I'll most likely pick up a kestrel this coming winter but will leave the Cooper's hawk for a time when my life is a little less stressful.
A few parting shots... Adios!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
A Hard Decision
The last few weeks I've noticed I'm not handling some of my normal life stressors very well. Was wondering why those issues were seeming to get worse. My wife pointed out that she didn't notice them getting worse but had noticed my ability to handle them was getting worse. So we put two and two together and it equals Ember. The amount of extra stress this bird adds is just enough to put me over my limit. Given that my normal stressors can't be given away and this is supposed to be a fun hobby, I made the decision to transfer Ember to another falconer. I with them both good luck and maybe I'll be able to tag along with them on a hunt once he's trained up.
I'll most likely pick up a kestrel this coming winter but will leave the Cooper's hawk for a time when my life is a little less stressful.
A few parting shots... Adios!
I'll most likely pick up a kestrel this coming winter but will leave the Cooper's hawk for a time when my life is a little less stressful.
A few parting shots... Adios!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Ember
When thinking about names I kept having fire come to mind. I saw a car last week with a fire fighter symbol license plate and the license was EMBER. That stuck in my head so Ember it is.
He has lost most of his fluff and his tail is almost fully grown. He is showing three black bars and the fourth will be coming very soon. His tail was looking kind of grimy and gross, kind of like a teenage boy's hair when they don't shower often. Yeah. So recently while feeding him out in the yard I brought a pan of water and set him in it after he was done eating. He started drinking and dipping his bum in the water pretty quickly. He didn't take a full bath but he sure did want his bum clean. He dried off in the sun afterward and now his tail looks gorgeous. I'll be making the bath a regular meal time event for him. My kestrels never touched the water, but then I was working with them mostly in the winter so perhaps they would have taken it if it wasn't so cold.
My main focus with Ember now is to get him completely comfortable eating on my glove. Each meal is loaded onto the lure and I present the lure to him while he's on a perch in the yard. He jumps right to it and after a minute I pick the lure up with him on it and sit in a chair while he eats his meal. If I'm quiet and don't move around a lot he's fairly content. But if I talk to him while he is eating he chirps at me (which sounds cute but really is the equivalent of "Don't annoy me").
I recently gave him a whole thawed starling to give him the chance to pluck and tear into it himself. He did well and knows the drill so that's checked off the list. Bella thought it was very interesting and came over to watch. She's usually afraid of the birds because they can make a lot of fuss some times. But she couldn't resist the interesting smells I guess. Ember didn't have a problem with her being there either.
One thing I should document for future is how to avoid tangled jesses. He has longer jesses on while he's still in training so it's easier to handle him, but he gets tangled in them easily. They wrap around his legs and it's just a mess. My friend told me to get a piece of tubing and slide it up the jesses to pull them together so they are "shorter" though they still retain the length. So instead of the jesses making a V shape from each anklet to the clip, it's a Y shape. The shorter free ends make it so he doesn't get tangled and the swivel doesn't bounce in between his jesses and get tangled up as easily. The piece of tubing I used was three inches of the straw from my boss's Dr. Pepper. How's that for cheap ingenuity?
He has lost most of his fluff and his tail is almost fully grown. He is showing three black bars and the fourth will be coming very soon. His tail was looking kind of grimy and gross, kind of like a teenage boy's hair when they don't shower often. Yeah. So recently while feeding him out in the yard I brought a pan of water and set him in it after he was done eating. He started drinking and dipping his bum in the water pretty quickly. He didn't take a full bath but he sure did want his bum clean. He dried off in the sun afterward and now his tail looks gorgeous. I'll be making the bath a regular meal time event for him. My kestrels never touched the water, but then I was working with them mostly in the winter so perhaps they would have taken it if it wasn't so cold.
My main focus with Ember now is to get him completely comfortable eating on my glove. Each meal is loaded onto the lure and I present the lure to him while he's on a perch in the yard. He jumps right to it and after a minute I pick the lure up with him on it and sit in a chair while he eats his meal. If I'm quiet and don't move around a lot he's fairly content. But if I talk to him while he is eating he chirps at me (which sounds cute but really is the equivalent of "Don't annoy me").
I recently gave him a whole thawed starling to give him the chance to pluck and tear into it himself. He did well and knows the drill so that's checked off the list. Bella thought it was very interesting and came over to watch. She's usually afraid of the birds because they can make a lot of fuss some times. But she couldn't resist the interesting smells I guess. Ember didn't have a problem with her being there either.
One thing I should document for future is how to avoid tangled jesses. He has longer jesses on while he's still in training so it's easier to handle him, but he gets tangled in them easily. They wrap around his legs and it's just a mess. My friend told me to get a piece of tubing and slide it up the jesses to pull them together so they are "shorter" though they still retain the length. So instead of the jesses making a V shape from each anklet to the clip, it's a Y shape. The shorter free ends make it so he doesn't get tangled and the swivel doesn't bounce in between his jesses and get tangled up as easily. The piece of tubing I used was three inches of the straw from my boss's Dr. Pepper. How's that for cheap ingenuity?
Sunday, July 7, 2013
A late taken Cooper's hawk
Last Tuesday I headed out with my son and another of my sponsor's apprentices to collect a bird. I attached my ladder to a backpack (it folds into a 3 foot bundle) and we hiked to the nest location. It took us a while to find the tree again. I got us quite a ways off track so we just dropped our gear and worked our way around until we found the nest, then went back for the gear. This time the mother wasn't as aggressive with us, probably since there were 3 of us there.
We looked up into the nest and found 4 faces looking back down at us. The unhatched 5th egg I mentioned in the last post would have made 5. One of them was standing tall and a little higher than the others. He had the least fuzz on his head so we figured he'd be the one we ended up taking.
We set up the ladder and up went our agile friend to retrieve. After the ladder climb he went up maybe another 8 feet and the eyas (baby raptor) that was standing decided he'd had enough and he bailed out of the nest and into a branch about 8 feet from the trunk. (None of the other birds jumped since we didn't approach the nest any further.) Our climber wiggled the branch a bit and he jumped again, this time a little closer and on a separate tree that was very narrow. This turned out great because he was able to grab the tree and bend it toward him and grab the limb the bird was on. He got him by one leg and then the bird got him by the hand. Good trade. :) He had gloves on but not leather. He finally got him off the branch, still gripping a 4 inch twig and the glove and we tried to put him into the carrier. He had to slip the glove off and let the bird keep it, along with his twig. We packed up and headed home, got anklets on him and fed him a quick meal to top off what he had in him.
The next day was spent trying to find big cardboard boxes. We found a lot of boxes but none the size I needed (close to 3 feet square). We finally found a guy who had a box that a couch had come in. I took that home and cut out my own box pattern and taped it together 32" square. It has a couple of windows in it to let the bird see the family's activities and get used to people without being out on a perch. The perch would require that I restrain it and there's more chance of him damaging feathers that are still growing that way than being loose in the box.
The next day was the 4th of July and we packed the box in to Grandma's to hang out with us on the patio for BBQ and fireworks. What an introduction to people he had!
After a lot of headache trying to get him to eat food dropped into the box for him, my sponsor decided we should get jesses on him and feed him on the glove. I got jesses on him that night with the help of my patient wife and the next morning fed him on the glove. He wouldn't take food at his beak but when I tickled his toes with it he would bend down and rip at it and he finally got the idea and ate well. The next meal I gave him by dropping it into his box onto his perch and he ate it by himself. There have been no feeding issues since then. Now it's just making sure he has a good amount twice a day until his feathers grow out completely.
The jesses are attached to an extender and then to a short leash. The leash isn't tied to anything so he doesn't get too tangled but it's easy enough to grab the end of it when I go to pick him up. He's not the easiest bird to pick up because of the size of the box. I have to lean down into it and that makes him nervous. If he is calm enough I can put my hand down and try to back him on to it or he'll foot it (grab it with his foot to attack it) and since he has a hold of it I lift him up.
No name yet. I haven't given it a moment's thought. I may wait until he's at the stage where I am working with him more and see his personality and progress.
We looked up into the nest and found 4 faces looking back down at us. The unhatched 5th egg I mentioned in the last post would have made 5. One of them was standing tall and a little higher than the others. He had the least fuzz on his head so we figured he'd be the one we ended up taking.
We set up the ladder and up went our agile friend to retrieve. After the ladder climb he went up maybe another 8 feet and the eyas (baby raptor) that was standing decided he'd had enough and he bailed out of the nest and into a branch about 8 feet from the trunk. (None of the other birds jumped since we didn't approach the nest any further.) Our climber wiggled the branch a bit and he jumped again, this time a little closer and on a separate tree that was very narrow. This turned out great because he was able to grab the tree and bend it toward him and grab the limb the bird was on. He got him by one leg and then the bird got him by the hand. Good trade. :) He had gloves on but not leather. He finally got him off the branch, still gripping a 4 inch twig and the glove and we tried to put him into the carrier. He had to slip the glove off and let the bird keep it, along with his twig. We packed up and headed home, got anklets on him and fed him a quick meal to top off what he had in him.
The next day was the 4th of July and we packed the box in to Grandma's to hang out with us on the patio for BBQ and fireworks. What an introduction to people he had!
After a lot of headache trying to get him to eat food dropped into the box for him, my sponsor decided we should get jesses on him and feed him on the glove. I got jesses on him that night with the help of my patient wife and the next morning fed him on the glove. He wouldn't take food at his beak but when I tickled his toes with it he would bend down and rip at it and he finally got the idea and ate well. The next meal I gave him by dropping it into his box onto his perch and he ate it by himself. There have been no feeding issues since then. Now it's just making sure he has a good amount twice a day until his feathers grow out completely.
The jesses are attached to an extender and then to a short leash. The leash isn't tied to anything so he doesn't get too tangled but it's easy enough to grab the end of it when I go to pick him up. He's not the easiest bird to pick up because of the size of the box. I have to lean down into it and that makes him nervous. If he is calm enough I can put my hand down and try to back him on to it or he'll foot it (grab it with his foot to attack it) and since he has a hold of it I lift him up.
No name yet. I haven't given it a moment's thought. I may wait until he's at the stage where I am working with him more and see his personality and progress.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Moving On
The middle of June was the end of my two years as an Apprentice. I put in my request for the upgrade to General. I still haven't heard anything back but I'm going forward as if things are fine. They almost never get back to me on things; they are very understaffed it seems.
Meanwhile, my sponsor hatched a plan to have me take a Cooper's hawk brancher. His idea is that the young bird will not have developed its own hunting style yet so will be more apt to take to my style of hawking. It will also be old enough to not imprint which avoids a lot of problems if you're not prepared or experienced enough to work with an imprint.
So the last month I've been wandering around different canyons and foothills looking for likely places that a Cooper's hawk nest would be. Until today the most I had found was 3 old nests and a lot of nothing otherwise. The main problem is that so many people these days are posting no trespassing on their private property. In the past it wasn't that way but with all the law suits and liability issues people want to be covered. I can understand that. So in order to work within the law I've used the Utah County parcel maps online and identified the land owners and called a few to try and get trespass permission. The one big win was a mining company that owned a large swath of the foothills with lots of good trees. They were kind enough to allow me access. I only had a short time to explore one corner of their property and didn't find anything.
Last week I started working on a hood for the new bird. I got about half way done with it and had to let it sit. My wife at one point told me "You know, the reason you haven't found a bird is because you haven't finished your hood yet." Hmm. Ok. So I finished the hood Thursday evening. Today is Saturday.
My sponsor had been telling me about a spot of land he kept seeing that attracted his eye as a good Cooper's nest spot. I finally asked him to point it out to me today since I just couldn't figure out where he was talking about. It turns out it's not too far from home, has a fairly steep slope to climb up a series of deer trails (thank you deer!), across a meadow, and down the other side into a ravine or small canyon. Here's the fun part. I came off the meadow and just started down the slope when a female Cooper's hawk busted out of the tree tops yelling (kak-kak-kak-kak) at me all the while. Surprised the heck out of me! I was looking over the trees down in the canyon and she kept circling the area about a hundred yards wide and yelling the whole time. I continued walking toward the center of the circle she was flying and she got more and more agitated, flying closer to me and landing a few times nearby to yell at me. Knowing that the Cooper's is one of the more aggressive nest defenders I picked up a 4 foot branch and held it over my head and waved it around like a flag when she came by. Once she flew straight at me and only veered off about 5 feet away after I waved my arm at her. Mercy! Once I got down under the canopy she stopped coming at me and just circled around without yelling; but any time I was visible from above she let me have it.
I found the tree at the base of the slope. The nest is about 25 feet up and it's fairly climbable if you can get past the first 8 feet or so. I was really tempted to climb it but with the mother around and being alone, I didn't want to chance a fall from the tree. Plus I'm scared of heights. >.< So took a few pictures and headed home to recruit some help. I'll go by on Tuesday and see how they are progressing. If they're close enough I'll take one then, otherwise I'll target Friday.
Meanwhile, my sponsor hatched a plan to have me take a Cooper's hawk brancher. His idea is that the young bird will not have developed its own hunting style yet so will be more apt to take to my style of hawking. It will also be old enough to not imprint which avoids a lot of problems if you're not prepared or experienced enough to work with an imprint.
So the last month I've been wandering around different canyons and foothills looking for likely places that a Cooper's hawk nest would be. Until today the most I had found was 3 old nests and a lot of nothing otherwise. The main problem is that so many people these days are posting no trespassing on their private property. In the past it wasn't that way but with all the law suits and liability issues people want to be covered. I can understand that. So in order to work within the law I've used the Utah County parcel maps online and identified the land owners and called a few to try and get trespass permission. The one big win was a mining company that owned a large swath of the foothills with lots of good trees. They were kind enough to allow me access. I only had a short time to explore one corner of their property and didn't find anything.
Last week I started working on a hood for the new bird. I got about half way done with it and had to let it sit. My wife at one point told me "You know, the reason you haven't found a bird is because you haven't finished your hood yet." Hmm. Ok. So I finished the hood Thursday evening. Today is Saturday.
My sponsor had been telling me about a spot of land he kept seeing that attracted his eye as a good Cooper's nest spot. I finally asked him to point it out to me today since I just couldn't figure out where he was talking about. It turns out it's not too far from home, has a fairly steep slope to climb up a series of deer trails (thank you deer!), across a meadow, and down the other side into a ravine or small canyon. Here's the fun part. I came off the meadow and just started down the slope when a female Cooper's hawk busted out of the tree tops yelling (kak-kak-kak-kak) at me all the while. Surprised the heck out of me! I was looking over the trees down in the canyon and she kept circling the area about a hundred yards wide and yelling the whole time. I continued walking toward the center of the circle she was flying and she got more and more agitated, flying closer to me and landing a few times nearby to yell at me. Knowing that the Cooper's is one of the more aggressive nest defenders I picked up a 4 foot branch and held it over my head and waved it around like a flag when she came by. Once she flew straight at me and only veered off about 5 feet away after I waved my arm at her. Mercy! Once I got down under the canopy she stopped coming at me and just circled around without yelling; but any time I was visible from above she let me have it.
I found the tree at the base of the slope. The nest is about 25 feet up and it's fairly climbable if you can get past the first 8 feet or so. I was really tempted to climb it but with the mother around and being alone, I didn't want to chance a fall from the tree. Plus I'm scared of heights. >.< So took a few pictures and headed home to recruit some help. I'll go by on Tuesday and see how they are progressing. If they're close enough I'll take one then, otherwise I'll target Friday.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Well, that's interesting
After many attempts at getting Shadow Fang to car hawk, he still just wasn't getting it. His progress was intermittent and inconsistent. So rather than continue to put stress on the both of us, I hatched a plan that would get us each closer to our individual goals.
Hazel had actually caught a wild bird car hawking. I just didn't have her weight where it should have been to keep her with me and the call of the wild was louder. Hazel went back to her normal territory a couple blocks away. Why not just trade birds?
I started fattening up Shadow at the beginning of last week and started trying to trap Hazel the same day. Each time I saw her she was on a mouse. Let's face it, she's a good hunter. I had a hoop trap and a sparrow; the same setup I trapped her with in December to remove her gear. But this time around she would sit and watch me set up the trap and as soon as I brought out the sparrow she would take off. Weird. I made several attempts on President's Day and again the following Saturday. Nothing. Not even a sign of interest. Saturday night it snowed a little and Sunday dawned cold and overcast with 3 inches of new snow. Great time to find a hungry kestrel.
I gave up on the hoop trap and put the sparrow in my own home made bal chatri. After driving around her normal hang out spots without seeing her I finally saw her on a tree above a house set back 150 yards from the road. Great. How do I get any closer? It was the only chance I was going to get as she wasn't moving from that tree. There was a big pile of snow up against a fence next to the road. I set the trap on top of the snow pile and pulled back a ways down the street. After a couple of minutes she came flying in to the trap. With her having to travel 150 yards it made for a nice long view of her gliding in. She flew over the trap and hovered for a second and flew all the way back to the tree. In my experience, that means she was done with it. Otherwise she would have landed on the fence near the snow pile to examine things more closely. Luckily I waited. After just a minute she came gliding in again and this time landed right on the trap and started clawing at it furiously. I kept waiting for her to show she was trapped by trying to fly off but she was so intent on getting that sparrow. After a few minutes of her dancing on top of the trap I decided to just drive by and see if she would spook but without stopping and scaring her completely. As I drove by she just sat there and looked at my like "There's nothing to see here. Move along." I moved along. I turned the car around and stopped to watch again and just then noticed her slip backward off the trap and that showed me that her foot was caught. I wrapped her up and took her home and brought Shadow out near the spot I trapped her and let her go. That should keep the ecosystem happy and the mice under control. If he stays in that area.
Hazel weighed just about the same as when I caught her the first time. She remembered standing on the fist within 15 minutes or so, and she even lets me hood her without trouble. She still went through her initial period of shock and it wasn't until Monday night that she would eat. Tonight I prepared a couple of starlings for the next few days of feedings and kept her on a perch a couple feet away from the prep area. Then I offered her tidbits of the organs and she took them readily. After several little bits given her directly I tried to get her to hop to my glove with food on it. She did so without much hesitation and we played that game several times, only making her jump up to 8 inches. I just wanted her to remember the process and get it familiar to her. She ate her whole meal that way jumping to my fist for food and back to the perch for food. I think little memories are coming back to her and she's much easier to work with this time around. But don't get me wrong, she's still a strong-willed, aggressive little bird. I can't wait to turn that aggression on some starlings!
Hazel had actually caught a wild bird car hawking. I just didn't have her weight where it should have been to keep her with me and the call of the wild was louder. Hazel went back to her normal territory a couple blocks away. Why not just trade birds?
I started fattening up Shadow at the beginning of last week and started trying to trap Hazel the same day. Each time I saw her she was on a mouse. Let's face it, she's a good hunter. I had a hoop trap and a sparrow; the same setup I trapped her with in December to remove her gear. But this time around she would sit and watch me set up the trap and as soon as I brought out the sparrow she would take off. Weird. I made several attempts on President's Day and again the following Saturday. Nothing. Not even a sign of interest. Saturday night it snowed a little and Sunday dawned cold and overcast with 3 inches of new snow. Great time to find a hungry kestrel.
I gave up on the hoop trap and put the sparrow in my own home made bal chatri. After driving around her normal hang out spots without seeing her I finally saw her on a tree above a house set back 150 yards from the road. Great. How do I get any closer? It was the only chance I was going to get as she wasn't moving from that tree. There was a big pile of snow up against a fence next to the road. I set the trap on top of the snow pile and pulled back a ways down the street. After a couple of minutes she came flying in to the trap. With her having to travel 150 yards it made for a nice long view of her gliding in. She flew over the trap and hovered for a second and flew all the way back to the tree. In my experience, that means she was done with it. Otherwise she would have landed on the fence near the snow pile to examine things more closely. Luckily I waited. After just a minute she came gliding in again and this time landed right on the trap and started clawing at it furiously. I kept waiting for her to show she was trapped by trying to fly off but she was so intent on getting that sparrow. After a few minutes of her dancing on top of the trap I decided to just drive by and see if she would spook but without stopping and scaring her completely. As I drove by she just sat there and looked at my like "There's nothing to see here. Move along." I moved along. I turned the car around and stopped to watch again and just then noticed her slip backward off the trap and that showed me that her foot was caught. I wrapped her up and took her home and brought Shadow out near the spot I trapped her and let her go. That should keep the ecosystem happy and the mice under control. If he stays in that area.
Hazel weighed just about the same as when I caught her the first time. She remembered standing on the fist within 15 minutes or so, and she even lets me hood her without trouble. She still went through her initial period of shock and it wasn't until Monday night that she would eat. Tonight I prepared a couple of starlings for the next few days of feedings and kept her on a perch a couple feet away from the prep area. Then I offered her tidbits of the organs and she took them readily. After several little bits given her directly I tried to get her to hop to my glove with food on it. She did so without much hesitation and we played that game several times, only making her jump up to 8 inches. I just wanted her to remember the process and get it familiar to her. She ate her whole meal that way jumping to my fist for food and back to the perch for food. I think little memories are coming back to her and she's much easier to work with this time around. But don't get me wrong, she's still a strong-willed, aggressive little bird. I can't wait to turn that aggression on some starlings!
 |
| Goodbye Shadow! |
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| Welcome back Hazel! |
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Been a while...
It's been slow going for the last month between weather and a bird that isn't quite getting the hang of things.
I mentioned in my last post the way I was getting Shadow's weight down to free flight by going to different places. That has proven to be a good method and I haven't had any hesitancy from him in the various locations I've worked with him now.
I also mentioned I regretted not getting him lure trained earlier. Now I'm regretting it x100. Shadow has become a screamer. I spent too long hand feeding him while trying to get him to come around and interact with me that he now has a very strong food association with me. The result is that he screams for food whenever he sees me. If I have him in the house I turn my head the other way and don't look at him. Sometimes it works, usually not. This screaming is high pitched and makes your ear drums hurt and goes on whether he's stuffed full or hungry. I think that if I had gotten his food association with the lure earlier he wouldn't have become screamy. Lesson learned.
Shadow is also having a hard time getting himself out the window of the car on bagged starlings (or wild ones for that matter). I don't know if it's his strong food association with me that he figures "why bother?" or what it might be. I set him up a bagged starling on the roadside and drive by and it takes 5-10 passes before he'll finally go out after it. Or he won't go at all and I have to hold him out the window before he'll fly at it. When he does fly, he means business and binds well and subdues the bird, but getting him to leave the perch is a challenge. Last Saturday I got some starlings and set him up on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with the intent of drilling it into his head. The first three days were terrible. Multiple passes, even stopping the car didn't elicit a strong enough response to get him out the window. But each time I kept at hit until he would fly. Wednesday he flew out on the first pass! I had one starling left and wanted to reinforce that experience the next day but... Winter storm warning from Thursday through Saturday. 19" of snow dumped on us overnight Thursday night. So needless to say I haven't been able to reinforce his learning yet and have low expectations for his performance tomorrow with this final starling. I guess I need to clear my training schedule with the weather center before attempting anything next time.
My thought with Shadow now is to give him another set of 4-5 birds in a row and see if he'll improve his response. If it doesn't consistently improve then it's best for both of us to part ways. If he "gets it" then we'll try him again on wild birds. However going from a single baggie to a small flock of birds is a big jump and I wonder if he'll have the gumption to do it.
On a lighter note, Hazel and I were briefly reunited mid-December. I had seen her around near where I originally caught her and got a mouse and attempted to trap her three separate times. But each time she had a mouse already and wasn't hungry enough to bother with the trap. So I sat and watched her eat and enjoyed just bird watching. Or stalking her, however you want to call it. My sponsor suggested I try a different trap that he had. It's called a hoop trap. Basically it's a simple hoop of metal with nooses standing up around the perimeter. Looks like a daisy but with the petals vertical around the center. You tie the hoop to a weight with cord wound around it to act as a slow release drag weight. This allows the bird to hit the trap at speed and not damage their legs with a sudden stopping impact. In the center of the hoop is tethered a sparrow with a weight. It can't reach the outside of the circle and so it doesn't mess up the loops. The idea is that whatever bird of prey you're after swoops in low at the sparrow, extends its feet for the grab and puts them right through the loops.
I set out with my brother in law (the lucky one that was with me to capture Hazel the first time and most recently Shadow), one of my boys, a sparrow, and Shadow (we were going to try him on a baggie). We spotted Hazel right away and she was less than 100 yards from where I originally trapped her. Talk about a homebody! I set up the trap and the sparrow and drove up the road a little bit to wait. After about 1-2 minutes she came in on a low approach from her fence post perch straight at the sparrow. It was almost directly toward us so I just saw her "hovering" in the air but descending toward the trap. She hit the trap and veered to the right in her fright and came to ground after 10 feet, never touching the sparrow. It was quite a sight to see her flight at the sparrow as well as the beauty of the trap working. I was so excited I immediately jumped out of the car only to realize I was 50 yards away and had a perfectly good car to get there faster. (duh) We released her from the trap and she didn't struggle and fuss as much as first caught birds do. She had her anklets, jesses, and the transmitter all still attached. We got the anklets cut off her legs and her legs looked good. No abrasions or scale damage from the anklets or grommets. I was glad to be releasing her back to the wild with no damage done.
I had food with me since I was going to be working with Shadow so I thought I'd send her off with a bit of food for her trouble. I had a few pieces in my fingers and held them up to her. She immediately snatched one and held it in her beak. A fresh caught wild bird wouldn't take food from a person that quickly. It felt good to know she still remembered the connection we had. The piece of food she took was large enough that she would need her feet to help her eat it so I tossed her up and she flew right back to the same fence post to eat her snack. It was a good feeling to make things right with her and remove any external trace of my passing association with her. It was a good day. I see her now and then and wave hello on my way past.
On a side note, while working with Shadow and a baggie in Hazel's territory, Shadow just wasn't flying out and while I turned around to make another pass I saw a wild bird come out of the sky and make a grab at the starling. It was startling and cool and funny all at once. I realized it was Hazel and she probably remembered playing the same game during her training last year. She took a second pass at the starling and missed again and came to rest on the fence nearby. I pulled up in the car and she still sat there waiting for me to leave. I was waiting for her to leave. I finally had to get out of the car to send her off and she left the area.
Ah, yes, the transmitter. The antenna was missing (it's cheaply replaceable), the battery cover and battery were missing (also replaceable), and it was a little beat up due to constant wear for 9 months. I took it to my sponsor who had all the replacement parts and we tried it out but got no signal from it. So while we retrieved it and spared Hazel the embarrassment of wearing it, it's useless. I may send it in to the company and ask if there's anything that can cheaply be done for it but I haven't taken the time to bother with it yet.
Through all the frustration, excitement, embarrassments, awe, disappointments, thrills, and setbacks I've realized that falconry is not a perfect science and no two birds are alike in personality and response to similar methods of training. It is a constant learning experience and, though trying, is still rewarding due to the basic fact that I'm experiencing things that most people have no clue even exist. National Geographic, Animal Planet and even a good pair of binoculars can never provide the learning or connection with a wild animal that is gained through falconry. I highly respect those experienced and dedicated falconers like my own sponsor who learned from scratch without the internet or a sponsor.
I mentioned in my last post the way I was getting Shadow's weight down to free flight by going to different places. That has proven to be a good method and I haven't had any hesitancy from him in the various locations I've worked with him now.
I also mentioned I regretted not getting him lure trained earlier. Now I'm regretting it x100. Shadow has become a screamer. I spent too long hand feeding him while trying to get him to come around and interact with me that he now has a very strong food association with me. The result is that he screams for food whenever he sees me. If I have him in the house I turn my head the other way and don't look at him. Sometimes it works, usually not. This screaming is high pitched and makes your ear drums hurt and goes on whether he's stuffed full or hungry. I think that if I had gotten his food association with the lure earlier he wouldn't have become screamy. Lesson learned.
Shadow is also having a hard time getting himself out the window of the car on bagged starlings (or wild ones for that matter). I don't know if it's his strong food association with me that he figures "why bother?" or what it might be. I set him up a bagged starling on the roadside and drive by and it takes 5-10 passes before he'll finally go out after it. Or he won't go at all and I have to hold him out the window before he'll fly at it. When he does fly, he means business and binds well and subdues the bird, but getting him to leave the perch is a challenge. Last Saturday I got some starlings and set him up on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with the intent of drilling it into his head. The first three days were terrible. Multiple passes, even stopping the car didn't elicit a strong enough response to get him out the window. But each time I kept at hit until he would fly. Wednesday he flew out on the first pass! I had one starling left and wanted to reinforce that experience the next day but... Winter storm warning from Thursday through Saturday. 19" of snow dumped on us overnight Thursday night. So needless to say I haven't been able to reinforce his learning yet and have low expectations for his performance tomorrow with this final starling. I guess I need to clear my training schedule with the weather center before attempting anything next time.
My thought with Shadow now is to give him another set of 4-5 birds in a row and see if he'll improve his response. If it doesn't consistently improve then it's best for both of us to part ways. If he "gets it" then we'll try him again on wild birds. However going from a single baggie to a small flock of birds is a big jump and I wonder if he'll have the gumption to do it.
On a lighter note, Hazel and I were briefly reunited mid-December. I had seen her around near where I originally caught her and got a mouse and attempted to trap her three separate times. But each time she had a mouse already and wasn't hungry enough to bother with the trap. So I sat and watched her eat and enjoyed just bird watching. Or stalking her, however you want to call it. My sponsor suggested I try a different trap that he had. It's called a hoop trap. Basically it's a simple hoop of metal with nooses standing up around the perimeter. Looks like a daisy but with the petals vertical around the center. You tie the hoop to a weight with cord wound around it to act as a slow release drag weight. This allows the bird to hit the trap at speed and not damage their legs with a sudden stopping impact. In the center of the hoop is tethered a sparrow with a weight. It can't reach the outside of the circle and so it doesn't mess up the loops. The idea is that whatever bird of prey you're after swoops in low at the sparrow, extends its feet for the grab and puts them right through the loops.
I set out with my brother in law (the lucky one that was with me to capture Hazel the first time and most recently Shadow), one of my boys, a sparrow, and Shadow (we were going to try him on a baggie). We spotted Hazel right away and she was less than 100 yards from where I originally trapped her. Talk about a homebody! I set up the trap and the sparrow and drove up the road a little bit to wait. After about 1-2 minutes she came in on a low approach from her fence post perch straight at the sparrow. It was almost directly toward us so I just saw her "hovering" in the air but descending toward the trap. She hit the trap and veered to the right in her fright and came to ground after 10 feet, never touching the sparrow. It was quite a sight to see her flight at the sparrow as well as the beauty of the trap working. I was so excited I immediately jumped out of the car only to realize I was 50 yards away and had a perfectly good car to get there faster. (duh) We released her from the trap and she didn't struggle and fuss as much as first caught birds do. She had her anklets, jesses, and the transmitter all still attached. We got the anklets cut off her legs and her legs looked good. No abrasions or scale damage from the anklets or grommets. I was glad to be releasing her back to the wild with no damage done.
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| Goodbye Hazel! |
On a side note, while working with Shadow and a baggie in Hazel's territory, Shadow just wasn't flying out and while I turned around to make another pass I saw a wild bird come out of the sky and make a grab at the starling. It was startling and cool and funny all at once. I realized it was Hazel and she probably remembered playing the same game during her training last year. She took a second pass at the starling and missed again and came to rest on the fence nearby. I pulled up in the car and she still sat there waiting for me to leave. I was waiting for her to leave. I finally had to get out of the car to send her off and she left the area.
Ah, yes, the transmitter. The antenna was missing (it's cheaply replaceable), the battery cover and battery were missing (also replaceable), and it was a little beat up due to constant wear for 9 months. I took it to my sponsor who had all the replacement parts and we tried it out but got no signal from it. So while we retrieved it and spared Hazel the embarrassment of wearing it, it's useless. I may send it in to the company and ask if there's anything that can cheaply be done for it but I haven't taken the time to bother with it yet.
Through all the frustration, excitement, embarrassments, awe, disappointments, thrills, and setbacks I've realized that falconry is not a perfect science and no two birds are alike in personality and response to similar methods of training. It is a constant learning experience and, though trying, is still rewarding due to the basic fact that I'm experiencing things that most people have no clue even exist. National Geographic, Animal Planet and even a good pair of binoculars can never provide the learning or connection with a wild animal that is gained through falconry. I highly respect those experienced and dedicated falconers like my own sponsor who learned from scratch without the internet or a sponsor.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Five weeks
Shadow is still on a creance outside. I've been taking him to work with me this last week and going out at lunch time to work with him outdoors in daylight. Since we're in the dark season it's about completely dark when I get home and I can't get anything much done with him. Shadow responds well in doors at a higher weight but taken outdoors at the same weight and he ignores me completely. I've been targeting his weight outdoors and I'm getting pretty close. Yesterday I took him out and he flew immediately when I raised my fist and called. I take him to a different park or a different part of a park each day. That way he doesn't get comfortable in one area and give the false impression that he's well behaved. The park we went to was one we'd never gone to before and there were cars driving by and people walking on the sidewalk so it's a pretty good indication that he's very close to being off the creance.
The one thing that's missing is the lure. I haven't done well at getting him made to the lure yet. I think I'll try to just feed him with the lure for the next week or two and see if he'll transfer his food expectation from me to the lure.
My sponsor gave up his peregrine hybrid and is trying to trap a merlin. He's gotten tired of the scarcity of quarry in this area and wants to get back to catching wild game. I went trapping with him last weekend and though we saw two merlins, a prairie falcon, two cooper's hawks, and a sharp-shinned hawk, we caught nothing. I need to check in with him and see how the trapping is going. If things work well for him with merlins I'll have a fresh resource for learning merlins in the near future if I decide to go that route.
I heard that the cooper's hawk I turned down is doing great and catching pigeons and quail left and right. I'm a little envious but I know I wasn't ready for it.
The one thing that's missing is the lure. I haven't done well at getting him made to the lure yet. I think I'll try to just feed him with the lure for the next week or two and see if he'll transfer his food expectation from me to the lure.
My sponsor gave up his peregrine hybrid and is trying to trap a merlin. He's gotten tired of the scarcity of quarry in this area and wants to get back to catching wild game. I went trapping with him last weekend and though we saw two merlins, a prairie falcon, two cooper's hawks, and a sharp-shinned hawk, we caught nothing. I need to check in with him and see how the trapping is going. If things work well for him with merlins I'll have a fresh resource for learning merlins in the near future if I decide to go that route.
I heard that the cooper's hawk I turned down is doing great and catching pigeons and quail left and right. I'm a little envious but I know I wasn't ready for it.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Two Week Check-in
Shadow has been with us now for two weeks so here's his two week report card.
I still hadn't finished up his new mews yet with carpeting, lights, and built-in perches so on the way home today I stopped at Home Depot and grabbed the last of what I needed. Turns out I should have taken him with me. He is SO into power tools. When I got home I took him out of the mews and set him on the garage floor on a perch. He watched me and followed what I was doing the whole time, not spooking when I walked over or around him. I got the carpeting cut and put it in and then set him inside with the light on while I finished up the rest of the work. He was so curious about everything I was doing it was hilarious.
I was putting in a couple of screws from the outside of the mews and he would hop over to that side of it to see what it was. When I reappeared at the door he hopped back over to the door to watch. I had to set my drill down at one point and he was right where I wanted to put it. I put it down right in front of him and he just sat there and then hopped up on top of it. He just wanted to watch everything I was doing. I was grabbing drill bits and screws out from under him and he didn't open his mouth or fly off, just watched. He got to see close up and in action the drill, jig saw, and miter saw with all their noise. Not a flutter out of him. So now he has a kestrel condo and he's living large. Well, at least fluffy. The dang bird has man boobs like none other after he finishes a meal.
Let's talk about meals now. After all that man work in the garage he had a healthy appetite. I set him on his indoor perch and put him on a long leash and doubled the distance that he last had flown to me to about 15 feet. He came first time, no hesitation. Wow! He was solid at that distance so I tried him on the lure on the floor and he wasn't too excited about going to the floor. He would look back and forth between me and the lure and eventually he flew toward me instead and since my hand wasn't raised he aimed for my head. At the last second he veered off and flew up to a high shelf in the kitchen. So we need to work on him hitting the lure on the ground. I put the lure away and increased my distance from him to 25 feet or so and he came after some hesitation, but he really improved in his reactions tonight. Very proud of the little guy and glad he's finally able to work into his new situation. He was just so floored for so long I was getting a little worried and disappointed. But now he's got his bottle of awesome sauce and is pouring it on everything.
- Cuteness A+
- Awesomeness A-
- Bonding A
This new guy is still really jumpy after 11 days. He still opens his mouth at me when I approach. I caught him at 115 and he's down to 93 and still that way. I've got him hopping 7-8 feet to the fist from a 6' perch but if he's lower to the ground he just gets all nervous and won't do much.The very next morning after I sent that email, Shadow proved me wrong on all counts. I went to get him and he stood up and I asked him to hop up and he didn't fly off. I held him up to transfer him from the perch leash to the glove leash and he didn't open his mouth at me. Big improvements overnight! Weird thing about his hop up. The other birds I would press my finger against the front of their legs or belly and they'd hop up. He won't do it unless I press against the back of his legs. Go figure.
Another interesting difference in him is he doesn't stay on the perch in the mew but instead I find him laying on his breast on the floor each morning and night. Like he's in his nest or scrape. He won't stand and hop up to the fist either. I have to nudge and bump him toward a standing position until he just bates away and I have to reel him in upside down and flip him back upon the glove. Each bird is its own personality I guess.
I still hadn't finished up his new mews yet with carpeting, lights, and built-in perches so on the way home today I stopped at Home Depot and grabbed the last of what I needed. Turns out I should have taken him with me. He is SO into power tools. When I got home I took him out of the mews and set him on the garage floor on a perch. He watched me and followed what I was doing the whole time, not spooking when I walked over or around him. I got the carpeting cut and put it in and then set him inside with the light on while I finished up the rest of the work. He was so curious about everything I was doing it was hilarious.
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| Shadow Fang prefers Craftsman |
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| Supervising the installation of his home plate |
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| New bed | Man boobs! |
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
I dub thee ... Shadow Fang!
I know it's geeky and weird but so am I. And it was my daughter's idea anyway. He'll go by Shadow for short. I'll just pull out Shadow Fang for drama or when he's in big trouble.
So, Shadow has been a real booger about eating. I caught him Saturday afternoon and between then and now he's only eaten one small mouse. He ate that when I left it for him in the mews when I left for work. So though he got some nutrition and all, it did nothing for getting him to trust me. That was Monday and he ate nothing yesterday and nothing today on the first attempt. After leaving him in the house while we went off to a family activity we came back and I tried again. He wouldn't take food still either on the glove or in tweezers. I finally picked up the tweezers in my gloved hand and offered it to him and he took it immediately. *blink-blink* Ok. I did it again and he snarfed it. So I switched the tweezers to my bare hand and he still horked it. After a few pieces that way I tossed the tweezers and used my bare fingers and he didn't hesitate at all (nor did he mistake my fingers for food or bite them out of spite). After finishing off all the tidbits from my fingers I had the south end of a north going mouse leftover and gave him that to finish off on his own. He went to town on it and puffed up quite a bit; the most he has poofed since I caught him. Yay! It shows he's relaxing a little more. I put him to bed 11 grams heavier than this afternoon when I weighed him and I'm hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow.
So, Shadow has been a real booger about eating. I caught him Saturday afternoon and between then and now he's only eaten one small mouse. He ate that when I left it for him in the mews when I left for work. So though he got some nutrition and all, it did nothing for getting him to trust me. That was Monday and he ate nothing yesterday and nothing today on the first attempt. After leaving him in the house while we went off to a family activity we came back and I tried again. He wouldn't take food still either on the glove or in tweezers. I finally picked up the tweezers in my gloved hand and offered it to him and he took it immediately. *blink-blink* Ok. I did it again and he snarfed it. So I switched the tweezers to my bare hand and he still horked it. After a few pieces that way I tossed the tweezers and used my bare fingers and he didn't hesitate at all (nor did he mistake my fingers for food or bite them out of spite). After finishing off all the tidbits from my fingers I had the south end of a north going mouse leftover and gave him that to finish off on his own. He went to town on it and puffed up quite a bit; the most he has poofed since I caught him. Yay! It shows he's relaxing a little more. I put him to bed 11 grams heavier than this afternoon when I weighed him and I'm hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
A New Start
I had been trapping for a month off and on and only caught one bird a couple of weeks ago. It was a haggard tiercel kestrel so I let him go. Yesterday I took my daughter to work and as usual I brought a mouse along for the ride. My brother-in-law was with me too. He was with me when I trapped Hazel. It turns out he's something of a good luck charm. We drove for about 20 minutes only seeing 2 birds, neither in a position where we could get a trap under them. Then my bro-in-law spotted this guy. He was on a pole about 50 yards from the road and we set the trap down in an area of bare dirt. He flew down immediately after we drove off and went straight to the trap and landed on the ground. None of this fluttering fly by or perch nearby business. He walked around the trap, kicked the tires, stood and looked at the thing for a bit, and then got up on top. He was on and off it several times but was very calm about it so didn't get snagged. I was going nuts hoping he'd get his foot in a loop soon. Finally he got his foot stuck in one loop (only one!). We got lucky!
He weighed 105g this morning after casting so he's a bit smaller than my other birds but I'm optimistic about him. I think he"ll do fine. You see, earlier in the day I was in that same area and saw a male kestrel trying to catch a sparrow and was also chasing starlings and doves. So it might be the same bird.
After getting him home, jessed, and dusted for parasites I began to try and get him to sit on the glove. He caught on (no pun intended) almost immediately and within five minutes he was returning to the glove after a bate. Wow! Hazel took two hours to just stand on the glove and Baron was at least 30 minutes. Already I can touch his wings and feet without him flying off.
He weighed 105g this morning after casting so he's a bit smaller than my other birds but I'm optimistic about him. I think he"ll do fine. You see, earlier in the day I was in that same area and saw a male kestrel trying to catch a sparrow and was also chasing starlings and doves. So it might be the same bird.
After getting him home, jessed, and dusted for parasites I began to try and get him to sit on the glove. He caught on (no pun intended) almost immediately and within five minutes he was returning to the glove after a bate. Wow! Hazel took two hours to just stand on the glove and Baron was at least 30 minutes. Already I can touch his wings and feet without him flying off.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The Itch
Today at work we began our fall workshop which is a few days of speakers and relaxing and improving ourselves and our work relationships. Today's speaker is one of the new directors in our division and he also happens to be a fairly well-known falconer in these parts. I don't know what role he played but he was quite involved with the Utah Sky Trials this last year that I went. Anyway, his topic was on building trust, and unlike most people who use an anaolgy and relate it to their topic, he spent 70% of the time on falconry and 30% on relating it to building trust in human relationships. So of course I was grinning like a kid in a candy shop! He had 3 of his 4 birds with him. A passage caught prairie falcon, a peregrine raised from an eyas, and a gyr-peregrine hybrid he recently acquired. All beautiful birds.
Needless to say my concentration was blown for the day after that presentation. I'm really itching to get a bird now. I was hoping my sponsor or one of his pigeon buddies might happen upon a Cooper's hawk that I could trap but I may just go scratch my itch with a kestrel. I'd like to do it right and longer term this time.
Needless to say my concentration was blown for the day after that presentation. I'm really itching to get a bird now. I was hoping my sponsor or one of his pigeon buddies might happen upon a Cooper's hawk that I could trap but I may just go scratch my itch with a kestrel. I'd like to do it right and longer term this time.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Oh dear
My sponsor called me tonight and after seeing the pictures of this little guy on the blog post, he said that he should have a tail by now. I kinda thought something was funny looking about him given his apparent age and it's that he doesn't have hardly any white fluff on him. Which would mean he is older than he appears and, as my sponsor pointed out, should have a pretty good tail by now. From his experience and other falconers he has known, feathers that have been pulled may not always grow back. Some have grown in again soon after pulling, others never have. He suggested I take a closer look at the bird and see what might be going on.
I casted him in a towel and took a look at his little tail stub close up. The center is a red sore but there are no quills anywhere on the tail that I could see. So I'm guessing his tail was entirely plucked. I pulled each wing out and they're pretty scraggly, I would expect a little more growth, but looking on the inside of one wing, it's pretty bare. This cat really worked him over and played with him a bit. I think I'll keep him a little while longer to see if his tail starts any regrowth but I'll definitely call the rehabilitation center tomorrow and see what she says about him. Maybe she can take care of him and if he grows feathers back I might have him back. I don't know how all that works.
I'm sad for his set back on his early life and also sad I'll probably have to part with him. He'll be better off with the care the rehabber can give him. They say raptors suffer a 65% rate of death in their first year. This guy was close but at least he has a shot at it, thanks to some good neighbors.
I casted him in a towel and took a look at his little tail stub close up. The center is a red sore but there are no quills anywhere on the tail that I could see. So I'm guessing his tail was entirely plucked. I pulled each wing out and they're pretty scraggly, I would expect a little more growth, but looking on the inside of one wing, it's pretty bare. This cat really worked him over and played with him a bit. I think I'll keep him a little while longer to see if his tail starts any regrowth but I'll definitely call the rehabilitation center tomorrow and see what she says about him. Maybe she can take care of him and if he grows feathers back I might have him back. I don't know how all that works.
I'm sad for his set back on his early life and also sad I'll probably have to part with him. He'll be better off with the care the rehabber can give him. They say raptors suffer a 65% rate of death in their first year. This guy was close but at least he has a shot at it, thanks to some good neighbors.
An interesting opportunity
Yesterday I got a call from a co-worker saying that his wife's facebook friend's neighbor's cat caught a young kestrel and was looking for someone to take care of it (the neighbor, not the cat). I saw some cell phone pictures and it was rather raggedy looking but seemed to be in good health. I made a bunch of phone calls including the DWR and my sponsor and on approval from the wildlife officer, decided to go pick up the little guy. I met the lady in charge of the rescue (Elaine) and her friend (Jennifer) that handled the communication online and her beautiful group of girls. One wants to be a falconer and now meets the minimum age requirement so maybe they'll have some fun with kestrels in a year or so. :)
One side note here. In my excitement I may not have told the wildlife officer that I was an apprentice falconer so I called back and left him a message to that effect. We'll see if he still approves. If not, I'll take him to the raptor rehabilitation center nearby. EDIT: I just got off the phone with the officer. He said, let's call it a win-win for me and the bird and let it stand. Woot!
As far as injuries go, he doesn't have any obvious punctures or tears but he did get plucked about a quarter's worth on his chest and he seems to have two channels across his head where maybe the cat's claws pulled the feathers there but the skin doesn't look to be scratched. Otherwise he is acting "normal" from what I know and isn't favoring any limb. He's one lucky bird.
On getting him home I fed him a mouse. (Coincidentally the female mouse just had babies today. So it's baby day at our house.) I fed him this in little pieces with tweezers through a small hole in an apple box I had him in. This way he didn't associate the food with seeing me and hopefully won't become a begging screamer. My sponsor gave me instructions on how to build a baby box and how to feed him. It's basically a box with a window in it to see our family circus. He has a ledge perch to hang out on. On the top of the box is a covered hole that I can uncover to drop food in so he doesn't associate me with food. So far so good. I minced up two starlings and two mice last night and made 12 gram baggies to feed him. I'm starting on a 12g every 4 hour schedule and we'll see how much he eats. I'm guessing we'll probably reduce that to 6-8g. Actually, I gave him his first morning meal of 12g and he's only eaten half of it now in the last 20 minutes.
One side note here. In my excitement I may not have told the wildlife officer that I was an apprentice falconer so I called back and left him a message to that effect. We'll see if he still approves. If not, I'll take him to the raptor rehabilitation center nearby. EDIT: I just got off the phone with the officer. He said, let's call it a win-win for me and the bird and let it stand. Woot!
As far as injuries go, he doesn't have any obvious punctures or tears but he did get plucked about a quarter's worth on his chest and he seems to have two channels across his head where maybe the cat's claws pulled the feathers there but the skin doesn't look to be scratched. Otherwise he is acting "normal" from what I know and isn't favoring any limb. He's one lucky bird.
On getting him home I fed him a mouse. (Coincidentally the female mouse just had babies today. So it's baby day at our house.) I fed him this in little pieces with tweezers through a small hole in an apple box I had him in. This way he didn't associate the food with seeing me and hopefully won't become a begging screamer. My sponsor gave me instructions on how to build a baby box and how to feed him. It's basically a box with a window in it to see our family circus. He has a ledge perch to hang out on. On the top of the box is a covered hole that I can uncover to drop food in so he doesn't associate me with food. So far so good. I minced up two starlings and two mice last night and made 12 gram baggies to feed him. I'm starting on a 12g every 4 hour schedule and we'll see how much he eats. I'm guessing we'll probably reduce that to 6-8g. Actually, I gave him his first morning meal of 12g and he's only eaten half of it now in the last 20 minutes.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Female Kestrel Identification
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| Of the two bending down, Haggard on the left, Passage on the right. |
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| Haggard tail and feathers. |
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| Passage tail and feathers. |
Which goes to show that the old rule of thumb that "if the last dark band on the female tail feathers is twice the size of the others then it's a haggard" is not a reliable reference. Comparing the two above I see that the bands on the back and secondaries seem thicker on the passage than on the haggard which gives it an overall darker appearance in color. While observing the nest in better lighting conditions I could see that the haggard was a more rust color while the passage birds were more toward brown than rust. It also seems that the trailing edge of the primaries are a more pronounced white on the passage and more tan or thinner on the haggard. Given, these birds are from the Boise, Idaho area and may not be similar to what I may see at home. I'm tempted to set up a nest box nearby and get a look for myself at the local birds.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
A little good news
A week or two after Hazel left me I went down to see where she was hanging out and I saw a female on the tree she had been perching on. But it wasn't her. And then a male came to the tree and snuggled with her. I thought that was very strange that there were two mated pairs living in the same small territory. Much later I didn't see Hazel anymore so I assumed she was sitting on eggs somewhere. BUT... It turns out that Mr. Kestrel was two-timing on Hazel and she gave him the bird, so to speak, and went home. I came to this conclusion because my sponsor just yesterday wrote me an email telling me he had seen my bird a couple of times recently within 100 yards of where I first caught her. Hopefully I can tempt her with a couple of free mice.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Lessons Learned
Hazel has returned to the wild after splashing down in a puddle trying to grab a starling.
How do we go from first caught starling to this in 3 days? Through misjudging her weight apparently. I thought that since she had flown and caught and had good response to the lure that she was at her hunting weight. Even though she was at her lowest weight yet (96.8g), the combination of warm weather, distractions, and natural instinct weighed heavier. I still have so much to learn. *facepalm* I appear to be learning it the hard way. My sponsor said that you have to take extra weight off for warm weather and more distractions. With my next bird I need to figure out how to find that right weight by flying it on the creance in such situations. When we were at home, in the yard, etc. she responded immediately at higher the weight but only because it was her "home turf". That tricked me into thinking she was at the right weight.
I took Hazel out after work to hunt and we drove by several slips that she refused to fly at (*ding ding* fat bird warning). I thought, well, she caught a starling in this same area just 3 days ago at a higher weight than this so let's keep trying. We found one bird in a puddle bathing and she went at it. The bird saw her coming and bailed out which left Hazel splashing into the puddle for nothing. She was gone in an instant and I had no idea which way she had flown. I pulled out the lure and got no response and then pulled out the receiver and directional antenna (which is 2.5 x 2 feet) and tried to find where she had gone. She was a half block away up in a very tall evergreen, pouting I'm sure. I swung the lure and called and begged and she paid me very little attention. My sponsor showed up a little later and gave me some tips on how to call her down and he also noticed that she just wasn't interested in me at all.
After 10-15 minutes of waiting on her with the lure she started making her begging sound. I told her to just come down and get the dang food and she wouldn't have to beg for it. Well, apparently she was calling to a male kestrel she saw nearby. I guess the female courts the male by begging for food, asking him to be the supplier for her and the future nestlings. So he flew over and (cover your eyes kids) quickly mated with her and then flew off after another 5 minutes of hanging around.
My sponsor had to leave and while I was still waiting for her she switched trees for a minute and then flew back to the first tree...with a mouse in her talons. Now I ask you, what is a mouse doing 50 feet up in a pine tree?? Dang mice are everywhere! So there she was sitting in her tree eating a mouse. My chances of getting her back just went in the toilet. As she was finishing the mouse guess who showed up. The male. With another mouse for her. Now when I was managing her weight, 1/2 a mouse was enough food for her to metabolize in a 24 hour period and maintain the same weight. And now she has eaten two mice in a short time. Those chances that were in the toilet? Yeah, they just got flushed. They mated a time or two and then the male flew off for more food.
I waited some more and called and swung the lure but the only thing I succeeded in attracting was a mean dog from across the street. At this time Hazel flew off. The dog came within 15 feet and kept growling and barking and circling me while I was trying to find out where Hazel had flown to with the antenna and receiver. A teenage boy came to take the dog back to the house but she had no collar and wouldn't listen to him. The closer he got to me the more aggressive the dog became until we were playing Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Peekaboo around my car. I'd had enough and after him telling me "she won't bite" for the third time I replied, "Yes, well, the problem is, I'm not in a good mood, and I'M going to bite HER." At which point I offloaded the receiver and antenna into the car and picked up a rock and threw it at her. It missed and hit the street below her belly but she realized she had messed with me a little too much and ran home.
Meanwhile, Hazel was still nowhere to be found. I couldn't even get a signal on her with the receiver. The battery should have had another 18-20 hours on it but I found no signal. My wife showed up to help by watching her in the tree while I went off to get a live starling to try and lure her down. But of course when she arrived Hazel had already gone. So she headed home looking for her on the way (my wife is a gem) and I went to the starling trap 5 miles away before it got too dark to see. I got there and the owner of the trap had moved it off the property. *fail* I called him and luckily he was in Provo where he has another trap and he brought home a starling and I met him at his house later on to get it.
On my way home from getting the starling I drove through the area where Hazel disappeared, trying to get a signal on her so I would know where to find her in the morning. I still got no signal at all. I wondered if I had messed up the receiver some how. There are three numbers that determine the frequency that are changed by pushing plus or minus buttons above and below each number. The setting was 215. I thought that sounded right but I started pushing them each up and down by one to see if maybe the frequency had gotten changed. I still got nothing. I paused and thought for a moment and into my mind came the numbers 015. I changed the 2 to a 0 and immediately got a signal! Thank heaven, literally. The numbers must have gotten changed from being bumped around while I was doing the dosie-doe with the doggy. I found the tree she was roosting in and went home and my stomach made me miserable for the rest of the evening from 3.5 hours of tension and stress.
I went out this morning at dawn and found her signal 3/4 of a mile to the west of where I lost her last night. I put out the starling tethered under the tree she was in but she had no interest. She still had her pretty boy bringing her food and taking care of business. My only hope now is to trap the male and hold him temporarily and then trap her when she realizes she has no food coming. But to trap them I need mice and the pet store doesn't open for another hour still. I'm not optimistic that this plan will work. I'm guessing she'll be too full to even consider flying to the trap for quite a while and the battery on the transmitter will only last until late afternoon today. But I have to try. I'll feel better about losing the $225 transmitter attached to her if I have tried everything I can to get her back. If nothing works, I'll hope that they settle in the same general area to nest and I can possibly find and trap her after the nestlings have gone in late May or early June.
How do we go from first caught starling to this in 3 days? Through misjudging her weight apparently. I thought that since she had flown and caught and had good response to the lure that she was at her hunting weight. Even though she was at her lowest weight yet (96.8g), the combination of warm weather, distractions, and natural instinct weighed heavier. I still have so much to learn. *facepalm* I appear to be learning it the hard way. My sponsor said that you have to take extra weight off for warm weather and more distractions. With my next bird I need to figure out how to find that right weight by flying it on the creance in such situations. When we were at home, in the yard, etc. she responded immediately at higher the weight but only because it was her "home turf". That tricked me into thinking she was at the right weight.
I took Hazel out after work to hunt and we drove by several slips that she refused to fly at (*ding ding* fat bird warning). I thought, well, she caught a starling in this same area just 3 days ago at a higher weight than this so let's keep trying. We found one bird in a puddle bathing and she went at it. The bird saw her coming and bailed out which left Hazel splashing into the puddle for nothing. She was gone in an instant and I had no idea which way she had flown. I pulled out the lure and got no response and then pulled out the receiver and directional antenna (which is 2.5 x 2 feet) and tried to find where she had gone. She was a half block away up in a very tall evergreen, pouting I'm sure. I swung the lure and called and begged and she paid me very little attention. My sponsor showed up a little later and gave me some tips on how to call her down and he also noticed that she just wasn't interested in me at all.
After 10-15 minutes of waiting on her with the lure she started making her begging sound. I told her to just come down and get the dang food and she wouldn't have to beg for it. Well, apparently she was calling to a male kestrel she saw nearby. I guess the female courts the male by begging for food, asking him to be the supplier for her and the future nestlings. So he flew over and (cover your eyes kids) quickly mated with her and then flew off after another 5 minutes of hanging around.
My sponsor had to leave and while I was still waiting for her she switched trees for a minute and then flew back to the first tree...with a mouse in her talons. Now I ask you, what is a mouse doing 50 feet up in a pine tree?? Dang mice are everywhere! So there she was sitting in her tree eating a mouse. My chances of getting her back just went in the toilet. As she was finishing the mouse guess who showed up. The male. With another mouse for her. Now when I was managing her weight, 1/2 a mouse was enough food for her to metabolize in a 24 hour period and maintain the same weight. And now she has eaten two mice in a short time. Those chances that were in the toilet? Yeah, they just got flushed. They mated a time or two and then the male flew off for more food.
I waited some more and called and swung the lure but the only thing I succeeded in attracting was a mean dog from across the street. At this time Hazel flew off. The dog came within 15 feet and kept growling and barking and circling me while I was trying to find out where Hazel had flown to with the antenna and receiver. A teenage boy came to take the dog back to the house but she had no collar and wouldn't listen to him. The closer he got to me the more aggressive the dog became until we were playing Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Peekaboo around my car. I'd had enough and after him telling me "she won't bite" for the third time I replied, "Yes, well, the problem is, I'm not in a good mood, and I'M going to bite HER." At which point I offloaded the receiver and antenna into the car and picked up a rock and threw it at her. It missed and hit the street below her belly but she realized she had messed with me a little too much and ran home.
Meanwhile, Hazel was still nowhere to be found. I couldn't even get a signal on her with the receiver. The battery should have had another 18-20 hours on it but I found no signal. My wife showed up to help by watching her in the tree while I went off to get a live starling to try and lure her down. But of course when she arrived Hazel had already gone. So she headed home looking for her on the way (my wife is a gem) and I went to the starling trap 5 miles away before it got too dark to see. I got there and the owner of the trap had moved it off the property. *fail* I called him and luckily he was in Provo where he has another trap and he brought home a starling and I met him at his house later on to get it.
On my way home from getting the starling I drove through the area where Hazel disappeared, trying to get a signal on her so I would know where to find her in the morning. I still got no signal at all. I wondered if I had messed up the receiver some how. There are three numbers that determine the frequency that are changed by pushing plus or minus buttons above and below each number. The setting was 215. I thought that sounded right but I started pushing them each up and down by one to see if maybe the frequency had gotten changed. I still got nothing. I paused and thought for a moment and into my mind came the numbers 015. I changed the 2 to a 0 and immediately got a signal! Thank heaven, literally. The numbers must have gotten changed from being bumped around while I was doing the dosie-doe with the doggy. I found the tree she was roosting in and went home and my stomach made me miserable for the rest of the evening from 3.5 hours of tension and stress.
I went out this morning at dawn and found her signal 3/4 of a mile to the west of where I lost her last night. I put out the starling tethered under the tree she was in but she had no interest. She still had her pretty boy bringing her food and taking care of business. My only hope now is to trap the male and hold him temporarily and then trap her when she realizes she has no food coming. But to trap them I need mice and the pet store doesn't open for another hour still. I'm not optimistic that this plan will work. I'm guessing she'll be too full to even consider flying to the trap for quite a while and the battery on the transmitter will only last until late afternoon today. But I have to try. I'll feel better about losing the $225 transmitter attached to her if I have tried everything I can to get her back. If nothing works, I'll hope that they settle in the same general area to nest and I can possibly find and trap her after the nestlings have gone in late May or early June.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Starling #1
Hazel is now wearing her big girl pants. Today she caught her first starling!
I had taken her out yesterday morning at 9:30 at 100.2g and we saw starlings everywhere. She didn't fly at any of them. Even stopping the car next to them she wouldn't fly at them. That was very strange because she'll hit tethered starlings from the car at 102g. So I went back to work (thank goodness for a flexible employer) and then tried her again that afternoon at 99.2g. We saw no birds so didn't have a chance to test that weight.
Today I got her down to 98g since 100 was so poor and we went out at 9am. We found one in a front yard and it definitely got her attention though she didn't fly at first. We flipped around and came past it again and she flew at it but our speed was pretty low right at that point and she didn't catch it. She flew up into a pine tree and the lure brought her right down.
After running a few errands we were able to look for birds again around 10am. We saw 3 birds on the right side of the car and I put the passenger window down. That always gets her attention to that side of the car. We passed them by and she didn't fly out and immediately I saw 2 more birds on the left side so I switched windows. She heard the driver's side window go down and her head whirled back in that direction and she craned her neck to see. She had about 5 seconds to see them before we passed them. We were about 10 feet past them when she flew out my window. My daughter was with me and I yelled out for her to watch where she went while I safely turned the car around to that side of the street. Since we had passed the birds they were unconcerned and had their heads in the grass feeding so they didn't even have time to rise from the ground before one was caught. My daughter yelled out "She caught one!" Me: "Seriously?!" I jumped out and picked her up like normal and we took her home to put on her big girl pants. Yay!
For those that like photos, sorry, I was so excited and busy I didn't get any trophy pictures.
I had taken her out yesterday morning at 9:30 at 100.2g and we saw starlings everywhere. She didn't fly at any of them. Even stopping the car next to them she wouldn't fly at them. That was very strange because she'll hit tethered starlings from the car at 102g. So I went back to work (thank goodness for a flexible employer) and then tried her again that afternoon at 99.2g. We saw no birds so didn't have a chance to test that weight.
Today I got her down to 98g since 100 was so poor and we went out at 9am. We found one in a front yard and it definitely got her attention though she didn't fly at first. We flipped around and came past it again and she flew at it but our speed was pretty low right at that point and she didn't catch it. She flew up into a pine tree and the lure brought her right down.
After running a few errands we were able to look for birds again around 10am. We saw 3 birds on the right side of the car and I put the passenger window down. That always gets her attention to that side of the car. We passed them by and she didn't fly out and immediately I saw 2 more birds on the left side so I switched windows. She heard the driver's side window go down and her head whirled back in that direction and she craned her neck to see. She had about 5 seconds to see them before we passed them. We were about 10 feet past them when she flew out my window. My daughter was with me and I yelled out for her to watch where she went while I safely turned the car around to that side of the street. Since we had passed the birds they were unconcerned and had their heads in the grass feeding so they didn't even have time to rise from the ground before one was caught. My daughter yelled out "She caught one!" Me: "Seriously?!" I jumped out and picked her up like normal and we took her home to put on her big girl pants. Yay!
For those that like photos, sorry, I was so excited and busy I didn't get any trophy pictures.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Slow Going
I've been waiting for the starlings to come down to the ground so Hazel can get at them. The weather has been in the 60s this past week and they're starting to come down. I took her out during an early lunch break on Tuesday and only found one starling in someone's fenced front yard. She wanted to fly at it but I didn't let her. The next place we saw some was at a park and there was a flock of maybe 50. She wasn't willing to fly at them though. I took several passes by them and she wouldn't go. I even just tossed her out the window and she flew over the top of them all and landed in a tree 50 yards off and 50 feet up. I called her back and she didn't come to the glove. I tossed the lure and she came right down. By then the starlings had taken off for another neighborhood and it was time to head back to work.
I got her weight down further today and took her out on a baggie out the car window. I want her to learn to look around more and see ahead of the car. It took her a few times around the block but she got it and flew out my driver side window from her perch on the passenger's seat.
I'm trying to have her ready to weight at about 99-100 by 8-9am tomorrow morning and I'll see how she does then. I'm hoping more birds will be out feeding at that time. We'll see how it goes.
While Hazel had hold of a recent starling I got a talon in my finger just before the fingernail where the bone is close to the surface. She shifted her grip from one foot to the other and when she grabbed the bird's neck, my finger happened to be right there with it. It took about 5 minutes to get her distracted from the bird in hand to go for some ready prepared food. Of course her first thought in a situation of food in hand vs. food presented to her is to take both. Which means straining and flapping toward the food offered while dragging the food in hand. Including my finger. Not a pleasant experience to have that talon twisting and pulling in my finger while she maintained a firm grip on it. I need to learn a better release strategy.
I got her weight down further today and took her out on a baggie out the car window. I want her to learn to look around more and see ahead of the car. It took her a few times around the block but she got it and flew out my driver side window from her perch on the passenger's seat.
I'm trying to have her ready to weight at about 99-100 by 8-9am tomorrow morning and I'll see how she does then. I'm hoping more birds will be out feeding at that time. We'll see how it goes.
While Hazel had hold of a recent starling I got a talon in my finger just before the fingernail where the bone is close to the surface. She shifted her grip from one foot to the other and when she grabbed the bird's neck, my finger happened to be right there with it. It took about 5 minutes to get her distracted from the bird in hand to go for some ready prepared food. Of course her first thought in a situation of food in hand vs. food presented to her is to take both. Which means straining and flapping toward the food offered while dragging the food in hand. Including my finger. Not a pleasant experience to have that talon twisting and pulling in my finger while she maintained a firm grip on it. I need to learn a better release strategy.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Car perch
I love impromptu solutions that don't cost anything but what's already gathering dust in your garage. I wanted to take Hazel out on Monday and find some real live starling slips but wanted to have a perch in the car that would make it easier for her to see out the windows and easier for me to drive. I found an old bike "luggage" rack that hadn't been used for almost 20 years. It works great!
We took a drive and she definitely was focusing out the windows and looking for game but we found nothing on the ground that she could fly at.
We took a drive and she definitely was focusing out the windows and looking for game but we found nothing on the ground that she could fly at.
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