Harris' Hawk blog

aaarrrgh - makes me mad

2011-06-22T07:01:00.004-04:00

State's Only Breeding Goshawk, Chicks Found Dead
GRANTSVILLE, Md. -- The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said the state's only known breeding female northern goshawk, a bird of prey, was shot and killed in Grantsville last week.A DNR biologist said the remains of a female northern goshawk were found last Friday in the Savage River State Forest near Westernport and McAndrews Hill roads, and evidence indicated that the animal was shot and killed, leaving three orphaned chicks in the nest to die.

Read more: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/28314568/detail.html#ixzz1Q0AP33Mi

Rats and bees could solve the problem

2011-06-17T06:30:00.006-04:00

What problem, you may ask. The problem of many African animals facing extinction. Currently, some animals are being pushed towards extinction because the people in Africa have to eat (yeah, the nerve of them). It is called bush meat.

Scientific American states:

The rising and often illegal trade in bushmeat—wild-caught animals, often threatened species such as primates, birds and elephants—threatens African biodiversity and could drive numerous species into extinction. Finding replacements for that trade could solve the need for both income and subsistence in many African communities. The answer, according to experts speaking at a meeting held in Nairobi this week, could include promoting beekeeping and farming jumbo-size African rodents known as cane rats (two species of the genus Thryonomys) for food.

Bees, of course, make perfect sense. We do that here. But then, I tried to imagine how rats could feed a nation - I've seen them in the pet stores, there's not much meat on them. And really, how good could they taste?

Then I found this:

The cane rat is not your average subway rat. It can grow almost two feet long and weigh 20 pounds.

That’s about the size of a healthy cat or a small dog.

In parts of West and Central Africa, cane rat meat is considered a delicacy. People have traditionally hunted the animals in the wild, but in Cameroon there are efforts underway to domesticate them.

Imagine your Harris Hawk trying to tackle one of those.

Rats have been a food source for thousands of years - This seems like a good plan to me.

You should have gotten a falcon

2011-06-14T20:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks chris!

Crazy busy

2011-06-12T06:47:00.004-04:00

Things are nuts here. I'm working both jobs right now, and on the only days I have had off since April I had to make a run to New York to see my brother get married.

12+ hours each way, with a two night stay. Crazy.

Coming from North Carolina, it seems strange that going to New York feels like I'm driving to the country. It is a nice drive, but Long.

Gordon came with me and we spent some quality time wandering the woods and fields whenever we got a break. We spent some time walking with my father and the big dogs. Soon these trails would be overgrown for the summer, so it was good we got onto them now.

On the way home, we stopped to see Patrick and his dogs and took a morning to go out hunting. I finally got to meet Gideon, his newest terrier. He is a solid, funny little dog with a brick like body. and boy does he like to hump. Gordon had to keep showing teeth to keep Gideon off of his back.

We wandered the bottom lands of a familiar farm looking for groundhog. We found lots of holes, but soon realized that with the recent rains, much of that area must have been flooded and the groundhogs had moved on.

Late in the morning, I had to leave but we had lost Mountain somewhere - underground. Patrick went to find him. It was a good morning, as usual, spending time in the fields with the dogs - even if we came home empty handed.

I found out later that Mountain had squared off underground with a coon and didn't want to leave it. Patrick was able to dig them both up and release the coon.

I spent the rest of the time making plans for the new hawking season.

There will be news, but right now my time is being spent upgrading my hawk housing, and getting things ready.

There will be new additions, and new challenges.

My posting will probably continue to be erratic until I get it all figured out.

hunters.... shame on you

2011-06-06T06:12:00.002-04:00

Found this on a falconry chat site...

Kestrels compared

2011-05-21T21:29:00.003-04:00

I'm thinking a lot about what is going to happen next season and the idea of a kestrel has cropped up more than once. Then I saw this little nugget over at Little Mews on the Prairie. It is a great little article about the differences in kestrels and how to tell a passage falcon from a hag. I have a hard time with this, but the pictures really help.

A walk with the dogs

2011-05-21T07:31:00.003-04:00

I don't get out with my dogs enough. They love to get out and run, off lead, and I think it is good for them to do that.

I was able to find a few hours last week to get them up in the dunes. It was the perfect spring day for it, slight breeze and slowly rising temps.

We meandered through the sloping sand and found lots of holes to explore.

This time of year there is not much chance that there will be a fox underground, but the dogs went and explored them, both dogs pushing to get inside.

We don't have groundhogs in my area, so the fox have nothing to dig their holes. These holes are much bigger than the ones that we see up north when we go to ground and the dogs squirt in and out easily, no digging or squirming for my overlarge dogs.

Our fox are mostly grays, but we also have a smattering of reds. I've also seen a few that I believe may be a mix of the two. These holes most likely belonged to the reds, as grays generally do not dig dens, they use holes in trees and root balls.

After a few hours of exploring, the dogs were exhausted. We didn't catch anything, and that was just as well, but ended up at home, tired and happy.

Meandering

2011-05-18T20:15:00.004-04:00

For those of you that don't know - I teach school. But with summer just around the corner, my "other" job has started. The one that allows me to afford my teaching habit.

My other job allows me to spend more quiet time, driving on some back roads, places I don't usually go.

On these trips I am fortunate to see things I wouldn't normally see.

This guys was just traveling along the road, places to go and all that.

I'm not usually a big fan of opossums - but this guy was the cutest I had ever seen.

This bruiser was sitting on the side of the road, laying eggs. She was gone the next time I drove by.

Box turtles are cool.

And on the side of the road there was this hole.

Obviously fox, surrounded by tracks and bones. The dogs could have a field day in here.

Smarter critters

2011-05-13T20:59:00.002-04:00

I've written about smart critters before. They're out there. Animals that use tools, animals that work cooperatively, animals that have their own types of language.

Crows are some of those animals: tools and languages and dialects - cool stuff.

The new one I just read about was whales. Yeah, they are some smart mammals, and you have all heard whale song before. But did you know that whales from different pods have dialects.

Like those southern cousins of yours..

When they dive together, sperm whales make patterns of clicks to each other known as "codas." Recent findings suggest that not only do different codas mean different things, but that whales can also tell which member of their community is speaking based on the sound properties of the codas. Just as we can tell our friends apart by the sounds of their voices and the way they pronounce their words, different sperm whales make the same pattern of clicks, but with different accents.

Caribbean and Pacific whales have different repertoires of codas, like a regional dialect, but the "Five Regular" call -- a pattern of five evenly spaced clicks -- is thought to have the universal function of individual identity because it is used by sperm whales worldwide.

You can read more here.

Hiatus

2011-05-07T16:42:00.003-04:00

I took a break.

I haven't been reading blogs - or posting on my own. In the meantime, Spring has truly sprung here in eastern NC.

I kept waiting to post, hoping that I would have big news from the breeding chambers of the harris hawks.

Well....

We had the nest all made up for the birds, carefully intertwining vines and branches. I padded it well with pine needles in the bottom to keep any eggs from cracking. Then I watched, and waited.

Gonzo would go and move a stick here or there. Tess would take all of her food up to the ledge to eat at the nest.

The birds would perch shoulder to shoulder.

Gonzo's foot seemed to be healing well. even though it was partially immobilized, he would use both feet for perching and seemed very comfortable. I changed all the perching surfaces to long leaf astroturf to protect Gonzo's feet.

No eggs, no eggs, no eggs.

Then they tore the nest apart. Could be a good thing. They are acknowledging that it is there. I replaced the pine needles and made sure that there were plenty of sticks in the cage for building.

And I waited.

They messed around with it, bringing sticks in and removing more of the "bedding" material. Tess would settle into it while she tore at her breakfast.

But still, nothing.

I had to run to Raleigh for a teacher "thing" this last week, so I called up Arnaud to see if we could change Gonzo's bandages on his toe. The scheduling was perfect.

When we got the bandages off of the foot, the toe had healed perfectly! Well done Arnaud. The toe was straight and yellow. You could hardly even see where it hadn't been working.

Unfortunately, Gonzo was dead.

He had died sometime that day in his box. The necropsy (still waiting for some tests) showed that Gonzo had some signs consistent with West Nile Virus - but we're still unsure of the cause of death.

So

No babies this year. I am in the market for a new male harris hawk. I was hoping to pick one up that was of breeding age, but I may end up getting a young bird.

And Tess is all alone:(

If you hear of any birds for sale (preferably on the East coast) let me know.

I'll keep you posted.

Bad news Good news

2011-03-01T20:37:00.003-05:00

Gonzo's talon did not heal correctly. Even though we wrapped it, then splinted it. It still was pulling to the left an alarming amount, and the toe was starting to swell.

Obviously, my doctoring didn't work.

I loaded the bird into the car and took him to Raleigh to see Arnaud. He is a vet at the college there and specializes in raptors - and he is just a great guy.

I held Gonzo on the kitchen table while Arnaud took a good look - the prognosis wasn't great.

The middle toe had a severed tendon on one side, leaving an imbalance in the amount of tension on the other side of the toe, so it was like the tip was being pulled on one side by a rubber band.

He reset the toe - using some thick, plastic tubing and gauze and duct tape. It looks like it might work. The toe is currently straight, and should heal that way.

He has lost the use of the tip of that toe - I can't get around that - but being that it is the center talon - he should still be able to hunt.

Worst case scenario... the toe won't heal and we have to cut it off. Sucks - but even then he will still be able to hunt. Big picture - we're going to be okay.

I seem to have misplaced my camera - when I find it I'll post foot pictures.

As a side note - no eggs from the hawks yet...

When does one species become more important than another?

2011-02-20T20:31:00.003-05:00

The spotted owl.

Steeped in controversy and the bane of northwest loggers. Is the continuation of this species (subspecies) more important than other similar species?

Fish and wildlife may think so.

If the spotted owl isn't able to compete, do we "thin out" its competitors? Is that right?

The ever-controversial northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1990, but despite the best efforts of lawmakers and conservationists the bird's population numbers continue to dwindle. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has a radical plan to help the raptor: kill some of the barred owls (S. varia) that are outcompeting their spotted cousins for food and habitat.
Spotted owls became notorious following several decades, starting in the 1980s, of back-and-forth lawsuits as environmentalists tried to end logging in the Pacific Northwest's old-growth forests, the habitat the owls depend on for their nests and food. Logging on federal land was banned in 1991, and since then logging in Oregon alone has declined 95 percent, from 4.9 billion board feet of timber in 1988 to just 240 million board feet in 2009, according to The Oregonian. But even with less of its habitat being destroyed the spotted owl population has yet to bounce back.

Aside from its shrinking habitat, the major threat now, according to the FWS, is the growing number of barred owls in the area. These birds are more aggressive, can live in any type of forest, and eat more types of food than spotted owls, making them more adaptable to the current Pacific Northwest landscape.

According to the FWS's latest draft recovery plan for the spotted owl: "Limited experimental evidence, correlational studies and copious anecdotal information all strongly suggest barred owls compete with spotted owls for nesting sites, roosting sites and food—and possibly predate spotted owls. The threat posed by barred owls to spotted owl recovery is better understood now than when the spotted owl was listed. Because the abundance of barred owls continues to increase, the effectiveness in addressing this threat depends on action as soon as possible."

The recovery plan doesn't spell it out how it would control the barred owl population, but The Oregonian reports that "over the next year, in three or more study areas from Washington [State] to northern California, they might kill 1,200 to 1,500 barred owls."

We have barred owls all over on the east coast. They are a handsome species - but... does their commonality make them less important?

Just something to think about. You can read more here.

Coyotes get big

2011-02-14T21:23:00.003-05:00

whenever I get the chance I like to spend time with my parents in upstate New York. My brother has a farm out there and we like to get out and walk the land when we have the opportunity.

A new thing that we need to consider now - crossbreeds.

Bigger than coyotes but smaller than wolves, their howl is high-pitched and their diet includes deer and small rodents. They are "coywolves" (pronounced "coy," as in playful, "wolves"), and they are flourishing in the northeastern U.S., according to a study published today in Biology Letters.

Although coyote–wolf breeding has been reported in Ontario, where coyotes started migrating from the Great Plains in the 1920s, this study provides the first evidence of coywolves—also known as coydogs or eastern coyotes—in the Northeast. And even though they are more coyote (Canis latrans) than wolf (gray wolves are Canis lupus, and red wolves are Canis rufus), the expansion of these hybrids into western New York State marks the return of wolves to the Empire State.

"It's kind of interesting that we drove this species from the area and it sort of came back in another form," says Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum in Albany and first author on the study.

Read the rest here....

Hunting with a sharp shin

2011-02-12T07:57:00.003-05:00

Cold, windy, and crappy describes the weather over the last few weeks. I have been sequestered in my house working on the "honey-do" list.

The harris hawks are together, spending time in and around the nest. I am missing my outside time with the birds (dogs too for that matter).

I was thankful when I got a text from Johnathan asking if I wanted to go hunting with him when he passed through town.

Perfect!

Packed my stuff so that I could change after school and meet him at the fields.

When school let out, it was raining and the wind had picked up.

We decided to give it a try anyway.

We pulled down a muddy track, splashing through puddles and spinning tires (still so glad I bought the Jeep). The fields were plowed a few months back and the was pooling on the short vegetation that grew there. Rain spit from the lead sky.

I don't have much (any) experience with sharp shins and my experience hunting with any small birds are minimal. This little guy was like a rocket, wet feathers and all.

We wandered through the grass, pushing small birds in front of us, Johnathan holding "Lady" up on his fist. A bird would flush, and like a rocket, she would explode after it.

After we pushed them through the grass, we tried our luck along a small, mowed ditch.

Little sparrows bail, the hawk screams after them, and they would dump back into the weeds. It was exciting to watch. I have to admit, it was amazing how well those little birds can hide in any bit of vegetation, and then never flush.

I forgot my camera, but soon the bird was too wet and heavy to fly well. No kills for the day, but a good time nonetheless.

Here is a video of Johnathan's bird catching quail front he deep grass.

A Good Day

2011-02-03T18:26:00.004-05:00

Both hawks are out in the weathering area eating their fill of squirrely, meaty, goodness. Gonzo has kept his talon, though it is canted at a slightly off angle.

So without a back up bird in the wings, I am forced to find other ways to spend the waning days of hunting season.

My duck hunt plans fell through - maybe I could still go out and snag myself a pig, I did get my first real gun, after all.

Instead - We took last Sunday to load the family on one of the local ferries and chug our way over to Knotts Island.

It is a little out of the way place that happens to be the home of some decent little vineyards.

It also has some great wide open fields, and prime rabbit spots. I have never actually hunted here, but I might need to come over and scout out some prime spots.

Additionally, it looks like a great place to trap migrating falcons.

Something to think about.

Anyway. It was a perfect blustery, sunny day. We spent the afternoon inside, cozied up by a fire, catching something other than game.

I think I might need a vine yard. If you would like to donate money towards this cause, please contact me via the comments section below.

a little weirdness

2011-02-02T21:38:00.004-05:00

Meet the Piglet Squid....

This squid has always got a smile on its face! The skin pigmentation of this little deep water squid gives it a huge grin, while the tentacles seem to form a mass of curly 'hair', combining to give it an almost cartoon appearance.

Copyright © Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Gary Florin
The Piglet squid, Helicocranchia pfefferi, is roughly the size of a small avocado, and is common in the deep water of virtually all oceans, living at depths of around 100m/320ft.
Its common name comes from its habit of filling up with water and the unique location of its syphon, with a wild-looking tuft of eight arms and two tentacles.

Finishing up

2011-01-29T07:29:00.006-05:00

I started out the season with an aggressive goal.

35 head of game. That would beat out my all time record by four. I thought at the time it was realistically attainable, if I hunted hard.

I've been a falconer since 1999, hunting squirrels almost exclusively, averaging around 25-30 a season. I hunt two to three times a week. With my growing family - I'm okay with that number

Last weekend was my last hunt for the season. It was planned.

I originally started this blog to toot my hawks horns - so that when breeding time finally happened, people would want to buy my hawks. I have not had them breed yet. I'm not sure why,, but it has been suggested that I might want to try and get them together earlier.

Around here, hawks start pairing up in the next month. During February, I often catch red shouldered hawks in the act. So I decided to put the birds up early, and maybe they will finally breed.

So on Saturday, we went out for our last hunt of the season.

Of course, I forgot my camera.

A pair of red tails were circling over the adjacent field where we were hunting - making me more firm in my decision to be done.

Late season squirrels are tough, and these were no exception. We had a few great chases, but these squirrels were smart - maybe they had been practicing evasive maneuvers with the local red tails.

They knew how to hide behind vine bundles, and run across the ground through the tangles. The hawks had a hard time connecting. Finally, from the top of a pine, the squirrel bailed out, landing in a pile of brush. the hawks couldn't get through, so I started flushing - the hawks gave chase across the forest floor, while I tried to keep up.

Tess did a roll-over into the brush, then pulled back up. She missed.

Then Gonzo dove. The squirrel had tried to squeeze under a downed log, and didn't make it.
I found them with the squirrel half under the log, and Gonzo firmly planted on his back, one talon on the head, the other on his rump.

Quick trade, put the birds back up.

I had about another 20 minutes before I had to head back, maybe time for one more squirrel. It was the last hunt of the season for me, after all.

The next chase was uneventful, except for the fact that this was one wily squirrel. tree to tree, nest, tree, and on, never coming to the ground. Gonzo tore apart two nests, before pulling the squirrel out, boxing with it in mid air, before dropping it.

Tess closed the deal on the ground, crashing into the squirrel.

I seemed like a successful hunt until I saw the bright red blood, it wasn't the squirrels, as it had dripped on the squirrels fur, and stood out in relief against his white belly fur.

I inspected Tess' talons as they held onto the squirrel, they were clean. Traded Tess off, then called up Gonzo.

He had tussled with this squirrel too.

He landed on the glove, great fist response, acting like he was ready to hunt.

His middle toe on the right talon was leaking blood, but it didn't look too bad, until he shifted his feet. The middle toe canted dangerously at the last joint.

It was a bite, and it was deep. The toe was pointing in an unnatural direction.

In 10 plus years hunting squirrels - this was only my second bad bite - and it was in a bad place.

I rushed the birds home, got Gonzo in the house, and immobilized the foot. I have done this type of doctoring before, and I am hopeful that Gonzo will keep the toe. Though he may lose the talon.

Disappointing - to say the least.

We ended the season with 57 head of (furry) game - my most successful ever. The hawks have performed amazingly all season long.

They have done things that I wouldn't have believed just a year ago.

Now I have to worry about that bite. I'll keep monitoring it.

For the next week or so, the birds will be getting fat in their respective cages.

Tess is already there.

Soon, I'll let them get together and cross my fingers.

Meet - Part III

2011-01-24T07:40:00.007-05:00

Last Saturday ended with us heading out to a large farm field to watch Ben's falcon fly. He didn't catch anything with his little tiercel, but the flights were spectacular. The day before, he had gotten a double on hooded merganser.

Then a business meeting.

Sunday morning dawned bright and cool. Temps would be rising quickly. We met at McDonalds and headed out to fly Arnaud's merlin.

I am a merlin virgin - I'd never seen one fly. We ended up at a giant farm field with a shallow overgrown ditch running down the center.

Arnaud unhooded the handsome little bird and held him aloft. He roused, and bobbed his head, getting a feel for the lay of the land, then launched.

Once he was airborn, zipping around like a heat seeking missile, it was our job to run through the fields to flush game.

It worked. Pretty soon birds were popping out of the grass like popcorn, and the little falcon was stooping repeatedly. If he missed, he'd turn and wait for the reflush.

Running, ho-ing, and beating at the grass was exhausting - and since the this field held standing water, had potential to create dampness. Arnaud fell in, and I stepped into a hole almost to my knee.

We worked our way down the grass, finally bagging one bird near the end. The merlin snagged it on the wing, carrying it a little ways past. He hopped around in the grass for a bit, then stashed it under a thicker patch of weeds. He hopped up and took to the air again, waiting for another flight.

This was an awesome little bird. We grabbed another one out of the air, and I'm pretty sure he would have kept flying, but we had harris hawks to fly. Arnaud apologized later about the birds lack of "style". I didn't care about its style - he was a cool little rocket, that knew its job. Fun fun.

We moved to another field - one we had been to earlier this weekend. Richard got out his pair of harris hawks. Both birds were wild birds - one trapped in Texas, the other in Arizona.

The birds worked well together, and followed like they were supposed to.

I've been wondering a lot about the differences between the hunting habits of wild caught and captive bred birds. There doesn't seem to be much.

We lined up and coursed a field for these two birds. They followed - we popped a rabbit and the birds followed it from the air. We closed in.

Ho Ho - the rabbit moved and the hawks made pass after pass, before the final squeal of success.

Well done.

Chip showed up with his harris hawks. We got out his and my two and put them all up together again.

I admit, I love having all four birds up together. They work well together and I love the chaos.

We tromped through the woods and saw no game. I was getting nervous that the birds might get bored and start to bicker.

It never happened.

We finally found squirrels in a patch of huge old hardwoods at the back of the property. This tree was so big, it would have taken ten of us holding hands to surround it.

This squirrel knew every nook and cranny of the tree, and the chase was a chess match. One squirrel vs four hawks.

Each branch was as large as a normal tree - and the squirrel would hide over, under, and around these branches. The squirrels strategy was brilliant, until he tried to switch trees. The hawks pressured it to the point where it leapt, and Eli grabbed it.

We traded off and moved to the next giant tree. We chased a few more squirrels, Gonzo took one of them, Eli one other, and ended the day with three more in the bag.

There was a lot of running, falling, laughing - and great chases from both the hawks and the squirrels.

I left the meet with three squirrels that I could claim and a rabbit (plus the one I caught on the way there).

We took a picture of a partial head count for the weekend.

Not too bad.

A very successful weekend. On the way home, I had plenty of time to review what I wanted for the rest of the season, and revised my goals.

Time to Celebrate

2011-01-21T19:46:00.003-05:00

I hope you will all join me in celebration! I will be doing my part tomorrow morning.

It's Squirrel Day. Really

By Mike Brownlee
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
COUNCIL BLUFFS — Today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day.

To celebrate, residents are encouraged to nibble food furiously, climb trees and appear to be scared of everything. Well, not really.

But it really is a day to celebrate an animal whose black incarnation is celebrated by Council Bluffs
“We certainly appreciate squirrels, every day,” said Kathy Fiscus, director of leisure marketing for the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce.
Fiscus mentioned Chipper, the black squirrel that serves as the official mascot of the city.

“That’s our way of embracing the black squirrel. It’s a way to introduce some natural history to children in a fun and positive way,” Fiscus said.
Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator in Asheville, N.C., established National Squirrel Appreciation Day in 2001, according to holidayinsights.com. “Celebration of the event itself is up to the individual or group,” she said, “anything from putting out extra food for the squirrels to learning something new about the species.”
Today also is National Hugging Day, though a combination of the two holidays is not advised.

I will be hugging them - as will Tess and Gonzo. If you get a chance to celebrate, let me know!

Thanks Kathy for sharing the link!

Meet - part II

2011-01-20T16:58:00.004-05:00

During lunch on our first day of the meet - we reorganized our groups, set things up and got ready to go. Chip, who organized the whole thing, comes up to me and says.

"I wanna go hunting with you."

So we did. It started out with his red tail. Chip hunts with lots of birds, and uses them for abatement as well, and all his birds hunt well.

The red tail was an accomplished hunter and proved it on this outing. With a dozen spectators the red tail chased down and cornered a squirrel in short order.

In a mix of tall pines and hardwoods, the red tail stalked the squirrel as it tried to sneak away and up a tree. The hawk soon cornered it 60 feet up at the top of a pine with no where to go.

He jumped.

The red tail folded and dove. The squirrel hit first, bounced in the leaf litter, and the hawk nailed it on the rebound. One down.

We put the red tail up to get out the harris hawks. Tess and Gonzo got tossed up into the tree and Chip got out his two tiercels - Rudy and Eli.

We've done this before, hunted with all four hawks at once - and it almost isn't fair to the squirrels. What generally results is bedlam - controlled chaos.

The hawks start out working as individuals, but by the end of the hunt, they were coordinating. Eli was the stealth hawk. He tends to wait lower in the trees and wait for the squirrels to bail out. He is very successful with this technique.

The other three hawks will pursue, pushing the squirrel into a mistake. The birds swipe at the squirrel, scraping them from the side of the tree, but the squirrel will circle, corkscrewing around to get away from the hawks.

One squirrel finally found itself at the tippy top of a scrawny oak, clutching on to a spindly limb. Four harris hawks perched around him at each point of the compass.

I can only imagine what the squirrel was thinking.

Multiple chases ensued, Eli took (finished) two of the chases, Tess one and the last one was taken by Gonzo, and was notable.

Gonzo drowned the squirrel in a narrow brook. I have to wonder if he learned this from Tess. Hard to believe it was only coincidence since three of the last five squirrels had been drowned.

We ended our hunt with four squirrels for the afternoon - my take for the whole day was three squirrels and a rabbit, and there was one more day to go (gotta love Sunday Hunting).

Last picture is by Jimmy Campbell, previous are by Paula B Page.

Some meet Pictures

2011-01-16T21:34:00.003-05:00

Before we move on to more hunting stories - I have to say I enjoy meets. It gives falconers a chance to catch up - and it allows me to see lots of birds that I don't normally see. That's Arnaud up above, with the merlin we trapped this fall.

This is Bobby with his Kestrel.

Anytime you can get a bunch of falconers together to share stories and knowledge it has got to be a good thing.

Richard's passage harris - right after it caught a rabbit.

Red Tail on a Squirrel.

And Ben's Peregrine. He got a double on ducks. Great day for him!

Falconry Meet Part I

2011-01-16T20:02:00.005-05:00

I just got back from one of our annual falconry meets. This one was across the state towards Raleigh. I left after work on Friday - but I didn't get far.

As I was crossing the bridge towards the mainland I realized that I was going to be passing right by my little rabbit hole by the bay.

My hawks were already in the car, so.....

Yeah - I stopped. I had a four and a half hour car ride, so how much could this little detour set me back?

It is a small field so I only took out one bird. Gonzo this time. I crashed briers for a while before we got a rabbit moving. Gonzo hasn't seen many rabbits this year, but he followed and pointed like a champ.

It wasn't long before he folded off a branch and dropped like a stone to the base of a tree. I secured the rabbit and gonzo stepped off.

I don't have to trade him off any more. Once I get a hold of whatever he catches, he will step off and wit for you to throw a tidbit for him. It makes transfers really easy.

At one point this weekend, another falconer went in to secure a squirrel that Gonzo had caught (he had my permission). When Gonzo stepped off of it, the falconer looked at me, incredulous. "What do I do now?" He asked. I just laughed. "kill the squirrel. Then toss a tidbit."

It really has gotten that easy.

Back to my trip out - we weren't even to the meet and already we had one in the bag. We wandered for a bit more, chased a squirrel and a few more rabbits, but then I had to get back on the road.

After the four hour trip, we checked into the hotel.

The next morning - we met at McDonalds and divided up the hunting parties. I was flying with James, another harris hawker in the morning. Additionally, we had about a dozen preteen spectators tagging along to watch. We weren't thrilled with the idea, but it got the youngsters out in the woods and that is always a good thing.

What made this particularly interesting for me is that his bird was a passage, trapped in Arizona, just this fall. I've been curious about the differences between passage birds, and captive bred ones ( as I may have the opportunity to go and try and trap this fall).

His bird was well mannered and did everything a hawk was supposed to (considering all the extra people, the hawk did great). No kill on that flight, but the young hawk did fine.

Next we got out my birds - they did great ( I may be biased) We quickly lit upon a squirrel. They chased him across the line of young pine trees, until the squirrel couldn't stand the heat and bailed.

What followed was probably the longest foot chase I have ever seen - maybe 500 yards - through the yong pine trees, with hawks falling from the sky like bombs. The squirrel would weave in and out of the cover of the pines and the hawks just could not connect. Finally, the squirrel made it to a large oaks and started to scamper up the side. Tess Scraped it from the side, dropped it and Gonzo nailed it on the ground.

By that time, we needed to head out and meet the rest of the club for lunch, we headed back to the cars, hawks following behind. I got the birds to pose for a few pictures - short flight to the fist from the trees, that kind of thing, when over the hill comes a coyote.

Running in front of him is a rabbit. The coyote stops, but the rabbit continues down the road and disappears in the brush about 15 feet away. I had Tess half way in the giant hood.

I look at James - he looks at me - What the heck. I toss tess up into a tree, and the chase is on.

Five minutes later, Tess folds in mid air, does a wing over and crashes, grabbing the marshrabbit by the rump.

Two in the bag, and more hunting after lunch. Can't wait.

Amazing - or Tess learns a new trick

2011-01-10T21:22:00.005-05:00

My birds ROCK!

It was one of those days. I wasn't planning on hunting today, but bad weather is rolling in and I didn't know if we'd be able to hunt until the coming weekend.

Heck - I dashed home from work and loaded all my gear as quickly as I could and got to the field by 3:40. I ha to coach wrestling practice this afternoon, so I needed to be out of the field by 4:30. Not much time.

If we could get in a flight or two, maybe snag a squirrel, it would be time well spent.

I tossed Gonzo, then Tess into the trees. I closed the bed of the pick up - and the birds were already stalking something. I followed them into the trees - and saw the first squirrel hiding on the opposite side of the tree as the hawks. I ho - ho. The squirrel bolts, crosses, but is quickly snagged off a short branch.

A fun chase, but quick. We had time for doubles.

This particular spot is close to home and I have hunted it a lot this year. I hunt a series of ridges, and in between the ridges are the bottoms that are pocked with shallow pools of water. Last year, this area was all under water. With all the hunting I've done here this year ,I keep waiting for the day when I don't find any more squirrels.

Today wasn't it. Five more minutes we had another squirrel on the run. He crossed from ridge top to partially fallen tree, then crossed from branch tip to branch tip across a wide but shallow pool.

The hawks were hot on his trail.

The squirrel made it to the other side, spiraled down a tree and popped into a hole about the size of a jar lid in the side.

That was it, or so I thought.

Tess came barreling in at full tilt (this was cool) his talons stretched out at full length in front of him.

Both talons plunged into the hole, her wings stretched out, holding her in position.

What the....

Then Tess starts rowing her wings backward. No way.

Then Tess plucks the squirrel out of the hole, both feet clamped to its head, the hawk spirals to the ground.

That was awesome - but it gets weirder.

I was on the wrong side of the pond, though it was only a short walk around, but my vantage point was perfect. As Tess spiraled to the ground, she adjusted her wings and changed her trajectory to land along the edge of the water.

Hmmm...

I stumbled around the edge of the water, pushing the cane brake out of the way. Tess was in a clearing, holding the squirrels head under the water. Tess would squeeze. pump, pump. Let the squirrel up for a moment, then push its head back under.

She had the little fur ball completely under control, so I popped a picture.

I would have called it a fluke, if not for on the way back to the truck the exact same thing happened.

I was trying to get back to the truck in time to get home, changed, and then to practice, when the hawks checked off for an extended chase. it wasn't really that long, but in the end, Gonzo scraped the hawk off the side of the tree, dropped it to where Tess snatched it out of the air. Adjusted to the head, then coasted down tot he water, where she plunged the squirrels head under water.

I got to her as fast as I could, but the squirrel was already drowned when I got there.

We had 45 minutes of hunting. Nonstop.

It was amazing.

Late Season Squirrels

2011-01-09T07:18:00.005-05:00

They're smarter.

After hitting them hard over the two week Christmas break, I gave the hawks a week to rest and heal. In the wild, they would never get time off, but they also wouldn't be specializing in hunting quarry as difficult as squirrels.

Their feet are nicked up and looking like the feet of true squirrel hawks. I tend to down play bites. I know they will happen, and it is always a risk. Most bites will be superficial nicks and cuts, but I am sure the hawk feels them.

The squirrels know their escape routes now. They don't feed far from holes. Some of these squirrels, I'm pretty sure, we have chased before as I have hunted this same spot multiple times this year.

These woods are mature maritime forest. A mix of pock marked hardwoods, interspersed with giant loblolly pine trees. What was once drifting sand dunes is now the loamy earth from which these trees spring.

The dunes are now steeply sloped hills and every chase is a work out. We seem to find the squirrels at the tops of the ridges, but when they bail from the tree tops, they head downward, like they are on a sled for freedom. They scamper up a tree at the bottom of the slope, then fly across the treetops to the top of the ridge again.

The same pattern happened over and over until the lowly falconer was left panting and heaving on the ground.

One squirrel blistered down the hill and disappeared at the bottom. I stumbled, slid, and fell down after him, holding onto trees for support.

When I got there, the hawks were waiting for me. Their eyes scolding me with my snails pace.

They both sat lower in the trees, not looking up. They were telling me squirrel had gone to ground.

I surveyed the area and a little stump of a branch was sticking off of the main trunk of a red bay tree. I could see that it was hollow, but not much bigger than my forearm and just at ground level.

I stomped over to it and peered into the top of the stump - and there was mister critter, staring back at me. He wasn't moving.

The hawks waited overhead - finally, I could be a useful part of the team. I shook the stump. I thumped the stump.

The squirrel stared stoically back at me. He knew the danger, he wasn't moving.

Finally, I kicked the stump, and heard it splinter. That was too much. The squirrel popped out the top like a jack in the box and both hawks plummeted, snagging it between them.

We ended up with two squirrels that day, each one was a challenge. This time of the year it gets harder and harder to catch each one. We'll see what the next few weeks bring.

Breaking 40

2010-12-31T07:58:00.005-05:00

I was able to hunt twice over the last few days. The first time I took out my brother and his family. We went to a spot I hadn't hunted in a few years, but the last time I was there, there were big, plentiful squirrels.

To make things more interesting - It was just a day after the snow had stopped.

Unfortunately, the kids who were with us didn't have appropriate shoes for hunting in snow, but it was still fun. After tromping around without much action, we finally found some squirrels, and impressive chases ensues. The squirrels here knew how to use the pine trees, scrambling straight tot he top and them working their way across the forest using the limbs as their highway.

The hawks climbed, circling around the trees, branch to branch. Sometimes one hawk would rake off to another tree close by to gain more height.

At one point, right in front of me- about ten feet up - a wild passage red tail came screaming in, white chest blazing and talons up and ready. Tess was able to dodge the attack, and I ran in hollering. The red tail Broke off, and Gonzo started to give chase, but circled back.

We bagged two squirrels, bringing our total to 39. My brother was able to videotape, I hope he can get some good images of the chases.

I then got our again yesterday.

We went back to the airport. It is really just an airstrip that is bordered on two sides with small stands of trees.

The first chase, I was sure was a rabbit. The cover was thick and the hawks repeatedly crashed into the viney impenetrable, undergrowth.

They kept coming up blank, but I was sweaty and breathing heavy as I tried to keep up with them.

Finally, I saw the squirrel scamper up the pine, hiding behind the vines. I shook and yelled. The squirrel crossed to another trees, jumped to the ground, then got nailed as he tried to race to the next batch of cover.

Both hawks piled on. As soon as I got control, Gonzo let go, waiting for his tidbit.

Good bird.

We kept hunting, but didn't find anything. After close to an hour of not finding anything, the hawks started losing focus and flew over to the landing strip to harass the pigeons feeding there.

I called them back and we headed to a new stretch of woods we hadn't been in yet. Tall stands of pine with very little cover. We shook a nice, tightly packed nest. Squirrel popped out and ran to the tops of the trees.

Tess was able to snatch it in the tree tops, but it wasn't a good grab. Squirrel and hawk tussled in the pine boughs, talons pistoning out like a boxer. The squirrel must have gotten in a few good digs, as he was able to break free and dart to the next branch.

The chase took us all the way across the tree tops. Feint, move, dodge. The squirrel avoided every attack, always keeping the trunk or a branch between himself and the hawks.

Until the pressure got to be too much. He lept from the top of a pine. One bird folded, then the other, and all three dropped like missiles.

The squirrel bounced on the pine floor, Tess barreled in, but the squirrel was too fast. Tess Smacked the ground, bounced herself and flapped, hopping, flying and running across the ground after the fleeing squirrel.

Gonzo had anticipated the squirrel better, pulling off of her tuck early and angling off at full speed. He rammed into the fleeing squirrel, tumbling across the forest floor.

Tess bowled in, helping to secure the struggling squirrel.

Two more today - bringing the season total to 41.

Fighting the break

2010-12-29T07:38:00.004-05:00

Our little strip of land has been having quite the roller coaster of weather, limiting my hunting time. Wind, Wind, wind.

fortunately, we have had time to get out and do other things.

Took the dogs for a jaunt through the woods. I don't do this enough - let them off lead to just run (and smell, and mark). You can see the elation in the way they act.

We found all kinds of holes - mostly in logs - and they were all thoroughly investigated.

No one home.

Later in the week the wind whipped even harder, and that storm that whipped up the east coast decided to settle in.

The storm died down leaving about four inches of snow. Haven't had this much in ten years. I finally was able to get out hunting.

That will be a story for another day.

Air Firce Falcon goes AWOL

2010-12-27T22:38:00.004-05:00

From Yahoo:

The Air Force Academy's live mascot, "The Bird," took advantage of his usual pregame flight around the stadium to flee the premises ahead of the Falcons' 14-7 Independence Bowl win over Georgia Tech, leaving Independence Stadium behind for a quick tour of the Shreveport nightlife – bars, casinos, eligible swallow-tailed kites on the town. According to the ESPN2 broadcast, The Bird eluded his handlers for the better part of three quarters before finally being spotted downtown, corralled and hustled back to the stadium for the victory party as the final seconds ticked down on the Falcons' win.

Merry Christmas to all

2010-12-24T22:02:00.003-05:00

Days Off

2010-12-23T21:30:00.004-05:00

Since Wednesday the wind has whipped up and it is supposed to be blowing 25 - 35 for the rest of the week. I won't be able to fly the birds, but will be finding other ways to spend my time.

We built this bridge over the creek that runs along our property. We can finally easily cross to go exploring.

Seemed like as good a place as any to set up the trail cam. If we see deer - we may try to set up a stand and bag one before the end of the season.

Big one

2010-12-22T21:45:00.002-05:00

First Real Bite

2010-12-22T20:07:00.007-05:00

Three days, three hunts.

I've been out every morning this week for both eventful and uneventful flights.

The weather has been cooler, 30's and 40's. Perfect weather for hawking. as the days have been wearing on though, the winds have been picking up, so I need to be done by mid morning.

It works, as I have been home before the rest of the family really starts moving.

Day one ended with a triple.

Day two was interesting in that we didn't catch anything for a long time. The wind picked up earlier, and the spot where we were hunting was riddled with live oaks (read "thick cover") and lots of holes.

We had some good chases as the hawks waved in the tops of the trees, but the squirrels kept escaping into bowels of the trees.

Not much I can do there. Some people will try to flush squirrels out of holes using cigarette smoke, or smoke bombs. If I can't poke the squirrel out using a stick, or my hands - a squirrel in a hole has gotten away - fair chase and all that.

Cooler temps are great to teach the bird to follow, squirrels tend to hide in their nests more often and the hawker can pop them out with a tug on the vine.

This was the case yesterday. I pulled the vine that led up to the nest and out pops a squirrel. the hawks were off, chasing to my left. I turned, saw something flash past my field of vision - then it was gone and the chase was on.

Tree to tree, until the squirrel bailed from way high up. Tess was grabbing at it as it plummeted to the ground, the squirrel facing her, falling backward. It was like the scene where Gandalf fought the Bulrog.

She nails it on the ground. I make in, take control, but Gonzo never joins us. Usually he waits on the wings for his tid-bit, but this time he wasn't with us.

I look up, thirty feet from us, Gonzo is parachuting to the ground, his own squirrel dancing in his clutches.

That was our double for the day.

Today was the bite.

It started out normal enough. I went back to the spot where we got our four squirrels last month.

I waded into the trees. Both birds were heavier than I like, but not ridiculous. I wasn't long before I found a nice tight little nest, just above head height on a spindly pine.

I shook it..... hard. A big squirrel blasts out and makes for it. Jumps to the ground and sprints across open ground. He squirts through grass tunnels, and briers, and under logs, shaking the hawks with every jibe.

I bumble along behind. When I finally catch up, Tess is up high, and Gonzo is on the ground near a root bundle with some holes in it.

I knew the drill - I was the flushing ferret.

I started poking into holes with my stick.
I wear two gloves - my thick hawking glove and a lighter leather work glove. I soon realized the dirt was soft and loamy, so I began tearing it apart with my hands. Dirt and loam went everywhere.

There was the squirrel, plastered up under a root, pretending to be invisible. The hawks didn't see him. I reached in with my right hand and pulled the squirrel out. I called in Tess to come get him, but the squirrel squirmed and sank his teeth right through the leather and into my biggest knuckle.

I admit, I screamed. the little bugger wouldn't let go until I had choked him out and pulled him off.

I cleaned it up the best I could, and it was time to let the hawks catch a squirrel.

On the very next catch, I waded in again to secure the squirrel, and I got another bite, through the glove, on my pointer finger. Not nearly as bad, but I couldn't believe it happened again (plus a talon puncture through the pad of my thumb).

My right hand is a mess, but I have already surpassed my seasons' goal of 35.

8 squirrels in three days - 37 squirrels total for the season (so far). Time to reevaluate my goals.

Killing the owls

2010-12-22T08:18:00.005-05:00

I love owls - especially barn owls. Do I want to train one? No. Been there and wasn't impressed by their intelligence.

But I think they are cool - and necessary. I love that owl boxes are going up across the country to help control rodent populations.

But owls have a new twist on an old predator.

Working in darkness, with the quarter-moon obscured by clouds, these two scientists are trying to figure out what an elusive, radio-collared owl is eating along this country road just beyond the suburbs that ring Vancouver. Their mission is to determine whether the decline of Canada’s barn owl is tied, in part, to super-toxic rat poisons.
Scientists know that at least some owls are dying under gruesome circumstances, bleeding to death from stomach hemorrhages in an agonizing and days-long decline. The culprit: An extra-potent class of rat poisons that has flooded the market in recent decades, designed to more effectively kill rats, a food source for the owls.

Six of 164 dead barn owls, barred owls and great horned owls in a 2009 western Canada study had rodenticide levels high enough to kill them outright, causing the fatal stomach hemorrhages. Pesticide readings in 15 percent to 30 percent of the others appeared toxic and seem likely to handicap owls in a variety of ways, scientists say.

The study is the latest evidence amassed by researchers that poses an unsettling question: Are we willing to poison owls and a variety of other wild animals in order to fight rats?

“We’re finding this stuff all over the place,” said John Elliott, an Environment Canada scientist who co-authored the owl study published last year. “There’s a lot more rodenticide in the food chain than we would have ever thought. We’re surprised that there’s that much of the stuff kicking around.”

Studies in Canada, the United States and Europe show that this newer generation of rat poisons is killing a variety of wild animals, including mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, skunks, deer, squirrels, possums and raccoons, along with bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, hawks and vultures.

There are better options. okay maybe not more efficient options, but options with less collateral damage.

And that is what its about - the least amount of collateral damage.

Try ratting with your terrier.

What do you do if you don't have a terrier?

Try it with any dog.

Why dogs are smarter than cats

2010-12-18T21:17:00.002-05:00

One reason I love harris hawks is because of their social nature. They learn quickly, they communicate, and they allow me to be a part of it.

Researches have found that social animals, in general, are more intelligent than their isolated peers.

For the first time researchers have attempted to chart the evolutionary history of the brain across different groups of mammals over 60 million years. They have discovered that there are huge variations in how the brains of different groups of mammals have evolved over that time. They also suggest that there is a link between the sociality of mammals and the size of their brains relative to body size, according to a study published in the PNAS journal.

The research team analysed available data on the brain size and body size of more than 500 species of living and fossilised mammals. It found that the brains of monkeys grew the most over time, followed by horses, dolphins, camels and dogs. The study shows that groups of mammals with relatively bigger brains tend to live in stable social groups. The brains of more solitary mammals, such as cats, deer and rhino, grew much more slowly during the same period.

Previous research which has looked at why certain groups of living mammals have bigger brains has relied on studies of distantly-related living mammals. It was widely believed that the growth rate of the brain relative to body size followed a general trend across all groups of mammals. However, this study by Dr Susanne Shultz and Professor Robin Dunbar, from Oxford University's Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology (ICEA), overturns this view. They find that there is wide variation in patterns of brain growth across different groups of mammals and they have discovered that not all mammal groups have larger brains, suggesting that social animals needed to think more.

Read the rest here.

I could've used a Red Tail

2010-12-18T19:32:00.004-05:00

Yes, I said it. A big hen red tail would have been nice today. It ended up alright though.

I spent last night oiling up my most expensive piece of clothing - my Filson Chaps. I knew today was going to be a big day. I was going to hit a new spot that should be really good for rabbits.

I used to have a little honey hole where I consistently could catch rabbits. It was a small tract of land, maybe an acre. A few years back half of the land went under the tractor, roads were laid out among the rest.

I haven't been able to find another spot like it. But I got permission to hunt a tract of land close by, next to the courthouse. The area looked great - briers, scrub trees, cover.

I let the hawks out and bam, they took a squirrel. No chase, no excitement. He was just sitting and the hawks nailed him.

Okay - not what I was after today, but I'll take it.

That was the last living thing I saw in this new spot. I was terribly disappointed. I loaded the hawks back into the truck and went to leave.

Instead, I headed for my former honey hole.

I hadn't been here in years, and in that time, no construction had taken place. No houses, no roads. The cleared land had all grown into briers.

He,he,he,he - perfect.

I had my good chaps on. As I pulled the jeep in, I jumped a rabbit.

Since this little plot of land was so small - I decided to only fly Tess. The idea was that she would have more crashing power. I tossed her up to the nearest tree and started wading into the briers. It didn't take long before Tess was moving her head like she saw something down below.

She switched perches, bobbed her head. I waded in closer and she dove.

Wham. Squeeel. Rabbit one in the bag. I have historically been terrible at dispatching rabbits. But this one went off without a hitch. Stowed him, moved on.

Tess flew up to a nearby tree and I waded into the next patch. Tess moved, then moved again to the other side of the lot. Hmmm - that was strange. I started to head over when Tess Dove again.

No squeal this time.

I hurry over and Tess definitely is mantling over something. I rush in thinking squirrel - no. Grackle, taken on the ground. That is odd.

Transfer, move on. I wandered deeper into the brush. There were no trees here, and this is where I needed that Red Tail. That and a big T-perch, and some children to beat the brush.

But it was just me.

I waded, Tess crashed, and crashed, came back up, soaring low over the brush.

Crash.

Squeal.

We ended the day with quite the mixed bag. Good day for rabbits, and I'll give this little honey spot some time to recover.

New hobby

2010-12-15T19:35:00.004-05:00

I took my youngest boy down to the firing range the other day. He and his friend have decided that they are going to join the shooting team at school.

I'd never been there before, so I watched the boys as they worked on their marksmanship and decided it was time for me to join the club.

I needed to spend more time out here myself.

We spent the rest of the day flying the hawks in a wide open field nearby. I was hoping to see a rabbit, but honestly, we didn't see anything.

It was just a good day with the boys.

Impressive

2010-12-12T07:11:00.004-05:00

I was hunting yesterday, and all the while, as I wandered between chases, names for this post were popping into my head. By the end of the hunt, with one squirrel in the bag and me sweaty and breathing hard, I realized that all my possible titles boiled down to an appreciation of the chess match that was being played out in the tree tops.

I've managed to squeeze in a few hunts over the last couple of days since the wind has died down.

Unfortunately, the temperature has risen as well.

I had an hour after work on Thursday where I snuck out and hit a spot that was usually good for a squirrel or two last year. It was another habitat that has dried out this year and the squirrels were plentiful.

The more time I hunt, the more impressed I become with the quarry. This particular spot is dotted with giant, vine encrusted, pine trees. The squirrels know how to use these well.

At the sight of the bumbling, ground predator, the squirrels run for the trees. Then at the sight of the hawks they spiral straight to the top. Once there, they freeze, grasping at the branches as the wind blows them.

An inexperienced hawk will lose a squirrel once it is over their head. They just won't look up.

My bird know better and start to ladder, branch to branch, up the tree. Often they will climb in different directions, or one will take a better vantage point in a nearby tree and watch for movement as the other bird flushes.

I am no help at this point.

The climb until they engage the squirrel in the treetops where he can either fight, or flee.

One squirrel, at this point, decided to flee. He was in a pine that grew so close to another they were almost touching, There was maybe a hand-space between the two.

The squirrel came spiraling down the trunk with the hawk diving at him from all sides. He evaded by changing sides of the tree, then, in a dizzying array of acrobatic skill, he changed it up.

Instead of a simple spiral, he made figure eights. Around one trunks, then circling through and going around the other trunk. It was amazing. I was on the ground, and this is where the squirrel made its mistake. He bailed to the ground and made a dash across the forest floor for a nearby brush pile.

He never made it.

In another chase, the squirrel spiraled up the tree to a nest forty feet up in the tip top of a pine.

Nothing I could do from the ground. I never saw the squirrel. The hawks must have. taking turns, one would sit in a nearby tree and watch for movements while the other scratched at the nest.

After a bit, I sat down. But they kept at it. I was ready to give it up - it had been ten minutes that they had been working on this nest.

My sock had migrated in my boot all the way down to my arch, so I hitched up my chaps, and took off my boot to adjust the sock, and the squirrel squirts out. The chase is on.

We ended up losing that squirrel in the end - but perseverance of the birds was amazing.

Holes, briers, brambles and root bundles. Squirrels use them all. They know the location of every one, and they can gauge their distances to them. The number of escape routes they use is remarkable.

The more I hunt, the more I respect the quarry. The more I respect the birds. The more I feel sorry for the land-walker (me).

Three hunts, five squirrels.

Season total so far - 25

The Trade Off

2010-12-08T18:23:00.009-05:00

With 20 plus mile an hour winds, no hunting recently, so I'll talk about something else.

I remember when I first got involved in falconry and I was in the phase where I would read everything I could get my hands on.

My first book on falconry was by Philip Glasier; Falconry and Hawking.

It is still one of my favorites. His writing is a bit stiff and very English. I loved the sound of the words, and the phrasing. There was a lot of good information in there as well, but as any falconer knows, falconry is better learned first hand than from a book.

Don't get me wrong - books are great. I love books, but I learn better watching and trying under the supervision of someone better.

One of the "techniques" that I could never visualize from any of my studies was the "trade off".

The trade off is where the falconer takes the captured quarry from the hawk and replaces it with something less/ smaller/ harder to eat... for the bird to snack on instead.

Some techniques you read about are whole elaborate affairs that would involve three people and a circus ring to execute.

Most common is the technique where the recently caught quarry is covered by the falconry bag, and the hawk is coerced off the game with another tid bit, or chicken wing.

Recently a well known hawker and author related his multi-step process to get his hawks of squirrels. It included at least three, maybe four different transfers.

Too much for me.

Early on, my sponsor taught me a quick, easy method to transfer the bird off of game.

Like anything else, it takes training, but it is not hard to do.

I want my falconry fun - too much baggage detracts from that. So I continue to use this method.

It might not work for all hawks, but I have used it successfully on quite a few Red tails, as well as Harris hawks.

It's simple.

First, in the weathering area, call your bird to a big, hard to eat piece of meat. Have the hawk pick for a minute, then blow your whistle, and toss a tidbit to the side.

The hawk should jump off, snatch the tidbit, then jump back up to the fist.

Just like jump ups.

My hawks now will sit on the fist, waiting for a tossed tid bit.

After repeating this process, the hawk will be conditioned to look for the tossed biteful.

When quarry is caught, simply repeat the same process. With a squirrel, I pick up the squirrel, the hawk attached, and get the bird to hold onto the head, the rest of the squirrel dangling below the fist.

Once the hawk is mounted there and mantling, I blow the whistle, toss a whole white mouse near-by.

The hawk will dive after the mouse. Sometimes he will forget to let go of the squirrel, but a quick shake of the fist should get him off.

Stash the squirrel in your bag or vest. Plant another tidbit on the fist, as the hawk will come back to the fist looking for its squirrel.

The bird will suck down the tid bit and look around for his squirrel for a minute, but soon realizes that it needs to continue hunting. Toss him into the trees and move on.

I rarely feed off of the kill anymore. The hawks don't get possessive over their catch. There is never a tug-o-war. Often, when I start to pick the squirrel and hawk off of the ground, Gonzo will jump off and wait for me to toss his tid bit.

The bird now work for the tid bits, not the game.

It get slightly more complicated with two birds, but not much. Generally, Tess will wait for her tidbit on the fist, while Gonzo waits on the ground. I put my body between the two and toss to Gonzo first where Tess can't see, then I toss another tid bit to Tess.

My tid bits have gotten smaller now. Often I will just use fuzzy mice, or half a full grown mouse. Sometimes chicken hearts, cut in half. But start bigger than this, once the birds are conditioned, then your trade off pieces can diminish.

Remember, there are a million ways to skin a cat. Just like there are dozens of ways to trade off your hawk. This is one that has worked well for me over the years. I give total credit to my sponsor Chris. I've tweaked the process to suite my needs and my hawks, but the process remains.

I hope you try it. Let me know how it works.

Vengence and more

2010-12-03T18:19:00.004-05:00

My house backs up to a little patch of woods.

Around my yard there are different critters in cages; the rabbit hutch, chicken coop, pigeon loft.
Additionally, I have three small dogs.

Apollo, the smallest, weighs in at a mere 5 pounds. Tess is semi dog aggressive. I don't think that she would think twice about grabbing Apollo.

Needless to say, I don't often hunt around my house.

The squirrels run rampant. They love the live oaks, and the pine nuts. They feast on the hickory nuts and scramble around the hawk cages with impunity.

In North Carolina, most of the falconers I know don't build a traditional mew, they go for the weathering area, jump box set up. My hawk houses are constructed in this way. The ceilings and walls are made of mesh. The hawks can see everything that goes on around them.

Squirrels like to taunt them.

They scamper around their weathering areas. They feast on nuts perched above the ceilings of their cages. They toss acorn husks at them.

I feel bad for the hawks.

Today we sought revenge. I had all of my gear at school, but I forgot my boots again. I had to run home to get them, when I decided that I would just hunt in the back yard. I shut all the animals up, covered the rabbits, and let loose the birds of war!

It didn't take long. the backyard squirrels had built up a disdain for the ineffective hawks, so it was almost like they didn't even realize they were supposed to run.

he,he,he.

Gonzo took the first one, scraping off a branch, tussling on the way down, before settling into a head grip and landing. Tess piled in, wanted her piece.

Transfer, move on to the next. At one point my neighbor was watching as both birds landed on the eves of his roof, while he was stringing lights from his second floor deck, then we wandered deeper into the woods.

The second squirrel was quick. The temperature has finally dropped into the forties - perfect for hawking. The squirrels have started to hide in their nests.

The hawks were both close and in position. I yanked the vine that snaked up into a nice looking nest. A buck squirrel popped out of the top of the nest. Instead of running the rest of the way up the tree, he bailed. He set his arms and legs like a sail, stretched out his tail, and tried to fly.

Tess folded up, fell off the branch, and dropped like a stone. The squirrel hit the ground running. Tess set his wings, flapped hard, and tumbled over the squirrel, coming out on top.

There were more squirrels out there, but two was a nice start. Vengeance was mine!

Almost more important though...

Somewhere between Squirrel #1 and #2, the hawks engaged in a ground chase.

I of course assumed it was a squirrel, hiding in the brush, but first Tess dove, then Gonzo.

A flash of white.

then the distinctive squeal of a rabbit, caught.

I rushed up to see both Tess and Gonzo riding the bronco ride of a freshly caught cotton tail.

Nice bonus.

Feeling special

2010-11-27T19:15:00.005-05:00

It was a perfect morning for a hunt. Weather was in the 40s with clear skies and a light breeze. The habitat was good, mostly live oaks, bay ,and mixed pine. Too many holes, but plenty of squirrels.

Like many of my other spots, the habitat here has expanded due to drier conditions. It was still marshy in many areas, but the hawks didn't seem to mind.

The first squirrel I thought was a rabbit. It was hiding in the edge brush. I never saw it, but the hawks were diving and recovering, only to dive again as I struggled through the briers. Eventually the squirrel made a break for the trees, disappearing into the root bundles that had been uncovered by the receding water.

The hawks perched low, indicating that the squirrel had gone to ground. I can usually trust the birds. I started to poke and prod as Gonzo checked the holes. The squirrel bolted. Tess swooped in, closing the deal in the damp leaf litter.

It ended up being one of those days where we lose many more squirrels than we catch. Two losses were completely my fault. The birds had both catches on the ground. I stumbled and fell and took too long to secure the squirrels - the hawks adjusted their grip, and the squirrels broke free. It was my slow bumbling that lost those catches.

I often wonder what the squirrels are thinking as I chase on the ground and two birds bombard them from the air. What is the squirrel wondering as it dodges and scurries?

Today, as I fumbled through the marshy undergrowth, hoping from small island to log to hummock, and slipping into the muck, I wondered something different.

In the wild, Harris hawks hunt in loose family groups.

Wikipedia says it this way:

While most raptors are solitary, only coming together for breeding and migration, Harris's Hawks will hunt in cooperative groups of two to six. This is believed to be an adaptation to the desert climate in which they live. In one hunting technique, a small group flies ahead and scouts, then another group member flies ahead and scouts, and this continues until prey is bagged and shared. In another, all the hawks spread around the prey and one individual flushes it.^[15]

^{So now, as the sound of bells diminishes into the forest, and I am stuck on a tiny island, muck up to my knees, I wonder instead what the hawks are thinking of me.}
^{Am I part of their pack? Am I like a flightless brother that can only slip and slide along the ground? Am I that brother that no one likes to talk about. The one that slows down the rest of the pack.

Am I the "special brother"? Today, as the hawks lost me in the marsh, I surely did feel "special".}

When snakes fly!

2010-11-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

Rather than a smooth, even glide (known as equilibrium gliding, as executed by airborne birds), these snakes seemed to slither frenetically through the air. But all of their thrashing worked to reduce their fall speed (from about six meters per second to four meters per second) and gliding angle (from 32-48 degrees to 18-32 degrees).

"The snake is pushed upward—even though it is moving downward—because the upward component of the aerodynamic force is greater than the snake's weight," Socha said in a prepared statement. The new research suggests that the snakes' soaring might be due to specifically tuned undulations which could create vortex-induced lift, Socha and his colleagues noted in a study, to be published November 24 in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. The research was also presented Monday at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif.

"Hypothetically, this means that if the snake continued on like this, it would eventually be moving upward in the air—quite an impressive feat for a snake," Socha said. Models show, however, that the unexpected upthrust is only passing—at least in the experimental setting, in which "the snake hits the ground." But in the snakes' native forest habitat, where trees are much higher and distances longer, the oscillating ophidians might remain airborne much longer.

But those with a fear of flying snakes needn't worry unless their travel plans will take them into a South Asian forest—or reruns of the 2006 film starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Check out the whole article.

Sheep hating wolves

2010-11-26T20:58:00.002-05:00

My terrier Gordon loves to chase the critters in the back yard. Lizards - yum; frogs - yes, sir. Sometimes he even likes to munch on a toad. Every time he does he drops the little guy and he starts to salivate and foam at the mouth. This is the toads way of training dogs to keep back.

Natural aversion therapy.

Aversion therapy is often used with dogs to convince them not to do this or go there. Really, all your shock collar is is aversion therapy. Can scientists use aversion therapy to convince wolves not to eat sheep?

It is being tried on the reintroduced Mexican wolves of the Southwest.

Reintroducing critically endangered Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) to the U.S. Southwest has never been easy. It hasn't helped that livestock owners hate the wolves. Every month livestock deaths that might have been caused by a wolf must be thoroughly investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). If any wolves are found to be a problem, they must be caught and returned to captivity. With only a few dozen of the predators left in the wild, every animal counts, and these removals hurt the long-range hopes for the species.
But now two psychologists have an idea to ease that human–wolf conflict: teach Mexican wolves that eating sheep will make them sick, so they stop predating on livestock.

Lowell Nicolaus, a biology professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University, and Dan Moriarty, a psychology professor with the University of San Diego, tried their idea in September 2009 with several captive Mexican gray wolves. According to a report published in the November 2010 issue of Monitor of Psychology, the researchers laced ground mutton with a nausea-inducing chemical called tiabendazole. The chemical has no taste or smell, so the wolves were not able to detect it. But after eating the contaminated meat, the sickened animals later refused to eat more sheep flesh.

The Squirrel Hawk

2010-11-26T07:55:00.004-05:00

I never intended for Gonzo to hunt squirrels. He was going to be a car hawking bird, then a rabbit bird. But that didn't work out.

I kept having to chase after Gonzo as he would wander from the field edges into the forest after squirrels. I eventually gave up trying to stop him and instead I got him a girl friend to help out.

This first female came from a varied history, but most of her time was spent with a rabbit hawker in another state. When I got her she was already eleven years old and pretty set in her ways.

She was always looking down.

You can't hunt squirrels when you are always looking down.

So I hunted her on squirrels solo for a while. She was perching too low, and never saw the squirrels as soon as they were over her head. I had to come up with something better.

I hunted hills. I would start on the side of a steep hill and throw the bird into the tops of the trees down in the valley, then I would slide down the hillside and start shaking trees and tugging vines. The hawk had good height so her vantage point was great, now I needed her to start spotting squirrels.

If you spend enough time in good squirrel habitat, it will happen.

Squirrels forage on the ground. The hawks will spot them there. The trick is to get them seeing the squirrel moving up the side of a tree. So I had to hunt in areas with little ground cover, that way the squirrel can't hide in the brush. The squirrels have to run up the tree.

There is usually no need to beat at the ground cover. Squirrels will naturally move to the tree tops when a large predator is bumbling through the underbrush. Also, we don't want to reinforce rabbits here. Pull on vines, shake saplings. I want squirrels to move in the trees. When it gets colder (below 45 or so) especially pull vines going up to squirrel nests (dreys).

When you see the squirrel, get to the tree quickly and beat on the side of it while giving the game call. Even if the bird did not see the squirrel, he should come over to investigate. With enough exposure, the hawk should start laddering up the trees and finding those greys.

This harris finally figured it out. Her first solo kill came after only three hunts. After her second, I had her hunt with Gonzo and they became a pretty good team.

We tried another trick with Andrew's red tail who reluctant to look up. After a few weeks in the field, the bird just didn't seem to be seeing the squirrels, though we were in target rich environments.

We ran a line from the brush on the ground, across open space, up a tree and onto a branch about ten feet off the ground.

Remember the key here is to get the hawk to see the squirrel go up a tree. We tied a freshly killed squirrel to the end of the line and called the hawk over to a nearby tree, so that he could observe the squirrel from a distance. Andrew gave the game call - hohoho - and I pulled on the string. I had to get the squirrel across open ground quickly, so the bird would not nail him on the ground.

It worked like a charm, the squirrel made it halfway up the trunk and the red tail moved over to the right tree. He lost the squirrel for a bit, but we kept twitching it with the string, and eventually the hawk grabbed it off the branch.

I have never had a red tail (or a harris) that did not take to squirrels. I prefer male red tails on grey squirrels ( I don't hunt fox squirrels). Yes, their feet are smaller, but they are also more acrobatic flying through the trees. They gain height more easily, they chase better. That being said - females have better feet for the job, and they can catch them, their hunting style is different. I would prefer a smaller female - though there are plenty of hawkers that would disagree

They need to get out in good habitat. They need to see squirrels, and soon - you the rabbit hawker - will be hooked.

Grey Wednesday

2010-11-25T08:15:00.005-05:00

I don't generally celebrate Black Friday. Instead, I celebrate Grey Wednesday.

I had to drop my daughter off at the movies at 3:00, I had to stop by work and I was in the field at 3:20. I needed to pick up my girl again at 5:00 so time was a premium.

I hadn't hunted this patch of woods since last season. Then it was marginal habitat. There was plenty of food for the squirrels as the area was edged with live oaks, but the interior of the wood was often wet and swampy. I could walk it in boots, as the water was never deep, but it wasn't good for squirrels to forage.

This year, with less rain, it looks much better.

As I entered the woods I had to wade through a boarder of yearling pines. And the hawks were off. I had flushed something along the ground. I chased after them, but couldn't keep up. All I saw was the something flashing along the ground, the hawks diving.

Tess dove and missed, finding herself out of position, Gonzo went in.
Soon I heard the jangle of bells as Gonzo tumbled on the ground tussling with a squirrel.

I found him on the ground, squirrel attached to one anklet, both Gonzo's feet attached to the squirrels head and face. Nice catch. He got a flesh wound on one rear toe, it bled, but was really superficial. So fifteen minutes in and one squirrel in the bag.

The birds never made it up to their hunting height before we were off after our next squirrel. Tree to tree, the squirrel leapt, his destination was a large elm, another old pine leaning against it. And the squirrel was gone.

The birds knew it was there. They climbed and circled, flew off to a nearby tree for a better vantage point, then came back. Then they spotted the nest. It was hidden in the crotch of the tree, Tess pounced on it. Scratched and tore.

Nothing

ripe, rip scratch - leaves flew. Nothing.

I gave up and started walking away. This one must have found a hole.

I turned back to call the hawks along. Tess was still scratching on top of the nest when the squirrel popped out the bottom. It was a big grey.

Gonzo launched from and adjacent tree. Gonzo grabbed the squirrel firmly on the rump, but this grey was having none of it. He spiraled down the trunk with Gonzo attached and flailing behind him.

Squirrel, hawk, squirrel circling down the trunk like lines on a barber pole, when Tess launched from the nest and snatched the squirrel by the head. The two hawks came helicoptering down with the squirrel between them.

Forty minutes of hunting, two squirrels, time to start heading home.

Tess launched off her trade off piece after a squirrel that was running along the ground. Another chase ensued. This one was quick as the squirrel bailed out of a tree early on and Tess took it on the ground, wrapping it up nicely by the head.

I was out of trade off tid-bits. I was down to two mice to call the birds back to the truck. Hiding from the birds, I cut these in half "just in case", and made a B line to the car. It was 4:15. I would be done hunting in plenty of time to get my daughter.

We didn't make it out of the woods.

A squirrel was frozen on the side of a pine as I walked underneath him, he moved. The chase was on.

I finally made it to the car at 4:35.

I got the birds away with plenty of time to get to the movies and pick up my daughter.

I'm wondering what my season total will be at the end of the month.

Happy Grey Wednesday.

Wind, weather, etc

2010-11-23T01:02:00.004-05:00

November is quickly winding down and I have no excuses (that means lots) for not posting more often.

Around here the leaves have finally begun to drop and the wind has been blowing hard. I've been out a few times. Took out a gaggle of kids once and then with just my own boy.

Squirrels are out there, but competing with the wind and the leaves has been difficult. Throw in a dash of rain and sickness, and brew it up into a tough start tot the season.

All in all, my head count is ten going into the holiday.

A few pics;

Slogging through the woods.

Squirrel trying to eat my hand.

Gorgeous fall colors.

Latest catch. This is a good sized male gray.

An hour and a half

2010-11-11T07:14:00.004-05:00

The clocks have set back and it gets too dark to hunt just after 5:00. If I can get changed and sneak out of work right on time, that gives me about an hour and a half to hunt. There is a great spot just across the street that I can get to quickly, thus maximizing my time in the field.

So on Monday I found myself changing into my hunting clothes in the bathroom at work, only to realize that I had forgotten my boots. Crap, I couldn't very well hunt in my work shoes, so I had to get home quickly.

Thankfully, I only live 15 minutes from work. But the construction slowed me down - they're installing new power lines along the highway, closing it down to only one lane.

My mind was thrumming - as I beat out a tune on my steering wheel - my impatience surging.

Home, change, check gear, back out.

I was in the field by 3:45. Okay, that's about an hour and some change, plenty of time for a good squirrel chase.

The hawks had fasted the day before and both their weights were right on. I tossed them into the trees and marched into the cane.

This area was flooded last year and much of it couldn't be hunted. It's all dried out now and makes this area ideal bottom lands to hunt in. It is still too thick to see much, but some color is starting to sneak into the leaves and I'm hoping they'll be falling soon.

It didn't take long before the hawks pinged on a squirrel. They' body language told the tale as first Gonzo dashed over to a distant tree, followed by Tess. Gonzo started to climb, circling the trunk and looking. That's when I saw the squirrel leap, from oak to pine, the squirrel scrambled up the trunk. Tess darted to intercept, but the squirrel was already across to the next tree, disappearing into the thick leaves of a live oak. I couldn't see anything, just shadows through the leaves. I listened for the bells as I pulled vines and made a commotion on the ground.

At one point, I heard a flurry of activity, then nothing. Tess had killed it in the tree tops. Gonzo stood close by.

So I waited as Tess finished the job.

I hate it when this happens. The hunt is ending outside of my control. The hawks can sit in the tree and eat if they so choose. So I worry. But the good thing about having too birds up there is that they put pressure on one another, and it wasn't long before Tess launched, the squirrel dangling from her talons, and glided to a more secluded, "private" dining area a hundred yards away.

I found her and transferred her off. Little did I know that Tess's new spot was crawling with squirrels.

As soon as I had bagged the first catch, another chase was on. I missed much of it as it took place low, between cover and on the ground. The hawks followed, diving like missiles. Finally, the squirrel tried to spiral up the straight trunk of a loblolly pine. He made it about two thirds up when Gonzo scraped him off the side, dropping him. Tess caught him in mid air - adjusting her grip to his head and glided to the ground. I made in quickly, got a hold of the squirrel and Tess stepped off, waiting for her reward. Trade off don't go any easier. Gonzo honored, off to the side.

And there was still time.

So I took the roundabout route back towards the jeep. Two minutes and gonzo was off, after another squirrel. I stumbled, earthbound, after them. This chase took longer, up and down hills, from tree to tree. I shook the vines from the ground, keeping the squirrel moving. Gonzo circled up the tree, While Tess stalked from below. There was no lull in this chase, the squirrel felt the pressure from the two birds and never stopped moving.

The squirrel sought refuge in an old, poorly made nest. Tess regularly tears apart nests and she just plowed into this one. Their was a brief struggle, and she ended up killing this one in the tree again. It didn't take as long, and I wasn't worried, except that daylight was starting to fade.

She coasted down with it nearby, and I traded her a third time.

With three catches and two of those where she killed in the trees, you would expect that Tess's toes would be pretty well chewed up. But these hawks have been doing this for a while and know the game. A quick inspection of the hawks feet shows only one, superficial bite. A quick rinse and it will heal up so that you won't even know it was there.

4:45

Not enough daylight for another chase, so I made a B-line back to the care and put the birds away. What can you do in an hour?

Apparently, a lot.

Mating not necessary

2010-11-07T19:40:00.002-05:00

At least not in boa constrictors. Science daily reports:

In a finding that upends decades of scientific theory on reptile reproduction, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that female boa constrictors can squeeze out babies without mating.

More strikingly, the finding shows that the babies produced from this asexual reproduction have attributes previously believed to be impossible.

Large litters of all-female babies produced by the "super mom" boa constrictor show absolutely no male influence -- no genetic fingerprint that a male was involved in the reproductive process. All the female babies also retained their mother's rare recessive color mutation.

This is the first time asexual reproduction, known in the scientific world as parthenogenesis, has been attributed to boa constrictors, says Dr. Warren Booth, an NC State postdoctoral researcher in entomology and the lead author of a paper describing the study. He adds that the results may force scientists to re-examine reptile reproduction, especially among more primitive snake species like boa constrictors.

Great morning

2010-11-07T09:07:00.004-05:00

Johnathan came up from Jacksonville yesterday for a morning of hunting. He brought his sharp shinned hawk and we started off with some car hawking.

I have always understood that accipiters are crazy, high strung, and often difficult to hunt. We trapped one last year and I considered hunting with it, but soon let it loose as I was not up to the challenge.

Johnathan's little girl dispelled many of these myths.

Johnathan is a hawkers - hawker. He maintains this little bird impeccably and hunts her everyday. After about 26 days, she already has 29 kills. Her primary mode of hunting; car hawking. And, once we figured out she didn't like my Steelers baseball cap, she was well mannered riding unhooded in the car.

We rode around looking for the right slip. It was later in the morning than we would have liked (Johnathan had driven up just that morning), the wind was blowing and rain was spitting off and on.

Conditions could be better.

We tried two slips on starlings. The bird missed, both times. Johnathan was frustrated. Then the bird flew and landed in a tree. It took a few minutes, while the restaurant manager, whose parking lot we were idling in, gave us dirty looks.

The bird came down to the lure, and we decided to give the sharpie a rest.

We went back to the house and loaded up the harris hawks. They were both fat, as I had fed them up a few days before in anticipation of a cold front that never came.

Tess was working hard, Gonzo - not so much. We had a few squirrel chases where the squirrel won by either getting in a hole, or scampering to the top of a giant pine. The hawks were not motivated enough to follow.

Suddenly, Tess cruised low, then crashed to the ground. I stumbled over, more curious than hopeful, and she was on a squirrel HA !

Score one - but wait. This squirrel was dead, and already partially eaten. That's when we noticed the red tail screaming at us from overhead. Apparently we had scored anther hawks kill.

Doesn't count (though it still goes in the freezer).

We waded on. A chase quickly ensued. The leaf cover was too thick to see any of it, but it ended with Tess gliding to the ground, squirrel in her talons.

We wandered a bit more, but it was getting late, so we called it a day.

On the way back to my house we noticed a flock of starlings across the street that looked ripe for the pickin'.

We switched vehicles and got the sharp shin ready for another try.

We cruised by slow, checking it out. The hawk was on Johnathan's fist, ready to go. But every time we passed, the flock flew. Johnathan, though good natured about the day, was frustrated.

We pulled into a parking lot behind the flock, and there was a single starling, hopping amongst some rocks on the edge of the blacktop.

Johnathan nudged the car forward,and dumped the hawk out the window.

It disappeared below our line of sight.

Damn.

Then it creamed into the starling, grabbing it and carrying it into a thicket.
I could hear the starling yelling the whole way in.

Slam, park, run.

She was hidden amongst the leaves getting control of the bird. The starling screeched as the sharpie adjusted its grip.

Johnathan came in, pushing aside the vegetation and began tidbitting. The bird accepted the offerings greedily.

Johnathan let her eat, then transferred her off neatly.

Awesome.

Eagle/ harris hybrid

2010-11-06T21:04:00.003-04:00

I've never seen one, but this is a picture of a golden eagle- harris hawk hybrid.
I wonder if they hunt cooperatively? They're probably too big for squirrels.
If you live out on the open plains and hunt jacks - this might be the ticket.

Patrick goes on to write a great article about hybrids and hybridization. Take a look.

Found in the Mountians

2010-11-06T07:57:00.003-04:00

This marbled orb weaver was found hidden in the leaf litter on the mountain. She was one of the coolest spiders I have ever found.

Mountians to coast

2010-11-06T07:09:00.003-04:00

Last weekend was a busy one.

It started with an unsuccessful hunt. The cover here is still so thick, wading through it is tough enough, but the squirrels are able to just disappear.

We saw plenty, but Tess wasn't able to connect.

So I loaded up the car and picked up my coworker, Lee, and we headed west.

It didn't take long before we started to see signs of Fall. On the Outer Banks we don't get a real fall. Eventually, the leaves turn brown, curl, and fall. But many of the trees, the live oaks especially, don't lose their leaves. We don't get that spectacular change.

So it was nice to see some vibrant leaves.

Before long, the road began to undulate, up a hill down a hill, and there were mountains in the distance.

We were spending the weekend with the NC Museum of Natural Science searching for elk.

The experimental release of elk into Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in February, 2001 with the importation of 25 elk from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. In 2002, the park imported another 27 animals. All elk were radio collared and were monitored during the eight-year experimental phase of the project. In 2009-2010, the park began developing an environmental assessment of the program and a long-term management plan for elk. Project partners include the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Parks Canada, Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Friends of the Smokies, the U.S.G.S. Biological Resources Division, and the University of Tennessee.
Elk once roamed the southern Appalachian Mountains and elsewhere in the eastern United States. They were eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat. The last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s. In Tennessee, the last elk was killed in the mid-1800s. By 1900, the population of elk in North America dropped to the point that hunting groups and other conservation organizations became concerned the species was headed for extinction.

We were here to see if we could find them.

We woke the next morning to cold and frost. I could see my breath as I peeked outside the cabin to check the weather. 15 educators loaded into a van and traversed the switchback laden road over the mountain and into Cataloochee Valley.

The trees opened up around the road and there they were. One big bull elk and his harem of females. The were silent, munching on the valley grasses steam rising off of their frost covered backs. Then the male rose its head and bugled smoke rising from his snout. The sound echoed.

The teachers were giddy. we watched them for hours as they fought, bugled and the males tried to make their advances.

These elk were reintroduced from a Canadian herd and tend to be smaller than the elk out west. But they were still impressive.

We spent the day hiking and observing the herd. Turkey would wander the fields with impunity as we were involved in talks from the park rangers and educational staff.

The valley filled with tourists, there for the same reason.

We left late in the afternoon after being educated on terrestrial snails, lichen, and the blight affecting the smokey mountain hemlock trees.
Saturday night we celebrated elkoween; lame costumes and cheap wine. It was fun.

Sunday was more of the same - with the elk ever present in the valley.

It was a good weekend and I learned a lot. I will be spending more time traveling with the museum.

We left in the afternoon, our brains full and jiggly.

We spent Sunday morning doing the same

Largest living snake dies

2010-10-28T22:09:00.002-04:00

Fluffy, a gigantic and gentle reticulated python at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, died last night due to an apparent tumor, the zoo said in a news statement accompanying these photos.

"The eighteen-year-old snake was 24 feet (7.3 meters) long and 300 pounds (136 kilograms) and held the title of longest snake by Guinness World Records," the zoo added.

It is a sad day in the reptile world. Read the rest here.

sad but funny irony - but sad

2010-10-26T20:04:00.003-04:00

Smuggling animals is a crime. Don't do it - especially if it causes the plane to crash and kill most of the passengers.

Seriously - its a bad idea.

20 die in air disaster after smuggled crocodile escapes on a plane
Wildlife smugglers will do just about anything for a quick buck, including sneaking a live predator onto an airplane with no regard for the risk to the animal or fellow passengers. This illegal activity reached a devastating and absurdist extreme recently when a man reportedly smuggled a live crocodile onto a plane departing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The crocodile got loose, the crew and passengers panicked, and the plane crashed, killing 20 people.
Oddly enough, the crocodile survived the crash, only to be hacked to death by machete-wielding locals on the ground.
Only one passenger lived to bear witness to the events.

Seriously
The rest is found on Scientific American -

Going for broke

2010-10-26T06:33:00.003-04:00

Last year I topped out at 30 head of game. I don't count car hawking in my total stats - don't ask me why, I don't know. Maybe just 'cause my car hawking is inconsistent.

But this year I should have more time. I've already gotten an earlier start, and I won't be traveling over Christmas.

35? I think I can do it. It would be an all time high - yeah, we'll shoot for that.

35

Can't see for the trees

2010-10-26T05:58:00.005-04:00

I took both Tess and Gonzo out Saturday.

It was a great morning for hunting. Cool and still with just a bit of mist rising. The temperature rose quickly though and I found myself shedding layers in short order.

No problem putting the two of them back together. They started off following well, doing their old leapfrog.

Right off the bat, Tess attacked a squirrels leaf nest. I don't know if she saw something move in there, or she just was hoping. Either way, I like that she does that. It will often pay off,just not when the temperature is this warm.

They worked a squirrel in short order, but the cover and vine tangles were to thick and they lost it. During the chase we popped another one from its hiding spot and started following that one.

Up, down and around a stand of pines surrounded by hardwoods.

The squirrel ran the two hawks ragged, but they wouldn't give up.

Finally, Tess scraped it off the side of the pine, tumbling to the ground. Gonzo landed nearby waiting for his bit.

Both birds traded off and we went to look for more.

We chased a few, but soon lost them in the cover.

Last year we didn't have our first squirrel until Oct 29. We've already gotten two this year. Time for me to start thinking about our goal.

Free Flight

2010-10-25T21:01:00.004-04:00

Sunday was the day. It started out pretty normal. We began with Jocelyn on the creance cruising down the driveway. No problem, no hesitation.

She has been doing great!

And I have been holding off on the free flight. It was me that wasn't ready. So I decided that today was the day.

Her weight was on. 163 grams. She had been responding well from 160 - 166. Even at 166 she would come, but she would hesitate longer than I liked.

I've been feeding her from the fist, and on the ground. I hadn't introduced the lure, but was ready to do that in the next day or two.

After the second flight on the creance, I placed her on the back of the jeep for one more try.

I backed up a few steps, not far, maybe three feet. The creance was trailing on the ground where I placed my foot firmly on it. It was the short one, not much longer than a leash.

Called her in, thinking - "yeah, this is the last one and then free flight."

She looked to her left, then right, bobbed her head and set her wings - perfect.

Until the sprinklers popped and hissed, spitting out a stream of water.

It startled me.

I turned to look, the bird checked herself in mid air, pumped her wings and banked. Up over the grass and the crepe myrtle in the front yard - trailing the short creance behind her, she disappeared into the trees that flank the front yard. I had moved my foot when I turned towards the noise, releasing the line.

It was stupid - I ran after her, calling, whistling and tossing the food into the air. I wandered the woods. Then I sat and watched.

I scanned the trees, holding the food in my gloved fist. I watched and waited for a sign.

I returned later, just as the sun was dropping, calling and whistling.

I'm angry - not at the bird, but at myself. The creance should have been attached to something. I should have attached the transmitter, even though these were only short flights.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Crap.

Went out again this morning and called. There was no sign. I think she's gone.

Chupacabra revealed - people are partly to blame

2010-10-24T08:21:00.002-04:00

Is Chupacabra, the monster of the south, eating your livestock and dragging away your children? What is this evil fiend? Science Daily has an explanation:

...[T]he real fiend is not the hairless, fanged animal purported to attack and drink the blood of livestock; it's a tiny, eight-legged creature that turns a healthy, wild animal into a chupacabras, says University of Michigan biologist Barry OConnor.
The existence of the chupacabras, also known as the goatsucker, was first surmised from livestock attacks in Puerto Rico, where dead sheep were discovered with puncture wounds, completely drained of blood. Similar reports began accumulating from other locations in Latin America and the U.S. Then came sightings of evil-looking animals, variously described as dog-like, rodent-like or reptile-like, with long snouts, large fangs, leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and a nasty odor. Locals put two and two together and assumed the ugly varmints were responsible for the killings.

Scientists studied some of the chupacabras carcasses and concluded that the dreaded monsters actually were coyotes with extreme cases of mange -- a skin condition caused by mites burrowing under the skin. OConnor, who studies the mites that cause mange, concurs and has an idea why the tiny assailants affect wild coyotes so severely, turning them into atrocities.
In a recent "Monster Talk" podcast posted on Skeptic magazine's website, OConnor explained that the mite responsible for the extreme hair loss seen in "chupacabras syndrome" is Sarcoptes scabiei, which also causes the itchy rash known as scabies in people. Human scabies is an annoyance, but not usually a serious health or appearance problem, partly because our bodies are already virtually hairless and partly because the population of mites on a given person usually is relatively small -- only 20 or 30 mites.

Evolutionary studies done by OConnor and his former graduate student Hans Klompen, now an associate professor at Ohio State University, suggest that the scabies mite has been with us throughout our evolutionary history, giving humans plenty of time to develop defenses. When humans began domesticating animals, Sarcoptes scabiei found a whole new realm of potential victims. Domestic dogs, like humans, have played host to the mites long enough to evolve the ability to fight off mange, but when the condition spreads to wild members of the dog family -- foxes, wolves and coyotes -- watch out.

"Whenever you have a new host-parasite association, it's pretty nasty," said OConnor, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a curator in the U-M Museum of Zoology. "It does a lot of damage, and mortality can be relatively high because that host species has not had any evolutionary history with the parasite, so it has not been able to evolve any defenses like we have."

In these unfortunate animals, large numbers of mites burrowing under the skin cause inflammation, which results in thickening of the skin. Blood supply to hair follicles is cut off, so the fur falls out. In especially bad cases, the animal's weakened condition opens the door to bacteria that cause secondary skin infections, sometimes producing a foul odor. Put it all together, and you've got an ugly, naked, leathery, smelly monstrosity: the chupacabras.

Do mite infestations also alter the animals' behavior, turning them into bloodthirsty killers? Not exactly, but there is an explanation for why they may be particularly likely to prey on small livestock such as sheep and goats.

"Because these animals are greatly weakened, they're going to have a hard time hunting," OConnor said. "So they may be forced into attacking livestock because it's easier than running down a rabbit or a deer."

While the chupacabras has achieved legendary status, other wild animals can suffer just as much from the effects of mange mites, OConnor said. In Australia, the mite is killing off wombats. "They presumably got the mites from dingoes, which got them from domestic dogs, which got them from us," he said.

And a related mite, just as insidious, can drive squirrels to self-destruct. In his graduate school years at Cornell University, OConnor observed mange-weakened squirrels falling from trees. That observation led him to conduct an informal survey to see if mangy squirrels also were more likely than healthy squirrels to end up as road kill. They were, suggesting that being tortured by mites somehow made the squirrels less adept at dodging cars.

Lady and Starling

2010-10-24T07:46:00.001-04:00

This is my friend John. He came up from Jacksonville to do a little trapping this way. He was looking for a sharp shin, but by the time he came up - he'd already trapped it. The little sharpie is a real killer. Here he is on his 9th kill.

Opening day

2010-10-23T21:46:00.005-04:00

Monday was the first day of squirrel season, but it is still too hot to hunt. Early season squirrel hunting is tough.

I took out Tess by herself.

The plan was to take her out into the woods and get her to follow. But as I waded into the woods, I knew it wasn't going to work. The cobwebs broke across my face and mosquitoes buzzed around my head. The canopy was thick with leaves. Autumn was still a long time coming.

It was after work and the temperature was hovering in the low 70s. Too hot.

The ground cover was so thick you couldn't see the pine needles on the forest floor.

I waded back out and upgraded my plan. I was going to walk along the edge of the woods while calling Tess to and from my fist. I just wanted to get her out and remember what we were doing. Additionally, I knew she was out of shape, so this was an opportunity to get her moving.

It didn't last long.

I meandered along the edge of the wood about ten feet, then Tess bolted towards the interior. I ran to follow. I couldn't see anything due to the leaf cover. Bells rang, silence. The hawk would move - though I couldn't see her, I could hear her.

Then leaves and bark would fall into my eyes and more furious bell ringing.

Then Tess came tumbling from the tree, squirrel in her talons.

Here's to number one.

Kiwis stink is killing them.

2010-10-17T08:10:00.003-04:00

From Scientific American:

Does the natural mushroom-like smell of the kiwi bird help to make it a tempting target for the predators that are eating it out of existence? One scientist thinks so, and he is proposing a deodorant of some kind to protect the birds from extinction.
With all five kiwi species endangered, this is research that you shouldn't turn your nose up at. For the first several thousands of years of their existence, New Zealand kiwis (genus Apteryx) did not have to worry about what they smelled like—there were no mammals there to sniff them out, let alone eat them. That changed when humans came to the island, bringing stoats, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs and a variety of other hungry critters.

There is more to this. Read it here.

Outer Banks Beach Trapping

2010-10-17T07:30:00.003-04:00

I got a call from Dan yesterday. He was the NC falconer who got one of the the peregrine falcon trapping tags. We had a good conversation about their trials and tribulations trapping on the Outer Banks. He never did fill his tag.

Neither did Allen, the falconer from Maryland who pulled the other peregrine tag.

I am still learning about this beach trapping thing, but I have made a few observations over the years about trapping in this place I call home. I'm glad Dan left here with a positive attitude, even though he and his friends had many obstacles. And he left without his peregrine. He came in with the right attitude.

Trapping here is tough. Getting good land permission is almost impossible. I had permission on two different tracts of land and we had identified a third possible site on the map. I wanted to see where the birds were.

If you come here to trap - bring four wheel drive. Good four wheel drive. Much of the good trapping sites are through the dunes, where there are no roads. Dan's group got stuck in a hole in a dune track. We'd had lots of rain, there was flooding, and the hole was deeper than they thought. $450 dollars for a tow - w0w.

Anyway. You need four wheel drive, and you need time. we were plagued with high winds and bad weather. And very few birds moving this year. You can't expect to trap a peregrine in two or three days. Could it happen? Sure. But it rarely does.

Plan on a week, maybe more. and lots of time in the blind. Certain weather patterns promise more birds. Not always. North winds seem to provide the most, but they can't be blowing too hard. I can't see not trapping because the winds aren't exactly right. Really, I only need one bird, the right bird, to come to the nets. That could happen any day.

I hear stories about Cape May and Virginia's North shore, Virginia, and ridge trapping. I get emails from guys who are catching 4, 5, 15 birds in a day.

I've never had that happen here. Could my trapping be substandard? am I not doing everything I could? maybe. The fact seems to be that we just don't have the concentrations of birds funneling down our beaches like other areas. I don't know where all the birds go. They seem to disperse once they leave the kiptopeke hawk watch site.

We don't see those numbers.

If you don't have a lot of time, nor are you patient. Don't draw a tag to trap in North Carolina. Make sure you have permission from landowners before you come and know the conditions that you will be facing. Dress and drive appropriately. Plan on disappointment.

Dan and his group treated it like a trapping vacation. They trapped during the day, spending time with friends. they ate well at night. they watched football in the evenings. Treat it like a vacation where instead of golf, or fishing, your spending time with your friends in a 4X4 blind, shooting the breeze and watching birds (or not).

Dan went home with a merlin. Four of the trappers left the beach with merlins. Other birds were trapped and released, merlins and coopers mostly. His bird is flying to him inside the house now and he is starting to think about how to introduce it to game.

Good - he's having fun. That is what falconry should be about.

moving outside

2010-10-16T21:53:00.004-04:00

Training has been pretty predictable thus far.
The little Merlin has been flying to me indoors for a few days. Over ten feet on a dragged creance.

I've had Jocelyn in and out of my classroom full of spastic ten year olds about every other day. As of Thursday, she was flying across the room with the kids in there. I admit, the kids thought it was pretty cool.

And it was.

She is so used to people she didn't even flinch.

So yesterday, we took it outside. Half a dozen flight to the fist. 3 feet, 5 feet 10 feet, and all of them went well, until a gust of wind hit her broadside. The creance brought her to the ground where she sat and looked at me.

Eventually, she hopped, flew, back to me and ate the chick on the ground as I sat next to her. I fed her a few tidbits, and watched her freeze as the cat sauntered past. She waited, while the cat settled herself under a nearby car, then Jocelyn started to pick at the chicken again.

I picked her up, and took her inside. Overall, a good day.

Bird Update

2010-10-12T20:04:00.004-04:00

It has been seven days. The merlin has been held back due to the reluctant falconer. And a scale gone bad.

Things had been going swimmingly. I admit, these little falcons make me nervous. With their exacting weight management, and skittish nature. But the merlin has been patient.

She spent the day weekend with me and the family at a soccer tournament. She watched the game from the sidelines, sat with the family on the lawn during lunch, a stray dog only steps away, and then came and hung out in a classroom full of spastic 10 year olds all day.

Unhooded. (did I hear a gasp?)

I decided to name her Jocelyn just today. No other name has inspired me. And I am of the belief that falcons need to have traditional names (falcons and owls that is). My kestrels were Romeo and Ulrich.

Anyway - tonight she made the leap.

Her weight was about 165 grams ( I say about cause my scale is doing funny things). She first stepped to the fist for a chicken leg (shoot I'd jump to the fist for a chicken leg).

Then, she hopped. And hopped again. Before it was all over, she'd jumped a dozen times,the last few were over five feet.

All with impeccable grace and poise. Well done Jocelyn.

Weekend was a bust - but...

2010-10-05T20:13:00.004-04:00

A lot of guys came down this weekend to trap. Two of them had the coveted peregrine tags. Arnaud and I wanted merlins, others were along for the ride. Some are still here - but Mother Nature was not cooperating.

We separated into three groups. Beachfront, soundfront, and mainland. We tried to spread ourselves out to figure out where the hawks were migrating. There just isn't any data for our state about exactly where the highest concentrations are flying.'

So, it was an experiment.

The guys arrived on Friday and checked out where they were going to be setting up their equipment.

Arnaud brought his merlin, so I was able to keep my eye on the prize. Then first thing Saturday morning we split up and went our separate ways.

Arnaud and I stayed in the mainland sight, waiting for the birds, but honestly, they were scarce. A coopers hawk here, a kestrel, etc.

Here is our sparrow bait strapped into a Millican harness, which worked very well. (thanks Johnathan)

The wind was out of the south, we rationalized that the birds weren't coming.

Bon showed up mid afternoon and took my spot, so I headed north and stayed with the boys on the soundside. now to be honest, they could see from one side of the beach to the other. Any bird in the sky, they should have been able to see it.

But the birds weren't there.

Sunday it rained and the wind blew at 20 - 30 miles an hour. We set up the beach site and tried all morning, but it was too miserable and there were no birds in the sky. We gave it a break, then tried again later when the rain had slackened. Merlins zoomed by, the wind carrying them past.

Nothing slowed for more than a second to look at our nets. And to be honest, the gusts were blowing them crazily, making them clearly visible.

The weekend was a bust.

I had taken Monday off - just in case. Everyone else set up along the beach, I opted for the mainland. I sat through the day and saw only one coopers. He came right to the pigeon, but landed behind the nets. I tried to scare him into the nets, but he flew off. And that was it.

I called it a day at 2:00. I packed up, knowing that my trapping chances were over. I was trying to come up with plan B. Maybe a kestrel?

Not sure.

On the way home I get a call from Arnaud on the north beach. They're seeing falcons and he's trapped a merlin.

After a few frantic phone calls, I change my plans, rearrange the kids ride schedules, then head north. There were a few hours of sunlight left.

I rode down the blowing sandy beaches, keeping to the ruts in front of me. I crossed the dune, and drove through the fields and past some local wildlife. I noticed none of it. I was frantic to get there.

When I got there Arnaud had trapped another bird, a male this time. he had figured out the secret to merlin trapping on the Outer Banks.

It was the merlin tree. He set up behind it and it drew the birds in. weird.

By the time I left the trap site that night, there was another female merlin sitting on the seat next to me. She was trapped at 208 grams and is a gorgeous chocolate brown.

Still looking for a name.

and there are some guys still looking for their falcon.

I'll keep you posted.

Intelligent birds

2010-10-01T07:13:00.003-04:00

Many people give birds a bad rap. They think of them as simple creatures that simply eat and poop on their cars. Research has over and over proved that this is not true. Science Daily lays out the basic argument:

The level of intelligence in birds, as a scientific inquiry, has not been as thoroughly researched as similar questions regarding primates and other mammals.
However, there is a general belief that they are more intelligent, as a class, than the reptiles, and that many species are just as intelligent as mammals of comparable size.

Because birds lack forelimbs with which to modify their surroundings, it is often difficult to test for intelligence as we would define it for mammals.

Traditionally, biological science has maintained that most actions performed by birds that may indicate intelligence are merely ingrained instinctual behaviours and that birds are unable to learn.

While parrots have the distinction of being able to mimic human speech, studies with the African Grey Parrot have shown that some are able to associate words with their meanings and form simple sentences.

Along with parrots, the crows, ravens, and jays (family Corvidae) are perhaps the most intelligent of birds..
For more information about the topic Bird intelligence, read the full article at Wikipedia.org,

Dry Run

2010-09-29T17:15:00.005-04:00

I took the blind, nets, and bait birds out for a dry run on Saturday. It was my first day off in I don't know how long, and all the trapping indicators were wrong.

But that is alright, I just wanted to give it a try.

I set up the nets Friday night, leaving them collapsed, but ready. Bait poles were hung with lure line and ready for the bait birds. I slept roughly Friday night. Often before a big outing, I can't sleep This was like that.

I got out of bed before my alarm and made it to the trap sight as the sun crested the horizon. I finished setting up, strung up the nets, and placed the bait birds on their strings.

The wind was perfectly wrong, 10 miles an hour and coming pretty directly from the South. I only needed to trap one bird though, only one bird migrating through the area.

Everything pointed almost directly North, the nets set in a V around the bait.

Then I waited. Egrets flew into the field and started picking at the ground, and quail took dust baths in the distance.

A single merlin blew by me, paying no mind to nets, bait, or other enticements. It just winged its way south.

Then Nothing. The sun moved high in the sky, and nothing.

I left the blind to stretch, only to see a peregrine pursuing another bird. They swirled and twirled in reckless abandon, zig-zagging their way across the field, then ringing straight up to the sky, and plunging back down, skimming the ground.

Gone - over the horizon, then nothing.

I pulled and pulled on the bait pigeon. Nothing flew over, only vultures and crows.

Vultures and crows.

The day ended with a Merlin, flying low over the nets, checking out the bait. It noticed the bait, but never really slowed.

A full day listening to my own inner dialogue with no action in the nets at all.

But, the tension in my neck was gone, I was calm, relaxed.

Maybe I need to spend more time doing nothing for hours on end. It might be good for me.

Turtle love

2010-09-25T20:01:00.004-04:00

I admit it. I've gotten out of the habit of checking other blogs and writing my own. I promise to do better.

Things have been crazy here and It's all I can do to keep up. Fortunately, my schedule is starting to clear a bit. It cleared enough that we were able to go out and check on a turtle nest that we had heard about.

Our friends were lucky enough to be there when the momma laid her eggs.

I was shuttling the boys home from boy scouts, and we were supposed to meet the girls out there.

I was late and missed it, but the girls got to see one of the little buggers shuffle his way down to the surf.

While we waited for any new arrivals, my talented wife decided to take advantage of the harvest moon and take some pictures.

Whatcha doing?

2010-09-15T18:27:00.003-04:00

Gettin' ready. This time of year is real busy. I'm working two jobs, seven days a week. Trapping season is soon upon us. Soccer for the kids has begun in earnest - That's three traveling teams and the middle school team for the oldest.

Oh - and I'm in a triathlon this weekend.

I think that's enough.

But in between driving here and there, work, wine and song - I've been getting nets ready.
I'm trying a new design for my small nets. I have stolen the idea from a net that Andrew had when we were trapping last year.

I've taken and made stationary posts out of 1.5 inch pvc. I painted it camo (cause I think its funny that they have a paint color 'camo'). Now I can theoretically drive around with the nets set up in the back of the car, ready to set it up at a moments notice.

On the single leg in back I've drilled holes so that I can attach a bait bird to the net structure itself.

The rings on the side are to let the net collapse around the caught bird, without having the untangling issues I've had in the past.

I've left holes open in the bottom of the uprights as well, so I can still stake the whole structure to the ground. I had a peregrine last year blow through the net, pull down the poles, untangle itself, and then fly off before I could get to it.

Heart wrenching.

I don't think that can happen here.

For a release mechanism I use clothespins attached loosely to the ends of zip ties. Eric Edwards has pictures of the same mechanism on his nets.

Next I work on the lure poles - trapping will be here soon.

Oh - and Tess is at weight, ready to hunt. 905 grams today.
I changed her jewelry, and as soon as I have an opening in the schedule, we try some car hawking.

Evacuation Plan

2010-09-09T18:23:00.001-04:00

We're close

2010-09-09T17:59:00.004-04:00

Weight management is the key to successfully hunting with any raptor. Some people like the challenge in maintaining a more difficult to manage bird. I don't, as a general rule.

I want my falconry to be fun and hassle free.

For me, harris hawks fit the bill.

Both my birds, at weight, are easy to get along with and biddable. They come to the whistle, every time - but they also come to the call of their name. They roam ahead early in the hunt, and leapfrog over one another as they check out new terrain.

One quests forward, while the other hangs back and watches for movement. They know the game, and they are experts at playing it.

Over the last month I have been slowly cutting the amount of food that they receive by about a quarter. It takes about two mice a day for the birds to maintain their wight as the nights begin to cool (hawks loose more weight in lower temperatures). So I feed them two mice one day, one the next, and they slowly drop the weight.

Tess is about there.

At 940 grams, she would go and hunt right now. By the end of last season, she was hunting around 960 and performing impeccably. But squirrel season still doesn't open for about a month, so if I am going to hunt, I'll be hunting birds.

Most likely out the car window.

To do that, I need her just a little bit lower. She should be ready early next week.

It's time to start clearing the calender.

2010-09-03T20:10:00.004-04:00

I spent the day cleaning up other peoples homes and decks today.

Cruising south down the beach road was an experience.

I'm glad I decided to take the jeep.

After a few miles you realize why all the houses around here are built on stilts.

As the day wore on, Earl pulled farther from shore and everything seemed to return to normal.

Earl Passes

2010-09-03T09:12:00.003-04:00

No news is good news. I haven't ventured from the yard yet, but initial inspections look good. Howling wind and rain overnight, woke me and the kids up.

Otherwise, its a cool storm. I need to go out and clean up other properties. There will be more pictures to follow.

Biding time

2010-09-02T20:55:00.005-04:00

So school was canceled today - I spent the morning getting other peoples properties ready for the storm. We took in their deck chairs, put away anything that could be turned into a projectile. I Shut down power to the hot tubs and pools... and the whole time it was a gorgeous day.

There was a cool breeze and the sun was shining. Light clouds scudded across the sky

Slowly the wind started to pick up.

Went to the store and bought some supplies.

The kids were excited for the storm and cleaned our house while I was out. They readied everything for the storm. When I got home we checked the hive, then strapped it down. I made sure all the birds were fed. Then we were about as ready as we could be.

Then we checked out the beach. The birds were all hanging low, staying grounded. And the surf began to pick up.

Right now, 9:00, we're watching the Steeler game and waiting for the storm to really hit and hoping the satellite doesn't quit on us. We should be asleep when the winds start to get bad. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Waiting to see what happens.

2010-09-01T16:50:00.002-04:00

We're just watching the weather channel. I'm right below the "M" in the words Friday a.m. in the below picture.

Life is on hold until we know where all this is going.

Hope for the Honey Bee

2010-08-30T02:43:00.003-04:00

The Varroa mite has been wiping out bee populations around the world.
Now there may be hope to fight the pesticide resistant strain.

A British beekeeper said on Wednesday he may have discovered a strain of honey bee immune to a parasite that has been gradually wiping out populations of the vital insect worldwide.

Scientists have been trying to find a way to fight the pesticide-resistant Varroa mite.

But now a retired heating engineer who has spent 18 years searching for a mite-resistant breed may have made a breakthrough.

Ron Hoskins, 79, from Swindon in southern England, says he has managed to isolate and breed a strain of bees which "groom" one another, removing the mites.

Read the rest here.

Classroom visitor

2010-08-29T20:03:00.003-04:00

I found a little hog nose snake in a pool skimmer the other day. These are great little snakes. What an opportunity.

I took the little guy into school and tried to impress upon them the importance of being aware of their surroundings. They need to know their snakes, and don't kill them.

Hog nose snakes are "mimics". They pretend to be vicious, venomous snakes and around her, most people believe them. They are often mistaken for cottonmouth water Moccasins. It is really too bad, cause they are great little snakes.

We showed him to the kids, handled him - taught them about mimics, then let him go.

Getting Ready

2010-08-29T19:15:00.005-04:00

I've been out of the loop for a bit - and for that I apologize. The temperature has finally cooled, and school has started. I'm still working the summer job on the weekends, as well as trying to get the birds to a healthy flying weight (we're real close). The combination of these things has made time a commodity of which I have had little as of late.

Regardless, the getting ready games have begun.

Emails have been flying back and forth as preparations are made for trapping season to begin. A new friend down the coast is helping to trap bait birds.

I've always had a problem with securing enough sparrows and starlings to use as bait for merlins, so he brought me up a few and I'm housing them in a make shift shed next to the pigeon loft. I've also set my own elevator trap. Hopefully, I'll get one or two in the next few weeks.

I've been checking the hawk watch counts for the best times to trap. We're after both merlins and Peregrines, their migration time overlap at around the end of September, beginning of October.

I pulled out all my nets, poles, blinds and such to see how they have fared, waiting in the shed for trapping season to roll around. I had forgotten that I had let another trapper borrow my nets, and equipment, so I regarded their storage with trepidation. I hate untangling a net. - let alone three or four.

I set up the blinds, only to find that my oldest ( and cheapest) has lost its shape, and I don't think it will be any use to us this year. Hopefully, some of the other trappers will have blinds they can use. If not - I suppose we could always just use a tent.

The nets beckoned. With the air being cooler, and the humidity lower than it has been all summer, the coming of Fall truly seems like a reality. I am giddy with anticipation. Its silly really how much emotion I have wrapped into all this, but I can't wait.

I pulled the poles apart. The other trapper hadn't stored them the way I would have liked. I unhitched the thread, and then began to unwind the nets. They came apart easily - he did well.

I checked the thread, the knots. Then I wound them back up (my way) and set them back in the corner. I'm about ready - I just need a few things and it won't take long. Trapping will be here before I know it.

To the Fist

2010-08-13T08:26:00.002-04:00

While Gonzo continues to be flighty, snacking at the food on the glove without landing, Tess has come right down, landed, and claimed the food offered to her. I can now start weighing her and bringing her weight down to be ready for hunting.

Didn't take long

2010-08-12T10:19:00.004-04:00

We had our first critter volunteer to try out the new critter box. An opossum had apparently been prowling around the chicken coop and was caught in the traps set for the raccoons. That is fine. I have no problem with opossums, but what a great opportunity.

I loaded him into the critter box and attached the box to the end of a short run of go to ground tunnel. I loaded some dirt into the tunnel (dogs gotta get used to digging) and brought Gordon out to check it out.

The critter cage is separated from the run by some half inch hardware cloth. It didn't take long for Gordon to run down the tunnel and start whining at the opossum. Whining is okay - I was hoping for more. I offered encouragement.

Gordon started biting a bit on the hardware cloth. Good, good.

Then he backed off a bit, as if to consider the situation, and started barking.

Perfect.

It wasn't a deep bay, but more high pitched. He wasn't lunging or attacking, only intimidating. I removed the hardware cloth to see what Gordon would do. It didn't seem like he had any desire to engage the opossum.

I was right.

The two stood face to face, Gordon sounding off, just like he is supposed to. He didn't stop until I removed the critter. Gordon tumbled out of the tunnel, tongue out and smiling. Good dog.

I separated the two new friends and then the opossum was released unharmed.

Time to start paying attention

2010-08-09T07:34:00.006-04:00

It is mid August and for the last five months my hawks have been hog fat. They've been up for breeding, but apparently I didn't accommodate them with the right mood music. They've been down in their weathering area and I have been pretty much leaving them alone while they molt.

The molt is about done. If you look closely at the tail feathers of Gonzo, the last few tail feathers are just about grown in.

Squirrel season doesn't open until mid October, but it is time to start watching the hawks weight.

Neither bird will come to the fist right now for food, so I need to start cutting their food intake. Once they get to a point that they will start snatching at the fist, I will snag one and start weighing them.

I would like to start car hawking Gonzo by mid September. This will get him into shape for squirrels in October.

In the meantime, I need to get out all my nets and B.C. s and start checking them over. Trapping is about a month away and school starts in two weeks, limiting my time. Things should start to get interesting here real soon.

Bee Concerned

2010-08-08T07:26:00.004-04:00

We went into the hive yesterday. The idea was to check on honey stores and see if we would be in a position to try and harvest some honey at the end of the month.

But their progress has been less than stellar. When we added the third super, the bees had quickly filled the first two. Honey was copious and I was really excited about their progress. This time was different.

While I was feeling much better about handling the bees and the frames and such (I'm still not bare handed), the bees hadn't moved into the third super.

The bottom two were full of capped honey. The bees were building everywhere, but they had not moved up at all. My son and I were both surprised and disappointed.

I've read that sometimes the worker bees don't know to move up when you add a new super, so I moved some of the filled honey comb up a level, in hopes that the bees would do the same.

I was hoping to treat for mites and disease in the beginning of September, after we harvested just a few pounds of honey. Unless something big happens, I don't know that we will get any honey. My son was counting on getting some this year. He wanted to give it as presents for Christmas.

Would the bees go into overdrive if I started feeding right now? I don't know. But I might try it.

Harris hawks and sparrows

2010-08-06T08:29:00.003-04:00

When I take the hawks out and hunt edges of fields, Gonzo often gets distracted. Like most male harris hawks, Gonzo is swift off the fist (and out the car window) and he does well chasing small birds in the high grass. Gonzo especially liked chasing those giant flying grasshoppers.

While I don't necessarily condone these activities, it is awfully fun to watch.

This is a video of a harris hawk flying sparrows. Turn the volume down a bit as the music is a bit loud.

Male Harris at Grassland Sparrow from Slope Hawker on Vimeo.

Mammal- crocodile

2010-08-05T07:19:00.004-04:00

ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2010) — Fossils of an ancient crocodile with mammal-like teeth have been discovered in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania, scientists report in the journal Nature. The unusual creature is changing the picture of animal life at 100 million years ago in what is now sub-Saharan Africa.
"If you only looked at the teeth, you wouldn't think this was a crocodile. You would wonder what kind of strange mammal or mammal-like reptile it is," said study lead author Patrick O'Connor, associate professor of anatomy in the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The scientists describe the new species of notosuchian crocodyliform as a small animal -- "its head would fit in the palm of your hand," O'Connor said -- that wasn't as heavily armored as other crocodiles, except along the tail. Other aspects of its anatomy suggest it was a land-dwelling creature that likely feasted on insects and other small animals to survive.

Thinking of Fall

2010-08-03T08:01:00.003-04:00

Tunnel completed

2010-08-02T15:02:00.005-04:00

I finished the go-to-ground tunnel today. Using the remaining bits of plywood and some scrap I had laying around, I added a 'T' , a three foot pipe, and a den. No one could ever accuse me of being a carpenter, but the finished product should be serviceable.

All of the parts are able to be turned so that the whole tunnel can be rearranged into different designs. I set it up on the edge of the yard while Gordon investigated.

He didn't enter, and I didn't encourage him either.

Once I had it set up, I decided to see what Gordon would think.

I loaded up the den section with some used bedding from the rabbit cage and a third of a hot dog.

Then I loaded up one section of pipe with a wall of dirt and sand.

Gordon had been running the short tunnel pretty easily lately, I was wondering how he would do with the new twists, turns, and obstacles.

He entered at the tunnel at the T. I had to coax him at first, but then he was in and running.

Pat, pat, pat, his paws thumped through the tunnel. He ignored the dead end tunnel and headed straight for the den. Some tasty smells should have been eminateing from their as it was full of the used bedding.

I forgot to fasten down the trap door and it started to pop open as he trundled through. I held it closed with my foot.

Then Gordon started to dig. I could hear him in there, and dirt was being pushed out of the seams of the tunnel. Go, dog, go.

He paused once to rest, then finished the job. Next thing I knew he was tearing up the den, and chomping down on some well earned hot dog.

We repeated the exercise a few more times. He did awesome. I've got the trap out for a squirrel to see how Gordon likes that. In the meantime, I'm going to pick up a rat and see if that helps to make more positive associations.

It was a good exercise.

Harris - hatching to hunting

2010-08-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

Where are the dingos

2010-08-01T07:50:00.003-04:00

The Australian dingo is disappearing. The question now is, should this feared predator be saved? Like the wolf in North America in the 1800's, the dingo is considered a dangerous predator that is a threat to livestock. The dingo is hated by much of Australia. On the other side, it is a part of their national identity.

What to do?

Where did the Australian dingo go? Once present throughout that country, the feared predator (Canis lupus dingo) in its current form is on its way to extinction as it is either killed or breeds and hybridizes with domesticated dogs. With the disappearance of the purebred dingo comes the loss of an important part of the region's ecosystem as well as a greater chance of environmental destruction by invasive species such as foxes and feral cats...
...Back in 2008 the Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment declared the dingo a threatened species and has now, finally, taken the first steps toward preventing the dingo's extinction by planning to set aside public land for dingo preservation. (No land has actually been set aside yet, however.)

Part of the problem is that so many Australians, to put it mildly, hate the dingo. Farmers see the predator as a pest and threat to livestock. There is also a history of dingo attacks on humans, typified by the oft-quoted line spoken by Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark, "the dingo ate my baby."

Read the rest here.

Check out them gams

2010-07-30T07:12:00.002-04:00

Helping a bit

2010-07-30T07:01:00.004-04:00

Albert has been spending his time across the ocean, doing his duty to the people there. He's put together a program to help the troops. If you get a chance -take a look and maybe donate a yo-yo.

Thanks

Instant Improvement

2010-07-29T20:36:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago I spent a little time building a short go to ground tunnel. I have been working with Gordon off and on since then, and Graci has even played around in there a bit.

Gordon will race down the tunnel, exiting out of the 90 degree turn for a treat like it is nothing now.

Last few times I have had him out hunting in the field, he had been tentative going into holes and had to be coaxed to go in and investigate.

So we took it to the dunes today to see how he would do.

Last time we were here we found where fox had dug into the dunes, and Gordon did face off against something.

It is too late in the year now, and it has been awfully hot, so I didn't expect to find anything underground.

But Gordon was ready.

We weren't long in the sand before we came across our first hole.

Gordon made a B line for it.

No hesitation, he just plunged right in, flushing the first game of the day.

Toad.

Gordon taught it a lesson, then plunged deeper into the hole.

He sniffed around then backed out, determining that there was nobody home.

We continued to meander through the dunes, coming across some cool turtle tracks in the sand.

We followed them for a bit. Gordon loves being off leash wandering through the brush and field. You can see it in his face and demeanor. He marks everything he can, then moves on to his next discovery. he wanders, but never far, and usually comes when called.

We found some bones strewn about so I guessed there would be more fox holes close by.

We did come across more holes.

Gordon wasn't afraid of any of them.

He checked them all out briefly, then we would move on.

We never did see a fox below ground, but Gordon did chase one through the dunes before he lost it in the tangles of grape vines.

I would call the day a complete success.

We are going to extend the go-to-ground tunnel and keep working though there. I'll introduce some caged quarry soon and see how Gordon reacts. I expect to see more improvement, especially as he gets to see more time in the field.

Hijacked!

2010-07-23T10:56:00.002-04:00

Apparently, my email has been hijacked. emails have been sent out endorsing some website somewhere. If you get any messages like this from me - please ignore them!

I've tried to contact my address book to let every one know that this is happening, but the email got blocked by Yahoo - as it might be spam.

Kinda funny when you think about it.

So if you get email from me with 'Hey' in the subject line - ignore it please.

Thanks

The Human, Animal connection

2010-07-21T07:15:00.003-04:00

It's probably not news to you, but some researches believe that the human animal connection may have been an important component to the development of humans as a species.

"Every mouthful you feed to another species is one that your own children do not eat. On the face of it, caring for another species is maladaptive, so why do we humans do this?"
Shipman suggests that the animal connection was prompted by the invention of stone tools 2.6-million years ago. "Having sharp tools transformed wimpy human ancestors into effective predators who left many cut marks on the fossilized bones of their prey," Shipman said. Becoming a predator also put our ancestors into direct competition with other carnivores for carcasses and prey. As Shipman explains, the human ancestors who learned to observe and understand the behavior of potential prey obtained more meat. "Those who also focused on the behavior of potential competitors reaped a double evolutionary advantage for natural selection," she said.

Over time, Shipman explains, the volume of information about animals increased, the evolutionary benefits of communicating this knowledge to others increased, and language evolved as an external means of handling and communicating information through symbols. "Though we cannot discover the earliest use of language itself, we can learn something from the earliest prehistoric art with unambiguous content. Nearly all of these artworks depict animals. Other potentially vital topics -- edible plants, water, tools or weapons, or relationships among humans -- are rarely if ever shown," Shipman said. She sees this disproportion as evidence that the evolutionary pressure to develop an external means of storing and transmitting information -- symbolic language -- came primarily from the animal connection.
Shipman concludes that detailed information about animals became so advantageous that our ancestors began to nurture wild animals -- a practice that led to the domestication of the dog about 32,000 years ago.

Read the rest here.

Hoods

2010-07-20T07:31:00.000-04:00

Building a go-to-ground tunnel

2010-07-19T08:52:00.006-04:00

In an effort to get Gordon more accepting of going to ground, I've decided to make him a tunnel to practice on.

I'm following the basic plan outlined in American Working Terriers.

I've altered it just a bit, making the tunnel 8x8 instead of 9x9, as I know Gordon is small enough to fit. The tunnel is still a work in progress, but we've been able to start training already.

I started by cutting 4 feet off of a 4x8 piece of plywood. My main tunnel would be four feet long, and I would have some left over to make a 90 degree turn, and another stretch of tunnel later.

I cut eight inch wide strips from the one side, leaving space left over in the middle. Then I measured out a 90 degree angle and cut that out as well.

I put together three of the sides by screwing them into cross pieces made by 1x2 scrap. I hinged the fourth side so that I can open the top of the tunnel should I ever need to. I've closed it temporarily with one screw.

Then we start training.

It was easy at first. Put some food at the front of the tunnel. Dog comes and gets it. I would put the food further back.

Gordon would start by balking, then barking at the end of the tunnel. Then he scurried a little way in. then further, and next time further.

Right now, he'll go all the way to the end of a four foot tunnel, but is still tentative. Next we will add a corner and more tunnel.

Once the dog is running the tunnel, we'll add a critter and see how he reacts to that.

A couple - o - links

2010-07-18T07:25:00.003-04:00

I've just been browsing some of the blogs on the roll and have come up with a few good links you may want to check out - depending on your interests of course.

Middle East's rarest bird is on the verge of extinction, but their is new hope. I loved the picture of the Northern Bald Ibis.

Albert lists the problems with Mountain top removal in Appalachia.

The earliest evidence of a tortoise kept as a pet was found in Britain recently. It's bones were mixed in with the other family cats and dogs.

A great story from Tom about his valentines adventures and bad advice from the vampire in the car.

My Son decided to try vegetarianism this week, but didn't last longer than two days. There's some information to consider for plant eaters - or for some of them.

...plants can sense the world around them, process information from their environment, and respond to this information by altering their growth and development. In fact, plants respond to changes in their environment in ways that many would find surprisingly sophisticated, although botanists have known of these abilities for centuries.

There is a good article about the "thoughts and feelings" of plants. Check this one out.

Are you the Problem?

2010-07-13T07:49:00.002-04:00

There is a great discussion over at The Mindful Carnivore. "When Hunters Ruin the Hunt" is about the ethics of hunting and how hunters are seen in the eyes of much of the public. Tovar closes his post with these words.

When I consider the future of hunting—how it will fare in the public eye, and what meaning it will have for generations to come—it’s not anti-hunters I worry about.

The post is excellently written, as usual for Tovar, and thought provoking.

Check it out -weigh in.

Is this you?

2010-07-13T07:01:00.002-04:00

From the Encyclopedia Brittanica

Long Time Coming

2010-07-13T06:29:00.004-04:00

I don't know what the numbers are for falconers that belong to their local or state falconry club - but you should be involved.

I got a series of emails yesterday. One was from the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission and the other two were from NC Falconers Guild.

What did they say, you ask?

2010-11 Fishing, Hunting and Trapping Regulations also Effective Aug. 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 12, 2010) – The proposed hunting and trapping rule changes approved by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission in March 2009 but delayed for legislative review will go into effect on Aug. 1, 2010.......

Then there was lots of lawyerspeak, and about halfway down the page it said..

Allow falconry on Sundays, except for migratory game birds.

Yee - Haw!!

It has been a few years now that NC falconers have been working on getting Sunday falconry allowed, and it has finally happened. It has taken public meetings, letters, emails and a few well placed words to local senators. While I cannot claim to have played any sort of pivotal role, I did play, and it took lots of people to make this happen.

This is a huge breakthrough for me, as I often hunt in the same areas as deer hunters. We've come into conflict before.

My hunting is loud and fast as I chase squirrels through the canopy (I'm not usually in the canopy, that would be the squirrels) - deer hunters often don't like this. ( though I had one guy thank me for flushing the deer he shot).

Sunday hunting takes me out of conflict with those deer hunters. It should open up areas for hunting earlier in the season.

The season is coming - time to get ready.

Know thy quarry

2010-07-09T08:05:00.005-04:00

Believe it or not, I have researched squirrels. I have read books about them (yes, their are books about squirrels).

I have studied how to track them on soft earth and snow. I've tried to learn their habits, though they can be unpredictable. It is important to understand the animals that you hunt.

Apparently, I'm not the only one with a twisted sense of curiosity.

This is an article from the New York Times:

You don’t get to be one of the most widely disseminated mammals in the world — equally at home in the woods, a suburban backyard or any city “green space” bigger than a mousepad — if you’re crushed by every Acme anvil that happens to drop your way.
“When people call me squirrely,” said John L. Koprowski, a squirrel expert and professor of wildlife conservation and management at the University of Arizona, “I am flattered by the term.”
The Eastern gray tree squirrel, or Sciurus carolinensis, has been so spectacularly successful that it is often considered a pest. The International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the squirrel on its list of the top 100 invasive species. The British and Italians hate gray squirrels for outcompeting their beloved native red squirrels. Manhattanites hate gray squirrels for reminding them of pigeons, and that goes for the black, brown and latte squirrel morphs, too.
Yet researchers who study gray squirrels argue that their subject is far more compelling than most people realize, and that behind the squirrel’s success lies a phenomenal elasticity of body, brain and behavior. Squirrels can leap a span 10 times the length of their body, roughly double what the best human long jumper can manage. They can rotate their ankles 180 degrees, and so keep a grip while climbing no matter which way they’re facing....

It's an interesting article on squirrels and squirrel behavior. Check it out.

Change of focus

2010-07-09T07:25:00.004-04:00

It's mid July - the height of my lack of falconry.

But three things happened just recently that has made me reevaluate my state of mind right now.

Normally, by now depression has set in. If you haven't read much about falconry and falconers - the sport is often described not as a hobby - but more of a life style. Some even go so far to say that it becomes an addiction.

I lean more towards addiction. For many, when you are not hunting, your thinking about it, yearning for it. For many, your looking for your next fix.

This time of year is the depressing doldrums of nothingness.

But three things happened just lately to change my focus.

1. Changes in the laws
I got a call from Andrew the other day. He is my former apprentice and friend. We hunt together most of the time. Anyway - he had been involved in some legislative wrangling and he called to tell me that Sunday hunting for falconry may become a reality in the coming season. yoo - hoo!

2. Mail
I got a letter from Fish and Wildlife renewing my propagation permit. While the letter was welcome, it made me realize that my raptor breeding has been a bust again this year. Neither of the birds seemed in the least bit interested in pursuing each other romantically. I need to close the door between their cages and start monitoring their weight again.

3. Call
I got a call from someone over the weekend. He lives a few towns over and has been "interested in falconry his whole life". It looks like I may be getting an apprentice. This will only be my second in my falconry career - but I kind of live on the end of the earth. He isn't in a position to trap a bird this fall, so the next year will be devoted to studying his books and building his facilities. He'll be spending the winter hunting with Andrew and I - and figuring out if this is what he wants to do.

What's it all mean?

It's time to get ready. Really, falconry season is just around the corner. Trapping begins in less than two months, squirrel season opens soon after.

Time to get permission to hunt on other people's land.

Time to get out the nets and BCs and trapping equipment.

Time to start securing bait animals (I can never trap enough starlings).

Time to order leather and make new equipment.

Time to figure out what birds I want to fly next year - Do I want a falcon?

So much to do - it's time to focus.

Stop calling

2010-07-02T08:33:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure what to make of this one. But it is interesting to note. If we want to save the worlds food supply, we might need to stop using cell phones.

What, doesn't make sense?

Well, your cell phone may be effecting the pollination of our flowers.

For years, bee populations have been declining, and a recent study questions whether cell-phone radiation may be to blame.

Last year, bee populations dropped 17 percent in England, according to the British Bee Association, and almost 30 percent in America, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Since the 1980s, the varroa mite has been considered a prime suspect as the killer of billions of bees around the world. It's a parasitic mite, sucking the blood of the bee, and it can also reportedly spread a virus that causes a bee's wing to become deformed. Much time and energy has gone into fighting the varroa mite -- New Zealand, for instance, plans to soon release bees that are genetically resistant to varroa mites.

And while this news doesn't really get the varroa mite off the hook -- or the hive beetle, another pest that threatens our pollinating friends -- the study, conducted by researchers at Panjab University in India, suggests that cell-phone radiation may also be hurting the bee cause.

Researchers fitted cell phones to a hive and powered up the phones for two 15-minute periods each day. Three months later, the honey stopped. The Queen Bee also had trouble with her egg production, and the size of the hive diminished.

There may be reason to sound the alarm. Bees pollinate 90 percent of commercial crops, worth $12 billion in the United States, according to CNN. But almost every country has a thriving beekeeping industry. A lot of money -- not to mention food -- stands to be lost if bees someday die off.

Read the rest of the article here.