Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Day 72
I added a handle to cover the exposed screw.
Yesterday Lee skipped his breakfast. I went out to check on him, and could only get a faint signal across the hill towards the Ranch next door. I went out far enough away from the buildings here so that I could be sure that he wasn't just laying on his antenna. The signal would come up strong and then fade as it does when the bird is flying. He was over the hill for sure. This is a lot further than I have recorded him flying before. Around 4 PM he showed up starving, so I gave him the lure and fed him his final meal for the day. It was way too early to put him in the house, so I decided to perch him with the big birds for a change and see how he was going to like that. He seemed to be quite content, so I left him there until I put Jesse up for the night. It was the best and quietest evening that he has spent since he has grown up.
This morning he was on fire to go out. He paid no attention to Karen, but when I got up and he saw me, his enabler, he was jumping up and down with impatience. He made a bee line for the Motor home as a launching point for his chicken attacks.
After my breakfast, Karen and I decided to go for our walk down the runway. Lee began by strafing the dogs, then he started riding the early morning thermals. He is so lightly wing loaded that he had no problem going up. I tried to get some video, but the camera will not focus on infinity. He went high enough that he was blinking in and out of my sight, He drifted a bit downwind, but soon went into a shallow dive back toward us and on over the hill to the Ranch next door.
When we got back, he had also returned and was waiting for his breakfast.
https://vimeo.com/174396105 password owyheeflyer
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Day 69 -70
I have been having trouble holding the video camera steady enough to inflict the resulting video on anyone, so I made a stock to hold the camera. Yes its a bit crude, but it does the job reasonably well. The camera actually takes fine video, but nothing about it is ergonomic, or fits. On its own it is almost impossible to hold it steady or to see where the darn thing is pointing if there is any daylight at all. To reach the telephoto button takes another hand. I got so frustrated that I looked on line for a camera that had a view finder. Yep they had them, starting at about 1200 bucks. Sorry, not happening.
The screw hanging down gives me a place to wrap my finger around it to hold it snug to my shoulder. I may have to make a little round thingy to dress it up a bit.
So with my new camera addition, I took it with me to do my morning chores. That seems to be the time that Lee is the most frisky, and today was no different. The biggest problem is that some of the Chickens that I have running around in the yard are smaller than what I intend for him to hunt. Once they make it across the open parking lot he doesn't bother them. I am not sure what all that adrenaline does to the chickens egg laying process, but I have too many eggs now any way.
At 9:30 AM, Lee got hungry, and stopped his harassment of the critters both tame and wild and landed on the fifth wheel looking for me. I tossed him the lure with a Starling on it. He finished it and came to sit on my fist for a while, before leaving to finish harassing things.
There was a storm coming in and as the day went on it progressively got worse. By 5:30 when he got really hungry the storm was just on the verge of breaking. He went to the lure and then to the fist to finish his meal, as the storm really picked up. He sat with us in the protection of the porch and watched it blow. I am a bit surprised at how well all this is going. I expected more trouble.
One of the emails that I received concerned his eating of feathers. Raptors take in much more food than they can put in their stomach. They have a crop that holds the food until their stomach can process it. Meat and bones and other byproducts are messy and the feathers as well as the bones that they cannot digest serve to clean their crop, so that they do not develop a toxic mess that would eventually make them sick. It is regurgitated the next morning as a pellet.
Keeping things neat and tidy. One of the problems that can be fatal to them is a condition called sour crop. It is merely food that for what ever reason is not able to be processed and begins to rot in the crop. For instance if a hawk gets too low in condition, the bacteria within the stomach stop working, the food rots, the bird dies of peritonitis.
https://vimeo.com/174114347 password owyheeflyer
The screw hanging down gives me a place to wrap my finger around it to hold it snug to my shoulder. I may have to make a little round thingy to dress it up a bit.
So with my new camera addition, I took it with me to do my morning chores. That seems to be the time that Lee is the most frisky, and today was no different. The biggest problem is that some of the Chickens that I have running around in the yard are smaller than what I intend for him to hunt. Once they make it across the open parking lot he doesn't bother them. I am not sure what all that adrenaline does to the chickens egg laying process, but I have too many eggs now any way.
At 9:30 AM, Lee got hungry, and stopped his harassment of the critters both tame and wild and landed on the fifth wheel looking for me. I tossed him the lure with a Starling on it. He finished it and came to sit on my fist for a while, before leaving to finish harassing things.
There was a storm coming in and as the day went on it progressively got worse. By 5:30 when he got really hungry the storm was just on the verge of breaking. He went to the lure and then to the fist to finish his meal, as the storm really picked up. He sat with us in the protection of the porch and watched it blow. I am a bit surprised at how well all this is going. I expected more trouble.
One of the emails that I received concerned his eating of feathers. Raptors take in much more food than they can put in their stomach. They have a crop that holds the food until their stomach can process it. Meat and bones and other byproducts are messy and the feathers as well as the bones that they cannot digest serve to clean their crop, so that they do not develop a toxic mess that would eventually make them sick. It is regurgitated the next morning as a pellet.
Keeping things neat and tidy. One of the problems that can be fatal to them is a condition called sour crop. It is merely food that for what ever reason is not able to be processed and begins to rot in the crop. For instance if a hawk gets too low in condition, the bacteria within the stomach stop working, the food rots, the bird dies of peritonitis.
https://vimeo.com/174114347 password owyheeflyer
Friday, July 8, 2016
Day 68
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
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
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!
Friday, July 1, 2016
Update Day 61
It appears that Lee is developing a bit of a following, so while nothing of real reportable significance has occurred, neither has anything bad. He is beginning to venture out a bit more, and as far as I can tell he is staying on the property. One of the difficulties in pinpointing his location is the location of his transmitter. Since it is on his neck, when he lays down, he lays on the antenna wire. If it happens to be on something metal the signal is almost gone. Yesterday I was convinced that the transmitter had stopped since I could not get a signal in any direction. That particular transmitter is good for about 39 miles. (Checked while on my plane. ) Just in case, I walked around the place to make sure that he wasn't here. I got a very faint signal on the other side of the hangar. I could just barely hear a beep over the static. I checked in a circle to pinpoint the direction. As I turned around I could see him lying on a metal oil barrel. Once he stood up the signal came booming in. The clutter of Barrels on the West side of the Hangar has now become his go to spot.
When I get up in the morning he is ready to get picked up and go outside. Jumping up and down as a matter of fact. I had been feeding him a bit in the mornings, but he never seemed to eat much of anything, so I have stopped that. He wants to go out and explore and will come in after an hour or to to get a snack.
Yesterday I picked him up and walked out to see how the day was developing. He stayed with me for quite a while. After a bit he started indicating that he had some place to go. Not wanting him to get the idea that he could just fly off my fist, I put him down on the Hot Tub, and started to walk away. He made a straffing run on a Jack by one of the Rock Jacks. The Jack had been looking the other way. When Lee flew over him at a height of about 2 inches, the Jack jumped straight up in the air doing a flip and landing on his feet, then off like a very very "scared Rabbit".
His flights are getting a bit longer every day. I noticed him flying out to the Hack tower yesterday. There are interesting little flights and chases, but being able to record them is almost impossible except by the luckiest of circumstances.
He still has no real appetite, at least what I would prefer anyway. Food is the key to raptor training. The problem is that when he gets hot, he comes to the porch so that we will let him in the house where it is cool. He will lay on the inside window ledge and sleep until evening. How can you call something that comes in before you can call him? As the day moves into evening he starts coming in closer. I have found it quite surprising that he is not more difficult to pick up in the evenings.
I have been giving him a lure in the evenings with a leg of Quail on it. He nibbles on that, perhaps eating the thigh, then walking off. What I want him to do is eat the leg, then look to me for the rest of his food. Normally a raptor would be looking for more food, he doesn't seem to care. If I offer him my fist with the rest of his Quail on it, he will pull on it, but not step up on the fist. I have tried for three days or more to pick him up with more food. Finally last night I kept the food in my pocket and just watched him. He decided that my foot might have interest, and walked over to that. I let him alone for a bit, then wiggled a finger of the glove at him. He walked over and jumped on the fist. Then I gave him the rest of it. As I have said over and over the lesson given to me by my old Grandmother, " the more you chase, the faster they run". Of course the subject was girls rather than hawks, but it appears to hold true there as well.
He just plain likes the glove, and has more attachment to it than I would have ever thought. He likes to sit there, and of course I spend each evening after feeding him, holding him on the fist and watching the evening turn to night.
Today was Chicken day, and I spent the entire morning killing and plucking Chickens. I finally finished about noon. My back was complaining, so I went inside to rest my eyes a bit. I went outside to see where he was, and found him sitting on the pop can in the shade under the porch. I set him on the ledge and opened the window for him. I gave him a bit of Quail to snack on.
He generally then takes a nap on the ledge until about 5 PM, then go back out for the rest of the afternoon.
https://vimeo.com/173132773 password owyheeflyer
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Day 58
Lee this morning was pretty anxious to get outside and did not eat very much of his breakfast. I don't blame him, with the temps getting into the high 99 to 100 degrees, its best to do what you need to do early, then take a siesta during the heat of the day.
I went out to do my morning chores, and found a Pack Rat had tried to take up residence in the Duck Pen. Unfortunately he had a weakness for Peanut butter, so his residence was pretty short. I introduced him to my little friend Josie who was very happy to see him. Tiger and Lee gathered to watch the action.
Karen and I then went for our walk with me keeping a wary eye on my back trail to make sure that no attempts were to be made for misguided fly by's.
We had just finished breakfast and was watching the news when we heard a bang on the back door. Lee wanted in to get a bit more to eat. He has done this the last two days, rather than land on his window ledge, he wants in the door. Karen let him in and picked him up while I was thawing more Quail. He finished the half of a Quail that I had given him earlier. He then made himself comfortable on his perch and is still sleeping and resting through the main heat of the day. It is now one PM and he wisely is staying right there where it is cool.
I had some questions about how I intended to use a drone for my training. Here is a video of the basics of it.
https://vimeo.com/172611594 password owyheeflyer
The drone is capable of setting limits on how high, and how wide the drone is allowed to go. There is a computer program that you can set those limits. The drone is difficult to know if it is 2oo feet or 400 feet. The computer program takes care of that, so all I have to do is set the limits, give it power and it goes to that height and will stay there until I either bring it back or just flick a switch and it will return and land from the spot that it started from. I don't even need to hold the transmitter.
The lure has a 24 inch parachute attached to the weed eater line secured to the drone. The falcon can go anywhere unhindered except by the parachute. The parachute merely keeps a raptor from flying off somewhere with the food.
I went out to do my morning chores, and found a Pack Rat had tried to take up residence in the Duck Pen. Unfortunately he had a weakness for Peanut butter, so his residence was pretty short. I introduced him to my little friend Josie who was very happy to see him. Tiger and Lee gathered to watch the action.
Karen and I then went for our walk with me keeping a wary eye on my back trail to make sure that no attempts were to be made for misguided fly by's.
We had just finished breakfast and was watching the news when we heard a bang on the back door. Lee wanted in to get a bit more to eat. He has done this the last two days, rather than land on his window ledge, he wants in the door. Karen let him in and picked him up while I was thawing more Quail. He finished the half of a Quail that I had given him earlier. He then made himself comfortable on his perch and is still sleeping and resting through the main heat of the day. It is now one PM and he wisely is staying right there where it is cool.
I had some questions about how I intended to use a drone for my training. Here is a video of the basics of it.
https://vimeo.com/172611594 password owyheeflyer
The drone is capable of setting limits on how high, and how wide the drone is allowed to go. There is a computer program that you can set those limits. The drone is difficult to know if it is 2oo feet or 400 feet. The computer program takes care of that, so all I have to do is set the limits, give it power and it goes to that height and will stay there until I either bring it back or just flick a switch and it will return and land from the spot that it started from. I don't even need to hold the transmitter.
The lure has a 24 inch parachute attached to the weed eater line secured to the drone. The falcon can go anywhere unhindered except by the parachute. The parachute merely keeps a raptor from flying off somewhere with the food.
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