An online falconry journal (mostly)

accipiter @ 2009-11-09T17:12:00

2009-11-09T23:26:56Z

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.

1318g: half-dozen hops.

2009-11-09T16:03:38Z

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.

1320g again, 4 hops to the glove

2009-11-08T23:32:01Z

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

1320g: Two hops to the glove

2009-11-08T19:07:58Z

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.

Baby steps and a hop

2009-11-07T19:02:43Z

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.

Casting dissection, glove work, sleepy-time, (1333g)

2009-11-05T19:38:02Z

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.)

Not the featheriest red-tail in the nest

2009-11-05T02:39:25Z

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.

Trapping Day 6: WIN! Red-Five standing by!

2009-11-04T04:25:52Z

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.

The Red Baron and Zoo Boo after-effects

2009-11-01T13:12:30Z

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.

Bird fix

2009-10-29T00:02:11Z

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!

Trapping fail: Day 5

2009-10-27T04:44:12Z

After the immie RT taunted me this morning, I surveyed the optimal position in the front yard to place a bal-chatri. This afternoon, I stuck two sparrows into the BC and positioned it just so. Went inside and sat by the window with a book.

The only thing I caught was the neighbor's cat, which tried to eat the sparrows. Plus side, I don't think that particular cat will be back.

Tomorrow has a high chance of rain for most of the day, which means the birds won't be out--and will be hungry on Wed. I'll stick the BC out again on Wed--in the morning.

Now I'm being mocked.

2009-10-26T15:00:57Z

No trapping planned for today, as I spent 6 hours and drove 250 miles yesterday in pursuit of birds.

I went out to the garage this morning to throw some clothes in the dryer, and an immature red-tailed hawk spooked from the back yard and flew off.

God damn you, Murphy. God damn you.

Trapping fail: day 4

2009-10-25T23:11:16Z

Planned to trap on Sat. morning, but Friday night I had a milkshake, which violates the accipiter + milk =kaboom gastrointestinal rule of ~~buttocks~~ thumb.

Dropped $80 on a non-resident small game permit so I could trap in Arkan's Ass and spent Sunday morning and afternoon looking at about two dozen adult red-tails--not a single immature bird!!! I went to check out the spot I trapped Sigourney at, and I think her parents are still nearby--but no additional daughters for me to abscond with.

Not too far from there, I got a trap out under an immature female Cooper's hawk, but she turned her nose up at the trap. Damn.

The GIGANTIC FALCONER FAIL for the day was me, with the perfect setup for getting a trap out under a red-tail (that I couldn't see was a haggard at the time). Crusing along at a consistent speed, sitting in the middle of the truck and driving with just my left hand and left foot, I went to chuck the trap out the passenger side window and *WHACK!!!*

I'd forgotten to roll the passenger side window down. *shame*

Trapping fail: day 3

2009-10-23T15:57:55Z

Up before the buttcrack of dawn and off to the Millington area to lay out the bal-chatri (two mice, no sparrows unfortunately) in the absolute perfect spot for trapping that smaller RT I spotted a few weeks ago. Or, rather, it'd have been the perfect spot if there'd been a bird present. I waited for two hours before packing it in and driving around to eyeball what is normally "Red-tail Alley." I think I spotted the same small bird from before across the highway and down low. He was seriously eyeballing a squirrel near a funeral home's parking lot, and I used the truck to chase the squirrel off into a better spot for the RT to catch later. He just sat and watched me and the squirrel. In hindsight, I wonder if that might have been Mortimer? I did trap and release him within a mileor two of that spot afterall--though he'd be nearly 10 years old now, which is a bit long in the ~~tooth~~ beak for a wild RT. You never know, though! Spotted three other RTs--all haggards--and a couple kestrels over the next couple hours of driving around. Ho hum.

Might have to cross the river and try Arkan's Ass again at this rate.

There seems to be fewer RTs out than usual. Might be a periodic dip in the population? More likely the migration hasn't kicked off in full force yet.

Apprentice #2

2009-10-22T14:04:57Z

Back in Memphis after a 1.5 week vacation with the family.

Got a call on Tues night from TWRA asking if I'd take on another apprentice out towards Jackson, TN. About 1.5 hours away. Normally I'd have been reluctant to do so, but it turns out he's a former falconer who'd dropped out for about a decade and now wants to get back in. I was driving back to Memphis yesterday, he called up, and we were talking birds for about two hours when I said "hey, I'm going to pass by Jackson around noon. Want to do lunch?" Lunch was filled with even more bird geeking and promptly turned into "let's go trapping!" since I'm in the bird market right now. Unfortunately there was only one RT that we spotted and it was a haggard. We popped in to the TWRA office as he knows those folks, said hi, and off we went again.

Apprentice #2 has prior experience--and successful experience--with kestrels, so I spent all the many hours we were looking for birds picking his brain. Wow, I did so many things wrong with my k-birds, but I think I could do one right now. I just don't wanna, though. I want an RT.

I'm going to break a number of my rules about apprentices and what they can fly and what they should do. I told Apprentice #2 "You just tell me what to sign and when to sign it and I'll do it--so long as I can call you up about kestrels later on." FINALLY there is someone within 300 miles who has some successful experience with those colorful little buggers. (And his opinion of them is also "this should not be your first bird.")

Meanwhile, the sparrow trap at Home Despot is baited and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll have some birds by tonight so I can go trapping tomorrow morning.

Trapping fail, take 2

2009-10-19T20:19:17Z

Went trapping on Oct 16 and it was a total wash. Used two white mice (all that I had available) in a BC. Went in the late afternoon about an hour before sunset and it was not quite drizzling rain--sort of a "spitting, cold mist." We had no idea where to go trap, so we just ran up and down some roads we thought might yield opportunities. We spotted two kestrels but didn't bother with them. We finally spotted one red-tail on a pole in the middle of a field. I was 99% sure it was a haggard, but I tossed the trap out anyway so the nieces could see a bird get caught and then help to spray it with a feather mite/parasite insecticide so we could turn it loose and have it be a less itchy hawk for the winter. Alas, I botched the trap throw--the bird didn't spook, but she couldn't see the bait. Then the bird went down on something in the field and that was that. We picked the trap up, drove around a bit more, saw nothing, and then it was dark.

Suuuuuuuck. But that's the nature of the beast. It also really underscores the importance of getting in some good hawk watching /before/ the trapping season starts so you find some good spots for setups and where there are immature birds hanging out already.

Later that night, both mice froze to death in the garage. They've been "buried at sea" in the lake as the turtles and catfish will probably enjoy them.

Root beer candy for the win!

2009-10-15T15:24:51Z

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
accipiter goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Pitbull costume with a Sarah Palin latex face--and badly smeared lipstick.
alsafi gives you 19 light blue lemon-flavoured gummy bats.
demonlet gives you 1 red cherry-flavoured pieces of taffy.
elisel tricks you! You get a piece of paper.
hawklady tricks you! You lose 15 pieces of candy!
shutterbugjones gives you 9 tan apple-flavoured gummy bats.
spidersweb gives you 1 blue orange-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
storm_dancer gives you 16 pink root beer-flavoured gummy worms.
tersa tricks you! You lose 16 pieces of candy!
troutqueen gives you 13 tan mint-flavoured gummy worms.
whisperflight tricks you! You get a piece of paper.
accipiter ends up with 28 pieces of candy, a piece of paper, and a piece of paper.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

Trapping fail

2009-10-15T04:16:04Z

The week I decide to get serious about trapping a hawk? Yeah. Rain forecasted for the whole freakin' week and the only mice in the pet stores are bitty ones that can go through the trap's wire mesh.

Murphy hates me.

accipiter @ 2009-10-04T13:34:00

2009-10-04T18:35:54Z

Early morning hawk trapping: postponed due to rain.

Afternoon craft fair excursion: postponed due to rain.

Top-to-bottom house cleaning: enabled due to rain.

Dammit.

In a moment of insanity....

2009-10-03T02:52:42Z

.... I wrote back to TWRA and requested that I be allowed to trap up to two birds, be they red-tailed hawks or Cooper's hawks.

Attenborough never had these kinds of problems!

2009-10-01T23:11:32Z

Ganked from demonlet
Amusing, plus this is similar to how some falconers get semen for artificial insemination--except they wear funny hats.

Potentially NSFW because of "interspecies relations." :)

Mews update. And how the hell do they find me?

2009-09-30T18:48:33Z

Finished sorting out the mews today, which was largely checking for any loose PVC pipes, rotted wood (floor boards will need replacing next year), and cleaning the rubber mats.It's all ready for a new occupant! Now all I need is a new occupant!

The new occupant will not, however, be the lab mix puppy that is currently residing in my back yard. Apparently the dog had been sleeping under my truck at night, explaining why Abi was so excited about sniffing around there in the mornings when I let her out for her morning wee. Anyway, found the dog, got it to come over, it had a collar on but no tags and was very skinny. Took to the vet and no microchip (wasn't expecting one as the dog still has its dew claws). So I've got an ad on Lost and Found on Craigslist and a "FOUND : LAB MIX PUPPY" sign in the front yard.

If no one claims it in the next week, anyone want an exuberant puppy?

Trapping Day 1: No bird, no bites.

2009-09-27T22:17:42Z

Went trapping this morning from just before dawn to around 11am. Saw plenty of birds and put the trap out 4-5 times, but no one seemed interested in what we had to offer (sparrows). Forgot my spotting scope so we were just tossing the trap out blind not knowing if we'd be attracting a passage (immature) or haggard (adult) bird. But obviously if we got a hag (since it would be illegal/unethical to keep an adult), we'd have just spritzed it with delousing spray, turned it loose, and gotten the apprentice a chance to get some hands-on experience for when he's out on his own trapping later.

On the plus side, we did get to see one bird ignore our trap in favor of swooping down on what was likely a vole/mouse/rat, then take off for the trees with its lunch. That kind of made the whole trip worth it.

I can haz sparrowz?

2009-09-25T22:21:53Z

Yes! Yes I can! Culled 13 sparrows from the trap today and left 2 live ones in it so as to attract in more birds.

Looks like the apprentice and I will be going trapping Sunday morning.

accipiter @ 2009-09-24T20:09:00

2009-09-25T01:12:56Z

Repeating elevator trap + Home Depot's garden center up above the bird and grass seed = many sparrows quickly. And they're happy to be rid of them.