Missing!

Unfortunately it would appear that I left Lee out for one day too long. Lee left sometime yesterday and has not returned as of this writing. My assumption is that he caught a thermal, that just drifted him totally out of the area. I expected him to eventually catch something and spend a night out, but as near as I can tell he is nowhere around any more. I attempted to fly yesterday afternoon, but it was so rough that I soon gave it up.

I got up this morning and the wind was nice and calm, so I rolled the plane out and took off, thinking that if I got up high enough that I could hear a signal on the receiver. I climbed up 4000 feet above the ground and nothing but static. The neighbor needed a bit of help, so I discontinued my search and helped him out.

Wind and weather permitting in the morning I will travel East, the general direction of the wind, and see if I can get any signal, but it is my opinion that he is gone. I really don't have a problem with that as such. I just hope that he gets some breaks and can make the transition to supplying his own food. He should have a pretty good chance, as he has never been restricted as to how much food he had available, and he is a strong flyer. As of this writing the wind at 12,000 feet is at 20 MPH. There is a storm front coming through, and all of that will combine to make it harder for him to return. So I am of the opinion that he is gone for good. I would estimate that he has about a week to make a kill. That's a pretty good cushion. I wish him the utmost of luck.

My original intention was to hack a female that would fit into my Duck hunting plan. Ducks are an easy and plentiful quarry for me, requiring minimum effort on my part. Ducks are sometimes difficult quarry for Prairies, but almost impossible for a tiercel, male, Prairie Falcon. Hunting game birds such as Chuckars or Hungarian Partridge, require a lot of driving and more effort than I can produce on a regular basis. I was considering hacking him back to the wild, but I really wanted a bit more time to work on his ability to catch things. So any regrets that I have are centered around whether or not he can make the cut to survive. The stats say that 75 % of the young raptors their first year do not make it. I hope that he does.

My goal was to see if I could raise a well mannered falcon in ideal conditions. I have gained a tremendous amount of insight about how to do that. This is my first mistake in that endeavor. I originally intended to do this using a hybrid falcon. Lee only required a bit of effort and only bad luck mandated that only a male was available. If he had been a female, I would have played it a bit more safe. Hybrids are going for around $2,000 each now.

I have done nothing this summer but tend to Lee. I have yet to go fishing. I have not flown much at all. Every thing has been centered around him and his care. It has been worth it and I hope that my interference in his life has not been a bad thing for him, as it has not for me.

https://vimeo.com/175146420  password -  owyheeflyer