Acrobatics

 

Today was just a workout, for all players in this game. The bird did more flying and diving than she normally does. I did my usual plodding around. Even the rabbits got some unplanned exercise. At the end of it all, lunch (for the hawk) was just some rat that I brought into the field with us. It was a well-earned meal, if not the preferred target. However, I did get to see, and hear, quite a few attempts in some very deep grass. Several of Seneca's attempts were beautiful examples of Red Tailed Hawk acrobatics. 

I was hunting alone today, not taking any pictures in the field, and the GoPro is currently attached to my bal chatri, just in case I see a passage hawk I want to try and trap while out and about in my car. Soon, very soon, I will take all the trapping gear out of my car. The rat smell, even when I keep them clean, can be a little overwhelming sometimes in the small confines of a car. I briefly thought about taking a picture of Sunday's hunting spot with my cell phone prior to leaving, but was ready to be done for the day, so didn't. Instead, I'm going with Google Maps. The picture above looks like maybe very late winter, after the snow but before the green. It is deceptive, because it looks so very easy to traverse, but that is far from the truth. It is a lot of very thick grasses, uneven ground, some raspberry vine, with the occasional tree. In a wet year, it can even have areas of standing water, but it has been dry of late, mostly, so no puddles to slog through.

Seneca was at a good weight. She has been flown a little leaner, but she seemed intent at her slightly higher weight. As soon as I released her, she took a tree, then relocated herself in the opposite direction I wanted to work the field, into an area I would have preferred she not go. There are many places I hunt that are just waste spaces between buildings and businesses. Some of these locations I only go to on a Sunday, when everything is closed. This is one of those places. Following her lead would take me a little closer to a private home, but the deep grass mostly masked my presence. 

I made my way in her direction, kicking up a couple bunnies I never saw but could hear. They made their way with haste to a large pile of branches and roots under the big tree she had flown to. No amount of whacking or stepping on these giant piles (we call them "bunny palaces") will pop a bunny out. I tried to lead her back to the other direction of the field. While doing so, I got to see for the first time by this bird what we call a "Wing Over". She left her tall tree perch and flew out over the lake of grass, then folded her wings and suddenly dropped vertically into the waves. Her timing must have been off, for no bunny was caught. When you witness an attempt at a slip, you stop and wait, listening either for a bunny wail that it has been caught, or for the bird to not come back up. Shortly she was back up. She did fly to the area of the field I wanted her at, but didn't stay there, missing a couple of kicked up rabbits right after she left. 

The next 15 minutes or so are always the kind of harrowing hawking events you will experience at some point with your bird. It can be quite distressing for new falconers, less so with someone that has been flying 20 years. I just realized that 2022 marks 20 years of falconry for me! With it only being me in the field, there was not more than one set of eyes watching where she went. With my head down watching where I was walking, I did not see her move from the tree I had last seen her fly to, to where she relocated. I thought for sure she might have taken a rabbit in the deep grass. I would have to find her quickly, before she had eaten her fill, then took to a tree. A full hawk is one that will not respond to a lure. I was led only by an occasional tink from her bells, which I could not get a direction from. 

It was a perfect hawking day. Temperature was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The sky was clear, with no wind. I moved across to where I had last seen her, would stop occasionally and listen. Falconry bells are specifically made to ring with only the slightest movement of the bird. If she was on the ground with prey, the movement of her feet would have made for multiple opportunities for the bells to target her, but if she was in thick grass, or worse, had dragged her catch underneath something, which hawks like to do, I would have a harder time finding her. I would move, then stand silent listening. The tension of the moment is some of the thrill, I think. Falconry often is problem solving. After circling back around the very ground I had covered just before, a single tink turned me to find her sitting way behind me in a tree line she had not been to yet. She had probably been there the whole time. Just watching.  

I was able to encourage her to finally move in the direction I had wanted all along, mostly by kicking up several bunnies. She would then follow me closer, which is what she should have been doing all along. She would crash the brush several times with a force that sounds almost painful, but every time "Bugs" slipped just out of her reach.  We had been in the field over an hour, and had moved through most of it, stirring the rabbit population. She had gotten far more flying in than she normally does. I had gotten far more plodding than I normally do. I was ready to call it.  She responded quickly to the lure, and we packed it in.

At the start of our season we had several successful flights in succession. In the last couple weeks I have had a few skunked days. I'll cut and paste another event that happened recently, but which I had only posted on FB. Adding game to the freezer is the goal, but actually, it is taking the time to go out with your bird, so she may exercise, and pursue the behaviors normal for her species. Falconry allows us to watch it all with a front row seat.

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Let’s all give a round of applause for Dave Noble bells!! My bird flew off from where I tried to hunt today. As soon as I released her, the football team showed up at the park. She checked out. Telemetry was no help. It was the bells that helped me to find her, on the other side of the park, far from all the people. She was about 40 grams higher than the food I gave her when she came to the lure. Must have caught a mouse, or something. Thank goodness nothing big, to crop up on, ‘cuz I found her in super thick brush. Fun Fun!!