The days are getting longer, the thermals are rising, and the birds are getting squirrely -- after 7 months of flying it's time to be done for this season.

This last flight, it took Lily 3-4 flushes to get her head in the game -- even at ideal weight the hormone thing is stronger than the killing thing.

Still, she proved out well for only having her for 3 months - almost a dozen pheasants in that time added to 90-some rabbits from the HAHAs.

click to make bigger:

Good captures there (pun intended).

As usual, outstanding pics!

Do the "ha-ha's" and redtail prefer different food? Birds over bunnies?

no, just happenstance with the timing of trapping the RT -- too late to really get on rabbits this year

What I find Amazing is that the Life Span of these Birds can be up to like 25 years? That is quite a few Seasons and quite a bit of Game taken!

Pretty incredible considering you could probably wear out a new Rifle taking that much Game over 20 years or so.

our two Harris Hawks are finishing their 3rd season now and in the wild that's the break-even point on survivability skill set .

(birds that make it to year 3 live 10yrs on avg in the wild, 20 in captivity)

even though they've already bagged over 250 head of game, they're really just coming into their prime now.

I've never really told anyone, but they're essentially Harris Hawk royalty (straight descendants of Malcom and White Wing). their line has averaged careers of 800-1,000 head apiece.

The RT is but a wee young grasshopper and has much to learn but is off to a great start!

Thank God for this thread. It's a great thread and it isn't about Trump or cruz. This place was starting to stink but you opened the windows. Thanks

Do these birds get released back into the wild? Or do they just become part of your living room furniture?

the harris hawks, no. the red tail? maybe someday.

they have their own on-site housing, both indoor and outdoor options during the offseason. we have a rather large outdoor flight chamber for them.

Just incredible, You have me thoroughly intrigued about this very unique Sport.

Bugout, you can check my video channel for some of the stuff I posted earlier in the season:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7U6zMmDLa6woenZ1hh8kVg/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd

Great pics! Love these threads.

Takes me back to grade school, where my 5th grade teacher and scout leader was a falconer. Bird he had that I remember was a peregrine, bit trippy walking into class one day to see it on a rest behind his desk. He used pigeons from his barn for hunting.

Thank you! I bookmarked it so that I can do that the next time I get to the Kids House and a faster connection.

Wow, I really appreciate this and the videos. Very impressive.

Thank you,

It really is very cool. I like the concepts of "Quiet" and "Selfguided" in this, It definitely takes the "Flinch Factor" out of the equation. lol

I hate to see the season end, post some pics every now and than!

Very nice Matt!

I still have a bunch of pics I haven't used....

As always very cool to see the friday postings!

Are the HHs and RT scheduled for a molt in the near future? I remember you mentioned previously that their exposure to light is manipulated but can't remember the details.

the harris hawks are well on their way -- they've each lost 5-6 primaries and their down now. they're on 15hours of daylight

the RT is about a month out, I'm thinking, and the first molt is usually late and incomplete. she's only up to 12 hours daylight now (don't increase more than 5% per week)

Lefty, I love the thread and the pics. Sorry to see the season come to an end. The birds are beautiful. Post some pics occasionally, thanks.

If I am understanding correctly, an adult redtail would need the equivalent of about 50 pheasants/year for survival?

maybe a titch more.

in the wild, they don't specialize in large game like pheasants / jackrabbits (high risk-high reward) , the prefer lower risk prey like rodents.

a big part of the training of a youngster in peak learning mode is turning them onto bigger game

Sir:

Curious how the red tails capture a pheasant. Do they flush the pheasant and grab it mid-flight or do they take the pheasant on the ground? Impressive feat either way. A pheasant is a big, strong fast bird.

Thanks,


Jordan

they're not fast enough to outrun a pheasant (or duck for that matter) in a straight away tail chase.

they are, however, more than strong enough to overpower one (they regularly take 6-7# jackrabbits = 3-4x their bodyweight).

they are trained to follow and wait on. if you can reflush the pheasant, they will get it virtually 100% of the time -- usually on takeoff or on second landing

Way cool again Lefty.

I'll assume (as a biologist, of slimy scaly things) that your comment earlier in the thread about "hormones" has to do with your girl RT looking for a boy somewhere? Or is it just the urge to migrate N from Utah?

I hope they have a nice spring/summer. You and the family too.

Geno

PS, my wife, our resident dog trainer/agility handler, was quite impressed with the capacity of the "grazer's" stomach revealed by the pic of the contents you posted the other day.

thanks Geno!

"hormonal" at this age means urge to migrate.

they don't reach sexual maturity until age four (if you thought puberty was rough with your kids, try to imagine them but with talons and 4x your grip strength!).

Gotcha,

No recent experience with hawks, but years ago my Africa Grey (timneh) could sink his hooks pretty good when he wanted! Maybe he was "hormonal"

Again, I sure appreciate the break from routine your birds provide.

Geno

PS. our 2.3 year old whippet doesn't seem to know how hard he's "playing" when he attempts to use his teeth. Of course, he sort of assumes I'm just another dog to play with. "Mom" is the boss.

Love seeing these threads, thanks for sharing!

As always, fantastic post. Thanks again.

Very cool, thank you for sharing.

Raptor delivered pheasant dinner, that's cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Matt this past week my wife and I watched a demonstration at the Harrisburg outdoors show where the guy had both Redtails and Harris Hawks. I was surprised at the difference in size even though he said his redtail was unusually large (56+ ounces?). I'm just wondering what your birds hunting weights are?

56oz (1500g) would indeed be a ginormous RT.

All three of my birds are females (1/3 larger than males) and all three fly at 980g (34oz), and molt at 1150g (40oz).

My Harris Hawks are on the large end of the scale - average is about 750- 800g for a female -and my RT is average for a western RT (eastern ones are more like 1200g flying weight)

RTs "look" larger both because they have shorter legs and tail making them look more compact. They also have twice the number of body feathers the HH have

pheasant: both curried and non-curried

Thanks for sharing again this year!

Da-YUUMMMM!