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An online falconry journal (mostly)  Changed Red-Five's name to The Great Gonzo. Not very responsive this evening, but I think that's because I worked her too late in the evening. The sun had *just* set, it was rapidly getting dark, and she was probably more interested in finding a safe place to sleep so the great horned owls wouldn't get her. (Can't sleep: owls will get me!) Before going outside, under the lights in the garage, she showed great interest in the lure I'd just finished making for her. Outside, with less light, I got one good hop to the glove and rewarded her with an entire dove. She was very well-mannered on the kill, though did turn her back to me (to indicate she wasn't gonna share). I'm a little nervous about her still as she wants to go high and then drop onto the glove, which looks a bit like she's going to come over the glove and at my face. (I think the trajectory she's taking also indicates that she's not entirely so certain about the glove being a good perch.) I got my big reward for the day when I picked her back up off the dove: she feaked (wiped her beak) on the glove. Did about half a dozen jumps to the ground and back to the glove (from about a foot off the ground) this morning. After the first jump to the ground for a tidbit and back to the glove for a tidbit, I put the glove-based reward on a random basis--sometimes there's a tidbit and sometimes there isn't. So she's now jumping to the glove with no visible reward. I think it's time to construct a short creance line to see if we can, this evening, extend these little ground-glove-ground hops into short vertical flights of about 3-5' in height. Current mood:  pleased.
Mixed it up. With the bird about 1' off the ground on the glove, I tossed a tidbit to the ground. She jumped on it. Tidbit on glove. She jumped up. Repeat two more times. And to end the session, one more--but this time the tidbit in the glove was concealed. So R5 jumped to the glove with no visible reward. Ended the session on that very positive note. Earlier, I got a polite* reminder that even though a hawk's feet are far more dangerous than the beak, the beak should not be underestimated. * polite = that probably won't need stitches Current mood:  accomplished.
Took her outside to get tidbits off the glove. She bends over to gobble up the food now and is very eager to eat. It took a bit of processing/coaxing, but I also got her to jump to the glove twice. This was outside with distractions (cars/squirrels/crows), so.... She's still a bit behind the training curve, but progressing nicely now. Debating a name change from Red-Five to The Great Gonzo (or just Gonzo for short) because she has a big ol' beakand... well, Muppets y'all. 1310g. Eating eagerly when offered food off the glove. Got R5 to turn and take a few steps towards me in order to get a tidbit. She took a small hop to the glove for a live mouse, but then wouldn't do it a second time with a second mouse. Progress! She's taken to using her perch, so she's not mucking up her tail feathers any more. EDIT: Got another hop to the glove for the second mouse this evening. Current mood: accomplished.
The dry casting had a mix of short and medium hairs--no feathers. The longer hairs looked like rabbit. She's starting (finally!) to figure out how to stand on the glove after I spent about half an hour working to get her to unball her talons so she'd be able to grip the glove instead of just roll right off the glove. Took her outside to do more of the same with more distractions. When perched, she has that "thousand-mile stare" going on. Unfortunately she still hasn't figured out that she can perch on the portable bowperch in the garage and has to be manually placed on it each time she bates. She didn't crash from sleep deprivation last night like I'd hoped, but she is really worn out. (So am I.) I spent the night in the garage with her, sleeping in a folding lounge chair, using an alarm to wake me every 30 minutes. My dad (a staunch republican) commented that the waking technique was akin to torture. I told him I was simply using the techniques that'd been refined at Gitmo, and that once the "Gitmo torture playlist" was published, I'd download those songs to my iTunes and play them for the bird. :) But on a more serious note, I think the bird and I both get to sleep tonight. Hopefully if she sleeps on that perch, she'll start using it instead of the floor during the day. We're making some good progress today. (EDIT: Weight as of this afternoon was 1333g.) Current mood:  sleepy.
Red-Five (yes, that's the bird's name) is apparently not the sharpest tool in the shed. She handles most situations by going comatose/rigid. Also, despite being leashed to a perch, she spent the last 24 hours on the ground and refusing to stand on the perch--as if it were some sort of alien dunghill. She's damaged a couple ends of her tail feathers as a result, though one was already damaged and one is actually missing (!?!?). Didn't get her to stand on the glove last night at all, but was able to do so by this evening. And I was able to rotate the glove slightly and coax her onto the perch finally. Slowest. Bird. Evar. This morning she yacked up a HUGE casting. I'm letting it dry out so I can pull it apart and try to guess what it is she's been eating. Whatever it was, it had lots of fur. Through the miracle of a cell phone alarm going off every 30 minutes, I was able to catch some sleep last night while keeping Red-Five awake. She's starting to lose her battle against sleep and I'm doing a-okay. I cheated though and took my naps on the couch inside instead of sleeping in the garage on a lawn chair. As a result, she's still skittish around me, but I'm no longer getting the gaping mouth and spread wings greeting--just a bit of hackle raising and a mild poofing up when I get within a few feet. I've caught her preening a few times already. I've given her a few bits of chicken heart so far. She'll focus in on the meat briefly, but won't make an effort to eat unless it's rubbed against her beak and/or partially inserted into the gape in her mouth. She has figured out that it's food, but isn't moving towards it to get a bite yet. More dieting ahead for her! Haven't bothered with weighing her as she's still working on standing on the glove/perch at this stage. Current mood: accomplished.
Used Google Maps satellite overview to find potential trapping spots last night and today it paid off. After spotting my first immature RT of the year--and it not committing to the trap--I spotted a second immature RT just 15 minutes later. Threw the trap out the window, waited 10 minutes to ensure it was good and trapped, and voila! New bird! Red-Five tipped the scales (absolutely naked) at 1412g, so it is almost assuredly a female--even though she looks smallish. Can't feel anything in her crop, but we'll see if she casts something up tomorrow. Her breast feels like a football from all the muscle/fat on it. She's also quite ornery. I'm going to keep her up all night so she'll be more malleable tomorrow. Unfortunately, I was up at 4am and didn't sleep well and Red-Five was trapped right before sunset. This is going to be rougher on me than her. Bonus: I got to trap her with my dad, who'd never been out with me when I'd actually trapped a bird. I think he got a real thrill out of it. Current mood: exhausted.
The red-tailed hawk at the zoo is making good progress and I've got my fingers crossed that he'll be usable in the next few weeks. They've named him "The Red Baron." Awesome! I got a bit of karmic return for the stuff I'd been doing at the zoo. Three days ago, one of the employees notified me about the zoo's annual "get rid of the leftover Zoo Boo candy" sale as I wrapped up working with the bird and was heading out the door. It's not an advertised thing because it only lasts about an hour and is mostly for zoo employees/volunteers as a perk. I decided to swing by. Oh. My. God. I left with a case of atomic fireballs (1,000 pieces) for $4, a case of mini M&Ms (900 packs) for $5, and two cases of Combos (432 packs for $10). Even giving 2/3rds of this booty to the nieces and parents, I have enough combos, M&Ms, and atomic fireballs to last me through next Hallowe'en! :) I gave out absolute fistfuls of Combos to each of the kids that came to the door (and suckers from the zoo that had crickets in them) and now I'm out of cricket suckers but barely made a dent in my Combo stash. Current mood:  bouncy.
Got my bird fix the past two days at the zoo. They're finally letting me help to man down a haggard (1.5-2.5 y/o) red-tailed hawk so it can be used as an education animal. I got about 3 hours of quality glove time in today.... and am stoked! |
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