My Latest Endeavor...

Tom said:

CHAPTER 3: Chicken

It used to be that you had to wait until October 1st to trap. Now we can trap earlier if we want to. It takes about three to four weeks to get a bird ready to hunt when starting from scratch with a passage red tail. Since hunting season for cottontails starts on October 1st, NOW is the time to catch a new bird and get it started.

With that in mind, my little girl and I started early this morning. At our third prospective spot we found a good candidate. We put our trap down under a dark chested youngster and then drove off in the distance to watch and wait. I had seen a brilliant white chested hawk stoop at prey near this area on Thursday, and that is the one I was looking for, but I didn't see him this morning. Our targeted bird came down and landed near the trap after about five minutes, but it didn't engage. After about a minute, it decided to fly off and go land on a distant pole. I pulled out the spotting scope to get a better look at him and see what he was doing over there. I figured we could wait a while and maybe he'd decide to come back. As I was setting up the scope at out targeted bird in the distance, I noticed movement in the foreground down near the trap which was about a quarter mile away. I tipped the scope down and started snapping pics. It was the white chested one from a few days ago swooping down to the trap! These two must be clutch mates. Two passage birds in the same area? He landed about 5 feet away from the trap and considered his options for a minute. Then, while we watched through the spotting scope, he waddled over like a chicken and hopped onto the trap.
View attachment 250164

View attachment 250165

After less than a minute, I could see he was hooked up and we shot over there as quickly as we could. I jumped out and grabbed him with no drama. Unhooked him from the trap and gave a quick cursory exam. All looked good. Typical feather mite damage and sheep keds, but all good over all. Good meat on the keel, empty crop, clean clear eyes, minor scuffs on the feet, all flight feathers in great shape, beak, mouth and tongue all in good shape… A KEEPER!

Here is that ever-more-familiar fire breathing look:
View attachment 250166

As I was taught, we hooded him and gently wrapped him up in a towel for the ride home. Ever wonder how birds breathe? And reptiles too? This shot just before hooding shows the opening to the trachea on the back of the tongue:
View attachment 250167
That hole is where the air goes in and out and everything behind it is throat for swallowing food.


View attachment 250168

We got home and attached the pre-made bracelets and stylish new black grommets that I picked up, inserted jesses, attached a leash, dusted on some mite powder, and then I proceeded to try to get him to simply stand on the fist for a minute. This is not always easy and it can take some time for them to be willing to learn it or even try it. Nope. Two hours after capture, everyone, meet "Chicken" contentedly sitting on a gloved hand:
View attachment 250169

I didn't think he'd go for it, but I offered some water in a syringe and he drank like a pro! Weight was 992 which definitely confirms I've got a little male. After a rough morning for this little guy, I retired him to his hawk box for some peace and quiet for a little while.
View attachment 250170

I'm very excited about this season. I've been talking to all the experienced falconers I can find, and I think I've picked up a few tips to improve upon what I did with Minerva previously. I'm trying out some new tips to make things even more positive for the new guy and his associations with me and our hunting dog. I will also get to experience the personality differences between a big giant female and a little male. And an early season bird verses a late season bird.

Oh yeah… The dog... I've decided to retire Sophie from hunting. She's 10 years old now and I don't want to push her past the point of what she can handle. Meet Charlie:
View attachment 250171
He's very young, but if he's into rabbits, it will give me a good excuse to spend a lot of time with him and get him all trained up.


As usual, questions and conversation welcome!

Click to expand...

Tom said:

This story is over before it began. Found him dead Monday morning two days after capture. Awaiting necropsy results.

A master falconer friend suspects acute poisoning because of the timeframe. Suggesting the hawk ate a poisoned rat or gopher or something just before capture.

Heartbreaking, but it illustrates that fact that they aren't kidding when they say only 5 out of 100 make it to their first birthday. Sometimes we just can't save them, try as we might.

This illustrates another difficult element of falconry. Our birds die sometimes. Hunting out in the field is risky business. They can get electrocuted by landing on the wrong pole, hit by cars, break themselves on wires or fences while chasing game, grabbed by eagles or great horned owls, bitten or kicked by their prey, they can catch an assortment of fatal diseases, and they can get poisoned by eating the wrong thing. I went two years with Minerva and avoided all mishaps of this nature, but I've heard a number of horror stories.

I will find out exactly what the COD was on Chicken and learn whatever I can from it. He will be fondly remembered even tough he was only with me a short time.

Back to square one.

Click to expand...

Tom said:

Short version is that about 5 out of 100 live to see their first birthday according to FWS studies. The 5 that survive barely make it and they are full of parasites and diseases. Life in the wild is hard. My last one had 3 types of ecto-parasites 2 types internal worms and coccidia. My avian vet said the coccidia would have probably killed her if I hadn't captured her.

When they get caught by a falconer we cure their diseases, get rid of all the parasites, and we give them way more hunting opportunities than a wild one could ever get. When they fail to catch game, the wild one goes hungry while the falconry bird still get the correct amount of nutritious food.

Red tails are slow flyers and they need gravity to help them accelerate up to speed to catch prey. The typical way to hunt with a red tail is to send them up to a perch and flush rabbit under them. As the falconer walks, the bird should follow along moving from perch to perch to be in a good position if game jumps up near the falconer. A more advanced hunting technique is to get the bird "waiting on". Essentially this means they soar above you in a big circle and they hunt from the sky instead of a perch. Their stooping speed when hunting from a soar rivals that of a falcon. Its fast.

So yes, we hunt, but no she's not really by my side.

After a hunting season or two, we release the bird back to where we caught it free of diseases, well hydrated, well fed, parasite free, hunting skills honed, and in excellent condition.

Click to expand...

Tom said:

This story is over before it began. Found him dead Monday morning two days after capture. Awaiting necropsy results.

A master falconer friend suspects acute poisoning because of the timeframe. Suggesting the hawk ate a poisoned rat or gopher or something just before capture.

Heartbreaking, but it illustrates that fact that they aren't kidding when they say only 5 out of 100 make it to their first birthday. Sometimes we just can't save them, try as we might.

This illustrates another difficult element of falconry. Our birds die sometimes. Hunting out in the field is risky business. They can get electrocuted by landing on the wrong pole, hit by cars, break themselves on wires or fences while chasing game, grabbed by eagles or great horned owls, bitten or kicked by their prey, they can catch an assortment of fatal diseases, and they can get poisoned by eating the wrong thing. I went two years with Minerva and avoided all mishaps of this nature, but I've heard a number of horror stories.

I will find out exactly what the COD was on Chicken and learn whatever I can from it. He will be fondly remembered even tough he was only with me a short time.

Back to square one.

Click to expand...

JoesMum said:

Fascinating.

Here in the UK, you would be prosecuted for taking a bird from the wild. The law is very different here

Click to expand...

JoesMum said:

Fascinating.

Here in the UK, you would be prosecuted fir taking a bird from the wild. The law is very different here

Click to expand...

Tom said:

Same here, if you don't have the proper licensing. There are a ridiculous amount of hoops to jump through and government fees to pay, plus a 2 year supervised apprenticeship, before they will license a person to do this.

Out of a population of roughly 40 million people in this state, there are only about 200 licensed falconers. Only about 2000 licensed falconers in the entire country of 350 million people.

I'm sure there is a similar licensing process in the UK, but I can't say I know the details.

Click to expand...

wccmog10 said:

The rules and regulations are very different in the UK (and the rest of Europe) than they are here in the US. In the US we have the apprenticeship program. There is no apprenticeship in Europe. My understanding is that there is no real permitting for falconry. But there is no wild take- so all birds used in falconry are captive bred. The stigmatism is that there are more “pet keepers” because of the lacisasical permitting- but I have no proof of this. “Pet keepers” being people who just have birds of prey as a pet and not hunting it. The key part of falconry is hunting, not just keeping a bird of prey at home. I don’t think it is a bad thing for people to have birds of prey as “pets” (provided they have good husbandry and the bird is captive bred or nonreleasable in some way)- but it is not falconry unless you actually hunt with your bird. Some people may not see the distinction, but in my opinion that is a very big part of the equation.

Click to expand...

wccmog10 said:

You probably do need some sort of hunting liscense like we do here in the US. But I do not think that liscense is specific to falconry. It is also harder to find hunting land over there- there is very little public hunting land- and I think that is where the aristocracy history part of falconry stems from.

Click to expand...

Tom said:

This story is over before it began. Found him dead Monday morning two days after capture. Awaiting necropsy results.

A master falconer friend suspects acute poisoning because of the timeframe. Suggesting the hawk ate a poisoned rat or gopher or something just before capture.

Heartbreaking, but it illustrates that fact that they aren't kidding when they say only 5 out of 100 make it to their first birthday. Sometimes we just can't save them, try as we might.

This illustrates another difficult element of falconry. Our birds die sometimes. Hunting out in the field is risky business. They can get electrocuted by landing on the wrong pole, hit by cars, break themselves on wires or fences while chasing game, grabbed by eagles or great horned owls, bitten or kicked by their prey, they can catch an assortment of fatal diseases, and they can get poisoned by eating the wrong thing. I went two years with Minerva and avoided all mishaps of this nature, but I've heard a number of horror stories.

I will find out exactly what the COD was on Chicken and learn whatever I can from it. He will be fondly remembered even tough he was only with me a short time.

Back to square one.

Click to expand...

Moozillion said:

Are you going to get another one this season?

Click to expand...

Tom said:

Absolutely! Looking right now. Trying to find one in a non-farming area. Less risk of pesticidal poisoning or secondary rodent poisons. Most of them congregate around all the farming areas around here. They are harder to find out in the desert during this hot weather, but I'm looking.

Click to expand...

Tom said:

People who've met me personally tend to understand my off sense of humor a little better, but for those who haven't, this is right up my alley. A friend sent this to me just now:
View attachment 251501

Click to expand...

Tom said:

People who've met me personally tend to understand my off sense of humor a little better, but for those who haven't, this is right up my alley. A friend sent this to me just now:
View attachment 251501

Click to expand...

Tom said:

Finally talked to my vet and got the necropsy results. That dude has seen everything and he just knows so much. He said as soon as he opened him up he could see the COD. Massive internal bleeding. He believes its from ingesting a rodent that was full of Warfarin based rodenticide. He told me that even if I had magically known that this bird had eaten a poisoned rodent on the day I caught him, he could not have been saved. He was already too far along. If only I'd caught him a few days earlier...

The rate of attrition is so high, and for someone doing what I do, it is very apparent. Its heartbreaking seeing these beautiful animals die and not being able to do anything about it. At least the cycle of poisoning ended with this bird in my care. If it had died out in the wild, some other animal would have eaten it and been poisoned too, and then the animal that ate that animal would be poisoned and so on...

I'm looking out in the wilderness away from people now.

Click to expand...