The New Girl

I had high hopes that setting up a bow netting blind this year would allow me to trap multiple birds to choose from as they passed through on migration, but the migration has been slow this year.  Sometimes, the flow gets going late due to warm weather, and also sometimes the birds just don't pass through our area in high numbers.  After limited success at my bow netting site, and some road trapping, I found her!

Appropriately, she was hanging out on a T-post nearby this company.  I was able to lay out my trap on a grassy patch out beside the building, and with minimal observation from those passing by, I convinced her to try for my rats.

She is a VERY BIG GIRL, as far as red tailed hawks go.  I have seen bigger, but not often.  That weight is 49.7 ounces, or 3 lbs, 1 and almost 2 ounces.  That is firmly in the female red tailed hawk range.  She is very well fleshed, so I will be doing some work to shave some of that off as I train her.  My former sponsor, Dave, believes that some of the largest red tails can be had in our area, as we are right on the edge of their winter range.  Many territorial red tails stay on their territory in our southern Minnesota and Central Wisconsin.  As long as there is enough food, they will stay.  However, a large number of birds up in Canada have to leave due to there not being enough food to sustain them through the winter.  This allows us the opportunity to trap pretty big birds.

I actually think I might have trapped her in her natal territory, as there were two other adult hawks very near the area, visible to me, and to her, and they were not concerned about her at all, which leads me to think she might by their offspring.

She has some pretty respectable meat hooks on her.  She has pinched me a few times through the glove.  She should be quite capable of taking on squirrels.

I have not named her yet.  As I spend more time with her I'm sure I'll come up with some ideas.

Quest for a New RT Hunting Partner

Much thanks to my place of employment for granting me 2 glorious weeks off during what I hope is the peak of Red Tail migration.  I want to add a Red Tail to my hunting team.  I really need a big, aggressive hawk (female) to go after squirrels.  Wyvern liked chasing them last year, but I need to discourage that to preserve her toes.

It has been unusually warm this year, and the migration (as monitored through Hawk Count through Duluth) has been fairly slow, for Red Tailed Hawks.  It is forecast to be clear, dry, and more specifically, colder for the next week.  I will be "hawk stalking" the roads some, and "hawk fishing" on a hillside I have permission on.

I feel like keeping track of my efforts.

Date	Trapping Mode	Weight	Comment	Fate
10/8	Bow Netting	900 g	1st bird of season	Male - Released
10/8	Road Trapping/BC	1280 g	Only female so far	My apprentice’s bird!
10/17	Road Trapping/BC	992 g	Large crop!	Male - Released
10/18	Bow Netting	1009 g		Male - Released
10/18	Bow Netting	1042 g		Male - Released
10/18	Bow Netting	1020 g		Male - Released
10/19	Bow Netting	815 g	Tiny but Fierce	Male - Released
10/20	Road Trapping/BC	1081 g		Male - Released
10/20	Bow Netting	1043 g		Male - Released
				Where the heck are the
				FEMALES????
10/21 to 10/23			A lot of driving around and sitting in a blind, but no Action!
10/24	Road Trapping/BC	1420 g	OMG!!	Female – My New Partner

I'll update this, until I catch "the One".  Hopefully she is out there, and I won't spend all of my 2 weeks off trying to locate her.  I really have a lot of other things I could do around my home with some of the extra time (clean the garage . . . pull weeds and get gardens ready for winter . . . clean my hawk shack . . . get Flint flying (he is close) . . . . continue to shave weight off Wyvern).

Hawk Fishing . . . and a new Apprentice

Many years ago I assembled my own bow netting blind equipment with a lot of help from Richard. Bow netting is different from trapping with a bal chatri (BC) as you must lure the hawks to you, rather than driving around the countryside looking for hawks to trap.  It really can be considered "Hawk Fishing".

This year I added a new piece of equipment, with a brand new bow net made by Dave Noble.  He has just started making them, and I must say, it was a great purchase!  If you are a falconer and are in the market either for outstanding bells or a new bow net, go visit his site and check out his products.

Bow Netting can be tricky, because you really need a good location.  Some of the best sites have been set up by falconers in years gone by, and the trapping blinds are handed down the generations.  I am basing most of what I know from Dave's setup.  He was my former sponsor.  He has an outstanding location overlooking the Mississippi and a yearly improving trapping blind, which has netted him countless red tailed hawks, several peregrine falcons, and other assorted raptors.

I was kindly given permission from a co-worker who owns with her husband a large parcel of land that her husband farms.  It is not right on the Mississippi River, but is within a few miles, and is in bluff country.  The trapping location is on the top of the bluff.  I would go on to have some success at the site, trapping several birds (all male), but eventually it would be a reliable BC that would snag my new companion.

I was accompanied on the first day by my new apprentice, Foxfeather (yes, that really is her name).  We trapped this little guy, but let him go right away as I want her to start off her apprenticeship with a female red tailed hawk.  A female hawk will really teach the new apprentice respect.  However, Fox has had lots of bird experience prior to her finally being able to take the leap into falconry.  She has a very strong grasp of operant conditioning, focusing exclusively with the rewarding for positive behavior, and ignoring negative.  She has an extensive collection of animals on her farm, and she trains all of them, including the yaks.  She is going to make for a great apprentice, as she already has a firm foundation in handling raptors, and even has more experience in areas than I do.  She helped me to do some beak trimming for my two Harris Hawks.  She has previously taken the raptor handling and care class at the Raptor Center, and has had more contact time for this task, and tools.  After all, she makes her living as an artist and sculptor, so trimming beaks is just another medium to work with and carve.

She made this little video of the release of that male.  However, you have to be in Facebook to play it.  Foxloft

We called it quits on the hillside after a morning of trapping as she had to get home to do some tasks.  However, on the way to her home we buzzed through Rochester a bit at some of the areas I have seen hawk activity, and there, just outside of town, we located this pretty girl.  She made hawk trapping with a BC look soooooo easy, as between the time I spotted her and we had her in hand, it was probably about 10 minutes.

We would return to Fox's home and proceed through some of the first manning steps.  Fox would go on to take it from there, and make very good progress with her.  She has turned out to be a rather nice hawk, as hawks go.  It is quite possible it also has a lot to do with the trainer.

Fox has named her Arya, from Game of Thrones.  It's a good name!

I'm glad we found her partner quickly so she can get going with the training.  I would go on for a couple more weeks before I would find mine.