Out west with Harris's Hawks

I took Farrah and BB out west of Katy to let them fly. They did well. Both caught a little game. It was super windy and I believe BB's first real field outing since March. He stayed on the ground a lot, avoiding the wind. We had luck around the detention ponds rather than in the open.

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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

Recovering from falconer error

Cisco came in at a hefty 920 body weight. It was cool and sunny. Early on I second-guessed him after he watched a couple of squirrels before following. Too high, I thought. I was wrong. Most of the time when I second-guess Cisco I'm wrong. Within a minute or two Cisco had a squirrel pinned on the side of a tree. He neatly pulled it off and dropped straight down into a big grove of palmetto. Crash! Unfortunately, palmetto can be loud; his austringer ran in to help him. When I hit the palmetto, it sounded like a cannon going off and a squirrel was gone.. Cisco didn't want me to feel bad so he went back to hunting. It was a little slow for a few minutes but pretty soon he peeled off another. This time he glided off about 100 ft instead of dropping into the palmetto. Arnold helped. He was pretty good today. He got a small squirrel tidbit to eat. All is good.

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

Cisco's Nineteenth Season

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