Final Hunt of the 2025/2026 Season

 

GET OUTTA MY HUNTING GROUNDS!!!!

The local wild red tailed hawk was not happy we were trying to catch his/hers prey supply. After all, breeding season would be underway before long, and this bird and its mate needed that food for their family. The wild bird did not push the issue with my hawk, but it very much made it known she (and we) were not welcome.

A Few Recent Hunts

 

Como Sunken Garden

 

One of my Happy Places in my geographic region is the Como Zoo Conservatory  It is a smaller, older zoo, attached to a botanical building, and many outside gardens in the warmer seasons. Usually at this time of the year, when it is cold and snowy and icy outside, I ask Rich to take me up to the cities to sit under the dome and breathe in some moist, fresh plant-made oxygen, and enjoy the visual inspiration of flowers and growing things. 

There is a particular building, called the Sunken Garden, that changes out the floral display every couple months, and keep it fresh and blooming the entire time. I've visited probably every winter, but don't always share the pictures here on the blog. I linked below the times I have done so.

It's cheerful to boost the spirit, as it is still cold outside, and Spring feels far away.

They have a web camera that has a delay. You can stand for the camera, then capture a screen shot on your cell phone a minute or so later. 

Rich and I under the dome! 

Attached to the complex is a traditional indoor arboretum. They have many mature fruiting and spice plants (trees). 

The mandarin orange tree was ready for harvest.

They also have an extensive orchid collection. Where they are kept is not open to the public, but you can look through a window and see the plants that are blooming, as staff moves those close to the window. They do disperse some of them throughout the dome to enjoy the blooms as you walk the paths. On this particular day they had a gathering roped off of a competition they held recently of blooms. A young man standing nearby works (volunteers) for the garden, and shared that Como has many endangered species they work with, propagate, and conserve.

Links below of other visits I have made to the Sunken Gardens, and more flowers to enjoy.

October 2023

February 2023

April 2019

April 2013

Last Hunt at GG's

 Sorry for the Sideways Video!!

There is a little patch of very bunny infested brush I have hunted year after year. It's on private land, that I have always referred to as the "Gay Guys" place . . . because there were two guys that lived there. They were always kind and let me fly a bird in their back brushy spot which is just lousy with rabbits. Some days I would take home a prize, and sometimes not. Just depended on the quality of the hawk I was flying.

Sadly, two years ago they sold their home and moved away. It was sold to a development firm, so I just knew it would eventually all come to an end, and some stupid shopping strip or apartment complex would take its place. Well, this fall I noticed the house and dilapidated barn were gone. Surely, by Spring, the brushy rabbit hotel will be next. On a Sunny Saturday, the last day in January of 2026, I flew CT over the patch. We moved about half a dozen bunnies under the brush and snow. At the end of the field she scored one of them. That's one less bunny that will get "Watership Downed" when the tractors come to their doorstep. 

As the sun was setting for the day, it was also a sunset for this hunting spot.

As the human population continues to grow, the spaces in between where animals find refuge increasingly get razed. 

I try to appreciate them while they last.

Hawking with Kirk

Cinnamon Toast was a late-trapped bird, but we are salvaging a little of the season. On January 20 we accepted the invitation of Kirk Payne to come hunt on his land out behind his house. He did not take a bird to train this year, a promise to his wife, so has asked some of the other falconers in the Minnesota Falconry Club to invite him to get a fix. 

I am still feeling out how this bird likes to hunt. She obviously was taking good care of herself before I trapped her, so has a very keen prey drive. Once released she gets about the business of hunting right away. Almost to my detriment, as she seems to like to fly a distance from me sometimes. I don't think she quite understands my value in the field to kick up prey for her.

She was successful, after a time, but all three of us in the field neither saw her dive for her prey, nor knew quite where to look for her. Once we noticed she was no longer in the trees above us, we listened and would here just the occasional tink of her bells. Eventually, Kirk found her on Bunny #2.

All was great, bird hunted and caught game, bird recovered, and a great day out. The only exception was my discovering once we were back in the car and had driven away that my glasses were no longer on my head.

A quick call back to Kirk, and he walked back up his hill and found them at the kill site. 

Thanks for the extra effort Kirk! Also THANKS for letting us fly in your back yard.