Gone

The downside about blogging about falconry is that one is expected to post about all events both good and bad.  I would say that falconry has a similar hold a falconer as drugs to an addict in that that highs are so high that they make you come back for more and more, despite the ever present chance that something bad can happen at any given time.  Unfortunately some of the bad struck for me last week when I lost the Gyrkin.  A beautiful cold morning held the promise of an extraordinary flight but it was not meant to be.  

Mongo started his run out and began to climb a good distance off, which is not uncommon for him.  I watched him climb up several hundred feet and then right on cue he started to make his way back toward me and the ducks.  Halfway back, however, he turned away and quickened his wing beat back where he had started his climb.  I was bummed that this was gonna ruin the intended duck flight, but wasn't too worried.  I had a strong signal and being an imprint he never goes to far without checking back in.  

Several minutes pass and the signal suggests that the bird has landed.  So I pack up my gear and head that way to find him.  Judging by the signal strength and direction I'm confident that the bird is about a 1/2 mile away on the other side of the highway.  I head on over there and can't seem to pick up the signal again.  This still doesn't worry me because he often lands on the ground next to ponds and with the low water there is a bit of a lip that he'll often sit up against, effectively blocking the signal.  This has happened a couple of times this year and by readjusting my position I can pick it back up.  So I went back to the nearest hill and again had a nice strong signal in the area I expected him to be in.   I lay the receiver in my car on the front seat and start to head back to where I'm sure that he is hiding.  I left the receiver on when I was driving but didn't have it up and only the static was coming through, when instantly I got a powerful BEEP with the antenna pointing to the front of the truck.  I quickly stop the truck and jump out with two more booming BEEPS as I turn down the gain, and then nothing.....

I never heard the signal again.  A number of falconers from the area helped in the search, whom I cannot thank enough for giving up their time and gas help scour the county.  After a very through sweep of greater surrounding area, and putting the kite up with my wife and kids watching over it, I finally called a local work contact who has a plane and went for a search from the sky that yielded no results.  Eventually evening and darkness came.

The field we were flying in is also my training field so the next morning and evening I was out there again with the kite, hoping that it was just a transmitter failure and the bird was around but it was not meant to be.  From the hill where I had my last signal to location I got the booming beep in the truck was north to south, the same direction of the highway and my gut tells me he was hit by a truck or the like and carried off to the south.  There is also the possibility of electrocution, I did check every pole and transformer for a mile each way but found nothing.  Being that he was an imprint and we were flying in my training field, probably 90% of all his flights were at this location, I feel that if he was alive he would have returned to this spot, at the very least he would with the kite in the air.  Regardless of what happened I am pretty bummed, it was a very long time coming to get this bird to the point he was at, not to mention that he was an imprint and a lot of fun to have around.   I suppose there is still a chance for him to pop up but given the circumstances I am not to hopeful for that outcome.  

As a good friend of mine often points out, "falconry is a consumptive sport."  There are always life and death situations for prey and the predator and it consumes money, time, energy, and emotion from the falconer on a daily basis; all we get in return are the really high highs and the really low lows.

-RVZ