18 Years of American Dream

Farrah BB tuckered out 

Cisco must have caught some creature in his enclosure. I didn't check his weight yesterday. I often don't check on the off day when flying every other day. This morning he was more than an ounce heavy. Cisco, Arnold, and I headed to the woods anyway. I was trying to beat predicted rain, and like two days ago, I  decided to give Cisco thirty minutes to perform. He started out with lots of screaming, usually warning of a wild Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Great-horned Owl, even ocassionally a Red-shouldered Hawk. Cisco put in a single attack on a fox squirrel, and moved on. That is typical, Cisco with just four bagged in sixteen seasons. We moved south a little, and Cisco appeared serious. He pursued and quickly caught a cat squirrel, dropping down in front of me. A fat hawk moving deliberately, no rain-out, and all good. I was surprised by the outcome. 

Each Harris’s Hawk has caught at least a small game bird. This morning I took Cisco out for a squirrel, actually close to weight.  Arbitrarily and coincidentally, Cisco flies squirrels very well with a 900 gram net body weight. With gear, this is around 920. After some sluggish outings an ounce or two above this, today was different. 907. Also it was cool and sunny, but after taking Cisco and Farrah out for a number of boring non-productive squirrel trips, I was not in a patient mood. It was to be thirty minutes and leave. It started out all right, but Cisco drifted toward the road on the west side of the woods. I had to move him back, though I avoid calling him while squirrel hunting. He followed, swooping low and close over my head. Reset. Then he headed back to the west again. Arnold was running around, doing well. I heard a familiar smack. Arnold and I ran in. I called Cisco. He had a squirrel but on the way down he got hung up on some branches. Furthermore, upside down, he appeare

Farrah above, BB below.... Who said all Harris's Hawks look alike?  Even though we didn't win the championship, this was a great day with my two Harris’s Hawks. Since Farrah is not socialized, I fly the buzzards serially, typically BB first.  I met Mike Wiegel at Whataburger and left there with the buzzards about 0815. I drove out to the Tweener Field west of Katy, which is currently in great condition, but I'm convinced it's doomed. The falconry gods would not allow this to continue. Nearby enormous housing developments are full of single family large primate habitat.  At the field, I parked farther in off the road, than I ever have before. It gave me visual and walking access to hundreds of acres. I got BB out, put his LF-4 transmitter on his leg. Within seconds he chased a duck out of the ditch. He chased tons of small game birds, well protected by the ubiquitous heavy brush. He reminded me why I fell in love with Harris's Hawk

Today I had breakfast with a couple of friends. Afterwards I was putting the buzzards out, when I realized this might be a good day to see BB in the open fields. I needed to look at and evaluate the Tweener field anyway. By the time we got away, it was warm and sunny, but even given BB's slightly high weight this morning, he's been red hot lately. I flew him just yesterday in my cul-de-sac. I drove west of town to the field. It actually looked perfect for Harris's hawking, though this Tweener field is doomed I'm sure. Maybe we'll get a season out if it.  I took BB out of his buzzard box, removed his jesses, and put the Luksander LF-4 transmitter on his leg. His performance was stellar. He rode the t-pole perfectly, and hunted intently. It was too warm, breezy, and sunny. After about forty minutes of flying around, with little real action, he put in a determined flight on a SCL game bird. The bird was hiding in a strip of vegetation... My goal when I picked him up in

Farrah came in this morning at a nice scale weight. 814 grams. However it was warm and sunny, and we had an hour of nothing and then a few minutes of lackluster pursuits  at the end.  BB put on weight from yesterday morning. Obviously caught a small creature while tethered out in the big enclosure yesterday afternoon. I took him to the nearby elementary school for creance flying in the the early pm. The place was abandoned until I flew BB about twice to the fist. Then a class showed up. Oh well..... 

Cisco still has a week or two left before I fly him. He's mentally ready, but not quite finished with the molt. BB dropped into the 600's today, after some alternate day creance flying. His body weight this morning was about 680. Fifty grams or so and he'll be there. Before I free fly him I need to do a little trimming and sharpening of his talons. He spent a few months in a breeding chamber. In the meantime he's come down over 130 grams. Fat boy living on tiny amounts of food. He's good on the creance, repeatedly flying a hundred feet. And then we have Farrah. In spite of very moderate quantities of mouse and chicken, she has held on to the last ten or fifteen grams. She's flown well, chasing squirrels. Today the most solid pursuit of yet, close to an hour chasing one in the slightly warm climate.