It is that time of the year again. The fall falconry season is about to begin. All of my birds are just completing their molts and for the most part have new "clothes" to begin the year with. The Harris' will soon be on a diet to get their weights down to a manageable response. Yogi would hunt as fat as she is now, but just not as hard as when she is trimmed down to her "fighting" weight. This year has fostered a "boom" in the increase of Jack Rabbits. They are every where! I counted 23 on the back lawn last night, and 12 on the front lawn. That does not include the ones gathered around the hay stack or out in the front pasture. It has been a source of frustration to Yogi to watch all the Jacks parading in front of her enclosure every day and night.

Jessie will have most of this month left to her leisure, as the Duck season will not begin until the first week of October. It is much too hot to hunt now anyway.

As you can see from the above picture Tami has now acquired her new partner for the year. Things have been very hectic here this year. The fires threw every thing off. Of course all the ranch necessities suffered as well. The drought has dried up almost all of the traditional water holes and springs in the surrounding hills, causing havoc with the livestock. How this will affect the wildlife has yet to be seen. It has certainly cut into Tami's time, as the family has spent almost all the summer in the hills moving the livestock to water that is healthy. Then when things seemed to be settling down, all the fires started popping up. Perhaps with September arriving, things can get as close to normal as they ever get in this country.

Kestrels have been in short supply here for some reason. There was a nesting pair over at the ranch, but they dispersed long ago. No one was there to see them either grow up or leave. For whatever reason, Kestrels seem to be on the decline in most areas. We wanted to get a female this year for her to fly. The primary reason is that Jasper is still here at the house. He has claimed this area as his personal territory. This has pleased both of us very much. He still hunts birds, when the Mice are a bit scarce. He sleeps inside one of my wind socks at night.

The reason we wanted a female is that it is more likely that Jasper will tolerate a female sharing what he thinks is his sole domain, and hopefully when we release her later in the year, they will form a pair, that will both claim this territory as their own and hopefully nest here next year.

The last that I heard Tami intends to call this one Alice. She is a bit on the small side, but she makes up for it with attitude. She showed more determination than any of the males that we have attempted to catch in the past. Tami managed to get some food down her the first night, but she had to wear gloves to do it, as Alice seemed to prefer the taste of Tami's blood to the Sparrow being offered.