High Five

High Five, or four in this case.  Also the 4th duck caught

Great day to fly a falcon.  About 14 degrees and a baby blue sky with ducks on the pond.  Osprey took her sweet time leaving the glove this morning, but when she did, she went.  I watched her run out to the north in my binoculars and saw her begin her turn back.  I took my eyes off of her and headed down below the dam to get ready for the flush.  With my eyes on the sky I waited for her to come over in position.  She is not much for ringing.  Usually a long run out and then she comes back high.  I waited and waited but couldn't see her.  After about 6 or 7 minutes I decided that she had probably flown off to check out something else in the world.  I pulled out my receiver and clicked it on.  The signal was banging on near!  So back to the binoculars, and sure enough there she was dead over head and just barely visible to the naked eye.  Awesome!  "This is the pitch I've been waiting for."  

I flushed the ducks and.... nothing.  She wasn't stooping.  Several seconds went by before she finally committed. Almost a 90 degree stoop down and WHAP!  Only she didn't hit it solid.  It looked like she just clipped the outside of the wing.  The duck wobbled but didn't go down.  Osprey righted herself and began her pursuit.  The duck headed to the nearest stand of trees and the falcon when right in after her.  I heard a crash and bells, so I hurried my way on over.

Where's the falcon in this picture?

I had to use my receiver again but quickly found her in a dry creek bottom under a branch.  After a non-graceful trade off, she contently ate on the lure, and I got a chance to look over the Gadwall.  What I thought was a missed meaningful hit on the stoop, was actually a deep gash in the breast of the duck.  The duck probably tried to dodge to the side and the falcon got just enough foot on it to do the job.  That probably explains why the duck flew into the trees instead of around or over them.  

I've got to do a talk for the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission tomorrow so Osprey will get a well deserved day off.

She began her rest before we even left the field.

I also flew the Merlin free for the first time today too.  It went off without a hitch.  A great day on the prairie....

-RVZ  

Double Double

Things are moving right along with bird now know as Osprey (See a couple of posts ago).  She now has two ducks under her belt.  Both taken in the air, not off the water like her first duck grab.  Both days also turned out to be doubles with my friends 6 year old hybrid also catching on those days.  Neither catch from my bird was from a great pitch, but that I can work on.  The duck season has been closed for the past couple of weeks so I have been focusing on training, but duck season reopens tomorrow.  I'm itching to get back to hawking but some more work to the kite is still necessary.

The landowner of the property where I train also came out for a visit on one of the days I was kiting.  She's a good photographer and checks in from time to time and takes some pictures.  She got a great one of my oldest daughter and a nice close up as well of Osprey.

Things are starting to come together...

-RVZ

Death

 This past Wednesday my family and I have had to say good bye to our old Boxer, Riley.  I got this dog my sophomore of college at Butler University when I was living in the Lamba Chi Alpha house.  She was the fraternity's house dog and mascot for the next couple of years.  After college she moved all around the country with me and made many a road trip.  She would quietly sleep in the back seat until I would stop for some rest.  Then I would get some sleep and she would sit up alert the whole time growling at anyone who would walk near my truck.  As the years went by Riley and I were joined by my wife Katie, and became Katie's first dog.  A few years later came the kids.  To them Riley was always there to be petted, hugged, tugged on, and, a on an occasion or two, the perfect pillow.

Riley was nearing 13 years old this year; old for a Boxer, who was the runt, and who had a heart murmur from birth.  She had gotten a lot slower over the past couple of years.  Tuesday night I came home from work and found her having a seizure in the back yard.  I brought her in and put her on her bed.  She eventually calmed down over the next few minutes and seemed to slip into a coma.  After consulting with a vet friend we decided to let her rest on her bed through the night.  The next morning, nothing had changed.  She could not respond to us and we made the decision with agreement from the vet that our time with Riley had come to an end.  My sidekick for all of my adult life, was quietly laid to rest.

 That evening my Hybrid was on weight, the weather was perfect, and ducks were on the pond.  I was still feeling down about the days events, but it wouldn't be fair to the falcon not to fly on a day like that day.
Slightly cross wind of the pond I cast her off.  Right away she looked good.  Quick wing beat and all business she headed out to the east.  At the edge of binocular range I saw her turn into the wind and start powering back.  Things were looking pretty good so I made my approach to back of the pond's dam wall.  I looked up to see my bird coming directly over the pond as a tiny silhouette against the yellowing sky.

Scrambling over the dam, I jumped the pond and off flew about 20 Gadwalls.  The falcon folded up instantly and began her stoop.  Fully tucked and looking good I foolishly though something great might just happen here on this down day.  She was coming hard but her lack of experience and confidence got the best of her and she pulled out of her stoop about 50 feet above the ducks.  This of course was more than the ducks could take and they turned back to the water, crashing into the assumed safety of the pond.

The falcon decided that she may not be comfortable hitting a duck in the air quite yet, but she sure wanted to eat one.  Again she stooped but this time went straight for a duck on the water.  Only instead of trying to grab the duck she just flat out hammered it straight down right in the middle of the pond.  Somehow she was strong enough to hang onto it and rowed herself and the duck to shore.  Odd way to catch her first duck.

I'm sure this will lead to stooping them on the water for a while, but every young falcon goes through that stage.  She did however get to eat a duck and now knows that they are food for the taking.   I'll have to wait a few days to find out.   I'm running the Route 66 Marathon this weekend so no flying until next week.

*****************

Death is a strange thing to a hunter.  It can be sad and can leave you with something missing from your life.  Change very little, and it can be celebrated, creating a memory of triumph.  Oddly enough you cherish the departed in both circumstances because of the happiness that each has brought you.

Riley will be missed but I have the great memories of her from the past 13 years, the death of this duck may just be the start of great memories to come with this falcon.....

-RVZ

Long Way From Home

Duck season in our part of the state is now open and I had planned on holding off from starting my duck hawking til after Thanksgiving.   Things change however, and a friend of mine invited me along to go hawking and take out a land owner and his son.

I was reluctant at first but eventually gave in (got to at some point anyway).  Having only one flight under her belt without the kite and only being served twice, I was not expecting much.

We found a real nice small pond with 10 or so ducks on it, "here goes nothing," and she was on the wing.  The falcon made a small circle around the pond and me about 100' off the ground.  Her wing beat indicated that she was not really sure what was going on.  She kept on flying though, and eventually made a run out for the horizon.  After a few minutes her wing beat changed and she really started to climb.  Twice she started to come over and then turned and made another wide ring into the sky.  On the third time I decided to go ahead and flush with her wide.  A quick yell and the ducks were heading out.

The wide flush proved to be too much of an advantage for the ducks.  The falcon tried her hardest to close the gap and just as she did the ducks put into the next pond a 1/2 a mile or so down the way.  We could see her last minute stoop through our binoculars, then a pitch up, then off and away.  We followed her telemetry signal as she made her way north, then northwest, then west, then southwest, but she was out of binocular range.   Several times we thought about getting in the truck and heading her way.  Just as I was about to head toward the vehicle the signal started getting stronger and she was coming back.  Thirty seconds later I could see her humming along toward me ready to knock the lure out.  All in all, she was in there air for maybe 15 minutes before she came back.

This flight was not a loss in my book.  She learned to come over me if she wants a chance at catching a something, also to go even higher to have the angle, ducks do leave the water, and there is an easy way to still get fed if I just stay in the vicinity of that tall skinny guy.  Off to a good start, really too early in her training to expect anything more.

-RVZ

Big to Small

The opportunity arose for me to acquire a jack Merlin from a friend of a friend recently.  I've been interested in flying a one of these guys for the past couple of years, but never really interested enough to try very hard to trap one.  This year I decided was going to be the year; two days later I was offered this little guy.  Guess I won't have to trap one after all. 

He is an imprint from this year and arrived with the usual imprint vices, screaming and mantling, but in a the two weeks I've had him we've lessened both of those problems to tolerable levels.  I'm also using a table top set-up with the bird that is working really well, an idea I swiped from Eric Edwards of Florida. See his Merlin hawking website:  http://merlinfalconry.com/

Another issue came from the shipping.  In transit every tail feather was broken about an inch from the tips.  An unfortunate but fixable problem. 

After making some calls around the country, I ended up locating a Merlin tail right here in Oklahoma from another falconer.  After about 40 mins of imping he was nearly good as new.  

Transporting him was the next challenge.  I've flown large falcons almost exclusively for the past 7 or 8 years and the only small falcon I've had was a Kestrel.  The setup I used with the Kestrel was adequate but left much to be desired.  After staring at my falcon cadge off and on for several days, it finally hit me to add a small shelf perch in the corner one of the sides.  It is attached with furniture screw anchors in the shelf and with winged machine screws through the back and side of the cadge.  All I have to do is take out the screws by hand and its ready to go for two larger birds when the need arises.

I'm still pretty deeply involved in getting the new Hybrid ready for the hunting season.  She has been going great to the kite for nearly two months now and has gone nearly 2000' on several occasions.  Today was the first time I bagged her.  She was a little slow to commit at first but poured on a little speed toward the end and nabbed the first pigeon she's ever seen in her life.  A good start to what should be an interesting year.   

-RVZ

Kiting

Finally kiting.  Up to about 300' after 5 flights.  Now if the wind will just continue to cooperate.....

-RVZ

Baby Flaps

The new falcon is coming along.  We started out just lure flying for her to gain some confidence on the wing and put on a little muscle to get things rolling.

Lately, she has been giving between 20-30 stoops to the lure.  We took a little break this weekend while the temperature jumped back into the 100's.  That, coupled with the opening of dove season, and I felt it was best to take a couple of days off.  Planning on dusting off the kite tomorrow and its all up and away from here on out.

My current work intern and friend is trying his hand at longwinging this season by flying a Cassini Peregrine that I picked up over the summer.  The bird came in with a mild case of bumble foot, a overgrown beak, and horrible feather condition.  It was a chamber bird that was never sold and never flown.  I don't know much more about the bird aside from what I saw when it first arrived.  

Better perching cured the bumble foot, a coping, and stellar imping work (if I do say so myself) and the bird is ready to go.  As with many adult birds that were not flown in their first season, he lacks confidence and is slow to gain it in the flying department.  However, he continues to make progress and I'm sure he'll work out just fine in the end.  

Finally, who doesn't love a picture of a Pointer doing what every fiber of her being tells her to do?

-RVZ