Well I finely pulled a Prairie Falcon out of an aerie. I have had a few eyass Prairie Falcons, but I have never had one that I was able to claim that it was any good. All of them previously were taken by someone else and I somehow ended up with them. I had one female that I trapped in a family group that was still the most impressive bird that I have ever seen. She was trapped from a family group when she was hard penned. ( feathers all fully grown) I only got to keep her for one year, but it was an impressive year. She died the following fall from a gall stone in the common duct of her liver.
Having done my share of breeding Peregrines and hybrids, I have been able to make some observations over the years of the type of bird that is better suited to falconry. Survival requires a bit different set of behavior traits that do not necessarily extend to the sport of falconry. A bird that is suspicious, and very cautious, will survive, where a bold hunter that will kill at any cost can injure itself .
In almost any nest you will find several personality types, and the one that works the best for falconry is the one that is the calmest. The bird that first closes their beak and looks around will be the bird that will do the best in a falconry situation.
In this nest the bird that I took was the quiet, calm one. There was another that screamed from the time that we showed up until we left. Another that was so meek that it stuck its head under a rock and squatted trying to make itself as inconspicuous as possible.
This nest site was not active last year, but the year before the parents raised five young on just lizards. That is some feat, but the game situation was as tough as I have ever seen it. That is why I have named this bird Leeza, for the Lizards that she has probably eaten.
I have found that Prairies taken at about 22- 24 days of age do quite well. Their tail feathers are only about an 1/8 of an inch long, so stress marks are nonexistent. They are old enough that it is hard for them to imprint to you, and they actually become dual socialized. Prairie Falcons are one of the most difficult of all falcons to train in that if you ever lie, piss off, or in any way make one mad at you, they seem to never forgive you. However if you can actually get it trained, nothing hits game like a Prairie. I venture to say that for me, seeing a Prairie Falcon's totally devastating killing stoop ranks right up there with orgasms.
I am finely living in an area where I can "tame Hack" a falcon. I have always wanted to do so, and technology has progressed to the point that the odds are greatly improved. This blog will go through Leeza's growth and training, and we will see just how long I can go without screwing up.
I first found this nest through Dave's, (next door) observations while hunting lost cows about 5 years ago. He described the area and I managed to find it with the help of my plane. I set the gps to the spot and went back on foot to confirm. Its about 15 miles or more back in the desert, and in an area that you would never suspect a falcon would live there. I think it takes a fairly special bird to make a living there. Prairies are a very versatile species and will hunt ground quarry as well as winged ones.
I am at the age where my grace and nimbleness has departed. While still young in the mind, I have enough sense to know my limitations- hopefully and most of the time. I have no one ( falconers) to call on to help me, so I must help my self. It is not feasible to be roping over a cliff face some where, so this nest was just the ticket as the nest was out in the open and only about 7 feet below the top. I reasoned that I would be able to take a fishing net, extend the reach a bit and scoop one out of the nest with ease. I first ( earlier blog post) visited the site to determine that they were actually using it. Found the babies just hatched on the 2nd of May. Determined that I would come back on the 22nd to claim my bird. This is what happened.
https://vimeo.com/167826325 - password - owyheeflyer
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