Trapping Pics 2013 ~ Let's see 'em!

[zx2run]

I know it is still too early for a lot of you...but this past weekend I got some road trapping in and thought I would share a few of my pics. Nearly every passage redtail we came across could be heard food begging. All birds were released.

Feel free to add your own pics to the thread.

The first bird of the day...40oz




We spotted this pretty little gal zipping around an industrial area. 140g



This little male had a nice reddish hue to his tail.





Last...but not least is a horrible pic (taken through binoculars) of a Leucistic Adult Redtail. But...if I didn't include a pic no one would believe me. We've tried trapping this bird on 2 separate occasions...but she has shown ZERO interest in what we have to offer. She seems to be all white...except her wingtips are blackish and one tail feather appears to be half red.

[zx2run]

hmmm...i'm not sure how this ended up in the Falconry Videos section. Can a moderator move this to the Falconry Photos section? Unless it doesn't really matter. Thanks. Sorry.

[FredFogg]

I would have kept that first red-tail, really nice feet! I hope to add to this thread in the next couple days, I have a new BC to try out and I will be out trapping for the fun of it.

[zx2run]

I would have kept that first red-tail, really nice feet! I hope to add to this thread in the next couple days, I have a new BC to try out and I will be out trapping for the fun of it.

It was definitely a good looking bird. It seems that this year has been good for the RTs. There are passage RT's all over the place around here.

Good luck...and take lots of pics!

[BestBeagler]

I would have kept that first red-tail, really nice feet!

I was just thinking the same thing even if it is a tad bit early for my likings.

[lxlMurdoclxl]

Love the pictures Jess!

Looks like your camera man did a great job! :P

[bellerophon]

I would have kept that first red-tail, really nice feet!

I was thinking the exact same thing. I haven't seen many passage birds down here yet.

[Huntndad1]

990 grams

1200 grams

3 grams (lol)
I wish I could've taken som better pics. Was the best I could do one handed. Seems to be a lot of birds this year compared to last year. Loving every minute of it!!

[Hawkingcolorado]

Love it!! Captured by aliens "look"...

[hawkstir]

Love it!! Captured by aliens "look"...

If we humans were put through the same trauma, (Grabbed by a creature 100 times our size) most of use would die of shock on the spot.

[Barticus]

I've been out 5 times this year and have only seen 3 passage birds. None of the local pairs seem to have any young that made it. Haven't been able to get one to the trap yet. I sure love this time of year. Nothing gets my heart going more than to see that splash of white on the chest of a bird sitting on a pole, the anticipation of it hitting the trap, and then the joy and wonder of having a new hunting buddy sitting on your fist.

[zx2run]

I've been out 5 times this year and have only seen 3 passage birds. None of the local pairs seem to have any young that made it. Haven't been able to get one to the trap yet. I sure love this time of year. Nothing gets my heart going more than to see that splash of white on the chest of a bird sitting on a pole, the anticipation of it hitting the trap, and then the joy and wonder of having a new hunting buddy sitting on your fist.

It's really interesting to see the numbers of passage birds in an area rise and fall. During the 2011 trapping season...in this same area...i couldn't find a passage redtail to save my life. This year they seem to be everywhere in this area.

Good luck during your trapping adventures!

[FredFogg]

Trapped a couple red-tails for the fun of it on the way to our state club picnic today. We saw 4 red-tails at one exit off a highway, 2 on each side, plus 1 kestrel, all juvies!

You wimps using gloves to take a bird off the trap, what's with that? LOL



That duh moment when they hadn't quite figured they can stand up yet!

[Red-tail71]

No keepers Fred?

[FredFogg]

No keepers Fred?

Not for me! I am still weighing my options of what else I am going to fly besides EmmyLou. The first one we trapped was 43 oz and had some honker feet! The second one had tiny feet. Saw 4 coops but only 1 headed toward the trap and then a line of traffic buzzed by and it veered off and headed across a field. It was a really nice sized coops to, I would have kept her if she would have hit the trap.

[Red-tail71]

Sounds like fun man! A little early for you as well I am sure. Season starts for us Tuesday. Haven't seen hardly any passage birds here. Good luck and I will text you here soon don't want to derail the thread. Take care!

[cindy]

Awesome photos Jessica!

[lxlMurdoclxl]

I had the pleasure of making it out to the NCFG Picinic this past weekend and saw the bird Fred added a few photos of.

Although it was not the biggested bodied bird I have every seen, it did have some monster feet!

For its size, probably the biggest I have ever seem.

Those feet spread some major distance!

[FredFogg]

Went out again this morning with another buddy!

Trapped this juvie red-shouldered.





Video of a juvie red-tail we let dance on top of the trap way too long, had about 10 nooses on its feet and legs.

[Ken S.]

Great thread to get us all excited for trapping season!

Most of the road trapping that I've done here is much later into the Fall, after the migration is on and more leaves are gone. I tend to focus on smaller secondary roads with little traffic. I don't see nearly as many RT's sitting on telephone poles in this part of the state like I see out west, so this early in the year I think it can be tough to spot them. For those of you that do a lot of road trapping this early (especially here in the East) ... what are some of the road types or areas that you focus on to have the most success?

[zx2run]

Great thread to get us all excited for trapping season!

Most of the road trapping that I've done here is much later into the Fall, after the migration is on and more leaves are gone. I tend to focus on smaller secondary roads with little traffic. I don't see nearly as many RT's sitting on telephone poles in this part of the state like I see out west, so this early in the year I think it can be tough to spot them. For those of you that do a lot of road trapping this early (especially here in the East) ... what are some of the road types or areas that you focus on to have the most success?

Hi Ken, I hope all is well!

The areas that i have always had good luck in are industrial business parks. A lot of industrial parks have a lot of light poles, scattered wooded lots, and overgrown hedgerows between buildings. There are usually very few people and little traffic in these industrial parks on the weekends. The more "rural" industrial parks tend to be better...but some of these industrial park areas also back up against highways and can give you safe access to a bird that otherwise would be untrappable. We usually create a "trapping circuit" between 4 or 5 industrial parks and take back roads traveling between each park.

[Buckeye Falconer]

Great thread to get us all excited for trapping season!

Most of the road trapping that I've done here is much later into the Fall, after the migration is on and more leaves are gone. I tend to focus on smaller secondary roads with little traffic. I don't see nearly as many RT's sitting on telephone poles in this part of the state like I see out west, so this early in the year I think it can be tough to spot them. For those of you that do a lot of road trapping this early (especially here in the East) ... what are some of the road types or areas that you focus on to have the most success?

Airports, whether larger municipal or smaller airfields, seem to be magnets for birds on migration. One must obviously be judicious about not trapping on their property and keeping a low profile. But I find that there are usually industrial parks near those airfields that are loaded with birds, come migration time. Just remember to check them frequently as the birds found can change on a daily basis.

[mainefalconer]

You guys wont believe this...
I caught the same redtail at the exact same time, 2 days in a row!
Last night on my dinner break, here at my ice cream shop, I saw an immature bird sitting on a power pole... there have been 2 hanging around, and I'm pretty sure they're siblings from a nest a little less than a mile from here. I tossed out a harnessed pigeon, caught the hawk, hooded and weighed it, (my apprentice was with me) and decided to let it go (small male.)
Fast forward to tonight...
Just sat down with some food for my usual dinner break, and I looked out through the window to spot a redtail coming in hard and fast from way the heck up there, only to put on the brakes and hover for a second before landing on the roof right above my head (the bird was coming down for a squirrel that had been monkeying around) I raced through the barn, over to a crate that I had a couple of my homers in,... stuffed one into the same harness from last night, went over to the door that's right near my desk, and tossed the pigeon out onto the lawn, and BAM! Hawk was on it, just about the same time the pigeon hit the grass. As soon as he was on it, I could see that he was the same bird as last night (not his sister, as I'd been hoping) but it was a pleasure to step outside and grab him up again... this time with a camera in hand.
Pics below are the view from my desk, before he was caught in a noose, and then a couple of better looks at him, and a blurry release shot:

[Red-tail71]

Scott I think he is training you! Two free meals in two days! Sweet!

[mainefalconer]

Dave, You might be right! We'll see if he comes around again today, and if I toss him another pigeon! Coincidentally, I got an early start to my day today, and went down to my trapping station to sink poles and run lines. (setting up for the season) There was a passage RT down there, and I tossed a harnessed pigeon and caught him. First 3 pigeons tossed in 3 days, ended with 3 hawks in hand! I should just quit now!

[DirtHawker]

Love the trapping pics. In MI trapping early it can be very difficult to see the birds. We don't get leaves off the trees till late Oct.

While we do have some open farm land that makes it easier to see the birds, I find them much more likely to bump than the industrial park birds. I agree on the industrial park birds for early season, also don't discount landfills. They seem to attract birds and generally have easy places to serve a trap. One of my best birds was trapped at the land fill near home.

I have also had luck spotting by doing freeway driving in areas where there are roads next to the freeway. One person drives, one watches. The driver is responsible for hitting the location on the GPS, the spotter for targeting identifiable structures to locate the bird once we get off the freeway. You put on some miles with this method, but it has produced sightings on those days when tooling around all the above locations is coming up short, or that mid-day dead time when you can't seem to find anything.

[FredFogg]

Dave, You might be right! We'll see if he comes around again today, and if I toss him another pigeon! Coincidentally, I got an early start to my day today, and went down to my trapping station to sink poles and run lines. (setting up for the season) There was a passage RT down there, and I tossed a harnessed pigeon and caught him. First 3 pigeons tossed in 3 days, ended with 3 hawks in hand! I should just quit now!

Hey Scott, great pics and what fun! What size red-tail are you waiting for for your apprentice? And save some of those pigeons and throw them at a passage gos for ME!

[wyodjm]

Love the trapping pics.

Me too. Great story Scott. It's the stories like yours and others that bring out and document the close relationship falconers have with the natural world. Through trapping and hawking, we get to live out these wonderful adventures that many in our culture today don't have the opportunity to experience.

Falconry and hawk trapping are living extensions of an ancient tradition.

[mainefalconer]

Dan, I couldn't agree more. That's the kind of sentiment that keeps me chasing this sport so hard.

Fred! I thought you already had a couple of goshawks. Aren't you going to be flying one of them this year? Will you be in Alamosa in November?

[FredFogg]

Dan, I couldn't agree more. That's the kind of sentiment that keeps me chasing this sport so hard.

Fred! I thought you already had a couple of goshawks. Aren't you going to be flying one of them this year? Will you be in Alamosa in November?

No, can't make that long drive to Alamosa, planning on going next year to TX. Yeah, I have 3 gos's but they are all breeders. I do plan on pulling the male in December and flying him to build a bond so I can get him to donate. But he is missing several primaries on each wing so plan on just car hawking him on just starlings and pigeons. Like I said, mostly to just build a bond.

[JeffNH]

These guys were in my repeating sparrow trap. I would have loved to see how they got in it!

[JeffNH]

He was a very small male...took 3 minutes to catch him once I dropped a BC with two sparrows in it. Neat color on his tail.

[dbleyepatches]

Went out on my first real trapping trip with a couple of Nebraska falconers (and great guys to boot). Saw a bunch of Redtails, and a couple of cooper's hawks. Trapped 4 total. A haggard (first photo below) and three juveniles. First juvenile was a small male with one swollen toe, second was a nice female (which I kept and is also pictured below) and another female that looked great but she only had one eye.

Haggard


...and the girl that I kept.

[yosemity71]

Trapped this big girl earlier this morning.

[awleaphart]

Look to be still molting?
Anthony