Hope's second bag

I finished and uploaded a video that I took on Sunday of a flight to Micky Basin.   https://vimeo.com/182499620  password owyheeflyer

Today was the second day since shooting a Jack for Hope. I of course didn't feed her yesterday. Today she weighed 932 grams. I loaded her and as many of our visitors that the Subaru would hold to further her education.

It didn't take long to find a volunteer

Roger wounded one and I was surprised that Hope wasn't sure she could catch it. I walked up on it at least twice with her leaning forward, but still not starting an attack. It took refuge in a Sage bush, and then she dove in and grabbed it.

Then of course she wanted to drag it away. I eventually tore the skin off a front leg, and she dug in.

She seemed to want to take it away until I began giving her tidbits. I then picked her up with a front leg. Once she was on the fist I also gave her a back leg to eat while we walked to the car.

Fly-in and Hope entered

Busy, busy! We have 13 of our group here now, so things are getting a bit busier. One of our planes went to Boise this morning, and the other three made a trip to Micky Basin and the Alvord.  The prediction was for high winds starting at 11 AM. The winds were about 5 MPH  so as soon as we had our breakfast we took off NW. We landed first at Micky Basin for a bit, then started out for the Alvord. Mike was interested in visiting the Hot Springs, so when I saw a good landing spot that was within walking distance, I landed. We all then hiked back to the hot springs.

 Micky Basin
Mici, Sandy, Mike & me 

 This one we called Soda Lake

 Micky Hot Springs
Boyd, Larry,Sandy and Mici

 Mud vent

 Steam Vent

 boiling spring

Mourning Dove kill

Almost all the pictures are courtesy of Mike Marker.

The wind was beginning to come up, and the forecast was predicting 30 or more MPH by about 11 AM, so we bounced our way back home, had lunch and a nap.

The wind did come up, but begin to moderate a bit by about 5PM, so I picked up Hope and loaded all the volunteers that I could find and we made our way to a Rabbit field to see if we could get a Jack for Hope.

My intention was to wound a Jack with a rifle so that Hope would have a guaranteed chance to get her feet on a live Jack. Jacks are smart enough that the chances of her catching one unaided is pretty unlikely.

We got in the field and Hope's first chase was on a Western Whiptail lizard, and she didn't stand a chance. She came back to the fist, and within another 100 yards John shot a Jack. As soon as Hope saw it she was on it.

I let her eat all she could hold, and as you can see she got into it pretty deep. Anytime you are covered with that much blood, you must have had a good time.

Full of surprises!

Things are beginning to get a bit hectic here now. I went to Winnemucca this morning at 4 AM to get Karen and Mici, her niece off the train from Colorado. A long time friend from Alabama got here last week. Another friend flew in from Brigham City Utah today. A couple form Baton Rouge arrived yesterday afternoon.  another couple from NM tomorrow, three more from Western Oregon will complete our annual fall get together. It is a great time for all of us, good company, lots of food and fun. But busy.

I finally caught up enough to go out to get Hope to see how much I had overfed her. I went out the first time and she flew off the perch when I offered her my fist. I left her for a couple of hours to think about it. I went back again and this time she got on my fist. She weighed 951 grams when I put her on the scales. Then I understood why she had refused the fist the first time. I was pretty sure that I had reached saturation point, but decided to carry her for a bit anyway.

While walking around with her, I noticed that she was trying to jump to different perches to get me to call her. I sat with her a bit, and she kept pulling at my glove, so I tossed a tidbit on the ground. She flew down to it and then back to the fist. I tossed several for her and she was anxious to come to me, so I cut her loose and put her on the hot tub. No problem or hesitation in coming when called. I then started walking away and at about 20 feet she came without me calling. I let her do that three times and then gave her the rest of the food that I had prepared for her. Her keel is pretty well level across.I am actually stalling and repeating lessons unnecessarily because of the demands on my time. Tomorrow will be different. Its time for her to see game.

Payback

I noticed that I forgot to mention that the Cat Food bandit was a pack Rat. I set a live trap in the Cat House in the afternoon, and went back about 7 PM to check. It had been triggered by Mice, so I reset it. Brick was with me and alerted behind the feed barrels. I looked and the Rat was there. I went back to the house to get a BB gun and Josie. The Rat gave me a quick shot and I hit it in the Eye but a glancing blow. It raced up the wall to a hole in the ceiling and out of sight.

This morning he was in the trap, so I took him out for Josie to play with. She just loves Rats and Mice and will play with them as long as they don't bite her. Play time is over when she gets bit.

https://vimeo.com/181973677    password - owyheeflyer

Hope was at 923 grams today, and still did well. I will give her a few more days getting her used to flying to the fist, then will enter her on Rabbits sometime around the first of next week.

Free, Free at last!

Sorry, I couldn't help the title. Hope flew free today and did just great. She never considered the fact that she might not have been tied any more. That is a good thing because the transmitter that I thought that I had clipped into her center deck was lying in the yard. :-/

I have decided to start leaving her outside from now on. One consideration is that I am going to be having a house full of friends in just a few days. Our fall fly-in will be off the ground beginning tomorrow. Its not for Hope's sake that I am moving her, merely because I need the space.

I built a partition this morning so that I can feed Jessie without torturing Hope.

Much better! While I was keeping Hope in the house it wasn't a problem, but its time for her to go outside. She will burn more food with the cooler temps.

When I fed Hope Monday night, I fed her all she could hold, then tied her to her outside perch. I left her out until this morning, when I wanted to feed Jessie. I was pleased to note that she weighed just under 900 grams. After finishing the partition, I picked her up to continue her lessons. Karen and I had installed a tail fitting on her center deck feather the first thing when we got her. I asked John H to hold her while I tried to clip the transmitter in the clip, and thought that I had done so.  However after turning her loose and jumping her to the fist and calling her several times, interrupted by the Fed EX lady, I discovered that the transmitter was lying on the lawn. Oh well, sometimes you get lucky.

I am somehow going to have to lock the cat up each time I fly Hope. The Damn Cat wants to follow us around as if he could somehow help. Hope has so far ignored him, but that isn't going to last.

I still think that Hope is still a bit low. She has a tendency to hold onto my glove fingers and not letting go, Today I just tossed a tidbit on the ground to get her to let go. In all the times that I called her to the fist, she never hesitated for a fraction of a second. I tossed the lure for her, and she was on it as soon as I threw it. There is always a tendency for them to not want to let the lure go. I overcame that by tossing tidbits out in front of her.

We have been noticing that the outside Cat food has been disappearing at a seriously fast rate. I put two trail cameras out there and found that it takes a bit over 10 hours and 1, 274 trips to transfer 1/2 a gallon of cat food to the attic of the "Cat House". Judgement day is coming!

Day 13, ready to fly

Yesterday I flew Hope to the fist three times and then gave her the rest of her meal. 3 oz total. She weighed 884 and this afternoon she weighed 900 grams. She still has a good metabolism for a Harris Hawk.

After feeding her I was checking the computer and there was a boom a bit like a house blowing up. I looked at the sky and it was clear to the South East, but overhead there were some nasty clouds building.

 If you click on the pictures they will expand to full size.

 You can see that from the house the storm wasn't visible.

In the morning yesterday we had a rain storm that dropped 1/2 inch of water on the ground. Highly unusual for us. It then cleared up until late afternoon then this blew up and dropped another 1/4 inch. Great news for us. It did more for my runway than I could have done with 20 full water trucks.

I am going to town for supplies tomorrow, so my intention was to feed Hope all she could eat today, and fast her tomorrow. I picked her up off the perch and tied a creance on her swivel so that I could walk and fly her from different objects. I took her out to the shop to weigh her, and she topped out at 900 grams.

Karen's cat Tiger was outside, unknown to me. I rolled up the creance one handed which I had left on the lawn. The cat soon found the loose end. I called hope a short little hop and she came with no hesitation. I walked to the other side of the hanger and had to pry her off my first finger of the glove. Something tells me that 900 is a bit low for her. I finally got her loose and called her again with no hesitation. I walked to the corral and set her on the feed bunk, stepped back about 12 feet. Again she did not hesitate. I set her down again and turned to walk back and tripped over the *&%$#@*** Cat. Now the last thing I am interested in is trying to separate a Cat from from a hungry Harris Hawks toes all by myself. I of course yelled at the Cat, who of course ignored me. All he can see is the lovely string that I am dragging around with me. I finally stepped closer to the hawk and called her. John was in his chair snoozing, so I woke him up to get the Cat and stick him in his 5th wheel until I finished with Hope. I then called her about 18 feet to a Jack hind leg for the finish to the lesson.

I will not feed her tomorrow and on Wed if she is down close to 900, I will probably fly her loose.

Hope- 12 days

Hope had enough ammo that I had to take the two tarps that I use for a ground cover for the carpet out and wash them again. Way too much crap on them for a new bird in training. One look and I was mentally kicking myself for losing a day due to my misguided generosity. I picked her up out of the weathering area and found that she was somewhere north of 910 grams. That is roughly an ounce and a 1/3 higher than the weight that she was when she was taken from her parents.

Falconers will understand the importance of weight control when training a bird. They will have to bear with me so that I can bring the rest of you up to date as best as I can in a simplified version. Raptors need to be in top physical form and weight to hunt. Neither too fat or too skinny. When they get extra food it goes to muscle, thus they gain weight as well as condition. When food is scarce or withheld they lose that muscle and if enough is lost, the ability to catch food as well. So in essence a fat hawk is independent, and a skinny one is unable and weak. So you are running a razors edge when you are controlling a birds weight. You want it as strong as it can be and still maintain control.

So Hope should not have been hungry enough to advance in her training. Every thing that I would offer today should have been ignored. An ounce and a third should have been enough that she would not be interested in extending her self enough to jump to the fist, and her wild side should have been showing. Apparently she was out hunting when that lesson was taught.

Normally I would have just left her on the perch without food and tried tomorrow, but she so far is not following the hard to get role that most play, and I decided to give her a chance. I cut the shoulder part off of a Jacks front leg, and a tidbit from the missing part. I wanted just enough to reward her for any advancement, but not so much that she would maintain her current weight.

John Hauck and Nell were here and we were sitting outside watching the Jacks go to water down at the creek. I was watching her for signs of disdain for me but she kept looking at the fist wondering what she had to do to make it produce food. I gave her to John to hold for me while I went for the food and my official hunting gear, my vest. After I picked her back up, I went for the creance and tied it onto her swivel. I no sooner got it tied than Hope turned around, flew to the hot tub, and turned towards me leaning forward in anticipation of the glove being offered. When I did she flashed to the glove for her tidbit. I turned towards the tub, and she flew off on her own, turned again. This time I offered her the front leg at about 5 feet and she lost no time coming to the fist for it as well. I gave her the leg and a hind foot, which she worked on until she had reduced it to its basic parts and ate them. She should lose a bit of her weight, but apparently she doesn't need to.

Its getting to the point that I am having a hard time wiping the grin off my face.