Vacation Ends

October is my usual month to take my two-week vacation. It coincides with the start of falconry season, and the red-tailed hawk migration is usually in full swing. This year was no exception. Only this year, I also had the pleasure to host my childhood friend, Kathy, at my home. I was a guest in her home back in May. 

As I write this, it is the morning of Friday, 10/28.  I return to work tonight. I have so enjoyed the freedom of the last two-and-a-half weeks with little to no structure to my days, but know the structure of having a job to go to actually provides a bit of stability and framework to my activities.  I'm not ready to retire, either financially, or emotionally. I'd probably spend way too much time on the computer and social media. On this last morning, as I write, it is still dark outside. I'll write a few lines, post some links for my memories, then get my morning going before I assume my routine in preparation for return to work.  I'd like to take my hawk out for a quick hunt, as I have had the pleasure to fly her every other day on my vacation. Work weekends do not allow for any time to do much else than work and sleep.

I flew her twice when Kathy visited, and of course we flushed nothing so she caught nothing. On a quick hunt after her visit, she added a bunny to the bag. Ah well, Kathy enjoyed just meeting her and seeing her fly.

I love these early to late fall days, prior to the snow arriving. We've also had some rather warm days here in October. That will surely change soon. 

So, for my memories, here is a posting from the Relive App I've been using quite a bit lately of the trip Kathy and I took up to Ely, Minnesota and the International Wolf Center.  I may come back later to post some pictures, or not. It just depends on if I can find the time.

 North Woods with Riverdale

While she visited, we also coordinated and had dinner with Shawn (an agreed upon meet up we said we would do between him, me and Richard), who now has a "lady friend". It was a nice dinner for all, and good to see he is coping well with the changes in his life.

I was able to show Kathy a little hawk trapping. In fact, I caught a very nice video of the whole thing, which I will post here on my mostly falconry blog, but will not toggle as a public video.  If you are here and find it, then you already know all about my falconry activities. I've wanted to catch a nice, crisp video of the action. The bird in this case certainly took its sweet time giving me content. Click and watch it full screen over at YouTube. It's worth it. Really!

And finally, I did make a Relive video of the trapping, so here it is.

Relive 'Hawk Trapping Third Try, & Fun With Kathy'

OK, that's all I have time for at this hour. I will get my butt up off this computer chair and go get some stuff done, and be prepared to take my bird flying this morning before settling down for my "reboot nap" and resumption of my work life routine. Life is also going to become all that much more complicated because if all goes well, this little Tasmanian Devil is going to enter our lives next week.

Oh boy . . . . . . 

Let's Get This Season (2022/23) Going

 

Beginning in September I have started to bring Seneca's weight down. She's a rather goodly sized hawk to begin with, and I did feed her well over the summer molt.  Towards the middle of the summer I moved her outside, and made an adjustment to her tethering system, which allowed her to fly back and forth in her 10 x 20 weathering yard. I think this began strengthening her and helping her to lose the molt weight. With just a couple weeks of washed beef heart, tall jump ups, and fasting days, we achieved a response weight, not surprisingly higher than last year.

Over the last week, which is the first of my usual October vacation, I have gotten her out on three hunts, with two being successful.  The middle hunt she was 50 grams over the weight I have come to expect good response, and to be fair, she had a rather aggressive juvenile hawk challenge her to the space we were flying in (Community Garden in Rochester). It's a good space for a hawk to hunt in, so reasonable for the wild bird to defend it.

She is staying closer to me than last year, but still doesn't quite understand to move with me as I work the brush.  We'll work on that.  Temps this week have now dropped into the hard freeze zone overnight, so weight control becomes a bit easier.

We have a much-anticipated guest arriving this week.  My childhood friend, Kathy, is coming to visit us. I look forward to showing her a bit of Minnesota and sharing my passion with falconry.