Crabbing

Today I had one of the most unusual experiences in my five plus years of practicing falconry. Today my bird caught another wild bird, a juvenile red-tail! I was fortunate enough to have someone along for the hunt who had a decent camera who could document the event. I was much too busy trying to resolve the issue to even think about taking pictures, even if I had brought a camera with me.

Because I had two "dogs" today (humans who come along to help kick up bunnies) I decided to try the field where I had caught the squirrel. There was plenty of rabbit sign previously, but I needed more help to work the frozen and snow-covered marsh. Today I had that help. I got Nina all set up and released her, only to have her fly some great distance away from me. As I moved into the field, I called her back, and she returned quickly enough. I then sent her off again, towards the direction that we were headed. I never saw the other bird. But she did!! Once spotted, she flew right at it and "bumped" it . . . which is the way a dominant bird expresses its supposed superiority over what it assesses to be a subordinate. The only problem is that the juvenile bird did not agree with this assessment! It stood it's ground, and began to crab with Nina. The pictures show very clearly what this is . . . they lock talons with each other. This went on for quite a few minutes, as Nina was wedged into the fork of a tree, hanging on to her end, and the wild bird was hanging upside down, hanging on back. Liz, my room-mate started to throw snowballs at them. I was yelling up, trying to scare the juvenile, with no effect at all! After what seemed like a very long time the two finally fell down to the ground. I quickly moved in, and only having one gloved hand, grabbed for Nina. I could have grabbed the wild bird, but felt it was prudent to secure mine first. Even on the ground, the wild one was standing its ground, and broke away only at the last moment, flying up to the fence.

It then sat there . . . glaring at us!! I've never seen this kind of chutzpah in a wild, untrained passage bird. Once I had a good grip on Nina, I turned and ran at the bird, brandishing my arms, attempting to scare it away. It just went a short distance over the fence, landed and continued to watch us. Liz asked me why it was doing this. Frankly, I'm not sure, but I can take one of two guesses. It is possible that it is starving, and just does not have the strength or energy to go very far. Or, it is just an incredibly brave wild bird that has staked out a territory here, and is defending it. I'm going with hypothesis #1, and feel pretty certain that if I brought a trap out to that field, and the bird is still around, I could catch it. (Any takers?? Dave?? It's still trapping season!)

As we were standing around and talking, trying to decide what to do, the wild bird flew back up to the trees. It was not budging! Because of this, we had to relocate. If I let Nina go again, she'd just go crab some more. It appears that she did not sustain much in the way of injuries. There are some scratches on her feet, but nothing major. I checked her leg, where you can see in the picture it appears the wild bird had a grip on her right leg, but upon inspection I didn't see anything. It must have just had a talon-full of feathers. I hope she didn't hurt the wild one.

What a Bossy Bird! This girl will have no trouble once she is released in claiming a new territory!

At the new location we kicked up quite a few bunnies. Nina caught #8 for the year. Because we have such deep deep snow on the ground, and it only being December, it may be a difficult falconry year. It's really hard to move around, and there is just so much snow over all the grass and brush that the bunnies have lots of cover to hide in. But I'll keep trying! The count so far is 8 bunnies, 1 squirrel, and 1 hawk. OK, so the hawk was just caught by Nina, and didn't make it "into the bag". But I have photographic proof that is happened! Doesn't that count?

Deep Deep Snow and Cattail Catch

Over the last couple days we have had a major winter storm move through our area. I've not heard exactly how much snow fell, but it certainly is more than 10 inches, with substantial blowing and drifting. Yesterday the roads were unpassable in most of the back roads. Only after the storm ended last night, and the crews got busy plowing the roads did travel again become possible.

The clouds cleared, and today was a beautiful day for a walk outside. It was also a good falconry day, assuming you could find someplace to hunt something. I left early enough with Nina in tow and drove quite extensively around the South side of La Crosse, looking for places to hunt. I didn't find anything suitable that had an appearance of game, and which lacked any kind of signs indicating 'no tresspassing'. I must have driven around for about 2 hours, just listening to the radio. After a quick stop by my home, a laundry trade out, and a glass of eggnog I decided to just try one of the little patches nearby. I've already pulled one rabbit out of it. Usually I don't like to pull too many bunnies from one site, taxing the long-term sustainable population. But upon second thought, I don't plan to hunt next year, so pushing too hard on the game in the one spot will really not matter for next year, and it is a residential area, so I'm sure there are plenty of other bunnies to fill the niche for any that I take away. There is one living underneath my mews right now! I see the hole in the snow, and the tracks. Little foo foo doesn't know how close to danger he lives!

I geared Nina up and then trudged across a large field to get to the brushy area. I park my car back behind Hillview Nursing Home, as it offers the best place to leave my car. This was fabulous exercise for me, the snow sometimes being up to my hips, most of the time up around my calves. I got to my destination and struck Nina's hood, and sent her off. She immediately took a tree, and then moved around a bit following my progress. I walked around for probably about 20 minutes or so, whacking brushy areas with snow covering them, hoping to maybe find one rabbit to jump out, but not succeeding. I really wasn't too motivated to try too hard as this was just exhausting for me. I mostly planned to let her get some exercise, and then call her down to the lure. Special note here, the snow had melted down a bit last week prior to this new layer. I believe that ice crust may be for the most part resolved. Now it's just dealing with DEEP snow!

I made a large loop, and approached a cattail bed last. I could see trails moving into this thick bed which were too small for deer . . . as I had seen quite a few deer tracks as well. Nina was a good distance away, but as I worked the bed she must have seen some kind of movement. She quickly flew back towards me, almost at me, and then raked off and took a perch in a tree. I watched her behavior, and knew she had seen something, and was continuing to watch. So I turned and pushed back towards her direction. A moment later she took wing, and then dove down into the cattails a short distance in front of me. At first, I thought she had missed, and I stood still, waiting for her to get back up, but she did not move. I then heard the bunny cry. She had managed to catch it through all that thick snow. I walked carefully over to where she was, watching my step, which was important for when I got to her, all I could see was her head. The rest was under the snow. I quickly yet carefully reached down to where her feet were, and grabbed the bunny. It would be terrible after such an effort for her to lose her quarry. I pulled her free of the cattails, set her down on an open area, dispatched the bunny, secured her, and then traded her off onto her lure, allowing her to eat.

I do so wish I had brought my camera with me. Once done, I called Nina up to my fist. She was all bristly with her hackles up, as she always is after a hunt. The day was bright, the sky blue, the snow laying heavily over everything was sparkly white. It would have been a beautiful picture!! Sometimes, this obsession gets me out of the house when I would rather just stay inside. I am forced by a sense of responsibility to hunt my bird, when it would be all too easy to just go into the freezer and give her something from there. I have many times found myself in peaceful locations, even right in towns, to experience the pulse of the wild places, with a fierce member of the community working in conjunction with me to participate in the dance of life and death. It is a singular honor that I am going to miss next year, as I hang up my gauntlet for a season to focus exclusively on my schooling.

The experiences make the sweat all worth it!

I got Nina home, took care of bunny #7 for the year, and gave her a Christmas Eve feast with the fresh bunny innards. The moisture is good for her! That was a tough catch! And a pretty one too!

End of the Semester

As I write this, I'm sitting in the livingroom of my sister, with my two nieces. One (the younger) is about to go to sleep in her "nest" she's made on the floor. She was playing with a little electronic game I brought with me. She let her old auntie have her bed. I remember myself being tossed outta my own room and bed when relatives visited when I was growing up. The other (the older) is typing away on her laptop. We are both tapped into the WiFi.

It's nice to be here!!!! It has now been one year since I was laid off from my previous job. This past year has seen a lot of change for me. I did find work after a couple scary months. The new job was in La Crosse, and eventually I sold my home and moved to La Crosse. I'm living with a really great house-mate, so I'm not living alone. I'll be meeting her two daughters when I get back from my visit here. I'm on a course of education that will open a door to a much better future for me.

I was here with my sister and her family last year, crying, scared . . . and generally a nervous wreck. This year I'm more happy. I've made many changes, and I have many new goals. I just got word today that I have passed my Anatomy class with an A. I had previously finished my Medical Terminology class, also with an A. It was a lot of hard work, but it is now accomplished, and I can have a couple weeks off to relax before the spring semester gets underway.

Sometimes I think about the past. There is a terribly dark space that I have to force myself to avoid. However, the emotions sometimes force themselves to the forefront, late at night. They did a couple weeks ago. I must embrace my accomplishments, and strive to move forward. Maybe someday I can truly release those emotions, through a sense of forgiveness. I'm not there yet. Not even close.

My sister today told me that sometimes my nieces do miss their uncle, for he made the visits fun by playing with them. I can't reconcile this either. He'd probably say I was to blame for souring his ability to come here. Mostly, it's my family, what there is of it, showing me compassion for the pain they know I have felt. The wounds don't go away . . . not really. With time, they hurt less. But they are still there.

I look forward to the day when I can think of the past, and not feel the negative. Love charts that path! And I am hopeful someday I can be there again.

Hawking with Friends

Some days are just perfect! This particular day was just such a day! Above are my two good falconry friends, Dave Noble (second from the left) with his hawk this year, Becky, and Bill Oakes in his black coat and hat (to my immediate right). Bill didn't fly his bird, Madison, as he's been out of town and she/he (unsure of sex) was too fat for hunting. On the far left is a nice gentleman I've met, Phil, who came to join us this day and watch a falconry hunt. He could not have had a better demonstration!

I invited everyone to meet up at my home between 10 and 11, where I offered them fresh bagels and an assortment of hot beverages. Introductions were made all around as we stuffed our faces, and dove right into talking about our obsession. I did warn Phil previously to brace himself for the innundation. He seemed to take it all in stride. Prior to leaving Dave and Bill installed a tail mount onto Madison, with Dave making a small adjustment to the transmitter attachment wires. As we were leaving, I demonstrated my most excellent driving skills by backing into Bill's van! (DUH!!) Sorry Bill . . . but at least there didn't appear to be any damage on your vehicle, or at least not much! The salt on mine hides whatever I did to it!

:-P

I took my friends to what I consider to be my best field in La Crosse, so far. I know there are an abundance of bunnies here, as I saw quite a few previously, and have only taken one. Dave let me go first with Nina, who proceeded to give us a bit of an exciting start, by taking wing, with her hood still on, as I was trying to strap her telemetry onto her leg. After a few tense moments, as I held my breath that she wouldn't land on anything, or land out on the water, she came down onto the snow, and I was able to retrieve her. She's only done this one other time, last year, with her "loose" hood on, that I know she can see some out of. She was wearing her "tight" hood today. Whatever it was that possessed her to take off, I'll never know. There are more mysterious and frustrating aspects to this bird than positive . . . but she hunts, so I keep her.

Speaking of hunting, once situated with her telemetry, I cast the hood, and let her fly again, this time with both her eyes. She flew a distance and took a perch in some trees. We then approached the shoreline of this field which borders icy water, and has significant brush down an incline. Very quickly we flushed a bunny. Nina made it back our way double-time for the reflush, and in less than 5 minutes we had the first head of game for the day. It was all out in the open, dynamic, pretty! A good show for first-timer Phil!Now it was Dave's turn! As I put Nina away, he got Becky out and ready. We picked up where we left off, following along the shore, eventually moving into a small patch of trees parallel. With efficiency, as always expected of Dave and every bird he trains, soon Becky had her first bunny of the day as well. We continued on down the shore, coming ever closer to that same place a couple weeks previously that I had been challenged by some employee to "stay away from the pipes". I thought that if I returned on the weekend, no one would be around, and I could move back behind the building with no fuss. I thought wrong! Somehow the same guy was there, challenging us again, and reminding me that I was "trespassing". So I called to my friends, and we exited the area, only to drive down the road a bit, and come at the side field from another direction. I don't believe the second field to be in the site property of this previously prohibited area. I can't be sure. Upon further consideration at a later date, I've decided that at some point I need to come back to this manufacturing place, dressed nice, through the front door, and see if I can meet with the plant manager for a minute and get his permission to pass out back. I realize the fellow is just doing his job, and is worried about liability. The whole area looks as though they may have a vagrant problem from time to time. I'd like to keep hunting this area, and have a blank release form I'd be happy to sign for them. However, if I chicken out and never take this step, or if I do and they say "no" I'll need to stay away at least on that side field. No sense risking getting arrested for trespassing.
Upon returning to our cars to move, a resident of an apartment that we parked next to came out and asked us about the birds. Dave gave the usual Falconry 101, showing off Becky, and I got Nina out again for a bit to show him a mature red-tail. We then relocated.

Starting at the new location, I tried Nina again. We worked the field some, coming finally to a zone I had been to before, prior to the snow, which I knew was just full of bunnies. Previously the field was still wet, but now we had frozen snow on the ground. We must have flushed about 6 or 7 from this patch under Nina, who did not chase, her eye finally on a last pair we pushed out. She made a go at them, but her drive was not as sharp as it should be. I had let her have too much to eat on the first catch. I decided to call her down to put her away, and let Dave fly Becky some more. The exchange made, we thoroughly worked the field, pushing a lot more bunnies out of their hiding places. Becky scored a second catch, and almost contacted on several other attempts. She herself was challenged by the resident . . . but it was the resident hawk that screamed at her to "get lost". We ended the day with 3, and a field thoroughly stomped through. Returning to my home, warm drinks handed out to all, birds settled into their mews or giant hoods, I proceeded to make some chili. Liz came home as we were taking pictures, so joined our little party. Bill had to get home, so could not stay. The rest of the evening was a delightful indulgence of cameraderie with interesting people, over dinner, and then a quick soak out in Liz' hot-tub. As I write this account a week later, because I simply did not have time this past week, finishing up the semester, taking tests and then making a quick visit to my sister's home, there is a blizzard underway outside. I'd like to fly Nina again tomorrow, for she has not been flown for a couple days. I don't think that is going to happen if the storm continues according to the weather report. Days like last Saturday are rare, but make for such wonderful memories. I like getting out with my friends and indulging our passion. I like introducing the sport to new people, and seeing the wonder in another's eyes as they observe the birds in action up close.

I like making new friends!

First Squirrel of the Season

Today was Nina's first successful squirrel hunt for the 2007/2008 season. It was a good sized black La Crosse squirrel - one of probably several hundred that live in this city. So many of the squirrels around here are un-huntable, because they live either in the parks downtown, or in people's neighborhoods. However, this one was located in a rather large tree in a deserted park that borders an open marsh next to a very busy train yard. I had seen this field, having driven by it on I94. Recently I looked at a map to locate it, and yesterday went on a reconnaissance drive to find how to get to it. I also located a couple of other likely places that I can try to fly my bird in the near future.

I actually had this field in mind for bunnies. I certainly saw plenty of rabbit sign to know they are here. There is a quite sizable marsh area bordering this park, with a great swath of cattails. The snow is deep, and there continues to be this underlayer of ice causing difficulty ambulating. If I was to be successful pushing this cattail bed I'd really need a couple more "dogs" in the field . . . the human type. For that matter, a jack russell terrier would be handy too! I'm going to have to seriously think about adding a real dog to my team once I've completed my schooling, and I'm able to get back to falconry. Many times I've thought one would be useful. I've seen them used by other falconers to great success. It would certainly save me a lot of trudging! Dem little dogs, the real kind, can move through the field very quickly! The trick is making sure you have good control of them through training.

I arrived this morning about 9 or so to hunt this field. I began the hunt realizing that something is wrong with my telemetry. I was not getting a signal. I have some old batteries, and tried one, but that was not the problem. I checked the tightness of the antenna too. Nope! Looks like I may have burned out my first transmitter. Well, I do have a replacement! So I flew her without a safety net today.

I released her, and began working the brush up to the cattail bed. All I got was . . . tired! I never flushed a single bunny. After getting to the end of this cattail bed, and about to think about moving into the bed and trying to work it, Nina flew back towards a very large tree and flushed a couple of squirrels. OK . . . squirrels make for good exercise for the bird, and can be very exciting to watch. They flushed from where they were and ran to another even larger tree, and right into a leaf nest.

Some of the trees here in Wisconsin have climbing vines that grow up them. This tree did . . . right up to the leaf nest. I grabbed one and gave it a good tug. Out popped the two squirrels, and Nina was hot on their tails. She crashed onto the nest as they ran the other way. She stayed there for awhile, looking, looking to see if any more would come out. She then started looking for the two that had run out. What then followed was about fifteen minutes of her trying again and again to get the upper maneuver on those tree rats. On her last dive, I noticed one of the squirrels had returned to the refuge of the nest. As I moved over to tug on the vine, Nina knew what was afoot this time. She was ready! I tugged, squirrel ran out, she pounced on it, SHE HAD IT!!

She was propped up on top of the leaf nest, her wing open, balancing, as both feet were busy hanging onto the squirrel. I waited. I then tugged on the vine a final time, and she then parachuted down. I grabbed her squirrel, though she had a very good grip on it. It wasn't going anywhere. It did manage to bite my glove, pinching me through it, on the same finger that Nina had gotten a few weeks back. What's the deal with that?? It's the "ring" finger on my left hand, and it has taken quite a bit of abuse of late! Maybe it's time for a new gauntlet!

I dispatched the squirrel, gave Nina her transfer on the lure, packed the tree rat away, hopped her to my fist and walked back to the car. I then did a bit of first aid on myself, for once I took my glove off, the pinch was more of a puncture, and it started to bleed. Nina had a couple bites too. Darn squirrels!! They are dangerous!! After pictures I got her home, administered an Epsom salt and hydrogen peroxide soak for both of us (it's interesting to try and soak a hawk's feet when they don't want to get wet), then tied her out. I gave her the squirrel head as a tiring.

As of this writing, it is much later in the evening. I attended class today, for Anatomy. I have one week left, and 3 tests. I got back the results from my other online class. An A! Yeah! I hope to accomplish the same with the Anatomy.

I'm sore tonight. Walking in the deep snow, with the ice underneath complicating it, makes me use muscles I don't often use. I'm stiff tonight. I could really use a back rub. I'm not going to be getting one. Maybe I'll sit in the hot-tub tonight before retiring to bed. It's nice! Not the same as a back rub. But nice.

(And I wish I knew why my paragraph breaks are not being shown! Truly, I know where to take a break in my ramblings above, but the formatting is not translating through! Oh well!)

More Snow

On Tuesday night we got more snow to go over the hard top of the stuff that fell over the weekend. There is actually enough to insulate for the most part that slippery stuff. Mostly.

Liz and I went out hawking yesterday, Thursday, and Nina demonstrated to me that truly 48 oz is just too high. Sure, when the weather is nice, and if a bunny runs by, she'd chase it, but it was very cold and windy yesterday (first time I've worn my hat in the field, and I HATE wearing my hat). She followed, more or less, but was not very focused on what we were doing. She was more interested in fluffing up and tucking her foot to keep warm, not hunt. We did flush several bunnies in the now very thick snow. She didn't fly with much conviction, and certainly didn't pursue, or go to high perches easily. In fact, she even flew off for a brief time.

Now is the time that you have to use a bit of "tough love" on the bird. It is quite cold, but she is holding onto her weight. She's healthy, and is no where near to starving, even though she may act that way sometimes. I'm going to drop her weight back down to 47 ounces, at least. Next flight, she must be at 2 lbs 15 oz, OR LOWER. No more playing! If we are going to hunt, I want her to be putting just as much effort into the endeavor as Liz and I . . . tromping along in our thick coats and heavy boots.

On a side note . . .

I'm thinking about actually going somewhere on spring break this next year. I've registered for my classes this next semester, which will start mid January. This current semester is almost over. I still have several fairly hard tests in Anatomy and Physiology. I want to hunt jacks with Nina before I let her go in the spring. Best place to do that would be down in New Mexico, with the help of my falconry friend, Sharon. I'll need to look into the details on how to do that, as I'll be having to ship my bird with me. If it is not too expensive, I want to do this!! I'll only have a few days to do this, so it will be a very quick trip.

OK . . . I'm at the library and need to get going. I have Anatomy lab in a bit, then I'm going to go visit my Little Sister, Amanda, and go to dinner and a movie tonight. The Golden Compass! I've read the books. The Catholics and the Protestants are all up against the movie, strongly encouraging parents to not let their children see it, and oh, heaven forbit, let their children get curious enough to read the books, and form their own opinion. Censorship! Isn't religion just fabulous! Maybe I'll go by my storage shed and dig out my copies and read them again.

If I lived in Lyra's world, and had a daemon, it would probably be a Kestrel!

Hard Winter

This last weekend we had our first major winter storm. Normally that would not be a problem, as the hunting goes on. In fact, many times it makes the hunting just a little easier, because we can confirm there is bunny activity in a field based upon the "bunny sign".

"Bunny Sign": tracks, little round turds, urine

However, this particular storm started with normal fluffy snow, and there is a layer of that on the ground, but was finished with ice balls, which formed a fairly thick, hard crust on the top of everything. It is so very slippery and dangerous! I lost my balance multiple times today and fell.

Today I checked out a field that during any other normal hunt, and especially prior to any snow, should have provided multiple bunny slips. I flushed no rabbits today! There was plenty of bunny sign, and I saw at least four holes going down into the ground. Too bad we can't use ferrets in the US. There was one major brush pile, which I could not kick anything out of. It was a bunny bust day!

I did have several squirrel flights, and one of them Nina was rather serious about it, almost catching the squirrel on the ground. However, I think I'd need to bring her down a bit more to get her really serious about squirrels. She's really been spoiling me this year so far. I've been flying her at 48 ounces!! At that weight she is staying near me, following, and going after any bunnies I kick up. However, she lacks fire for squirrels, which would require me to bring her down just a bit more.

Tonight it is snowing again, a very light but continual dusty kind of snow. Just what we need!! A layer of dust on top of slick ice! It will be even more dangerous! I hope it warms up just a bit this next weekend, which I hear it is supposed to do, and maybe melt some of this slick ice on the top of everything. Otherwise, this could make for a real damper for the rest of the hawking season.