Hawk Tidbits
Post vacation, and everything is getting back to normal. But I have had a couple of events, a couple of hawk "tidbits" that I can report on.
On Wednesday night I got a call from a fellow falconer's wife. She's "hawk sitting" while he's out of town on business. Fortunately, his bird is being kept in a mews, because she managed to break free of her jesses. It was also fortunate that there were not two birds in the mews, as she might have attacked her mews-mate, and done some damage. I was called in to help re-jess her up. However, I had to catch her first. And she was free inside this rather roomy mews. It's summertime, so she's not too keen to come to the fist. And she also doesn't know me. But rather than try to get away from me, she tried to attack my extended fist. Which made it easy to catch her. She did get a scrape or two on me as I had ahold of only one leg for a short bit, with one leg free and ready to strike. And during this process one of her talons poked through a seam in my glove and got my hand. But I was able to secure her, and change out all her equipment. She was returned to the security of being tied inside her mews.
Yesterday I experienced a UFO . . . that is, an Unidentified Feathered Object. And it is quite possible that it was Abby that I saw. I was on my way home from work. Coming around a forested corner near my house, I flushed a hawk, who flew from the ground up to a nearby tree. She was a partial juvenile, with two red deck feathers (those are the two in the middle of her tail). If Abby had stayed in the area, this would be at about the stage of molt that she would be. So, maybe, just maybe it was her! I ran home and got my gauntlet and my lure, and a mouse, and went back and did a lure call. But no response! Oh well! I'll never know!
And another possible sighting . . . my best friend, Jill, tells me she saw a kestrel land on a telephone line by Volk Field recently. When it landed, it flaired its tail, and there were many broken tail tips. When Rigel was released he had a lot of broken tail tips. So, maybe he's still in the area too.
Just a few Hawk Tidbits . . . as summer goes on, and I wait for trapping season to arrive.
I miss having a bird to take care of.
On Wednesday night I got a call from a fellow falconer's wife. She's "hawk sitting" while he's out of town on business. Fortunately, his bird is being kept in a mews, because she managed to break free of her jesses. It was also fortunate that there were not two birds in the mews, as she might have attacked her mews-mate, and done some damage. I was called in to help re-jess her up. However, I had to catch her first. And she was free inside this rather roomy mews. It's summertime, so she's not too keen to come to the fist. And she also doesn't know me. But rather than try to get away from me, she tried to attack my extended fist. Which made it easy to catch her. She did get a scrape or two on me as I had ahold of only one leg for a short bit, with one leg free and ready to strike. And during this process one of her talons poked through a seam in my glove and got my hand. But I was able to secure her, and change out all her equipment. She was returned to the security of being tied inside her mews.
Yesterday I experienced a UFO . . . that is, an Unidentified Feathered Object. And it is quite possible that it was Abby that I saw. I was on my way home from work. Coming around a forested corner near my house, I flushed a hawk, who flew from the ground up to a nearby tree. She was a partial juvenile, with two red deck feathers (those are the two in the middle of her tail). If Abby had stayed in the area, this would be at about the stage of molt that she would be. So, maybe, just maybe it was her! I ran home and got my gauntlet and my lure, and a mouse, and went back and did a lure call. But no response! Oh well! I'll never know!
And another possible sighting . . . my best friend, Jill, tells me she saw a kestrel land on a telephone line by Volk Field recently. When it landed, it flaired its tail, and there were many broken tail tips. When Rigel was released he had a lot of broken tail tips. So, maybe he's still in the area too.
Just a few Hawk Tidbits . . . as summer goes on, and I wait for trapping season to arrive.
I miss having a bird to take care of.
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