When I went to get Jess this morning, she started in begging me to either feed her or take her hunting. I decided that we would give the ranch a try and see if there was any new visitors. I have kept her weight in the lower range of her response weight, and while she doesn't like it, her manners are better that way.
After noon, I had no more excuses left, so I talked Karen into going over with me. The wind had picked up a bit more by then. I snuck up to the little pond in the Sage feed lot on the other side of the barn. This is by far the best spot on the entire ranch to "Hawk" Ducks. It is only about 30 feet across and sunk down below the level of the ground, with tall Sage all around. If one is careful, you can sneak up close enough to see if there is anything in it.
I turned her loose after confirming that there was at least a couple of Teal on the pond. When the wind is blowing like it was today, she rarely goes up very high, rather skimming and zipping around. When I turned her loose a couple of wading birds took off, making me wonder if I had actually seen Ducks on the pond. She really didn't give me that much indication that there was any thing there at all. I finally ran up to the pond, and found that there actually was Ducks there. One Mallard, four or five Teal. The Mallard and a Teal left the pond, with Jessie in pursuit. She in my opinion did not try all that hard to catch any thing. The Teal were still on the water, and was scared enough to stay there with me crouching at the edge of the bank behind a Grease wood bush. When she came back over, I forced the Teal to leave and they swirled around just above the Greasewood jinking and dodging any attempt to catch one of them. Surprisingly there was still a Ring Neck on the pond.
These little critters are almost impossible to get off the water when a Falcon is in the air. I went to the edge, no more than 15 feet away, and the Duck only ran on the water to the other end. I began throwing rocks at it and it finally took off into the wind. Jessie came swooping in down underneath the Duck and scooped it up, carrying it over the fence and landing on the other side.
While the flight was successful, it had very little that falconers strive for. but as one of my departed friends once said when confronted with what falconers call a "Rat hunt", "Dead on the ground, is still dead, and still count as one."
As you can see from the neck in these pictures the Duck has been dispatched. Jessie broke the Ducks neck, but nerves are still firing, and the Duck can thrash her around quite a bit.
The diver Ducks bleed a lot, I suppose that it because they get most of their food under the water, but whatever the reason. She always looks like she has been bathing in blood by the time she finishes.
When we got home, I gave her some new bath water, and as usual when she gets bloody, she wants a bath. It doesn't matter how cold it is, she is going to get soaked. I waited until she was done, and sitting on her perch shivering, I picked her up and put her on her perch in the shop and turned the heater on.
Here is a short video of today's flight. You can hear the wind, and I did not try to narrate the video.
https://vimeo.com/79840770 password ( owyheeflyer )
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