A backpack would be nice, but a new transmitter is well outside my budget
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A backpack would be nice, but a new transmitter is well outside my budget
Put it on it's own leather bewit (the kind that stays on the transmitter, not the leg). Zip ties went out in the 80s man!
I loved the 80's! She doesn't mind me messing with her feet much, but I've had a hard time getting a bewit or anything around her leg that requires her to hold still for more than a few seconds. Hawking solo is nice sometimes, unless you need an extra pair of hands.
We had to skip a couple days due to weather and my daughters One Direction concert. Glad that's over. Yesterday afternoon we went back to the same field from Monday. She caught at least 3 katydids in flight and spent a few minutes on the ground with each one. I don't think she actually ate any of them, just took them apart and plucked some weeds out of the ground. Fortunately these were always less than 10 feet away and I just stood around while she figured out there was no food reward for catching bugs. Every time she is in tall grass hopping and flapping around I am reminded how much she looks like a harnessed pigeon we have used trapping other raptors. It makes me nervous knowing that we are surely being watched by redtails and coopers every time I walk a field with her.
After one of her bug flights:
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After one bug catch, she got back on the glove with one eye closed and kept shaking her head and salivating a little. I think a beetle or something either sprayed her or must have tasted really bad. Lesson learned I hope. She kept shaking her head for another couple minutes so I decided to walk back to the car and expected to feed her on the lure. One bird got up at my feet and she pulled it down just a few feet away. She is getting faster, but still possessive, mantling for a long time and taking her time to eat. It was too big to carry so I let her pluck a bit before sliding the lure in and trading her off.
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Jeff!!?? You mean that concert wasn't the "time of your life"?:D
Looks like she's a killing machine! What's her weight now Jeff? Oh yea, how's the big girl doing?
Hey Lee, my girls had a great time so that was fun to watch them enjoying themselves.
It rained this afternoon and evening so we couldn't hunt. Will be out again tomorrow morning in a different area. The field we hit the past two times has quite a bit of poison ivy, I managed to get some on both hands and on my neck, part of summer hawking. She's at 153 grams yesterday.
The big girl is molting out well. She still has a few tail feathers to finish growing out, as well as a couple primaries on each side that haven't dropped yet. I need to put an updated picture of her, her chest and belly are a really pretty peachy color. How's your RT?
Yea, I'm amazed at what my kids can get me to do sometimes. Love knows no bounds for sure. Knowing their happy, well, that's where it's at.
Kitt is almost finished. Tail is completely in just waiting on two secondaries to finish up. Starting to ease her weight down some. These squirrels around here have been taughing us daily. Their time is almost up!!!!
Looking foward to seeing Jez's new dress. Have fun bud!
First starling double yesterday. Labor Day weekend plans keep growing, as does the probability of storm, so we went car hawking yesterday AM. Also, I need to stay away from poison ivy for a while, it's driving me crazy.
Both flights were fairly short, caught on the ground, and she had it under control when I got to her. The first was at the edge of a parking lot and I wanted to avoid talking to anyone, so I didn't think about pics. Our second one was more isolated, with nobody really around except for a few geese which she kept her eye on.
I'm pretty sure I won't have a chance to fly this afternoon, but tomorrow morning looks good.
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We made it out early this morning ahead of some rain. She missed the first starling slip, they were on the other side of a group if bushes, she was spotted right away, they got up and she tried to chase them across the parking lot.
The next flock we saw was about 50 yards away from a group of hotels and restaurants. She caught a starling in the air as they took off and she tried to carry it over to a group of small trees. I was surprised she didn't just drop with it. When I got to her she was still trying to get a good grip on it. The starling had one of her tail feathers in its beak and had already broken it about halfway up. I put an end to the struggle, leashed her up and was able to pick her up a few minutes later to finish eating on the glove.
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We had some heavy rain move through two days ago, and the fields were soaked yesterday. As a result we had ZERO flights after birds, they just weren't there. She did however catch three more large flying bugs, two of them we were near trees and she landed in a branch to tear them apart. At one point some mockingbirds came in to scold her and she chased one through some trees, getting pretty close.
She still comes back to me without needing the lure, even though it sometimes takes her a minute to decided the glove is the place to be. When she is in the trees she still calls some, I wish she would stop because I know there are resident coopers around and she's drawing attention to herself.
My biggest field is the one that was half mowed recently, it's starting to grow back. I don't know if there is going to be enough cover to make it worth walking again but it's encouraging to see. This field has also been discovered by the owners of some saluki-looking dogs. They are enjoying running through the big open space, and screwing up my hunts.
I ended up feeding her on the lure last night. Just by looking at the tail you would never know it was kinked by that starling a couple days ago. Steam helped, and she has apparently been working on it during the day.
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There's a sparrow under there. We had a shot at starlings out the car window, it was a very large flock and I think she tried to change targets too many times. We walked a small group of small trees and bushes with sparrows darting back and forth. She finally picked one and pulled it down. Her weight is still too high. Looking back over notes and comparing with other sharpy hawkers, I think I've been too slow and gentle with our weight reduction. She mantled for a long time staring at me and didn't really start plucking until after I slid the lure in. Walking back to the car and feeding up on the glove she went into a kind of stupid hawk routine trying to fly to the ground and rolling backward off the glove like a newly trapped hawk. It was really weird when she did it because she had been eating just fine for quite a while then the switch flipped. Weird bird.
The weather is supposed to be much cooler this weekend, hopefully that means better hunts. Today was very hot and humid.
Jeff.
Same here. Can't wait for the cooler weather. The humidity is rough. I've been wearing shorts to some of the fields even though I know better. I'm enjoying your pics.
We have still been hitting the fields daily, but it seems like birds are moving out instead of moving in. Even places that have always at least been good for a flight have been dead. Frustrating!
Instead of sparrows, she has been catching multiple katydids and giant grasshoppers. They are still impressive flights, but not what she's built for! I had stopped wearing a glove except when feeding her up after she missed two close slips by not letting go of the glove.
Yesterday I had her at 147g when we left the house. After a few bug flights she started taking it out on my hand, squeezing and biting.
She was in a bitchy mood
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Today she was 148g and much more pleasant to carry around. There were storms on the way so we didn't have a lot of time. We still couldn't find any birds around, except for one sparrow in heavy cover. She had a pretty good flight at it, around a bush, pitched up, dove down and lost it. Here's a pic right after the flight and just before the lightning started. I called her down to feed up on the lure.
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The cold front came through recently and life is GOOD. Starlings have been tough to find later in the day, but other field birds are plentiful and we have been killing one or two daily.
This afternoon we were after sparrows in a small field. She got this one in tall grass, and as I was sliding the lure in to trade off she carried it up to the glove. Not wanting to piss her off I just secured the jesses and let her eat there. Once we got home she took a couple baths and preened for over an hour. Appearance is everything
I've seen more migrant birds this weekend than before, and more soaring hawks while we are in the field. Birds great and small are finally moving.
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Hunting field birds is a blast.
On the way out we had a chance at some starlings on the edge of a parking lot, but she hesitated and they saw her just as she was leaving the car. She boomeranged back to the car on her own, landed on a windshield wiper and went all Kung Fu on her reflection in the windshield. I scooped her up and it took a good 5 minutes for her to settle down and loosen her grip on my hand. I stopped using the glove in the field because she wasn't letting go of it when trying to chase and missed some close slips, never leaving my hand. Instead I use the glove to pick her up off the lure or a kill and it's become her preferred place to eat.
When we made it to the field my daughter and I took opposite sides of some 5 foot bushes, kicking them as we walked. Ruby took turns riding on my hand, her head, back to my head, to my daughters hand and back to me, all on her own. It was pretty cool to see her using us as perches to position herself, arching her neck at the bushes the whole time. Unfortunately nothing flew out this time. We had walked for a while, killed two grasshoppers when finally a bird got up, bailed into the grass right in front of her. It turned out to have just gotten away from her and reflushed a foot away from where she was in the grass as we walked up. Where there is one bird, there are usually others and soon after she had another flush, she flew up underneath it and pulled it down about 15 feet away. This time on the glove she was a little slower to eat after the first half of her ration, mantling, looking around. She would take a few bites, stop for a while and look around again.
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Hats off to ya Jeff, looks like she's just part of the family. Hope to try imprinting one day, looks like loads of fun.
Sure looks like a lot of fun, Jeff, and obviously your daughter is enjoying this with you! Very nice!
Lee - Thanks! Imprinting is a lot of fun, and very rewarding to see your bird grow into a successful hunter. There are some days it's exhausting and going out into the heat after working all day can make it less fun. We are very grateful for the cooler weather and more birds showing up, just in time!
Deb- Thanks, my girls were very involved and helpful when Ruby was a little fluff ball. It's paid off now, anyone can touch her on the wings, back or just carry her around the field. The only things this bird still slicks down for is if there's a big dog around, or if someone is wearing sunglasses. I don't think it's the dark glasses, I think it's seeing her own reflection. I wonder if it's an accipiter thing or just her?
She's getting very good at catching single birds, especially if they flush within 20 feet or so. Much farther away and she still tries but usually can't catch up to them. If it flushes at our feet it's over before I can blink!
Yesterday she had a flight at a group of starlings I just couldn't pass up. They were in a ditch splashing around, at least 30 birds dropping in and flying out. Ruby launched after them right as I rolled up, she was spotted right away and even though she was close enough to have caught one I think the big flock threw her off and she just went up to a light pole. Most of the time I don't have to use the lure, she either comes back to the car on her own or down to me once I step out. This time she landed on the ground and ran to me. Funny but scary at the same time, she's so little and we were near a group of big trees, it would be easy for a coops to snatch and grab her. I know I'm a little paranoid.
We walked a field and were done within 10 minutes. Feeding up on the glove back at the car a mocking bird was complaining from a small tree not far away. I turned my back on it and right away it flew over and smacked Ruby on the back, while she was on my hand eating! I tried to position her with my camera ready but it wasn't brave enough for another fly by.
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The mocking bird is on a branch in the background, but it's pretty blurry to see.
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Rather brazen mockingbird I'd say!
Those mockingbirds are pretty fearless, and vocal! Yesterday we had a kestrel fly over us a couple separate times carrying on. Ruby still does the occasional flight at something waaay (50 yards +) out into the middle of the field and land on the ground. Most of the time she gets back up on her own and flies back to me, but sometimes she just hops around on the ground biting at grass or footing stuff. It always scares me that one of these times there will be a hungry coopers or RT around.
The past few days have been hit or miss with the sparrows. There are either many many birds or none at all. Yesterday she snagged a sparrow in heavy cover and poison ivy. I had to fish her out with the lure, which worked out fine but it was getting dark and I was really afraid she was going to get fed up with me reaching in and carry. Thankfully she has a strong lure bond and finally stepped to the lure and let me pull her out slowly.
There are still plenty of bugs of course, she has progressed from catching them and dropping to the ground, to now catching them and coming back to eat with me. Now if I can get her to do that with small birds we will really be having fun.
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Finally on a sparrow. I like how she keeps her tail in tight now, I'm not sure what caused her to stop fanning it out on kills.
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Until recently I had been hawking in a nice 30 acre field, yesterday it was mowed down to nothing. Bummer! There are still some smaller fields around, today produced some good flights ending with a sparrow in thick, thorny cover.
Two grasshoppers died in the process also, but who's counting? :)
She chased and missed a cardinal, then returned to my head to vent her frustrations.
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I used telemetry for only the second time with this bird today. For the same reason. See her?
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The cover was also very tall and I wish I had been slower and more patient with the transfer now. She was slow to see the lure and even though she didn't try to drag it away or carry, she wasn't happy. Once she saw the meat we were back to normal and finished feeding up on the glove while I walked back to the car.
I think one reason her feathers are still in good shape is from feeding up on the glove. It has caused some sticky footed-ness. Hawking she is either riding on my bare hand or on my head, when the glove comes out she knows it's meal time.
These tiny birds are loads of fun, and a constant source of worry. You get out 100% what you put in. For better or for worse. Accipiters Rule.
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Jeff,
Looks like were both hunting similar fields and taking the kids too. Can't get better with such small birds. It has been great to follow your post. On a side note, how are you liking the leg mount transmitter? I had used a tail mount in the past
Yeah Vincent, we are really having a great time! For some reason Ruby prefers to ride on my daughters hat instead of mine. Works for me! She currently has poison ivy on both arms, legs and near her eye. I feel horrible for her, it's miserable.
We have had some great hunts the past three days, each ending with a sparrow is thick cover. She had her feet on a dove, but by the time got there she only had a foot full of body feathers. Another day we had a surprise covey of bobwhites flush. She was very close to one, it bailed into some tall grass, she tried to follow it in but overshot and it flew off. Pretty smart! It was over before I could get any words out.
One of her sparrow kills almost went badly, because I was stupid. She had caught a sparrow at the edge of some bushes, and was sitting there plucking. I took a minute to get a picture when she stopped, looked around, and ran into a blackberry bush with it. Crap! It took me a tense five minutes of walking around and peeking inside before I found her. She ran over to the lure when I dropped it, mantled and picked for a while, then came up to the glove when I offered it. She carried the sparrow with her the whole time. By then it was almost completely plucked, she never broke in.
Before running in:
http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/...F88D9A4014.jpg
Safely in the glove. With sparrow.
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There's a strong cold front coming through this week. Looking forward to what it brings.
I would prefer a backpack with this bird, but the leg mount is working out alright. Most of the time I'm by myself, thankfully she is very easy to handle and I've gotten pretty good at attaching the 90's style zip tie with one hand. It's also easy to remove with small clippers in one handQuote:
Originally Posted by vlp
Limited time to hunt today, and had some really good flights but no kill. She still occasionally wastes an opportunity like today, this time she tried to chase a sparrow while still holding onto my hand. Then we had to wait another few minutes while she took it out on a clump of weeds. then the mowers showed up, my last good field has now been mowed down. A buddy and I watched from the car as meadowlarks flushed in front of the tractor like popcorn. There had to be at least two dozen we watched fly off to the woods while I fed her up by the car.
This field has a few big house-sized mounds covered with brush and small trees I hope to still hunt. Otherwise I'm going to be stuck driving 30 minutes to a field instead of the 5 minute drives I have been enjoying. Or car hawking, but it makes me very nervous.
Bye bye field, thanks for the fun:
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Mega bath when we got home:
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I had the chance to get out with Jeff today and see his Sharpy fly. She is a very well-mannered bird and feather perfect. We even caught something. A I tried to snap a few pics, which is quite challenging because it's nearly impossible to keep up with these little speed demons. Hopefully I'll get another chance soon.
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Hey Keith, thank you for coming out today, and for sharing these awesome pictures!
It was a good day, we will do it again soon.
Hey Jeff, sounds like fun, yeah; Keith has skills with that camera for sure
Nice pics
We've been on a roll the past week, hunting and catching daily. Some days she easily steps off and we are able to double. Other days she's more possessive and won't step off so I don't push it. We have stopped after a couple short hunts.
Today we met up with Keith again and were able to double on sparrows. The first was caught in some heavy cover. At first she wasn't cooperating but we worked it out and decided to continue. I'm still pulling thorns out of my arm from getting her out of that.
The field we hunted has been mowed down but still has a couple large house-ish sized mounds of dirt that are covered with tall grasses and bushes. Sparrows in these mounds tend to stay in cover instead of flying out in the open. As a result we get to see some sharp maneuvering flights around and into the grass. I can usually tell if she's caught something or not right away, if it' was a miss she worked her way out and came back up to my head or Keith's head. For the second kill we tried to set up a photo opp with me uphill from Keith and some bushes between us. The sparrow she caught must have popped out behind me and she caught it before I could turn to see anything. She sat tight while I attached her leash and stepped over to the glove to feed up.
In the last few weeks I've really noticed her speed and endurance increase. Too much fun!
Thank you Keith for sharing a new set of pictures!
Thank you again, Keith! I really appreciate you making the drive out to meet up and hunt together.
We've had a LOT of rain over the past few days. I went ahead and walked a small patch of grass and had two good flights before her feathers were wet. One sparrow flew if the open, dumped into tall grass and couldn't be re flushed. The second flight was in heavy cover and made it into a big caterpillar bulldozer. She tries much harder when they are in heavy cover, practically turning herself inside out to get around branches and stuff. I need a go pro!
The plan right now is to keep going for a few weeks until the leaves drop. Coopers are everywhere, yesterday one flew by within 100ft of us and no higher than the nearby power lines. thankfully Ruby was on my hand and not on the ground or on a flight.
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That's awesome Jeff! Great pictures too Keith!!
Jeff, what weight is she flying at? Mine is at 148g, and doing well. I FINALLY got out of day shift, and have hired enough guys that I can get back to the sharpy. I got shorthanded about 5 weeks ago, and haven't even hunted with the sharpy one time yet! Tonight will be the first true hunt. We have done baggies for most of the last month, but this evening will be the first true hunt... FINALLY!!!
Hope all goes well.
Hey Paul, how did she do? Looking forward to good news and more pics of your sharpy.
I have been flying mine at 146 grams the past few times out. She still hunts well and catches sparrows at 148 but her manners are bad, she mantles and lies down on her kill a lot without plucking. At 146 she still mantles but will step over to the lure and hop up to the glove when the lure is empty.
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post, but I have a small hemostat on a long string tied to my hawking bag. If I can't easily get a leash clip through her jesses (tall grass), I'll clamp the hemos onto a jess until she settles down, then get the leash clip on when she's more cooperative. Usually after a few bites from the lure she is fine.
Jeff
Starting to see the coops too. I just yell a bit and they fly off. Lots of rain here too. Sounds like we're having a similar season. Liking the action pics too