Over a year - a long story

I was in a funk.  Yes, it is true.  Losing Gonzo was the single biggest loss of my falconry career.  I got angry and sad, then determined.  I went out looking for new birds.  I was going to get Tess a possible mate.

No, she has never shown much interest in mating, I'll get two.

I don't have that kind of money.

Then I hear that for breeding, you should really just keep the birds together.

So then - what do I fly??

Will I fly Tess solo?  I have before.

... and I caved.

I acquired a mature male, and a female breeder from up north. In the process, I picked up another juvi male to fly with Tess.

Three birds over the course of a summer - very cool.

I reworked my weathering areas to be sure to minimize racoon impact, I covered all my "natural" perches in long leaf astroturf.

And my new female laid her first egg on the way home in the giant hood.  Crap. crap. crap

I didn't have an appropriate incubator yet, but I did have my cheap styrofoam chicken hatcher.  It would have to do. I didn't know anything. 
Was the egg fertile?  It was laid in the hood on the drive home from Pennsylvania, what are the chances it would hatch after rolling around on the car ride home.

The female was in a chamber full of its own offspring?  Would the parents have been breeding?  What are the chances it would hatch?  Shoot - it's the middle of summer, why is she laying now?.,,

I put the egg in the incubator with little hope.  I hand turned it multiple times a day.  Hoping - not hoping - scared to hope.

I tried to put a chicken egg out with the momma - to see if she would set.  She was in a new environment, and not interested.

The egg hatched.

This was last fall. 

The chick seemed happy and healthy - I hand fed it for the first few months.  I did not know at the time that she wasn't right.  I fostered her out to Jimmy in Georgia.  I still can't thank him enough for all he did for my first "baby".

Soon after returning too me she died.  Not being sure what happened, I had a necropsy done.  She hadn't grown right.  Her spine was curved and her hips were wrong.  Her lungs were underdeveloped, and her brain smaller than expected.

It could be traced back to poor incubation.

My year continued to suck. 

I trained my new male to hunt.  He flew at the same weight a Gonzo, 650 (plus or minus).  First on his own, then with Tess. His name is Boomer.

I compared hime to Gonzo ( I shouldn't have, not yet)

It was a rebuilding year.  I was shorter on time, and went away for two weeks in the middle of the season.  It was less than stellar.  Game was caught and flights were interesting.  We all learned a lot.

It was a rebuilding year.  This year should be interesting.

The newest egg hatched in June.  A female, it stormed for weeks and weeks after she was born.

So my daughter named her Rain.  She is 17 weeks and ready to start training.  Boomer is slowly starting to drop weight. Trapping season is just around the corner and there is so much to do. and everything is hitting at once.

I'll try and keep my writing caught up.

Hiatus

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.

Feeling special

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]

<sup>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".</sup>

Harris hawks and sparrows

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.