Christmas in Texas 2009

Hazen and I spent the Holidays in Texas this year for Christmas! We took the 17 hour drive in one day (each way!) and exhausted ourselves with that little excursion. But the long drive was worth the time, we had a great time in Texas!

Hazen's folks have moved into a nice new apartment. It was so fun to see all of the paintings and furniture pieces that Hazen talks so fondly about. I felt at home right away, his parents are always so warm and welcoming! We spent the week before Christmas relaxing and catching up. We saw the movie Avatar that was stunning and fun to watch. I finally got to see some home movies of not only Hazen and Warren, but also of little Johnny Mitchell (aka Big Mitch) and his family growing up. I came away with a lot of information and finally faces to put all these names to. I also got to flip through the childhood picture albums that had been away in storage for so long. Unfortunately, there were no embarrassing nude photographs of baby Hazen to blush over. Oh well.

The week went by quickly and before we knew it, Warren had flown down and we were picking him up at the airport on Christmas Eve. We were treated to a skillfully prepared Turducken and spent the evening catching up with loved ones around a warm campfire. Christmas morning came and we awoke at a leisurely pace set by the last several days of finally being able to sleep in! We found that not only did we have lovingly constructed Christmas Stockings, but we each had enough to fill at least two grocery bags! Santa was very generous to us this year!

We opened our presents and ooooed and ahhhed over the gifts. I was particularly amazed at the hand-blown glass bowl that Hazen made for me in Alaska this summer and had skillfully hid from me this whole time. I'll take a picture of it and post it so you can see, I just love it!

Hazen's parents also passed down their birding scope. Hazen and I were just stunned when they gave it to us. I'm still a little in shock about it. We will use it well and I'm sure see many new lifer's with it. Thank you so much for trusting us with it! We've already put it to good use!

My parents also spoiled us for Christmas sending Hazen a huge Lego set (see the video below for his reaction) and many other goodies including a wonderfully fuzzy sweater-jacket that was a big hit! I'm still amazed at how spoiled I was this Christmas where they not only gave me the portable hawk perch that I've been drooling over for the last 4 months, but a piece of Vera Bradley Luggage overflowing with gifts! Mom... Dad... you really outdid yourselves this year. Thank you for the gifts, I feel so loved on Christmas and I miss home so much especially on that day. I hope to one day live closer to you. But, as it is we'll see you soon in Mexico!!

We spent Christmas Day sorting through the Mitchell treasures that could not fit into the new apartment. Hazen and I brought a truck-load of furniture home with us. We are so happy to have the extra storage and some of the beautiful pieces that Hazen has told me so much about to grace our home. Though we did discover a piece that I am sure we were not meant to have, we'll try to figure out how to get the clock back to you. Christmas evening, Hazen's uncle John made his standing rib-roast that was smoked to perfection. The meat was tender and delicious! I'd heard about this elegant meal from Hazen but had never partaken of it since the last time I was there and he served it, I was still a vegetarian... sort of.

Sunday we made the long drive home, hearts heavy at having to leave. Hazen's mother and Warren were hot on our tails hauling a trailer to North Carolina similarly laden with familiar furniture. Thank you so much for the time we spent together over the Holidays. We'll see you soon!!

Hazen opens his gift from my parents.

Warren opens the box of Christmas Goodies Hazen and I put together.

The Mitchell Treasures.

It's raining birds!

So the week before last, I went with my co-worker Rebecca and picked up an injured adult red-tailed hawk. He was pretty awesome missing one eye (old injury), one toe-tip and claw and squirrel bites all over, definitely a warrior. He went to Rehab. Then I drove to live oak to rescue a downed Cooper’s hawk from Walmart and drove him to the rehabber. Then my co-worker picked up two injured bald eagles that were fighting and hit the ground hard. They flew away after they had rested about 6 hours. Then Friday a barred owl that was caught in a fence ended up in our office and I got a call that a rehabber had a red-tail for me. I went down to see the red-tail, and it turned out to be an adult bird. Sigh. Yesterday I went trapping with Hazen after getting skunked on Saturday with the constant rain. We caught a juvenile red-shouldered hawk. I let him go this morning after reading a review that they tend to take off as soon as they get a chance no matter how tame you get them. And today I got a call from my rehabber friend again that another bird ended up at the vet school in weak condition and he is definitely a juvenile red-tail, she got a look at him herself!

She told me that he’s a smallish bird, probably a male, but birds that emaciated have a tendency to die when they get that low. So it’s a possibility that he won’t make it. I need everyone to send happy thoughts to Gainesville and hope this bird makes it!

Boy… I wish this yoyo would stop!

morning view

Ever have the feeling that you're being haunted. I was day-dreaming about trapping a red-tail when I looked out my office window and saw this...

I've seen a bird use this tree before, but for some reason today it was eerie.

Full Circle

I had a conversation with a falconer friend who has been a falconer about 6 months longer than me. He recently applied for his upgraded permit from Apprentice to General Falconer and they took a good long 6 weeks to get his permit to him. When I asked him about the process he told me that I need to send a formal letter requesting the upgrade and Rudy (our sponsor) has to send a letter along with it basically approving my move from Apprentice to General. He also told me something that got me thinking, he said that they take your start date from the day you caught your first bird. Hmmm...

Monday I called the permitting office the lady told me that they really want to have seen me fly a bird for 2 solid seasons. I flew a bird for a season and a half since Musket was a late season trap and I have not yet caught a bird this year. I asked her if that hinders my ability to upgrade my permit. She told me that "if" my sponsor sends a letter telling them that I'm ready, they "may" agree, "but" it would be up the the feds to decide "if" I qualify for an upgrade at that point. OH BOY... went my mind, that's just too many "maybes" and ifs". I may have just shot myself in the foot here. So I asked her, "if I trap a bird in December when the season opens up again and fly that bird through this season, would I qualify?" She told me that I would. So... back to square 1. I'm going to be trapping another red-tail. I'm actually kind of relieved... that Cooper's was looking to be more than I bargined for.

Yesterday afternoon, I contacted a rehabber friend of mine, and she may have a bird for me. She wasn't sure what was wrong with it when I talked to her, but the bird was at the vet school, so I'll have to wait to see what the injuries were and if I can take it on. She's been getting a lot of hawks in the last few weeks, but only a few red-tails. I've also been seeing them all over. Looks as though the winter birds have settled in. I actually saw 2 adult red-tails sitting together on a power pole at the airport today right outside my office door, so it should (hopefully) be little trouble to find and trap another juvenile bird.

Ultimately, I've wasted a lot of time with this experiment... serves me right for trying to jump the gun a little. But I haven't been idle. I've found a good local supplier of day-old-chicks (DOCs) and I've made a few watercolors of raptors that I'm fairly happy with. So, time well spent I believe.

I scanned in my first 4 watercolor attempts to post on the blog. The scanning changes the quality of the images a little, it makes them much lighter and I had to darken them which threw off the color a little, but you'll get the general idea.

First Attempt-Eesh! I tried wet on wet and it turned into mud! I like the face on this one, but the rest... yuck. (it looks okay as a thumbnail though...)

Second Attempt-Getting the idea of blending down. I really like how the branch turned out in this one too. This was the bird that we saw in Texas going after those chachalacas.

Thrid Attempt -and I surely didn't spend as much time with this one... I tried doing details too soon, so it's pretty poor. I do like the tail on this one, but the scan didn't capture it very well. Also, I stretched the paper for this one, so it doesn't curl like the first two... it leaves ugly staple marks in it though... I guess that's what matting is for... not that this one will see a mat.

Fourth Attempt -I'm starting to get some of the techniques down and I took a lot more time with this one. I still like my second attempt better... I made the beak and feet a little too big on this bird. But, the feathers turned out much better, the eye is pretty good, the claws actually have a point and the shading is starting to do what I want. I don't know if I'm over the hump yet, but I definately feel that I'm improving with practice.

a sharp stick instead?

I was just purusing a falconry forum and they said, if you think you want to fly a Cooper's hawk. Get a stick, sharpen it, and poke yourself in the eye, it's less painful!

Hmmm...

The Buzzsaw

I just lucked into an affordable copy of the out of print North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks. It is "the" book on falconry and is in it's 8th edition. The promised re-printing of the 9th edition is looking less and less likely, so I jumped on this one once it fell in my price range.

I received the book today in the mail and I eagerly flipped to the section on Cooper's Hawks. What I found there was not encouraging. Let me put down the summary here, word for word, case for case as it is found in the book.

"Of all the birds in falconry, none requires consistent success as much as the Cooper's. NONE! The phrase 'a little success here and there' gives entirely the wrong impression of what these birds demand of the falconer. They need daily hunting with consistent success."

The book further recommends that you get and train a hunting dog to point quail a full year before you acquire a bird and recommends that you have at least 10 good quail sites that you can rotate so you can have success every time. The book says " Here is one for the experienced falconer living in the right area who wants to explore one of the pinnacle experiences that falconry has to offer." Sounds exciting, but I am neither that experienced falconer nor am I living in the right area. Quail are in decline here as they are in many other places and finding a good "consistent" quail hunting place is nearly impossible for me unless I could afford to belong to one of the expensive hunt clubs around here. Hunting every day is also impossible for me. I think I may be getting in over my head with this bird.

My sponsor is out of town until at least next week. I need to call him and discuss my options with him. He has flown these birds before so if he says I can do it, I might be able to, but he tends to be over-optimistic about accipiters sometimes.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I certainly don't want a buzzsaw of a bird that I have to fly with a catchers mask over my face to protect me when we don't actually find quarry and the bird gets mad at me. EESH! Good thing I hung on to those gerbils, I might just trap a red-tail afterall.

Days Cooling Down

After the scorcher of a Halloween weekend (87 deg on Saturday), it has cooled a a comfortable 75 and sunny. Hazen even turned off the A/C and opened the windows and doors yesterday! We're slowly settling in for a fun Holiday season.

The first cool weekend though we actually did some necessary outside work and moved the "carport" to another part of the yard. This was going to be our holiday project (over Thanksgiving) but we got it done early. We'll have to come up with something else productive to do on our 4-day weekend at the end of the month.

Hazen has also been subtly bugging me to post a picture of "bird" on the blog. I managed to acquire a few shots of her, but she's a bit twichy (yes the pun is intended) and it is hard to get a good shot. She was a bit scared of the camera and finally settled down into a fluffed out pose trying to look BIG. She's a good size, but still a far cry from Musket, so I was more amused than impressed by her display. The leg is healing nicely. She hardly favors it anymore and seems more feisty, which I attribute to her feeling better. After a few more weeks of R & R, she's going to be caught for her new jewelry and manned so she will be easier to handle and transport when needed. I'm really looking forward to the day I can officially take possession of her and start getting her ready to hunt.

Also, for the record, the birds finally arrived after the second cold-front. For the past week or two, I've been seeing red-tails every time I turn around. I saw a nice speedy-looking smallish red-tail near the airport across the road from work on my way in the other day. He took off in a vertical leap from the ground and landed on a telephone pole, his movement reminded me of the red-shoulders we have in our neighborhood that would pop out of nowhere when I'd fly Musket around the yard. This one was definitely a red-tail and a juvenile to boot.

I was mournful of my decision to wait for the Cooper's hawk after seeing that bird. But, Hazen talked sense into me and reminded me that if she does work out I will have a really fun hawk that will share years of enjoyment. If it turns out that the near-starvation and recovery experience makes a hawk into a better hunting companion... This situation might not EVER present itself again. He reminded me that I can't buy a bird like that and if I let her go and jump on a good male-tail (which in and of itself isn't a sure thing) I might get what I want in an RT and have a decades-long excellent hunting companion - but next year you could reasonably get the same level "male-tail" and I might not ever get a cooper's like her, EVER. ... He made a pretty good point, so I've stuck with my decision. I haven't given up the gerbils just yet though in case she just never heals well and I'll have another chance to catch an RT starting December 1st.

To help ease my eagerness to work with a bird, I have taken up drawing them. I'm going to try my hand at watercolor on some of my sketches. I drew this from a picture of a wet Cooper's hawk that I found in Google, I loved the "look-of-death" so I had to try it. We'll see if it turns out after I fill it in with color.

Original Picture

Drawing