Needle in a Haystack

 

I flew my bird on Saturday morning, having a few hours before I needed to take my "reboot" nap, as I was scheduled for a work night. It was at one of my closer locations, not too large, but with plenty of bunnies to offer several slips. Well, several slips we did have, but just didn't connect for anything to take home in the bag. Her weight was a bit high. The greater disappointment came when after the hunt and call down, I discovered her transmitter had fallen off.

How does a heavy-duty zip tie just break?

I put her away into her giant hood in the car, then got out the receiver and yagi. I was happy to get a ping fairly close to the car, but as you can see above, the cover is challenging. It truly would be like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. I followed the signal and isolated an area, but casting about on this cloudy day, I just did not see the brightly-colored tape I've marked the transmitter with. Time was pressing, and I had to give up.

I ruminated about it all evening.

The following morning I was just too tired to even think of attempting a "fox hunt". That is what I have learned the amateur radio enthusiasts call hiding a little transmitter and then inviting their club members to locate it. I went home and slept a few hours, then tried to tackle this challenge a little more rested. I also pulled out my more compact yagi (antenna), as well as practiced just a little in my driveway with a different transmitter to get a feel on how my equipment would work receiving the signal from a device on the ground.  

I returned to the location I had given up on the previous day. I was happy to see the battery was still working. It was slower, but still beeping. I had also brought ear buds so I could attenuate my receiver down, for finer locating once you get close to an object. The light was better, and to my delight, I found it within about 3 minutes.

Hoorah!!!!

I have lost this transmitter before, and found it. It's not pretty, but it is a favorite of mine. I won it at a NAFA meet a few years prior. It is called a "cheap beep". A falconer who is also an amateur radio enthusiast was making these inexpensive transmitters. I won one and bought one. I lost one when the bird attached to it headed for the hills during a hunt and I could not follow for the very same reason above - had to quit to take a nap prior to work. It didn't help either that the following overnight had a blizzard roll in that shut the whole area down for a few days.  That transmitter was lost along with the bird. I have also purchased a kit to make one, but it remains unassembled as neither I nor Rich seem to have the right tools.

I am happy to have it back. I really should cut a leather bewit to attach to the bird instead of zip ties. Or better still, eventually put a back pack on my hawk so she can wear a transmitter up high and out of the way on her back. I'll wait on that option to see whether or not she will be a bird worth keeping for a few seasons. Back pack installation is tricky, and not something the bird will sit still for. I'll save that stress for both me and the bird for a later day.

Introducing: SENECA

Shortly after returning from my trip to Kansas, taken for fun, but also because a wider variety of color morphs come into that area, and coming back home empty-handed, I just happened to stumble upon my new bird for the season.  My husband has been participating in an auction for the last half year which has him pick up his "treasures" from Hutchison, Minnesota, which is a 3-hour drive one way from our home. When I am off and available, I tag along.  On his run at the beginning of October, driving through Glencoe, I spotted this bird at a distance on a telephone pole. We routed around closer, dropped the trap, and she came right away.  She was 1427 off the trap, a very substantial female, no doubt! She was hanging out next to a Seneca food plant, and the name just sounded appropriate, so that is what I tagged her.

We visited our friends Foxfeather and Roman on our way home to attach her permanent equipment, and for the initial manning. Below is the typical "derpy" new hawk expression. 

FOOT PORN!!!!  We falconers like to show off those impressive toes!

The bird is not so impressed, but she'll come around!

The next morning, showing off her back profile. She is feather perfect, except for a little mutes (hawk poop) on the tail. She is a standard Eastern morph Red Tailed Hawk. Nothing fancy, but still beautiful!

Becoming friends requires calming her down and assuring her that I am not going to hurt her. We call this "manning". I find using a feather helps as being touched with one is something that has happened all during her time in the nest.

⇓⇓⇓⇓ Ooop!  Language Alert!! ⇓⇓⇓⇓

As one friend described it, she is a "Chonkasaurus"!

She has certainly been the first most surveilled bird I have had. I have set up several WYZE cams around my home, to include for my hawks. She was watched closely when on her own. The image below is actually in a totally dark room. Night vision on the camera is quite convenient.

The below image is her after training and getting comfortable in her outdoor weathering yard with jump box. She can sit and watch the world go by, and then tuck herself into the bottom portion out of the wind and weather if I choose to leave her out overnight.  I can check in at any time with an app on my cell phone.

She seems to be pretty smart, as far as a hawk goes. She calmed down fairly quick, and realized I would feed her. Most birds can be moved through the training process in as few as three weeks. It took just a little longer with Seneca, mostly because I needed to shave some weight off of her. She was also receiving treatment after a visit to the Raptor Center for some mild parasites and Asper prevention.   

All during the training inside and then outside, she responded very quickly while all the safety equipment was still engaged (creance). Once I felt she was at a good weight to try free flying, she showed she was still not completely safe. The week prior to the day of her success she was flown several times, all mostly resulting in her taking a high perch and not responding or following very good. Just a little more weight needed to come off.

Creance flights in several locations helps to get her used to being weighed, then placed in a box, then going some other place and flying, and getting fed.

In recent years I have sometimes doubted my status as a "Master" falconer. I faced certain challenges with my passage Harris Hawk, which eventually resulted in my decision to let her go. I have had successes in the past with many other hawks, but constantly question myself if I am doing right by my bird, employing the best tactics for success and their safety. It is actually amazing to me sometimes the "software" present in a hawk's brain that allows us to establish this relationship with them. It is in their nature to overcome the strangeness of being taken into captivity, and all the weird things that happen to them, to include loss of freedom, equipment attached to them, human activity around them. I think the most amazing thing is their capacity to learn to take advantage of our efforts to help them hunt, their tendency towards opportunism.  Over this past week my new Seneca was not quite making the connection of my efforts in the field to stir up the game for her. On Tuesday, November 16, World Falconry Day, and six weeks since initial trapping, hopefully she made the connection.  

We flew her at Sprague Park, in Caledonia, on a day we had errands that included visiting Rich's family farm. At first, again, she was being pretty sticky in the trees and not following me, however after being in the field, and her moving a bit more in the trees to move up and be closer to me, I kicked up a bunny that ran for the next county. She came racing from her lofty perch behind me, pursued it for quite a distance in front of me, into a brushy ravine. I slowly followed and systematically worked the brush, either moving around that same bunny, or others hiding there. She kept fairly close to me, and ended up sealing the deal with a young, smallish bunny. I let her stuff herself silly for the first time under my care.  Hopefully she has made the critical connection to stay near to me, as that is where the bunnies will be kicked out. This intervention on the ground is something the wild birds learn from following farm equipment. I hope she realizes she can treat me like some kind of slow-moving (emphasis on SLOW) field vehicle that makes food more easily available.

A bird trapped and trained and taken for falconry does not actually BECOME a falconry bird until it has taken game. Today, Seneca earned her title.