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Thread: "Micro" - 2013 WI Imprint NA Goshawk

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  1. #1
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    Default "Micro" - 2013 WI Imprint NA Goshawk

    Off to kind of a late start as far as beginning a thread goes, but I'll do a little "catch-up" to get up to speed...

    "Micro" is a 2013 Wisconsin NA goshawk (male). Although I've had a few other imprints, this is really my first attempt at doing the whole thing. I'm not an expert with imprints, nor with goshawks or other accipiters, so bear with me, lol...

    The adventure started out in late February/early March heading up to northern Wisconsin with my son (Tanner) and a friend (Shao) to look for goshawk nests. Shao Lee and Aaron Allred have done this before of course, and Aaron in particular has done his best to pique my interest enough to try an imprint gos...

    I live on a 400 acre Boy Scout camp (I'm the ranger) as one of my jobs, so have plenty of room for training and a ready access to lots of noisy scouts, tractors, saws, mowers, trucks, etc... All good things to help socialize a young bird!

    We spent the last part of February, all of March, and a good chunk of April wading/snowshoeing through crotch-deep snow looking for nests, and managed to come up with several active nests and a bunch of older, unused ones. We also found some broadwing and red-shouldered nests just to keep things interesting.

    I've got to say, it's a special thrill to come across a goshawk nest in the winter woods, and to see (or hear) evidence of recent activity nearby... It sure makes all the driving, walking, and searching worthwhile!

    Nests, a plucking post (with a ruffed grouse foot), and a porcupine...







    Phil

  2. #2
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    Having checked-in on few of the active nests, and getting an idea of approximate hatch-dates, etc, we decided on who was going to pull from the various nests, and made arrangements to do so.

    Aaron was excited to join us on the weekend of take, and even volunteered to climb the tree! I really wanted to do it myself, but having a bum knee and not having climbed for almost 20 years, I was only too willing to give him the honor. Next year though, may be different... Climbing up to a nest and pulling an eyass myself is definitely on my must-do list.







    Phil

  3. #3
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    Here's what Aaron found in the nest...







    Going into the adventure, I'd decided to try for a female.

    However, not being at all sure myself on picking a female from a male, I was going to be happy with whatever the eyass turned out to be. When Aaron explained the size discrepancy between the young in the nest, it was an easy decision for me to have him lower the small one. I suspect he wasn't getting his fair share of food, and I doubt he'd have survived.
    Phil

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    Once back to the vehicle I placed him in the "nest" basket, and placed a dish of food in front of him. I twig-fed him a tidbit or two, but he took over from there...









    He needed some assistance staying warm for the first few days. I placed a warming light over one side of his nest (so he could move under it, or away from it as desired) and placed a hand towel in the nest too. He initially liked to snuggle up under it.

    Our estimate was that he was around 5.5 days of age at take (Memorial Day weekend).

    In the last photo you can see the dark maggot in his right ear. He had a bunch of them. I'd wait until he was asleep and gently pluck them out with a pointed tweezers if I could, or drip a drop of vegetable oil on it if it was in too deep for me to reach. They'd squirm out for air and I could grab them. We got about a dozen or 14 of them out. Some were moving between his nares and his ears, one came out of the top of his head, one out of the side of his rump, some out of folds in front of his "ankles", and a few from under his lower mandible.
    Phil

  5. #5
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    Hi Phil

    Iv been flying wild taken goshawks for around 40 years now.
    After I have my new eyeas comfortable I put a drop of vegetable oil in each ear
    and id say that a good number had the maggots, I never had 1 with 14 though.
    Well congratulations.
    Vinnie Macchirella
    LAS VEGAS REALTOR

  6. #6
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    Cool pictures! This is exciting! And good on you for taking the little guy, you may have saved a life
    Thanks for sharing!
    ~~~Ally~~~ Missoula, MT
    If you dislike a person, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, you are a mile away from them, and have their shoes.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrishawker1 View Post
    Hi Phil

    Iv been flying wild taken goshawks for around 40 years now.
    After I have my new eyeas comfortable I put a drop of vegetable oil in each ear
    and id say that a good number had the maggots, I never had 1 with 14 though.
    Well congratulations.
    Thanks Vinnie!

    I was pretty shocked to find that many myself. I'd expected to have one or two, but certainly not as many as I ended up removing.

    My wife actually thought I was pulling her leg when I told her what the dark spots meant... That changed pretty quickly!
    Phil

  8. #8
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    Glad you guys are enjoying it!

    Tame hack went very well. I never saw him catch anything, but I really suspect he may have. He was really chasing hard and was a strong flyer at the end.

    He was getting to be fairly independent though, and was staying further from the house which was beginning to make me nervous. I live on a scout camp, but there are neighbors with cats and dogs. Also, directly behind my house is the rifle range (.22's), behind that is the archery range, and behind that is the shotgun range. All of those ranges were active during the afternoons and evenings... The range officers are of course camp staff, and were on the look-out for my bird, but still... He avoided the ranges for the most part, and the staff has radios so could contact me or my wife to come fetch him up.

    Anyway, I decided to alter my hack timing to limit it to afternoons only (so I could be home letting him out on hack over the supper break, etc, and I hacked him on the days/afternoons/evenings the ranges were closed, and all weekend. That worked out fine, but when he began heading WAY back in the woods I decided to end it on Sunday and call it good...

    Up to that point everything was going very well. Too easy almost!

    That was until I called him in to the lure on Saturday night. He came in immediately like normal, but when he grabbed the lure he immediately began chittering and looking around like he was going to bolt. I would normally toss a quail down to the side for him to transfer to, but before I could do that he took off. He flew off into the woods outside my yard, but I could still see him.

    I swung the lure and whistled, but he ignored me and looked pretty stressed. After a few minutes he moved off a bit where I couldn't see him, so i moved into the back yard to get closer, and swung the lure again. This time, he came right away, but immediately began chittering again when he hit the lure, and looked extremely stressed.

    I decided the situation was going downhill too quickly to try the transfer, so just reached in gently and grabbed his jesses. That's when i noticed his left rear talon was gone. The quick was still there but it was raw and bloody. To make matters worse, he decided to take off again but since I had his jesses it turned into a major bate-fest with full-blown panic and chittering. Not cool...

    I got him into the house and tethered to his perch, after placing his quail nearby. He eventually ate some anyway, but spent the rest of the evening favoring his foot, mostly keeping it tucked. I called Aaron to see what he thought, and skimmed around here on the forum to see what i could find. Aaron knew of a local falconer/vet who's dealt successfully with this injury by simply painting a few layers of clear nail polish over the quick, so I tried that.

    I was able to take my time and dab it on while he sat on my wife's leg. He acted at first like it stung when I applied it, but once I had a coat on and dry it didn't seem too bad. For the next few days I continued to build up the thickness of the polish. A month later now, the talon sheath is coming back and it looks like it'll be fine in the long run.

    That episode set me back significantly though. It sure seemed like he was blaming me for the injury (even though I know he must have done it somehow on his own; it wasn't due to the lure and he was fine when i put him out in the morning).

    Within about a week, he seemed to be getting back to normal, so I decided to move forward and work on hooding. He needed some down time to heal up, and since there wasn't a whole lot to do other than keep him fed for a few more weeks, it seemed like a good idea. Nope. Bad idea.
    Phil

  9. #9
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    Phil,
    Yikes, sorry to hear! Always scary, and goshawks sure do seem to hold grudges. Blackjack is still sore at me for tethering him for the first time since I put him up for the moult, and it's been almost a week. He's still pretty fat and I expect that to go away once his weight comes down a bit but still! It's amazing how long their memories seem to be.
    Good luck!
    ~~~Ally~~~ Missoula, MT
    If you dislike a person, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, you are a mile away from them, and have their shoes.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ally View Post
    It's amazing how long their memories seem to be.
    Good luck!
    That's why I like sharpies so much! They seem to mold-able and easy to forgive and forget. Anyway mine does.
    Isaac

  11. #11
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    I began to work on hooding, but within a few days he was freaking out every time I picked him up so I backed off with it. I also had to travel to Ohio for work for the better part of a week, and since my wife and son were going to be helping out with him while I was gone, I didn't want to make things any more complicated than they needed to be.

    I basically had them hide a quail with a string on it in the yard, and then walk around with him on the fist for a little bit before "finding" the quail and letting him drop down to eat it. That went fine.

    On my end though, once I got back he'd scream/cry at me when ever I had him on the fist. He was obviously scared of me, and would "twitch" when ever I moved my right hand. Very troubling.

    I decided to shift gears again and see if I could get him hunting a bit. I started out walking him around looking for sparrows in the grass, but he wasn't very interested in them. He's interested in larger birds, but doesn't seem to pay much attention at all to the little ones.

    Before going out I would put a quail in the launcher, and eventually mosey my way over to it to give him a chase and catch to wrap things up. The launcher is for ducks/pheasants, so tosses the quail up about 30ft and he takes off after it.

    The problem now though was he was still very fearful and un-trusting of me, so I put a long piece of heavy fishing line on the quail's legs to trail out behind it. That way once he grabbed it I could step on the line, and walk my way up to him. I was worried he'd try to carry the quail off, and this allowed me to stop that.

    He didn't try to carry, but he'd mantle very hard, and always face away from me. I'd let him eat his fill, and when he lost interest I'd try to pick him up. He absolutely would not allow me to get in front of him though, and he'd keep turning away. When I'd scoop him up he'd bate and scream and bate and scream all the way back home (worse after he'd eaten than before).

    Yuck.
    Phil

  12. #12
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    I figured if I'd get him catching stuff everything would work out though, so I kept heading out, always having the quail to fall back on if I couldn't get at least one chase in.

    He'd start out pretty good, but if we didn't get any flushes fairly soon he'd stare at me and begin crying fearfully at me. Yuck.

    If he did get a flight, I could easily call him back to the empty lure. He'd scream and mantle over it, but would allow me to trade him for a quail (or portion of one). Once he'd finish eating though he'd be fearful and not allow me to pick him up though, so I'd tether his portion to a stake, and leash him up while he was eating. He would never allow me to pick him up without protest.

    There had been a young rabbit hanging around under one of the boat trailers in my maintenance yard and until he'd hurt his talon I'd been tempted to let him go after it. With the delay though, the rabbit was now large. Far larger than anything he'd really chased, and definitely bigger than anything he'd caught. I decided one day to try for it anyway, and took him for a walk back there.

    When we got to the trailer, a rabbit ran out right away, and went about 5 feet before getting grabbed by the bird. It was his first wild kill, but it wasn't the rabbit I'd meant to go after; instead it was a very young one. Still, he was doing what he was supposed to. I let him break in and clipped him up, and fed him up with some quail too. An ugly pick-up of course, but a successful hunt.

    I continued this process for another week or so, and he made another kill, but things still got worse. Since I was getting him back without issue to the lure, I didn't really want to lower his weight, and was flying him around 750g. It was also hot, and leafy, and a long way from hunting season... Wisconsin allows year-round rabbit and squirrel though, so I kept going out.

    Within another week or two he was so fearful on my fist that I actually got scared to fly him. He'd scream and bate and hardly pay any attention to our surroundings. I needed to try something different. He'd been silent all along except for when he was scared, but by now he was into full-blown food begging too. Yuck.

    Until this point I'd done everything I could to keep him directed away from me for food, figuring it would always be fairly easy to change that if/when I desired. I decided to give him some (slight) food-glove association and see if I could improve things.

    He was definitely scared of the being picked up on the glove and would face away from me on his perch and look to bate. I worked to get him to take a few tidbits from my glove. Once he'd done that three or four times in the first session though he switched to hard mantling on the glove, so I quickly stopped that. Instead I tossed a tidbit to the ground, and he'd hop down to it. Once on the ground he wasn't so scared of the glove, but still didn't want to be picked up on it. It took a few more tidbits and being "sneaky" scooping him up when he'd try to steal the tidbit from the glove.

    I was also allowing his weight to come down slowly. I'd wanted to avoid that and hopefully avoid the screaming, but since he was screaming anyway...

    By the third day, he was doing jump-downs like a champ, and was completely ignoring the fact that he was on the glove. Indoors, he was fine. Outdoors, not so much.

    I made myself a 12' para-cord leash and began doing jump downs with him outside. Within a few sessions he was doing fine outside too.

    I began to take him out walking again, mixing in a few jump-downs here and there to keep him interested. I actually flip them out in front of us a ways. He flashes out there to get them, and then returns to the fist for more walking. If he gets a flight, and misses, landing in a tree, I've been rewarding him with a lure call, and two or three tidbits tossed to the side to transfer him off of the lure. Back on the fist I sometimes give him another jump down to reinforce returning to the fist.

    So far, so good!

    He's still food beg screaming, but no more fear, and has been flying around 710-715g (no hood).
    Phil

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