The Making of a Big Year

Just a quick mention of our friend, Jonathan.  He is having one heck of a year with his passage male Red-tailed hawk.  I was with him when he trapped this hawk on a very foggy morning in the middle of October.  Not surprisingly, this bird has become another falconry gem in Jonathan's hands.

Jonathan came up to help flush for these goofy Harris' Hawks for a good hour before he got a chance to fly his bird without a complaint, in fact he pushed for me to keep flying 20 minutes longer than I wanted to.  When it was time for his bird to fly, he didn't disappoint.  The second the hood came off, this bird was in the trees and in full-on hunt mode.  Took us a bit to get across the field to an area that we hadn't worked over earlier.  Once there though the action was fast and over quick.  

The bunny in the picture is a milestone rabbit.  I'm not gonna say exactly how many Jonathan and this bird have caught this season.  But you can take what most would consider a good season and double it, then add a few and that is almost where he is at.  Amazing!  The condition of those chaps says it all....

-RVZ