It was pretty good weather this weekend for the Minnesota Falconers Mini-Meet in Mankato. I decided to go ahead and go meet up with some of the club members, and after breakfast did go out to kick brush with a very large crowd (I think just about everyone that showed up for the meet). I brought Chimera along, but did not feel comfortable trying to fly such a new bird with so many people, not knowing how she would react to the crowd. I also brought Sumi along just so everyone could admire her. I have Brynn Johnson to thank for taking these two pictures, and giving me permission to use them.
Sumi has been side-lined for the last few weeks. I felt there was something just not right with her, and her training. She always seemed to be ravenous, and burned through her food so very quickly. I took her up to the Raptor Center, thinking she may possibly have some internal parasites. They did a workup on her, fecal, x-rays and blood work. They did not find any indications of parasites in her mutes, but advised that it is possible she was not shedding any eggs. She was placed on an anti-parasitic as well as a round of aspergillosis prophylaxis. She finished her treatment on this past Friday. She has also been getting rather large amounts of food, which seems to have done her some good. They scored her body condition as a 2. The scale runs from 1 to 5, with 1 being very bad. Feeling her keel now, she has a bit more flesh on her, and her attitude is improved. She is interested in food, motivated, but not acting like she is starving.
On Sunday morning we resumed her training. I'm happy to see she responds to fist call just as easily as if we did not take this three-week break. Lure response was also spot on! She is currently about 110 grams heavier than when I took her to the Raptor Center. I feel the decision to get some medical attention was a wise one. I have some time off scheduled this following week. My goal is to get her flying free in that time. She needs to become a falconry bird, and start adding some food to the freezer.
After leaving the club gathering, I traveled back to the Rochester area. I went scouting for a place to fly Chimera, finding a few brushy spots in Stewartville in an industrial park. Chimera got several slips but did not seal the deal. I am happy to see that whereas she sometimes is very aerial, flying high up into the trees and sometimes taking far flights, she loops back to return to be near me. I have had her out on several unsuccessful hunts, but she has seen me kick up bunnies for her, so she is learning to stay close, or return to me, as a good falconry bird should.
Still having some daylight time, I took her to a field I have not visited in Rochester for a couple years. Getting out of the car I noticed a pair of bald eagles in the distant trees, but didn't worry too much about it as normally eagles don't bother with hawks. However, after releasing her and encouraging her to follow me into the field, both eagles moved toward her double-time, and made it very clear she was not welcome in that field. The pair must have a nest somewhere. Thankfully, Chimera came to the lure without question, and we called it a day. I gave her a good meal but not a stuffed crop.
Sunday, after a nice relaxing morning I got my act together and took Chimera out. Driving some of the back roads in my area I was looking for hunting opportunities in some of the private properties. Passing what looked like a good area, and noticing a gentleman working in the back lot, I pulled in and went to say hello. Tom was more than happy to let me poke around in his brushy lot, following along to watch and help us out. Chimera flew high and active and took off after several things, bunnies, maybe squirrels, but quickly brought bunny #3 to the bag, chasing it as I pushed it out of a wild cucumber vine choked overgrown wood pile and smacking it hard up against Tom's deck and hot tub. After letting her fill her crop we took some pictures. I hope Tom sends me a couple that we took on his cell phone if he'd like to be a part of the blog. Thanks Tom for letting us fly on your land! We'll come back sometime, maybe even before the end of the season.
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