I finally got a bit of video of him flying, although I missed all the good stuff, this is better than nothing.
When I turned him loose this morning I saw a young Red Tail fly out into the open field below the house and do a "throw up", then land on the ground. I burned about 10 minutes of video waiting for it to do something. I believed at the time that it thought that it could catch one of the Quail who were down there by the creek. We later found a dead Jack there, so I don't know for sure what it was intending. I just know that it takes the patience of Job to train a Red Tail. In case you are wondering, while I have had a couple of them for a short time, I have never trained one. Finally a young Jack started down to the creek, stopping when it saw the RT. The Red Tail thought about it for a couple of minutes and then decided to see if it would volunteer to die for it. The Rabbit declined.
I took the dogs for my walk this morning, which of course pleased them to no end. I looked for Lee when I started, but could not find him. As I got to the top of the hill, I could see him down by the windsock stooping both of the dogs in turn. He seems to prefer Josie however, and I was holding my breath as he was stooping awfully darn close to the fence. He never had any problem, so I tried to tell myself that he knows what a fence is and is much better for that knowledge. He made dozens of stoops at Josie and finally went to the garbage pile to rest, while the dogs ran further down the runway.
At about 9 or 10 AM he started hanging around the house again, so taking the hint, I got a small bird for him to eat. I tied it to the lure and tossed it out for him in the yard. He is still looking for red meat rather than just the lure, so I had to pluck it a bit to show him that it had feathers on it. He then came down and had his breakfast. I didn't see him again until about 5 PM. This time he came well to the lure.
He is developing his flying skills by the day, although the next segment of his life will be a lot more exciting, I am not sure how much of it I will be able to witness. My camera is a piece of crap, in that I cannot tell half the time what the camera is seeing. It has a little flip window, and is so small that it is impossible to hold still. I am in the process of making a shoulder stock that I might be able to hold a bit better. Time will tell.
https://vimeo.com/173986348 password owyheeflyer
Friday, July 8, 2016
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Day 67
Its been a while. Its been a busy time since last Sunday night. Our Rural Fire Protection Assoc. has received 8 trucks from the various agencies to use in the suppression of fires in our district. There is everything from pumper trucks like a normal passenger truck with a pumper in it, to 6 wheeled military trucks that are huge, all to assist us with protecting the range from wild fire. They recently got a bunch of radio communication gear to assist with that. Since I was the only member that wasn't up to his hip pockets in work that couldn't wait, I was asked to help install them. In four days we ( Al White, a radio tech.) installed 9 vehicle radios, and made one portable unit. Our first shift was 20 hours long. We had to get two of the trucks ready to protect at the McDermitt, Nev. Rodeo over the forth of July weekend. I was pretty well toast from then on.
I tied the plane out on line and we put all our stuff within easy reach, and started to work using the hangar for a work space.
While all this was going on poor Lee was left to his own devices. He did very well without adult supervision. He has progressed remarkably, and gone from hanging around the house and now prefers the Hack tower at the far end of the field. He has found that there is a nice shady spot inside the little hutch on top that he can get in to sleep and be in the shade while having a commanding view of the surrounding territory.
The days have been a bit of a blur, so a lot of the stuff he was going through and learning was missed by my having to work on the vehicles. I had one day that I was able to go for a walk, and lee followed a bit before going back to the hangar. When I arrived back he flew out to meet me. He has taken to flying over head while I am doing my chores in the mornings, breaking off to chase the Pigeons and strafe the Jack Rabbits. One of the mornings, I had taken his jesses off and walked outside with him to see what the morning had brought us. He sat for a while, and then took off zipping a Jack Rabbit by one of the rock Jacks at the end of the yard. He came within inches of the Jacks head and scared it. The Jack jumped up about 3 feet high doing a complete back flip, and promptly left the area.
Another of the little interactions that I saw was when he had decided that he was bored and landed in the yard where the two dogs were. They had been playing by running and jumping at each other. Lee joined right in, nipping at their heels and running little short spurts at them. They ignored him completely. I find it a bit amazing that Josie for instance does not retaliate if he runs up and nips her on the leg. She just moves out of the way, whether I say anything or she even knows that I am watching. Lee definitely is not afraid of them, and they tolerate him much more than he deserves.
Lee has stopped asking for breakfast and lunch. The lunch thing stopped two days ago. I didn't force him to do it, he just never came in and indicated that he was hungry. I was a bit surprised that I didn't have to do any thing to initiate it. He just never came in. A couple of days ago, he was hanging around the house, so I offered him the lure for lunch, and he just shined it.
His flying has increased by leaps and bounds. He got up a little bit above the house and allowed the wind to float him around over the house. When Karen came back from the mail on Tuesday, he was busy exercising the Pigeons. They were all over the area, with Lee right behind. Karen finally drove into the yard with the Schwan's guy following. ( rural frozen food delivery ) They were talking and Lee dove down, flew in the garage door and straight through the hangar and out the other side. He then came in and landed on one of the truck mirrors while Al was working inside the truck. I decided it was time to feed him.
Yesterday we were trying to finish up the last truck and he flew into the Hangar and landed on my tool box. I took the hint and got his lure for him.
I tried to get some video of him, but the little camera does not do well without a tripod and he is too fast for one of them to be effective. I can't keep him in sight as most of his flights that would be close enough to video are around the house.
He should be hard penned now ( blood all out of the feathers). His wing beat has gone from a butter fly to a snappy pretty darn good wing beat that he can be proud of. Some Prairies fly lazy compared to a Peregrine. Little Lee isn't one of those. He is looking good!
I tied the plane out on line and we put all our stuff within easy reach, and started to work using the hangar for a work space.
While all this was going on poor Lee was left to his own devices. He did very well without adult supervision. He has progressed remarkably, and gone from hanging around the house and now prefers the Hack tower at the far end of the field. He has found that there is a nice shady spot inside the little hutch on top that he can get in to sleep and be in the shade while having a commanding view of the surrounding territory.
The days have been a bit of a blur, so a lot of the stuff he was going through and learning was missed by my having to work on the vehicles. I had one day that I was able to go for a walk, and lee followed a bit before going back to the hangar. When I arrived back he flew out to meet me. He has taken to flying over head while I am doing my chores in the mornings, breaking off to chase the Pigeons and strafe the Jack Rabbits. One of the mornings, I had taken his jesses off and walked outside with him to see what the morning had brought us. He sat for a while, and then took off zipping a Jack Rabbit by one of the rock Jacks at the end of the yard. He came within inches of the Jacks head and scared it. The Jack jumped up about 3 feet high doing a complete back flip, and promptly left the area.
Another of the little interactions that I saw was when he had decided that he was bored and landed in the yard where the two dogs were. They had been playing by running and jumping at each other. Lee joined right in, nipping at their heels and running little short spurts at them. They ignored him completely. I find it a bit amazing that Josie for instance does not retaliate if he runs up and nips her on the leg. She just moves out of the way, whether I say anything or she even knows that I am watching. Lee definitely is not afraid of them, and they tolerate him much more than he deserves.
Lee has stopped asking for breakfast and lunch. The lunch thing stopped two days ago. I didn't force him to do it, he just never came in and indicated that he was hungry. I was a bit surprised that I didn't have to do any thing to initiate it. He just never came in. A couple of days ago, he was hanging around the house, so I offered him the lure for lunch, and he just shined it.
His flying has increased by leaps and bounds. He got up a little bit above the house and allowed the wind to float him around over the house. When Karen came back from the mail on Tuesday, he was busy exercising the Pigeons. They were all over the area, with Lee right behind. Karen finally drove into the yard with the Schwan's guy following. ( rural frozen food delivery ) They were talking and Lee dove down, flew in the garage door and straight through the hangar and out the other side. He then came in and landed on one of the truck mirrors while Al was working inside the truck. I decided it was time to feed him.
Yesterday we were trying to finish up the last truck and he flew into the Hangar and landed on my tool box. I took the hint and got his lure for him.
I tried to get some video of him, but the little camera does not do well without a tripod and he is too fast for one of them to be effective. I can't keep him in sight as most of his flights that would be close enough to video are around the house.
He should be hard penned now ( blood all out of the feathers). His wing beat has gone from a butter fly to a snappy pretty darn good wing beat that he can be proud of. Some Prairies fly lazy compared to a Peregrine. Little Lee isn't one of those. He is looking good!
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