Been a while

Well its been a while. I've dropped her weight to 400grams and this has made an improvment in how she responds. for a while she got turned off rabbits but now seems to be back onto them. Recently we have had some amazing flights on birds as well.

She loves catching Wood Rats. I think it wont be too long before we are catching rabbits with her.

And the lights turn dim.....

So far we are 2 Pack Rats, 3 Mice and one Sparrow. She seems intimidated by rabbits to the point of completely refusing to chase after them so i am now trying to catch a baggy rabbit that we can see if she will get going on them. A good friend suggested a technique for turning them on to rabbits. The idea is you place the rabbit in a hole with a board on top, place dirt and brush over the top. Get your hawk walk toward the board, move the board rabbit pops out shes chases it , then blow her out on rabbit so she gets the idea.

 I have (with the advise of a friend) found a couple of other fields , one was completely mowed . I flushed two rabbits. One headed for a garden and the other used the tree's for cover. The second field is quite large and we had 3 flushes on rabbits.

I took her car hawking with and Ryan Christensen. The only thing i didn't like about it is she is in your face as you drive and breaking a feather due to a bate is an easy thing to do. The rest of this week we are going to work on doing it so i'm more comfortable with it. She did have one good chase on a starling and sparrow narrowly missing either one.

Tonight because of daylight savings we had less time in the field and really didn't see anythings.  It is dark by 5.30 pm now unit mid January. Mid December it will be dark at 5.17. Feb back to 6 pm. So my plan is to field hawk at the weekends and car hawk during the week.

I tossed her a quail tonight. The quail flew 20 feet before she caught it mid air and then carried on flying to the nearest tree. By this point it was quite dark. It was the first time she didn't weight for it to put in, Not happy about the carrying but was happy with the flight and the mid air catch. It was the first time she has ever carried anything. I will use a pigeon the next time and see if she manages to carry that in the future.

My original plan was to also have a falcon off some kind. So when this time hit i would put her up for 3 months and lure fly the falcon during the week and duck hunt at the weekends. Next year that will defiantly be the plan. I still say this is the best plan because of work schedules and family. The plan will be to get fields and ponds that i can hunt on even if it means going into Kansas to hunt.

I have a couple of other projects on the go, One is a new GH. Chloroplast is ok but the one i have lets to much light in so i am making a new one out of wood. I am also experimenting with a keyfob cam. I'm looking to strip it down and add a tail mount on it to put on a back pack. SO far i have got it down in weight to 10 grams. I'm looking at changing the lipo battery out for one that weighs less and and using either liquid rubber to waterproof it or use electrical tape and ditch the case.

2 for 3

Took her to a different field today. We had 2 chases on bunnies. I found she didn't like anyone else being in the field. So a friend had to leave. We where walking near a drainage pond and all of a sudden a small bird flew up and was away with her on its tail. She caught it on the ground 150 yards for where we were. When i got there she flew back across the pond with it and in a tree. i walked back and through the lure out which she came down to. I picked her up. She wasn't going to let the sparrow go so fed her on the fist and let her feed on her catch. I couldn't be more pleased both fur and feather.

Free Flights and First Catch

Took her for a free flight yesterday , she chased a medium sized bird. followed nicely and i couldn't have been more pleased. Today we had 3 slips on 3 cotton tail rabbits and two slips on something else that she crashed on. I found she will crash brush to get to a rabbit. As we where starting to head home i kicked up a brush pile and the biggest rat i have ever seen came running out. She was on it. She carried it to some low brush and i climbed in with her as we dispatched it and let her settle down. Great day of hawking....

I'm working on a Video

This is just a rough cut....

Moving along slowly

Well we had a bit of a set back. after getting her hood she started to crash in weight. At one point i was feeding her 3 times a day to keep it on. I took her to a local vet and had her checked out. Praziquantol 0.05ml was prescribed and two days later things started to stabilize. I got her weight back up and then started to bring it back down again. Still keeping with feeding her twice a day. So back to basics. Still got to get her dialed in but we are almost there, going to move to the outside tomorrow and see how well she concentrates. Lure response is getting better.

New Hood

Well it's been a busy week with work family and a bird. I have been manning her every day and slowly bringing her weight down. I have been aiming for 1% of her weight each day and have been hitting it. Been feeding her sparrows, pigeon and quail and the weight  has slowly been dropping off.

In the house she is flying to the length of our living room which is about 25feet. lure response has been a little lacking . out side i have her flying to about 12 feet. First day out and it was almost like reverting to the wild bird she was when i first trapped her. I have started keeping her on the pole perch in the house. She likes it allot better than the Giant Hood. Few bates and wings folders 99% of the time.

I have been hooding her with a hood that i got off ebay for $10. But today we took a trip to Robert Huber. He custom fitted a hood he made for me. She hoods nicely.

We haven't seen to many problems with her. At around 410g she did start challenging me but having spoken with some other falconers that fly coopers and it seems normal for this stage of having her.

I am hoping to free fly her some time next week once we get her totally wedded to the lure. I plan to use a back pack with her and a friend has kindly said they would help me fit it.

Daisy

I trapped Daisy yesterday using a Goshawk Trap using pigeons as my bait. I have been after a coopers Hawk for the last two years and finally managed to trap one.

Coopers hawks are very different to what i have flown before so there will be a step learning curve. She weighed in at 450 grams so i say a small female. She will be ideal for taking on the abundant supply of Sparrows and Starlings we have in the area. I got her regaining the fist and she took a bite of some pigeon yesterday.

Some typical stats are
Male
Length
14.6–15.4 in
37–39 cm

Wingspan
24.4–35.4 in
62–90 cm

Weight
7.8–14.5 oz
220–410 g

Female
Length
16.5–17.7 in
42–45 cm

Wingspan
29.5–35.4 in
75–90 cm

Weight
11.6–24 oz
330–680 g

Relative Size
Larger than a Sharp-shinned Hawk and about crow-sized, but males can be much smaller.


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/id/ac

Passed

Passed my inspection with the local Game Warden so let the trapping begin !

Finished

Took the day off yesterday to finish the mews. Got the roof done and a door on as well as put welded wire on the entire floor. I then filled the floor with pea gravel. Insepction happens at 3pm tomrrow all going well we should be good to go.

Total bill came to $550 with $130 being the pea gravel.

4 Walls

I decided to down grade the mews due to some financial reasons .

So i spent most of the weekend working on putting it together.

Trapping season

Raptor Trapping season opened today however in 110F+ heat i think i will be give it a pass till it cools down some. I still want a coopers hawk and possibly a falcon of some kind.

Peregrine take starts September 20th - October 20th

New Mews

After moving i have to build a new mews. This time round I'm doing a few things differently. First i never actually used my mews for any length of period. I always ended up using my weathering area at my previous house.

I have been bringing my hawks/falcons in at night to help with weight control and for safety reason.
So with all that in mind i decided to build like a hybrid mews / weathering area. I will be making it 8 feet by 16 feet and 6.5 feet high. 3 sides will be EMT bars, with a double doors. There will be a dividing wall in the middle

This will be just one side ( the 8 foot side ) The bars are 5 feet in length and the last 1.5 feet will be regular siding.
 

Well the Loft is finally complete and the pigeons from my old loft are installed and breeding away. There are a couple of things i might change at a later date but all in all i am pretty pleased with it. The birds seem to be coping better in the heat due to the air vent located in the top and it really doesn't take up any more space than the old hutch style i had at the old house.

Ryan Van Zant's came by on the 4th and dropped off 2 squabs to add to my flock which is greatly appreciated. I never knew there was a difference between racing homers and regular homers until i looked at the heads, thinner and less pronounced at the front.

The next thing to do for this summer is start on my mews/weathering area. Every where in our yard is pretty open so shade cloth of a solid roof will be the order of the day.

Remington. I got myself a GSH. a few months ago. things where going well until i got a phone call at work to say he had hurt himself. on further investigation seems my middle daughters friends may have pushed him of a bed and he landed wrong. One operation and one very expensive vet bill later he is doing pretty good. He broke his leg just below the knee on his left rear leg. Being a puppy this hasn't held him back. Right now we are working on basic commands like "Come" and getting him house trained. He has been pointing the pigeons in the loft and generally being a very lively puppy. A very welcome distraction from not having a bird for the summer.

I'm also looking to take up fly fishing having bought a new rod and reel.....

Nest Boxes

Got the nest boxes in just as we went back to the old house, birds were all packed up and brought back only for the transmission on the family car to pack up. Just made it back to Bartlesville. Dreading that bill

Pigeons are all inside and are starting to settle in. A few squabbles for position and dominance but at least now they have some room to fly inside and roost peacefully. At some point i'm going to add some other birds to the loft to introduce some other blood lines but all is good for the moment.

I'll get the rest finished in the next few weeks.

Pigieon Loft Update

Well the pigeon loft is coming along . I'm not that far off it being ready for its new inhabitants. The area at the front will get worked on next week but at least for now they birds will have somewhere to roost

New Pigeon Loft

I had every intention of leaving my pigeons in the care of my son in law however that wasn't working out so my wife and i decided to move them to our new location. I built my Hutch loft with scrap material and in a hurry and in the end i wasn't happy with what i had.

So this time i'm going to be making something similar to those on Red Rose Lofts.

The idea is it will end up something like this.

So today i started building it.

April Update

Life has been busy, New Move and New Job. I've spent first month in Bartlesville unpacking and learning my new job. I've been involved in IT for 20 Years now starting off using computers and programming them for music then got my first real job working for Brother International . Computing has really changed in that time My first Computer was an Atari ST and my First PC was a home built 386DX. computers are so different from what they where.

My new job is completely different to anything i have really done before. Team Foundation Server Administrator for a large development department for a leading energy company. There is some programming involved but it's mainly fixing MS Build  and user permissions.  i am totally loving it. For the last 5 years i have been doing two jobs free lance photographer and web designer/Creative Technologist/.net programmer and on top of that husband , father and stressed to a massive level . In fact if it wasn't for falconry i'm not to sure i would be sane or even alive right now and i kinda question the sane bit.

I have been miserable and i probably haven't been the best person to speak to or get on with. To those that have felt the brunt of that i apologies.

It seems very strange not having a raptor in the house something i hope to change in the not to distant future.

I still want a coopers hawk but i also want some sort of falcon. The number of starlings and birds around this area is like 20 times more than Colbert . I have rabbits in my back yard (Never had that before)  and dove constantly come to feed. I have already seen a couple of pairs of adult coopers in the local neighborhood. I don't think i realized how barren of nature Bryan county is right now. I arrive hear and it seems strange listening to birds sing and having sparrows in the rafters , Jays, Dove , Boat Tailed Grackle, Common Grackle, Brewers Black Bird and Starlings flying into the yard on an hourly basis.

I have a co-worker that's been telling me about a field of quail he walks his dogs in.

The house we are renting has a fairly large yard and i am planing on moving my pigeon up here before the start of the season as well as build a weathering area ( I like to keep mu birds in the house at night )

I have had a request form the land lord to get liability insurance to cover him in case of the raptor escaping and hurting someone even by accident. I have spoken to a few renters insurance companies and Falconry birds have now been classed as exotic pets and therefore require special insurance. so far i have found one company that offers that kind of insurance  http://www.xinsurance.com/insurance-options/personal-liability/exoticpets/

It a requirement of the lease and its expensive but i can kind of see where the landlord is coming from.

I'll start posting pictures of the mews construction and loft construction. if any OFA Members in the Tulsa/Bartlesville area want to waste a few hours helping me and share a few beers and cook out as i construct things you would be more than welcome and please get in contact.

Red Tail Nest Cam

Streaming live video by Ustream

Diversification

For a while i have been looking for another job. I have had a number of interviews and interest in the North of Oklahoma. Most of the jobs in my field are in and around Tulsa. Seems i landed one with ConocoPhillips in Bartlesville.I start at the end of the month working in the IT Department. I am excited about this new opportunity .

The past year was a great year for me I caught more than any previous year. The fire brought it to a premature end. I did look after a Harris for 30 days but my heart wasn't in it so i took her back to her owner. Whilst not as successful as other peoples standards it was for me , room to improve, oh yes. I want to be one of the best falconers out there

So the summer is going to be an interesting one, looking for permission to hunt new fields, building a new mews and starting fresh. I def want another falcon either a peregrine or a prairie. I also want a coopers hawk we will see how time and availability work out.

I have been also thinking about turning this into a more general blog about my life in general. The main reason for setting this up in the first place was so my two children in the UK could follow what i was doing and that still appeals in many ways.

Yesterday a photographer stopped by who is doing a project that involves taking pictures of 365 people in all 52 states.

The project is  http://thiswildidea.com/ check it out, Oklahoma falconry Association do something similar with their members page but i like the format this offers. I was thinking wouldn't this be cool to do something similar for falconry.

So for now its back to packing and getting rid of things.

Hood Training a Passage Coopers Hawk

Hood Training a Passage Coopers Hawk by Bill Boni

12 Months from previous take

Still deciding on what i want to do bird wise. I called the Oklahoma department of wildlife today needing to know when the possession year started and ended. In Texas its June 1st to May 31st and some other states have Jan1st to Dec 31st. I was kind of hoping it would be the same (as Texas) unfortunately not, it's from the last time you trapped a raptor.

I was thinking maybe trap a kestrel and then see about a coopers and some sort of falcon in the fall but that would be 3 birds in one year so that option is totally out the window.As i trapped Shiloh in January of 2011 that means i can now take 2 wild raptors.

This season has been interesting game wise but the predominant game is small birds and surprisingly a large number of ducks. I caught more rabbits this year than previous but that's down to one field and i really don't want to over hunt it. I have been looking for other fields but all have failed to produce any results. Places that i have had flushes before or had rabbit sign have been none sparse this year.

 I have been loaned a Female Harris Hawk, Shes been fun but not really what i am after. If there is a rabbit in site she will chase it , if there are small birds she will chase them but only if shes in a cast and there is competition from another Harris. If i just want a Rabbit and Squirrel Hawk then i might as well get another Male RT. I like Male RT's they're fun.

So the choice is going to be a Coopers Hawk for small birds and the odd rabbit and either a peregrine or a prairie falcon for ducks and anything else i can get them to fly on. Now the next question is wait till the fall and trap a peregrine or trap a prairie now, man it train it over the next few months and have it ready to go in September on teal. I like the idea of training a bird over the next few months as i feel i need the experience of training multiple birds.

It would be interesting to see everyone else's view.