I've had and seen some high flights in the past week or so. Wednesday, I was in T-town running some errands and found a few minutes to meet up with Jonathan and his Red-tail of the year. He was already out in the field when I arrived and was working some cover. Shortly after we exchanged pleasantries the hawk took off from his perch and kinda half-heatedly chased something for a few seconds. Instead of landing, the bird found himself in a thermal and since it was a calm, warm day, decided to ride that thermal up several hundred feet. Jonathan and I causally watched the bird circle higher and higher for several minutes. As the bird reached what I would call 500' or so, I mentioned, "aren't ya gonna get him focused a little more this way?" Jonathan agreed that maybe it was time and as he reached for the lure in his bag a cottontail flushed from grass in between us. The hawk saw this right way and turned his attention back in front of us. He glided on over into position, keeping up at his same height, and when the moment seemed right, did his best falcon impression stooping toward the ground while gaining a ton of speed. After the silent rush of the bird shooting past us we heard crashing of cover and the the squeal of success. One amazing bunny catch. I've had Red-tails that soared in the past but, 100'-200' tops. This flight would have been respectable for a falcon! Jonathan does it again....there is no such thing as a dud Red-tail in his hands! The proof is in his continued success from year to year and from bird to bird.
This morning I got out with the Gyrkin for a little training flight, being that the duck season is closed until the 10th. He took off from the fist as he normally would, took his run out, and started to climb. And climb he did. After just a couple of minutes he was touching the clouds. Conservatively I would guess 1500' but experience and by my gut feeling he was pushing 2000' easily. I could really only see him through binoculars. When he came over heard I served him, but instead of coming down he started to drift off to the west and began a monster stoop to what I knew was a lake full of geese.....
This bird will just not leave geese alone. He's taken a few to the ground, raked a few, and chased a bunch, but has never been rewarded for these efforts. I figured he would grow out of it with time but that is not the case. Ended up being a 40 minute telemetry hunt. He really wasn't that far away, but was on the ground on the edge of a pond, which is a pretty common place for him to sit after missing on a stoop. As I walked up to get him the geese flushed again and again he chased but only for a few minutes this time before he made his way back to me for the lure.
This bird still acts like a first year Hybrid in a lot of ways. Very impulsive. I'll hang on to hope that the more we hawk the more he'll keep an eye on me but being that this is his 3rd season of hunting with me I'm not gonna hold my breath. Good thing I'm good with telemetry....Knock on wood.
Just to round things out I added a picture of my hybrid with a Coot he caught the last day before duck season took a rest. Nothing spectacular about the flight. Flushed a bunch of Gadwalls and this stupid Coot decided that he would make a break for it too. Legs dangling, this pseudo-waterfowl stumbled into the air and off the water. Feeling the wind beneath his wings for a second or two before those wings were nearly knocked clean off! Normally Coots are about impossible to get to leave the water around here, I don't know what got into this one.
I've been told by some falconry buddies that this is a -1 on the head count. I tend to agree, but in respect to the "quarry" I enacted my own let it lay law and let the hybrid eat his fill. An act that I have grown to regret since he was too fat for the next 3 days.
-RVZ
No comments:
Post a Comment