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 Georgia. She never went on that trip.

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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...

Small squirrel, big bite, sixth squirrel

Cisco at 931 gm body weight (fed a rat yesterday), on a cool and cloudy morning. Like last time, not an enormous amount of activity in the woods, though there were a few fox squirrels running around where I parked the Honda. Cisco has caught only a handful of them over the years. We had a few minor issues early today. No collection bag for the squirrel, and the blinking light on Arnold's tracking collar was not visible. Then, when I tried to zap Arnold with his training collar to truncate his eating enjoyment of some disgusting substance, he didn't respond. Hmm. Cisco wandered some and then flew west; over fifteen minutes took a big counter clockwise circle and it was apparent he found a squirrel. Arnold was barking and being useful, something infrequent this season. He attacked and missed this squirrel a few times. Finally he nabbed it and flew off about 50 or 100 feet.. Anold and I followed. It was a very small cat squirrel. When I caught up Cisco was dealing with it. It sunk...

Cisco's Nineteenth Season

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