Dec 2nd Still gaining weight!

 We have been getting colder and colder with each night that passes. Harris Hawks in their home territory rarely have freezing temperatures to worry about, and thus they are really not suited for this country. It dropped to 10 degrees last night, and will be getting colder. Hope has survived 15 degrees so far, and of course the higher body weight gives her fuel enough to combat the cold. I decided the last time I flew her that it was time to go inside at night. I do not need a hyperthermic Hawk. She of course does not understand why she cannot have the full run of the weathering area. I need to tie her to a perch, so that I can bring her in at night. She has been holding 1020 grams while spending the nights out. I started bringing her in the shop for the last two nights. The shop maintains 35 to 40 degrees.

It warmed up to 20 degrees by 11:00 AM, so I picked her up and put her on the scales. I had given her no more food than I always give her, but today she weighed 1041 grams. I guess she was burning a bit more to keep warm. I keep wondering what is her top weight? When will she just sit on the fist and watch the Jacks disappear into the sunset? Well apparently we haven't found it yet.  

Sue, ( my fishing buddy ) texted me, wondering when I was going hawking. I wanted to check another area to see if it was worth hunting, so after Sue arrived we drove out another dirt road at the ranch next door to see if anything lived there. After walking three different spots on that road, it became obvious that it wasn't worth the effort, so I drove closer to the ranch's hay fields, where I knew the Jack's frequented. I do not like to hunt the same field more than once a week if I can possibly keep from it.

Hope had been getting more than a little restless and tending to go off to see she could find some Jack's on her own. So when we got close to the ranch, we began to see a Jack or two. She had three slips in a couple of hundred yards, but wasn't able to connect due to the thickness of the greasewood. She kept getting knocked off course by her wings hitting the bushes. Then we found one that was in a bit more open area. He didn't make it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

A paltry four miles today to get her dinner, and he was a fat one too. I may have to either compress the "Trophy tails" or get a longer piece of string.

  The string on the left is last years "trophies".

Nov 30

 Although I have done so before, it was quite a long time ago, so I will explain the difference in hunting styles of Falcons and Hawks.

Falcons generally hunt from  altitude in an interception style of flight. Peregrines "generally" ( quotes because there are no hard and fast rules.) hunt from high above. Their vision is such that they can be out of our human sight, or the prey's sight, and still be able to see easily any prey flying below. By flying high the element of surprise can be used successfully. The link below should give you some idea of how a falcon is hunted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlJH0_tKQE

A Hawk however is hunted from the fist, a tree or a tee perch in Hope's case. 

https://vimeo.com/295275937                password-  owyheeflyer

I generally am too busy to take any pictures, so I have been depending on Bruce to take pictures for me. That is great, except for the fact that I didn't get the ones from Friday until today. So you will get two bunches of pictures today.

I had walked off and left her with her leg, and she came looking for me.

It was pretty cold today with a Cold Front was right over us when Bruce and I went out to hunt his falcons and I, to hunt Hope. The wind was honking right along.

We flew his old Falcon first on an artesian lake. The Ducks tend to go there in the middle of the day to rest, and while there are almost always Ducks there. There is not a good way to check for birds on the water and You never know what you are going to get until you show yourself. We have been trying different approaches to setting up the hunt, and have yet to settle on a good one as of yet. The problem is that we are so far away from where the falcon will come down with a Duck. The first time we flew her there, she attracted the unwelcome attention of a Golden Eagle. Both the falcon and Bruce are pretty nervous when we are there.

So we tried something different today in that Bruce went wide, while I stayed on top so that I could flush. The falcon had gotten to a good pitch and was circling the pond, when apparently some of the Ducks got nervous and decided to depart the area. Bruce had not even had the chance to get in position, and didn't know that his falcon had already knocked a Mallard down on the far side of the pond. The wind was howling and he couldn't hear me yelling, so I did my best, 76 year old run, (stumbling- bumbling ) around the long way to make sure that she had some protection. I found her in a small ditch wrestling with a Drake Mallard. 

After we got her fed and put up, we got Hope out and began working the Sage just down from the pond. I wasn't able to bring the dogs this time as a trapper is working the area, and there are traps all over the place.

The wind actually slacked off a bit as the front was mostly gone to the East. There didn't seem to be as many Jacks as I would have preferred, but we did find a couple. They were flushing pretty wild in front of us. We crossed the road going into an area that I really had not hunted very much. A  Short Eared Owl flushed about 20 yards in front of us, and for a while I thought that Hope was going to catch him. I am not sure if he just out flew her, but I suspect that she slacked off when it wasn't running on the ground. I was just as pleased that she didn't get her feet into him, because she would have been grabbed right back.

I have not taught her to fly birds by design. There are not enough opportunities, no Pheasant any more,      ( Not recovered from West Nile) and only this year am I seeing any game birds at all. So there didn't seem to be any point.

After a short mile and half walk, we got a fairly close slip at a Jack, and though she chased him a long way she did catch him, and I was off again doing my "Leap over tall Sage brush" routine again. (yeah right!) Hope was so deep into the Greasewood that I only found them by the Jacks screams. I broke his neck and started the process of getting her out without breaking something. I tried pushing the Jack back through the hole in the Greasewood. ( Jack Rabbits will dig out a tunnel under these thick bushes to hide in and to use as an escape route. Squirt through one of these bushes and the pursuer is stuck on the other side) Only this time he just wasn't fast enough. Hope got her hooks in him before he could get deep enough.

I went back to the other side and pulled him out, gave her the cup of tidbits, and collected the Jack to clean. I kept the liver and heart for her as well as another leg.