I woke up December 22nd, realized that the world didn't come to an end (was there any doubt) and packed up the birds to enjoy the cold weather before everything freezes up. The weather app read 18 degrees with a 1 mph wind out of the south. Looked good to me so off we went in search of ducks.
Found about 20 Gadwalls and a dozen or so Canvasbacks on the perfect pond for the day. The dam wall is on the south side of this pond so the flush would be down wind. All was going perfect until my bird reached about 500-600 feet in the air. That gentle 1 mph south breeze, was quite a bit stronger up top. Osprey was pumping for all she was worth to stay over the pond and to gain altitude.
She muscled through it and ended up in the 800' foot range, but was having trouble holding that pitch. When she worked her way crosswind, and a bit upwind, I pushed the ducks off the water. While flushing the ducks I had to take my eyes off the falcon to avoid slipping down the steep dam wall and into the water. I watched the ducks leave for what seemed like a long time, but after about a 7 second count I saw the ducks panic and turn back toward the water. Osprey singled one out and just nicked it on the way down from her stoop. That duck fell off balance, but regained its composure just before the ground and sprinted to the water. The falcon kept up her momentum and continued full speed across the water after the rest of the flock. As the ducks went over the shore on the far side of the pond, one turned broadside at the last moment in a desperate attempt to get to the water.
Wrong move at the right time. Osprey hit that duck full on in the side and drove it into the ground near the edge of the pond. The force of the impact drove the duck through the crust of ice on top of the mud leaving a small crater and threw the falcon across the ground with a tumble as well. The falcon found her bearings about 15' from the duck and snapped back to the KO'ed Gadwall. This quick turn around proved to be unnecessary though as the duck was lying on its back, only one leg kicking the air.
It was still early in the morning and there was time to get a quick training flight with the Merlin. Now that the the Hybrid is starting to do well consistently I've been able to put a little more time in trying to get this imprint jack rolling.
Just a flight to the lure today.
Not super psyched about he cold.
Merlin in flight. Still flying like a baby, but constantly improving.
135 grams of imprint fury.
Finally a break from work for the holidays. Hope the weather will corporate and I can get some serious hawkin' done. My wife and I have also gotten a new camera for Christmas. A large step up from the the Iphone or "point and shoot" that we've been used too. I'm not sure how much I'll get to use it in the field but I'm pretty excited about the Canon T3i at the moment.
-RVZ
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