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.

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!

Goodbye Shadow!

Welcome back Hazel!

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.

Goodbye Hazel!

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.

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.

Two Week Check-in

Shadow has been with us now for two weeks so here's his two week report card.

• Cuteness A+
• Awesomeness A-
• Bonding A

Just a week ago he was failing in all but cuteness. But really, what kestrel would fail in cuteness? It's pretty much impossible. Seriously, just 2 days ago I was complaining to my sponsor about how nervous Shadow is and that he wasn't showing much progress.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shadow Fang prefers Craftsman

Supervising the installation of his home plate

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.

New bed

Man boobs!

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.