Scott was up first on a pond that was holding several Mallards and a couple of Ringnecks. As usual Scott's bird rang up to a really nice pitch, we flushed the ducks and a drake Ringneck got his bell rung. A perfect falconry flight by all accounts.
Scott Dillon's Bulleye with drake Ringneck
Then it was my bird's turn and the day went to hell. It has been pretty up and down with my hybrid so far. We had some pretty nice flights early on this season, but none ending in a catch. But between those pretty nice flights we all had a fair share of nonsense. The bird has stooped ducks on the water, knocked them back in the water of number of times, stooped all manner of other hawks, sparrows, larks, possibly a rabbit at one point, etc. None of these are desired quarry and luckily he hasn't caught any of these to reward his wayward efforts.
Saturday was more craziness. We found ducks on a reasonable pond and I got Tulsa into the air. Within seconds Scott and I lost sight of him and couldn't find his silhouette. It turned out that was because he ran out along the ground several hundred yards and decided to land on an old hay barn. So Scott and I sat on the back of the truck to wait him out. A minute or two passed before a Kestrel made her way in to harass the falcon for I assume sitting in her territory. She stooped him over and over again until he finally had enough and took flight, but that didn't stop her onslaught. She kept attacking him for several more minutes until he finally decided to start climbing and leave her behind.
So now I think we are past the nonsense and we can get on to the task at hand but I was wrong. Tulsa climbed to around 400 feet and then saw the ducks at which time he decided he would set his wings and float on down to maybe 100 feet or so. Not acceptable, so I walked away from the pond several hundred yards and call him over to hopefully remind him that a pitch is required before the flush. On the way over, a herd of cows must have flushed some sparrows or something because he turned and stooped hard all the way to the ground. Waited him out for several minutes and he took off again. I thought that maybe now his nonsense was over, but I again was wrong.
Now he is following the cows, I assume hoping that they will flush some more stuff. When the falcon had followed the cows 100 yards north of me, the pigeon that I had in my bag, worked his head out (my fault for not checking my zipper) and made an unexpected escape attempt to the south. Instantly the hybrid was in pursuit and just as he pulled feathers the pigeon flew through the trees and the falcon was blocked.
At this point I have had enough and with the bird a long ways from the pond by me, I radio Scott and tell him to flush the ducks. This would give the falcon no chance of catching up to them and hopefully reinforce that you screw around and you don't have a shot. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the ducks flying he roared back to the pond in his last ditch futile effort to catch one.
Only it didn't work out that way. As the falcon reached the edge of the water, a lone duck that Scott didn't see in the lilies made a break for it. Tulsa changed direction and cut through the hen Ringneck from a dismal 300' pitch.
My Tulsa with hen Ringneck
I just can't be too proud of this one. To much craziness that resulted in a catch, and definitely has resulted in some pretty poor flights the past few days. It looks like I'll be back to kiting for a few weeks. Hopefully this is just early season shenanigans and it will get worked out before it becomes to much of a problem.
Morning's catch
-RVZ
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