that time, I have been managing his weight a little closer, and hope on Monday the 19th to try again, somewhere. My long work weekends just really cut into my hawking!! Above is a wild Coopers hawk spotted sunning itself in one of the trees in our yard. I spotted it outside my window where our computers are set up. We watched as it watched the world around it, to include several juncos foraging for food around the base of the tree where it was sitting. If you look closely, you can see this bird already has a crop on it (bulge at the neck) so was not interested in hunting . . . only interested in catching some rays. It is the unseen Coops that is the dangerous one. Those sitting out in the open usually are not hungry or hunting.

Winter Hawking

2010-12-07T09:04:00.003-06:00

The first major snow of the season arrived last week, and it was a decent amount. About 9 inches fell, and blanketed everything. The hawking just got easier, and harder. Easier, because now you can see if there is any bunny activity in the field you want to fly your bird in. Harder, because you have to tromp through it all. I don't have a dog . . . I should really, seriously start thinking about getting one. It would be nice to let a young, agile dog sniff out and kick out the rabbits. Instead it's me, and sometimes I have the pleasure of Richard's company, to tromp through the areas and try to find the rabbits. Yesterday we hit a couple places in La Crosse. We didn't flush as many rabbits as there were sign of their presence. My hawk is also, still, not very good at catching them!! As of yesterday he has now 'furred' about four rabbits. He really needs to learn to grab them by the head, as by the but they just rip away . . . their fur and skin being very loose. It is one of their defense mechanisms. The heavy snow has now made finding mice almost impossible. It is now that the inexperienced birds start to starve. Bailey is just lucky he has a safety net, in me. I just hope he starts getting wiser on how to catch what I work so hard to flush for him. At this point . . . I'm not planning to keep him for another season. He'd better wise up, or fly South when I let him go in the spring.

Meeting Another Falconer

2010-11-28T19:08:00.004-06:00

Today I spent a wonderful day in Rochester meeting another falconer who I've exchanged e-mails with for some time. We spent the day chasing bunnies and hawks, and generally talking each other's ears off. He is, by his own admission, in 'falconry purgatory', as he is birdless right now. He and his wife moved to Rochester this year into a house which, as he says, will be wonderful for kids (which is good as his wife is pregnant with their first child) but not so great for setting up a mews. So falconry is on hold for him right now as life is happening. Today I helped him get a falconry fix. We met up early in the morning and proceeded to check out a couple spots that he thought might be good for hawking. He's really not sure what to look for here in the upper Midwest as he has hawked in Idaho and Arizona. I made a point of introducing him to burdock . . . one of my 'favorite' plants. Eventually we went West to Byron, to the spot I've found which does have rabbits. We worked down and up the patch next to the rail road, flushing lots of bunnies, and Bailey did stoop on several, and on one did catch it, enough for the bunny to wail for quite awhile, but as I was making my way over to help him, he lost his grip and it got away . . . again. He really needs to learn to grab them things by the head! He was a bit high in his weight, and as the day wore on, and the tidbits added up, and it got warmer (and windier) my field control over him was straining . . . so we called it quits and called him down to the lure. We met up with his wife for lunch, and continued to talk hawk the whole time. She was very patient and didn't mind. After lunch, with him not needing to come home for any 'honey-do's' he went out with me again to 'hawk stalk'. We never did spot any juvenile hawks, only seeing one bird which at first we both thought was a juvie, and we even dropped a trap. However, once we got a chance to really take a good look at 'her' (appeared to be a pretty large bird) she was an adult, which we call a haggard. She was quite a light colored bird, having more of a rosy tail, not dark brick red, and her head was more grayish than redish. She was BEAUTIFUL!! Too bad she was an adult! The above sign makes no sense at all . . . . since the area behind it is a public park! We had a very good day, and I look forward to many more hunts searching for bunny spots in the area. Thanks Paul!!

Thanksgiving in Caledonia

2010-11-25T20:14:00.003-06:00

Today I celebrated my first major holiday with my new family, as a member of the family. I've actually attended an Easter while I was still dating Rich. Above, we both came to the feast wearing our Norwegian sweaters, which are very warm. Appropriately, we posed next to his brother-in-law's stuffed turkey. The weather has changed, and we are experiencing the first true cold snap. A cold, icy rain fell last night coating everything, and making walking and driving treacherous. I don't think the temperature rose above the 20s today. Our chickens were moved inside the calf house, where they will spend the rest of the winter. My hawk got to spend last night in his box inside the house, but only because it was already icy when I got home yesterday, so didn't want to fuss with it. He's in his mews now, having gotten a pretty good feast of his own today, as I won't be able to fly him for a couple days. We went to Wisconsin yesterday, and I purchased my out-of-state small-game license, then visited one of my old favorite spots which always had bunnies. We had about 3 flushes, though it is possible the first and third were the same rabbit. He made a really spectacular stoop at the final rabbit, furring it, and garnering a squeak, but yet again he didn't have a good grip, and lost his prize. At this time we were also getting cold and wet, what with the freezing rain that had started, as mentioned above, so called it quits on that last lost slip. I'll continue to visit my old spots and check them out. I figure, they have not been hawked for about 2 years, unless someone else has been visiting some of them since I last left the area. I'm arranging for a falconry outting this weekend in Rochester. I hope for better weather. Cold is OK. Wind is NOT! Snow is OK. Ice is definitely NOT!! It was an enjoyable day. I am thankful myself for being a part, being welcomed into, a wonderful family, and having such a good companion in my life. Thanks Rich!! I Love You!!

Drive By Trapping

2010-11-23T19:30:00.004-06:00

Here's my guy holding a recently trapped passage red-tailed hawk, which he is about to let go. A few days ago I was driving through the Yucatan Valley in Minnesota, and saw a fairly dark juvenile hawk. I didn't have any trap bait with me (live mice or rats) even though I did have the traps. I then went into my work weekend, so thought it unlikely the bird would still be in the area three days later, but I'd try it anyway. I had a meeting on Monday at work, so left an hour early to scan the valley in the daylight (I'm now currently driving to work and back in the dark). I drove through the valley, then doubled back on a parallel road, and re-drove half of the valley . . . and that is when I spotted this dark bird. So far this season, I am not having a great falconry experience. That is, I did trap a really nice bird, and he trained quickly, and I have really good field control over him . . . but I am just not finding enough game for him. He refuses to chase squirrels, which we do have, will go after rabbits, which I am not finding enough of, and usually takes mice. Whooopee! I have also been out trapping several times and caught nothing. I was surprised that within 10 minutes of spotting this bird, he was in hand. Taking him home and checking him over, he turned out to be a small (though well fed) male. Rich came with me back to where he was trapped and the bird was released. My license has room for another bird. If I happened to trap a really good sized (and preferably dark) female, I'd consider keeping her. It's ironic but on the same day I saw two other birds which were set up great for trapping. I think one turned out to be a Rough Leg Hawk, a species we don't use in falconry, so I didn't set a trap out. The other I did try for, and may have caught with time, but it was late in the day and darkness ended my further attempts. I'll keep searching for those bunny hot spots . . . . they seem to be a rare thing!

Pedicure

2010-11-17T10:13:00.005-06:00

Soooo . . . what color nail polish would you like?? Blood Red!! OK then!

As we went through the training process, and the bating process, and my NOT having any outdoor carpet down while that was happening, my bird lost his needles at the ends of his talons. Reading up on it, you are supposed to soak the feet for the scales to slough off, and for the needles to return. On top of everything else, my bird also seems to have sustained a wound to the side of one of his toes . . . how he did that I don't know as he's not caught anything any more vicious than a rabbit. Besides antibiotics prescribed by an avian vet, treatment includes twice daily soaking in warm water. So, morning and night, he is placed into a lick tub (BIG plastic container) with about an inch of warm water, to which I'm adding epsom salt. He stands in this, hooded, for about 10 minutes. His feet are coming out nice and clean, and hopefully it is helping the wound to resolve, which is a closed scab, and which I have not noticed too much difference yet. Anyhow . . . . this is also helping to soften the scales on the talons. Today as I was fussing with his feet after a soak, and changing out anklets, I decided to take the emery board and scale off myself some of the loose stuff that you can see as a soft white layer on the talons. I was seen doing this, and captured in photograph. It does look funny! As far as the soaking process . . . I think the jury is still out. I've read to let the hawk soak overnight. I've also read to wrap a perch with a wet towel, and let them stand on that overnight. I may still consider this at some point. I've also read to massage in some bag balm onto the nails, which I may still consider getting. In combination with all this, I have changed out all the perching surfaces for him, adding a nice rough branch in his mews which he prefers to perch on. This should help with the stropping process. Either way, his toes are getting more pointy! I'm also very impressed that he is allowing me to fuss with his feet without any protest.

United Nations Declare Ancient Hunting as Global Cultural Heritage

2010-11-16T17:33:00.004-06:00

The North American Falconers' Association in coordination with the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF) released the following statement today.

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Nairobi, Kenya - Today the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage added Falconry, a traditional hunting method, to its List of the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity.

For over 4000 years, falconry as a hunting method has retained an unbroken thread of tradition. For nearly 200 generations in an unbroken chain of intangible heritage, falconers worldwide have passed along their knowledge and skills bringing this art to us in the 21st century. Today's modern lifestyle and rapid urbanization have restricted opportunities to practice falconry. This has lead to a dangerous decline in many countries. UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage lists ensure signatory governments protect traditions such as: traditional skills, knowledge and rituals, handicrafts, song, dance, art and poetry or practices related to nature. "Traditional falconry is exceptional in that it fulfills all of these." said Frank Bond, President of the International Association for Falconry.

This is the largest ever nomination in the history of the UNESCO convention and was presented by eleven nations: Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Korea, Mongolia, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage took the lead in coordinating this massive submission and UNESCO officials wrote during the inscription process that "...this is an outstanding example of cooperation between nations".

From its ancient beginnings in the Middle East falconry is now practiced on all continents and has given the entire world so much. Bond pointed out, "There are a thousand falconry words in common language. For example: even the universal term 'gentleman' is derived from falconry implying a man who could fly a female peregrine, the 'falcon gentle'; falconers gave the world the first scientific book on nature 'De arte venandi cum avibus' (1248 A.D.) and wars have even been avoided by diplomatic gifts of falcons."

The UNESCO submission stated "Falconry is one of the oldest relationships between man and bird, dating back more than 4000 years. Falconry is a traditional activity using trained birds of prey to take quarry in its natural state and habitat. It is a natural activity because the falcon and her prey have evolved together over millions of years; their interaction is an age-old drama. The falcon is adapted to hunt the prey, and the prey has evolved many ways to escape from the falcon. This leads to a fascinating insight into the way nature works and poses an intellectual challenge to the falconer in his understanding of behavior. His task is to bring the actors together on nature's stage. To do this the falconer must develop a strong relationship and synergy with his bird."

Falconry is considered a low-impact activity. Falconers understand that their hawks and quarry species must be preserved and they have been practicing 'sustainable use' for centuries. Professor Tom Cade of the Peregrine Fund pointed out: "Falconers have been instrumental in the worldwide recovery of the once endangered peregrine falcon and are involved in many conservation projects."

Falconers share universal principles. The methods of training and caring for birds, the equipment used and the bonding between man and the bird are found throughout the world. It is these common shared traditions and knowledge that make falconry universal and keep it alive, even though these traditions may differ from country to country. Larry Dickerson, President of the North American Falconers Association, sums up, "While falconry is a hunting sport, compared to modern methods it is not an efficient means of hunting. It is more of an art form kept alive in the United States by a small group of ardent and dedicated practitioners. This recognition by the United Nations is a milestone for falconry". The American father of game management, Aldo Leopold, referred to falconry as "the perfect hobby" and renowned American ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson pointed out the ancient relationship between man, falcons, and falconry in his famous quote "Man has emerged from the shadows of antiquity with a Peregrine on his wrist. Its dispassionate brown eyes, more than those of any other bird, have been witness to the struggle for civilization, from the squalid tents on the steppes of Asia thousands of years ago to the marble halls of European kings in the seventeenth century."

"The North American Falconers' Association joins falconers around the globe in celebration of this historical announcement and expresses appreciation to the falconers and organizations in so many countries that were instrumental in the successful recognition of falconry as an intangible cultural heritage." Dickerson said.

Jeeze

2010-11-15T17:49:00.004-06:00

So I decided to hunt my bird today. I wanted to hunt him yesterday, but he was still so over flight weight on Sunday he was not safe to fly. I used a road killed baggie squirrel on him last Thursday, and he ate so much, and it must be very rich meat, it has taken days and days for him to burn off the meal. Even today he was 25 grams higher than I usually fly him, but it has been cold, and he was acting so very hungry and motivated I decided to risk it. Rich was available to come with me today. Because my bird was not at a spectacular weight, I decided to just stay near home. We tried the park in town, as it is loaded with squirrels, and there are spots where bunnies might be found that I had not kicked up yet. When we arrived, we flushed/saw about 4 squirrels. We walked around with the bird flying about, but just never got him and them lined up that he would see them and consider chasing. Much later in the day I dug out my wrist rocket to put in my gear . . . if I had it today I could probably have gotten a tree rat to move that was plastered to the branch, out of view from the hawk. It knew we were not the thing to avoid, but that bird! So we moved off to the brushy stuff. We did eventually flush a bunny, and chased it around a bit. The hawk moved up over the hill, and we followed, only to find him on top of a power pole where a squirrel had been bumped. He saw the squirrel, and did dive for it, but missed . . . so he will try for them. I'll have to continue to encourage this. I'm also reminded today that eventually I'd like to have a hawking dog. Some of that hillside could have been much easier covered by a small, mobile dog. So after the squirrel dive, and a little more flying around, I saw the bird make a bee-line towards an open area off to the left of the field. I followed as fast as I could . . . only to find him on a snake when I got there. He had already killed the snake, but did not seem to be at all interested in eating it. I've had this happen before . . . my last RT Nina killed a garter snake too . . . but would not eat it. What a waste! So my 'fierce' little tiercel red tail has killed one bunny, about 4 mice and one snake. We'll keep working at it to get a better outcome to the hunt. BTW . . . I brought the snake home and even the barn cats were not particularly thrilled with eating it, but eventually they did. I guess no one likes snakes, alive or dead! Below is a gratuitous pic of my cute little pomeranian dog that used to belong to my mother. She's killing a chew toy. If it wasn't for the fact that she is so fluffy, I'd consider trying her as a hawking dog . . . she seems game enough for it . . . but that coat would pick up burdock worse than I would . . . and I'd be spending a lot of time teasing it out of her.

Minuscule

2010-11-14T16:52:00.006-06:00

By accident I came across one of the videos produced by this French television series. I then spent a good chunk of an afternoon watching a bunch of the clips. It is quite cute, and worth sharing! Sorry . . . no hawks . . . just lots of cute and sometimes devious insects. http://www.minuscule.tv/ I'll include one as an example:

Fuzzy Shoes

2010-11-02T20:56:00.002-05:00

There has not been much of excitement to report as far as my falconry activities. I've been getting Bailey out every couple days, when work doesn't interfere. On the last three trips out all we have to show at the end of the hunt . . . is a mouse in the crop. Last week Rich and I drove towards Rochester, and ended up in Byron. I found a really good stretch along a RR track that was loaded with bunnies. We had lots of flushes, and lots of stoops, and one bunny squeak, but no catches. The brush is still very thick, and my bird is inexperienced. The area around Rochester looks good for many potential hunting sites, it's just that it is a long drive away!! The last two times out we focused on places closer to home. Again, the same frustration as last year . . . finding appropriate places to hunt. By all accounts, Bailey is doing his job, following pretty good, and coming when I call . . . I just need to get better at flushing game for him. On a different note . . . . and somewhat funny as far as I'm concerned . . . I learned to never, never go out to the mews to get my bird wearing my fuzzy lambswool slippers. I stepped into his mews the other day to pick him up and bring him inside to be weighed and gotten ready to go hunting. He flew at my feet and started to attack what looked like a bunny to him. I got a few scratches on my ankle before I could grab him, and then kick off the slippers outside. It may have hurt, but I thought it was funny, giggling all the way back to the house, my ankle oozing blood. The only other items of interest . . . . Richard helped me to make a new perch inside the mews. This one is a fresh wood branch, harvested direct from a mature tree growing on a farm near here. We saw the branch, and came back to finish yanking it down. It took Rich about an hour of pulling on a rope looped over a low branch to finally break it free . . . some very tough wood . . . black walnut I think. I'm also testing out a technique to help re-sharpen talons. Bailey lost his very sharp needles in his new life, and going through the training. I'm trying to get them back. I had read soaking the feet in water helps to soften the scales that will then flake off, returning the talons to sharpness. I'll report later if it works. Above Bailey watches and is impatient with me as I re-tied my boot and snapped up my chaps. A new "firehose material" set of bibs came in the mail yesterday (Thanks Rich). I'll try those on for the next hunt.

Entered!

2010-10-24T13:23:00.006-05:00

Today my newest hunting companion proved that he has what it takes to be a successful falconry bird. This morning, about 10:15 AM in a brushy field not too far from where I am living, he caught his first rabbit while under my care. This "enters" him to rabbits. Chasing rabbits may have been something familiar to him from his previous wild life, or he may have simply been going after something that he recognizes as potential food because the opportunity presented itself. Either way, bunny #1 is in the bag today. I've been flying him mostly in the late afternoons. I was planning to do that yesterday, but late in the day while returning from doing some errands, I noticed a juvie RT sitting on a pole very close to the house. The dilemma was to either gear up, and try to find someplace to hunt with the dark coming quick, or go chase that juvie, and give my bird a little snack, and take him hunting in the morning, when I had a lot more time to find a better hunting spot. I chose to chase the juvie . . . . which turned out to be a bust, as it was gone when I returned. Of course, I saw it again this morning, but I was now busy going about the other activity. I'm in new territory, so I have to find new spots to hunt. With time, I should be able to find many places that I can rotate, so as not to place too hard an impact on the bunny population in one spot. However this does require driving around sometimes, looking. I did just that this AM. A couple towns down the major County Hwy that I live on, I found just such a spot. It is on the edges of a village, and appears to be an old tree nursery. In fact, I had to walk carefully, because there were lots of big holes left where trees had been dug up in years gone by. The trees now are all very large, and look as if they are in the spot they are in for good. It is brushy and overgrown, and appears abandoned. Some short distance behind it all there is also the remains of a greenhouse frame, but I never made it that far. As I was getting my gear on, and putting telemetry on the bird, I saw someone drive by slowly and eye me. They drove by again a short time later, eying me again. I had parked across the street in what appeared to be a fairly abandoned ball park. I was concerned while there that I might have the local law show up and question my behavior. Apparently it is also pheasant season, and there were some cars lined up along the road down the way working some open fields. The place I was at had no signs saying to keep out, looked abandoned, so as far as I'm concerned, is open for walking and 'exercising my bird'. Thankfully, no one came to challenge me. Bailey took a perch as we entered the field, and moved along with some encouragement following me as I moved. After about 5 minutes in the field I did flush a bunny, and he did react to it, but crashed down too late. Well, at least he did respond to the rabbit, which is a good sign. It was one of the unknowns about my bird . . . would he chase bunnies? Well, the answer was Yes! I worked down the field, then followed him over to a small island of trees across a harvested field. Finding nothing over there I brought him back over to the place I was before. We then moved to the other side of a line of coniferous trees. As I cleared the hedge I threw Bailey off, and he wheeled around and flew to the front of the field, landing in a very large tree. OK . . . good location! From there he could see the action. I then worked my way back to the front of the field. Just as I was about to the front I must have flushed another bunny, which I neither saw nor heard. Bailey did! He took off from his perch, pumped his wings fast to get some speed, then did a wing over and crashed into the grass. The effort was rewarded by the cries of my first bunny back up in the Midwest. I raced over as fast as my stubby legs could get me there, hoping he had a good grip and would not lose his prize. He clearly had control of the situation when I got there. This being his first bunny caught as a falconry bird, I wanted to reward his efforts. I dispatched the bunny, secured his leash to me, then opened it up and let him enjoy the fresh, warm innards. I then allowed him to consume a far greater meal than I normally would give him. As he stuffed himself I cut away and removed portions, to make the meal just that much less without his noticing. Even still, afterwards weighing him, he was 160 grams heavier. A normal healthy meal for this guy is about 90 to 100 grams, so it was a generous meal. Once I had allowed him to eat everything that I left on the ground for him . . . it being important that he not see me as a competitor for his food, and seeming to him that he ate the whole rabbit, though portions of it had been snuck into my game bag, I had him jump up to my fist for another small treat, then exited the field. He let me hood him without any problem. When I got him home I put him up his tall perch so he could settle down after the hunt, do a little preening, and digest. His tail was all jammed against the ground while he ate, so needed some re-zipping. I also sprayed his feet to get rid of the blood. Sorry, no pictures with the first bunny. Rich, my primary 'dog' and photographer is at work today, and what was left is not much to look at! Above he has his wings out, drying, though mostly I had just sprayed his feet and his tail. Even now as I watch him through the window, he is relaxing, putting over his crop, and occasionally working through some of his feathers, putting them back in order. Bunny #1 in the bag!

When it Rains . . . the Salamanders Come Out!

2010-10-23T18:47:00.004-05:00

It has been quite dry in our county for some time now . . . which the farmers have liked as it allowed the crops to dry out and to be brought in early. This morning I awoke to the sound of a gentle rain . . . and it rained most of the morning. In the early afternoon my brother-in-law Brian brought in the following critter which he found out and about in the moisture, looking for some bugs. It is a really nice and healthy looking salamander. It sat quietly in his hand, until I started to take pictures of it. Apparently it's shy of the paparazzi, so tried to get away. We let my little dog have a sniff, then took it back to where it was found, to pursue those bugs. A quick search indicates that most likely it is a Tiger Salamander, a very common species for this area.

Tall Perch

2010-10-23T09:45:00.004-05:00

I recently put up the 'Tall Perch', which is placed upon the top of a 6' pole. It took a few tries to teach Bailey to return to the top after a bate, but he caught on after a few assists. Currently, at this writing, he is out on top of the perch in the light rain. It is raining for the first time in weeks. The moisture is good to wash his feathers, and I'd like his toes to sit in the wet for a bit, as that assists with the sluffing of scales on the talons, to bring back the needle points. He was flown yesterday in a little patch of green behind where Rich works, showing him off to the co-workers for a bit. He followed well, and we did flush a single bunny, but he was not in position so did not see it. He did make a dive at a mouse, which he missed. We then re-whacked the area, and the mouse did pop out, and even ran over his feet, but at that very moment he was looking up into the trees, and subsequently launched to return there . . . missing a nice little meal. It is times like this that I feel a bit of anxiety about the coming year. I do not know where to find the bunnies in this region. I have to search out some hunting spots. I am living in very rural areas where what game is available disburses out into the countryside, and can be hard to find, and is pursued by the coyotes and all the feral cats. City lots are a lot better . . . but I don't live by any sizable city . . . just a few small villages. I also hope Bailey is not just a mouse hawk. Well, thus far things have gone well . . . so I need to just relax, and keep going out each day searching for possibilities.