A moribund Tweener Field produces a small game bird

I hope I can get another season out of this field. A major wound I discovered today. What you see at the right used to be grassy. It's now a detention pond and a huge concrete pad. The grass is cut short on the east side of the pipeline. On the west side there's a long strip of grass. Farrah chased a few birds and caught one. I picked up a tick, discovered on the way home. I do have a better access road to hunt on the west side of Willow Fork, but the grass is cut too short maybe. Sometimes you can't tell. Farrah behaved well. I thought for sure Farrah was going to kill a Cattle Egret, but it flew off as she was about to dive, and she just landed. Whew.

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Wrapped Up a Long Time Ago

I quit updating this blog last mid November. A bad month. We lost our friend Lynne Holder, my erstwhile apprentice, a close friend, and in 2009 the recipient of my male Bay-winged Buzzard, Dart. The evening she died, I was in the woods with Cisco; Lynne and I were chatting via text, and she quit responding. Texts being what they are, I didn't think much about it. Ron Holder called me the next morning to tell me she had died, and also to see if I could come and get Dart, which I did. A tragic loss. At least we got together a couple of times near the end. A couple of weeks before that, flying in the field soutwest of town, BB broke his leg. Lots of surgery and rehab, but he ultimately succumbed. He was a wonderful little Harris's, one of my lifetime favorites. I flew Dart the rest of the season, along with my usual team, Cisco and Farrah. Lynne called me as I was pulling out of the veterinary hospital the day BB got hurt. She wanted to know if I'd fly Dart while they went to ...

Not a bad outing

Days like this I really appreciate how satisfying it is to fly a Harris's Hawk. After breakfast I took Farrah out to one of my new fields. She was flying at about 785, net body weight. It's leaner than I shoot for, but she flies very plump, so not a big deal. I put her transmitter on, and released her. She hung out on the Honda for a few minutes and then flew about 40 yards to the warehouse and parked. I headed out to the field, across a little ditch, T pole in hand. She joined me and rode the pole. The temperature was not horrible, and it was partly cloudy. Initially, I was quite disappointed. The field seemed empty of HH stuff. Then it began to pick up. She chased some fast sparrows, and possibly a cotton rat or two. Then she snagged a small game bird and gobbled it up. I headed back to the Honda, and she chased a few more things. I had a large rat chunk because of her weight. After flying to the Honda she flew back to me a few times basically panhandling. Ultimately I fed h...

A somersault and fifth squirrel

I lollygagged over waffles at the house this morning. Hence it was warm in the woods, also very quiet squirrelwise. I got bored about 20 minutes in, and decided to head back to the Honda. Arnold and I had been mostly following Cisco, who was roaming, usually not a good sign. Cisco followed us now, with a little whistling encouragement. No reward, or he'll instantly switch to what I call "tidbit mode," following on, but actually panhandling in the trees. Today though he was a little vocal, another bad sign, he continued to look for squirrels. He found one eventually, a big male cat squirrel. I'm wondering whether it's possible to become a falconer in Houston anymore, even flying a Harris's or Red-tail. There's just not enough game here to get experience catching game, an activity integral to hawking. I've had three apprentices who took at least part of a third season before consistently catching then upgrading the permit to general. One did a full thir...

Cisco's Nineteenth Season

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