Here We Go

Falcon #1 is inside so I guess falconry has offically started for 2009-2010, eventhough he is not anywhere close to being fully molted. He is only about 70 grams over last years flying weight so it will not be long before he is in the air.

Oklahoma Reg Update

Things continue to progress. Earlier this week Rod Smith submitted the new Oklahoma laws and regs, a new falconer data base, and a new falconry exam to George Allen of USFWS. Following George's review, the director of ODWC will submit a formal letter to USFWS requesting adoption of the new falconry regs. This should all be completed by September 1st, 2009. That will keep us on track to have new regs in place for January 1st, 2010!

USFWS has still not published the final rule regarding migrant peregrine take in Oklahoma. There a couple other states that are on board for a take in 2010. Hopefully, by then the take will be relaxed to a 5% limit.

No News & Moving On

After all the tests, still nothing was conclusive as to why the Cooper's Hawk died. I guess it wasn't meant to be this year. I did go back to the nest and saw that the other 5 birds did fledge, so I highly doubt it was genetic. Mistakes happen and you learn from them, but in this case I don't know of any mistakes made and therefore no good came from it, which makes it all the more disappointing. So we move on.

Both falcons are moulting slowly this summer, but I'll probably pull the Hybrid the last week of July and bring him inside, out of the heat, and get him flying by mid August. I usually wait till mid September to start, but I only flew this bird for a few weeks at the end of last year so an early start should be beneficial to us both. I'll probably hold off on the Gyrkin until he is fully molted.

Nothing too exciting, except that my apprentice has gotten his permits and we are counting down to the opening of the trapping season.

Twist of Fate

After a normal day of hopping around in the weathering yard, taking a bath, eating a sparrow and a quail, Moa had a "fit" of some sort and died around 11:00 at night. He went from acting perfectly normal to dead in about 15 minutes time. I took him to the vet for a necropsy the next day. After a very detailed inspection, there was no sign of trauma, air sacs were clear, all the organs looked normal, there was no punctures in the stomach or crop, mutes in the GI tract looked normal, in short everything looked pretty normal except for a small dark spot on the heart. The vet's best guess was that it was some sort of heart defect, but she did not sound too convinced of that either. So his very abrupt death is unsolved at this time, until we can talk to the avian pathologist on Monday. Maybe he'll be able to give some insight. Needless to say, I'm very dissappointed in this turn of events.....

Still Growin'

Two weekends ago. May 30, 2009

Last Weekend. 6-6-09

Today. 6-12-09

The little guy is growing fast and I expect within the next couple of weeks he'll be flying free learning how to be a hawk. I'm know that he is a male now by his weight, which has topped off around 290 grams. I expect him to get a little bit heavier but there is no chance that he'll get up above or even close to 400 grams (the weight of most felmale Eastern Cooper's Hawks). I think I'm gonna call him 'Moa.'

speedy growth

I thought I would give an example of just how fast this little bird is growing.



This picture was taken May 26




And here is today's pic just 5 days later.

Feathers are poking through, he's standing up more now, and he is tearing up his own food. He barely fits in his box nest. Soon he'll be out on hack...

Here's How it Went Down

Day 1
Last week my buddy, Daniel, and I met up in Tulsa to scout some Cooper's Hawk nests. There were four nests that we quickly found with the help another falconer and all four nests had mother Coops sitting tightly on them suggesting that they were still on eggs. At this point I was still on the fence as to whether or not I was going to try a imprint Coops, and because all of these birds were on eggs I did not have a decision to make.

Day 2
I had just left my house and made a right onto the highway heading down to Tulsa for a work meeting, when directly in front of me I see a male Cooper's Hawk burning by with a sparrow in it's talons heading straight for a stand of trees behind an old line dancing bar and in front of a housing addition. This was only 2 blocks from my house! I watched exactly where the bird went in and thought to myself, "I'm gonna have to check that out tomorrow."

Day 3
I get a text from Daniel around noon that his boss was letting him off early and he was coming up to Bartlesville to hang and talk falconry. Work for me was relatively slow as well, so I finished up what needed to be done and I suggested to Daniel that we go look for a nest where I saw the Coop the day before, knowing full well that there was a slim chance of finding the nest since the trees are fully leaved out.

We began our search with me following a small creek and Daniel was about 30 yards away slightly deeper in the woods. We had been there about 10 mins and I heard Daniel call my name as I was inspecting a beaver tree. Just as I turn my head, I see the shadow of a larger bird pass over Daniel. I told him to look up where I saw the shadow come from and here is what he saw...



Complete with the female standing the nest. Not in a brooding posture! We marked the spot and quickly went back to the car to get our climbing gear and to invite Kent to come along for added safety.

Upon Kent's arrival we hiked back to the nest, climbed the tree, set the slings for the safety rope, and took the first picture over the edge of the nest.





We hastily counted 5 babies (hastily because we counted 6 babies in another picture from a different angle) and determined that this was the perfect nest to pull from. So I climbed the tree again, this time to retrieve an eyas. I picked up the two smallest birds, they are the least likely to survive with so many brothers and sisters, and chose the one with smaller feet in hopes that it will be a male. I will be happy with either sex but if I had to choose I would prefer a male. We got the bird safely down, picked up our ropes and equipment, put moth balls around the tree, and got out of there. Curiously, the parents got out of dodge while we were climbing. Parents at the Cooper's Hawk nests that I have even gotten near in the past showed extremely aggressive behaviors when they had babies. Maybe this was just a passive pair or maybe they are young, whatever the reason the climb was much easier without being attacked.



Kent and I discussing the new member of the team.



Six birds in the nest!


Here we are all settled in at home. I fed him from the end of a stick for the first evening and he took to eating chopped up quail from a carcass on his own the very next day. So far so good. I cannot wait to see where this goes.