My Latest Endeavor...

[CarolM]

The point of this thread, for me, is to showcase the art of falconry. To demonstrate to friends and readers just how amazing and awesome these birds are and to highlight the connection to nature that is derived from participating in this ancient "sport". I wish to show the pitfalls and the triumphs. The frustrations and the elations. Tragedies and comedies. Failures and successes.

I've been training birds for decades, but I am new to falconry. I figured I'd pick up a few tidbits of knowledge that I didn't already have and be on my merry way with my new falconry license in hand. Man, was I wrong… I had, and have, so much to learn…

In our last episode, my bird was a fat fatty after the molting season, and taking forever to drop back down to "fightin' weight". With parrots and other birds, this is simple food management and exercise using sanctuary methods until weight drops to where the bird responds well. This bird is giving me fits! I've managed this weight watching on little conures, cockatiels and even parakeets. One would think it would be even simpler with a MUCH larger carnivorous bird, right? Not necessarily…

It turns out that some red tails migrate thousands of miles in Fall and they have some sort of ability to conserve calories and not lose weight. They can fly thousands of miles and they might only see food a couple of times. Biologically, how they accomplish this makes no sense to me. If you are burning calories, then you need to take in at least that many calories to maintain weight, right? Wrong. These birds have some sort of mechanism that somehow bends these physiological laws of physics and biology. They can somehow maintain weight for long periods of time on hardly any food. Well if there is a way to be difficult, my bird will find it and excel at it…

Now this whole weight loss process is a complicated balance of many factors. I can't start exercising her and burning those calories until she loses enough weight to want to fly to the fist. But if I'm not exercising her, she doesn't lose much weight. And its not just a number on a scale. Its also dependent on the birds behavior. If they respond well at a higher weight, you don't have to drop as much. If they aren't responding well, then you need to drop a little more until they are motivated to participate. All the while you have to be careful to not drop them too fast or too much, and observe their behavior and demeanor for tell tale signs of good or bad news. Constant adjustments are made in the food quantity and routine throughout this process.

So it took me about 10 weeks to get her weight down and her working attitude up. At the right point in her training, I took her off the line and started free flying her. One of the training exercises we do is to get her to fly from telephone pole to telephone pole and follow along with me while we hunt. In training, I cue her to fly to me and then put my hand down and walk away once she is on her way to me. When she passes over me and lands on the next pole in front of me, she gets an instant reward. We move down the line of poles this way. I "fake" her out, then reward her for landing on the pole ahead of me. When we get to the hunting fields, her reward will come in the form of a rabbit flush. Well… the ranch is out in a rural area and while we were training, a rabbit popped up and ran and she decided to catch it instead of doing my lame training stuff. This is the view I got on approach:
View attachment 223688
Look at those feathers! Gorgeous. I call her my little sky dragon.

Here is the front view of this scene:
View attachment 223689
I let her tank up and we were done "training" for a couple of days...

Now her weight was still on the high side, and she was really taking her sweet time deciding whether or not to come to me when I called her to reposition her to a better hunting spot. Can't hunt with a bird that just wants to perch and won't be moved to the right area for rabbit flushes, so I continued on with the exercises and food rationing. All of a sudden, the weight loss kicked in. She went from 10 weeks of dropping hardly any weight to suddenly dropping "normal" amounts overnight. Now the trick is to feed enough to stop further weight loss, while continuing to build strength and stamina, and continuing the training. As the muscles build and the workouts increase, so do the caloric needs. Its all a big balancing act with constant adjustment and twice a day weigh ins. All was progressing perfectly, albeit very slowly, and I decided it was time to get her out in the field and hunting. On purpose this time…

At the end of last season, frustrated with all the rabbit flushes that Minerva had no chance at because she was in the wrong position being her usual difficult self, I decided I wanted to add a dog to our hunting outings to flush more rabbits and re-flush rabbits that Minerva wasn't in the right position to catch. All through the off season I took my Malinois Sophie with me to feed Minerva every day. Minerva was a little unnerved by Sophie at first, but soon began to ignore her, and then began to associate the sight of the dog with feeding. It got to a point after a couple of months where if I walked by the mew and Sophie wasn't with me, Minerva would sit quietly and ignore me. But if Minerva saw the dog, she'd come to the window and eagerly beg for food. Sophie was with us every day during the 10 weeks of weight dropping and training too. Minerva was totally indifferent to Sophie by now, which is how you want it. So I gathered the bird and the dog and all the food and gear, and off to the hunting fields we went. I checked and double checked all my equipment, outfitted the dog, put the hunting jesses and radio transmitter on the bird and we walked to the field for our very first day of the 2017/2018 hunting season, and only 6 weeks late... I sent Minerva up to a nice light pole that is in the perfect spot and she went directly to it with no fuss. Sophie and I then walked up the sidewalk a bit and entered the field about 100 feet up from where Minerva was. The idea is that as Sophie and I work the field, we will flush rabbits right in the direction where Minerva sits and waits. Well after about 10 seconds a rabbit jumps up ahead of Sophie. Sophie didn't even see it, but Minerva did… She dove into action and WHAM! Caught our first "official" rabbit of the season after roughly 12 seconds of "hunting". I was elated, but also disappointed. I was ready for a "day" of hunting. I din't expect everything to go so perfectly and be over in 12 seconds. But there we were.
View attachment 223684


Sophie and I sat there patiently for a good 20 minutes while Minerva ate her fill.
View attachment 223685
Despite a slow beginning, our season couldn't be off to a better start.

Because I am so inexperienced, I wanted my avian vet to examine her and give her a clean bill of health. I brought her into my vet friend's clinic for a full check up, to make sure everything was okay. He wanted to x ray her and make sure we had no apsergillosis, or any other problem that would show up in an x ray. I got her out put her hood on and she promptly gave us a stool sample to check, and then I held her feet while we put the bell hood on her head and started the iso-flourane anesthetic gas. Didn't take long and she was out. We got some clean x rays and everything looked perfect:
View attachment 223691
View attachment 223692
You can see the bits of quail bones in her stomach from her morning meal.

Then, we pulled blood:
View attachment 223693

While she was out, we were ably to really examine her keel, and it was sharper than I originally thought, but all else looked great.

Blood and fecal results came back the next day. Blood came back good with no signs of any infection. Fecal showed low levels of coccidia which we are now treating for. She had this last year and was asymptomatic, but we still eliminated it. We will eliminate it again.

So my challenge as a beginning falconer is to keep the weight high enough to keep her strength and energy up, but low enough to keep her responsive to the hunting cues. Its tough and ever changing. As the muscle, strength and stamina build, I have to feed her more and more to maintain the correct hunting weight. She appears to have beefed up a bit over the molting season and I'm finding that I have to keep her weight significantly higher than where I had it last season. Constantly striving for that balance.

This is so interesting. Love reading it.

 

[Maro2Bear]

All great stuff Tom, thanks for sharing. When I lived in Kuwait we frenzy visited the souks and pet markets on weekends. Was always fascinated with the Falconry Corner. All kinds of birds and the required equipment. I DID almost by a camel, but that’s a different thread. Keep the updates coming.

 

[JoesMum]

Not a trained hawk, but I thought Tom might like this snap of a wild sparrow hawk that plucked a great t it (sorry I had to put an extra space to avoid the censor) on our snowy lawn... on this day 5 years ago according to Facebook.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

Fantastic read. Congratulations on the hard work and dedication you’ve put into your successful apprenticeship. Really awesome.

 

[Moozillion]

Jack rabbits are generally the largest and heaviest prey any normal hawk hunter takes. Some of the larger jacks can reach 7-8 pounds. This one felt like it weight about 20 pounds when I picked it up to put it in my hunting vest, but it was probably in the 5-6 pound range. Some of the falcons will take large ducks or pheasants. There are nomadic tribes in Mongolia that hunt wolves from horseback with Golden Eagles. The eagles know to grab the snout of the wolf and hold it shut. I've seen video of Golden eagles taking sheep off of cliffs.

Some of these raptors are capable of amazing feats.

[emoji33] INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!! [emoji2]
...AND incredibly COOL!!!!!![emoji2]

 

[Moozillion]

Minerva is alive and well. After a great start, we've had a rough season. I had to get some advice and apply it. Had to rethink some things, and start doing things a little differently. Getting performance out of your bird takes much more than looking at a number on a scale and waiting for instincts and training to kick in. Every bird and every situation is different. The things I've figured out with Minerva this year, may or may not apply to any other bird I work with in the future. All of them are different and adjustments must be made to allow for these individual differences.

After such a strong start, I started seeing lots of the same old stuff from last year. Moments of brilliance bookended by lack of attention and self hunting. I had to change things up. I was failing to be a "good" hunting partner for her. There had to be more reward and more fun to keep her interested. Last year my thought process was that if she failed to catch game, she'd go home hungry and try harder next time. That is certainly how it works for wild hawks. But a wild hawk doesn't need to cooperatively hunt with anyone, and cooperative hunting is my goal. Now when Minerva doesn't catch game, we go home to a familiar training area and I work her butt off, for a reward. She doesn't get free food for poor performance. She gets a hard workout with a substantial reward.

I learned another important lesson that was broached last year. DIfferent foods have different nutrient qualities. Rabbits are very lean and offer relatively poor nutrition. I can feed her a lot of rabbit, make her feel full and rewarded, but not put a ton of weight on her. Quail, on the other hand, is very high in nutrients and is considered a very "rich" food. If I tank her up on quail, she gains a lot of weight. Tank her up on rabbit and she feels "fulfilled" mentally and physically, but remains at a good working weight and is very in tune with me and the work. I mix in rodent and quail for good nutrition, but use lots of rabbit meat for bulk.

Sounds like a bunch of fancy talk, but how well does it all work? We haven't had a bad day since I started implementing this new info about 3 weeks ago. We went over a month without catching a rabbit and had some rough days in the field. She caught two rabbits in the first week we started this new plan, and then, to my shock, disbelief and utter elation she took her first jack rabbit this last saturday. She wouldn't even try for jacks last year after that first one kicked her off. She just looked at them and watched them go by. Think about it... A 2 pound bird has got to be feeling pretty good about life to think it is going to latch onto a 6-7 pound jack and have a good outcome. Well, Minerva is feeling that good now:
View attachment 228107
She is so big that the jack doesn't look that huge, but HOLY COW!!! That animal was powerful and heavy!

Being the pragmatist that I am, I keep expecting to have another bad day, but so far so good. Going through a difficult time and persevering has taught me another good lesson, and now me and my team of girls and I are reaping the rewards. All the naive rabbits are already gone for this season. Only the hardened pros are left. Every catch from this point on will be hard earned and we will have to be on our game every time we go out.

I attended my first falconry meet last week and I will write about that next time. You can look up "California Hawking Club Annual Field Meet" for a pre-view. Met some great people and learned a ton!

I leave you with this catch. Just three days after catching the jack, and our first time out hunting after returning home from the CHC meet. It was a glorious day with three amazing flights/chases, that ended in this:
View attachment 228108

Look at where her feet are in relation to the big branch…
View attachment 228109

WOW!!!!!
There’s SO MUCH that must be considered in working with a bird like this!!!!! What a trip!!!!!! [emoji2][emoji106]

 

[Tom]

WOW!!!!!
There’s SO MUCH that must be considered in working with a bird like this!!!!! What a trip!!!!!! [emoji2][emoji106]

Yes. Much more than I initially realized. It is not just feeding and flying. There is so much training and thought that must go into every single interaction with your bird. I have learned so much, and I think I have things working pretty well now, but there is SOOOOOOOOO much more to learn. I know new challenges will continually pop up.

One new challenge that I'm eager to learn is getting my bird "waiting on". AKA "slope soaring" or "getting up in the thermals". Right now the way Minerva and I hunt is for her to wait on nearby high perches like telephone poles, light posts, or buildings, while I beat the brush trying to flush rabbits for her to chase and catch. "Waiting on" is when the bird takes to the wing and soars overhead while I try to flush game. There are guys who hunt this way with their red tails on a regular basis, and I'm trying to get in touch with them and hopefully get to know them and learn their training secrets. Just getting to watch them and their birds in action will be a privilege. Minerva has surreptitiously done this with me several times, and every time it happens, I've frantically tried to flush a rabbit and reward her for the behavior, but no luck yet. It is AWESOME when it happens. Those are the days when I feel like she and I are really working together and she completely understands what we are doing and why I'm walking around in the bushes.

So much to learn...

 

[Moozillion]

Yes. Much more than I initially realized. It is not just feeding and flying. There is so much training and thought that must go into every single interaction with your bird. I have learned so much, and I think I have things working pretty well now, but there is SOOOOOOOOO much more to learn. I know new challenges will continually pop up.

One new challenge that I'm eager to learn is getting my bird "waiting on". AKA "slope soaring" or "getting up in the thermals". Right now the way Minerva and I hunt is for her to wait on nearby high perches like telephone poles, light posts, or buildings, while I beat the brush trying to flush rabbits for her to chase and catch. "Waiting on" is when the bird takes to the wing and soars overhead while I try to flush game. There are guys who hunt this way with their red tails on a regular basis, and I'm trying to get in touch with them and hopefully get to know them and learn their training secrets. Just getting to watch them and their birds in action will be a privilege. Minerva has surreptitiously done this with me several times, and every time it happens, I've frantically tried to flush a rabbit and reward her for the behavior, but no luck yet. It is AWESOME when it happens. Those are the days when I feel like she and I are really working together and she completely understands what we are doing and why I'm walking around in the bushes.

So much to learn...

This must feel like a dream sometimes- it would for me!!!!!!

 

[Moozillion]

All great stuff Tom, thanks for sharing. When I lived in Kuwait we frenzy visited the souks and pet markets on weekends. Was always fascinated with the Falconry Corner. All kinds of birds and the required equipment. I DID almost by a camel, but that’s a different thread. Keep the updates coming.

WOW! That sounds so exotic!!!!!!

 

[Tom]

This must feel like a dream sometimes- it would for me!!!!!!

Every time she flies down to my glove I am in awe. I turn her loose every day and she chooses to come back to me each time.

 

[Stuart S.]

@Tom I noticed you had. Mack’s Prairie Wings hat on in one of your photos..are you a waterfowler? If you are have you taken your bird hunting? I’ve seen videos of this but have never seen it live or talked to anyone personally who have done it.

 

[Tom]

@Tom I noticed you had. Mack’s Prairie Wings hat on in one of your photos..are you a waterfowler? If you are have you taken your bird hunting? I’ve seen videos of this but have never seen it live or talked to anyone personally who have done it.

Wow. Very observant. I'm not a water fowler yet, but I have several friends who duck hunt with goshawks and falcons.

I got that hat and some other items while shooting the movie "Mud" in Stuttgart Arkansas. That store was fantastic! They had a giant mallard statue out in front of the store.

 

[Stuart S.]

Wow. Very observant. I'm not a water fowler yet, but I have several friends who duck hunt with goshawks and falcons.

I got that hat and some other items while shooting the movie "Mud" in Stuttgart Arkansas. That store was fantastic! They had a giant mallard statue out in front of the store.

I grew up doing it and Mack’s is one of my favorite stores, it’s great!
I’ve always thought falconry was amazing, the birds are incredibly smart and loyal. Speaking of “Mud,” random fact, Matthew McConaughey graduate from the same high school my wife went to, Longview High in Longview, Texas. I went to the more rural school about 20 minutes away.

 

[Tom]

I grew up doing it and Mack’s is one of my favorite stores, it’s great!
I’ve always thought falconry was amazing, the birds are incredibly smart and loyal. Speaking of “Mud,” random fact, Matthew McConaughey graduate from the same high school my wife went to, Longview High in Longview, Texas. I went to the more rural school about 20 minutes away.

Some people in Hollywood are jack asses and some are nice. I suppose its just like every other walk of life in that way…

Matthew was a very nice guy. Considerate, kind, intelligent and professional. I was happy to work with him for those few days. He's one of the good ones. Not surprising, I suppose, given where he came from.

 

[Stuart S.]

Some people in Hollywood are jack asses and some are nice. I suppose its just like every other walk of life in that way…

Matthew was a very nice guy. Considerate, kind, intelligent and professional. I was happy to work with him for those few days. He's one of the good ones. Not surprising, I suppose, given where he came from.

I can only imagine! I’ve heard he’s a nice guy!

 

[Tom]

Work has kept me from updating this thread, but here is the result of this morning's effort:

Not a great pic, but that there is a jack rabbit. She's taken two of them now. She got this one in much the same manner as the last one. Me and the dog bolted the rabbit, but it was much too far and fast for her to catch from where she was. Me and Sophie just kept walking in the direction we saw the jack go, and Minerva was there waiting on the edge of the field. This jack was doing that sneaky belly crawl that they do trying to evade me and the dog and sneak to safety, but he didn't evade Minerva's gaze. It belly crawled and snuck its way right under the hawk. She just dropped almost straight down on to it. This time she had it by the back end and it was kicking the heck out of her. She did her job and held on, and that jack will now be fed to her over the coming months.

I've been giving the whole idea of "falconry" a lot of thought lately. I am still so new and inexperienced at it, but I feel like I've gained some perspective in the last few months. The "sport" of falconry isn't something you just do. Is a process and a way of life that takes years and is never fully completed. It just seems to be in some people's nature to do this, despite the hardships, legalities, costs and risks. During a presentation at the CHC (California Hawking Club) meet a few weeks ago, one of the presenters illuminated an interesting point of view. This was an old salty guy whose been doing falconry for many decades. He quipped: "If you are a results oriented falconer, you'll have good and bad days. If you are a process oriented falconer, every day is a good day."

The whole presentation was wonderful, but this paraphrased quote has really resonated with me. My first two seasons were all about how quickly could I get the bird up and flying free and hunting, and how many rabbits I could bag in the season. Results oriented. This year's hunting season started out much the same. I got nine rabbits last year, and I need to get more this year now that I have "so much" experience under my belt. In the last few weeks, I've made a huge mental shift. Things weren't going as well as I wanted them to. Much of last year, and now the first part of this year, me and the bird just weren't meshing. There would be moments of brilliance, but those moments were bookended by disinterest or failure. With the help and guidance of men and women much more experienced than me, I've really turned a corner recently. I have become a "process" oriented falconer. I don't really care if we bring home a rabbit or not anymore. What I care about is the experience of working with this amazing bird out in the wild, and working as a team to chase wild game. She doesn't always connect. Most slips end in an escaped rabbit. But all the stuff that happens before, during and after that chase is pure magic. Sometimes I can't believe what I'm seeing. I just stand there in the middle of some desolate field grinning ear to ear. Just me, my bird, my dog and a dust trail left behind by an escaped rabbit who lives another day and is now just a little bit wiser. The ariel acrobatics, her ability to seemingly distort and bend the laws of physics, her extreme fitness and ability, AND the same traits in these fit and healthy wild rabbits, is truly awe-inspiring. It is literally a life and death chase with both hawk and rabbit giving it everything they've got. The outcome is never certain, and the wiley rabbit usually wins. And when he does, I applaud him or her. Those rabbits earn my respect and admiration daily. Most people don't think much about rabbits, but when you get to know them as I have over the last few years, they are pretty amazing themselves.

As most falconers, myself included, nearing the end of their two year apprenticeship, their thoughts turn to all the other species they might want to work with, and what adventures they will be having in the future. I'm very interested in Harris' hawks, Goshawks and even the Merlin. I've got all sorts of future plans in the works. But this year has taught me how little I know. I've only scratched the surface and have so much more to learn. There are many more adventures to be had with Minerva before I move on to a new bird and new species. My plan for now is to hunt with her at least one more year, and learn as much as I can with her. We are only doing basic stuff right now and there is so much more we could be doing. RIght now we are limited to hunting in fields that have suitable perching for her to sit on and wait for me to flush a rabbit. If I can figure out how to get her 'waiting on', the falconry term that describes a hawk that takes to the thermals and soars above the falconer and hunts from the wing instead of a perch, we could hunt in a whole lot more places than we do now. That is my goal for the rest of this season and next season. Simultaneously, I will try to learn as much about other species as I can by going hawking with other falconers and watching their birds in action.

In other words, I'm in no rush to get somewhere anymore. I'm just enjoying the ride and seeing the sights along the way. Or maybe, looking at it another way, I've already arrived and I'm now enjoying my destination.

 

[JoesMum]

Absolutely fascinating. The shift from results to process seems the right one Tom. That’s what makes you a proper falconer probably... when you and the bird enjoy the process together then the results will come naturally

I love watching Merlins in the wild here in the UK. Tiny little falcons and such agile flyers. Out on the coastal marshes we watch them catching and eating dragonflies on the wing.

The other predator I love watching here is the Red Kite. They seem to fly for pure enjoyment, playing on thermals as they keep a beady eye out for food

 

[Tom]

Some shots from today:

She chose to hunt from up here today instead of a light pole:


Here comes a local raven to harass her:




As you can see, she doesn't care about the ravens. She ignores them. I've considered teaching her to hunt them. She'll never go hungry, and it might save a few desert tortoises too.

Here is Sophie imitating a pointer:

 

[CarolM]

Some shots from today:

She chose to hunt from up here today instead of a light pole:
View attachment 230175

Here comes a local raven to harass her:
View attachment 230176
View attachment 230177
View attachment 230178

As you can see, she doesn't care about the ravens. She ignores them. I've considered teaching her to hunt them. She'll never go hungry, and it might save a few desert tortoises too.

Here is Sophie imitating a pointer:
View attachment 230179

Awesome. I love reading this post. So informative.

 

[Tom]

Friend took some pics for me: