Cisco 6

Sixth Season 2010/2111 - Cisco & "Elbert"

The previous season log can be found at Cisco's 5th Season
Newest updates towards top of page, except for field meet logs, where order is reversed
Please email me. Click on hypertext below, or copy and paste address using your email client.
cisco@virtualvideo.cc

The two hawks can be seen via web cam during most weekday daylight hours here: Cam1 & Cam2.

Seasonal Tally Box

Quarry	Cisco (RT)	Elbert (RS)
Gray (Cat) Squirrel
Swamp Rabbit
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Mouse
Cotton Rat
Eastern Wood Rat
Norway Rat
Bird		5
Unknown
Total Quarry:

Cisco, 5X intermewed passage red-tail hawk (Jay Mangum, 2010). Riding the T perch.

A cute little rehab red-shouldered hawk, that I call (Ms.) Elbert

Cast of characters for those not familiar with the web site, local falconry friends: Mike Wiegel is a falconer who lives about two miles from me in Houston, and flies a tiercel Barbary falcon. Rob Evans, another falconer out in Katy has flown red-tails for years and is now flying an intermewed female. Cody Birdwell is Jim Ince's apprentice, and has had a couple of successful seasons flying two red-tails. Cameron Turner is my 16 year old apprentice, living in Sugar Land. Jim Ince my former sponsor, is not flying any bird right now. Lynne Holder is my former apprentice, lives in Chappell Hill, TX with husband, Ron. Over Thanksgiving 2009, I gave her my Harris' hawk, Dart. Dart spends occasional time in Houston. I have other falconer buddies, but these are the ones in Houston who show up most frequently on these pages.

Ever wonder what red-tails and Harris's really think of each other? Cisco and Dart on the side lawn.......

Cisco's buddies

August 31, 2010 - Labrador red-shoulder

I took Ms. Elbert to a grocery store parking lot where flocks of nuisance birds live. She plucked one off the pavement, and immediately flew to a tree, which could be trouble under most circumstances. I offered a quail garnished fist and she flew down from the tree carrying the bird. That's a first for me.

August 28, 2010 - Ms. Elbert's third and fourth birds

I took her out early today, just about dawn to Katy, TX to see if she would catch some game out there. She did. A grasshopper. She rode the perch for a while, then chased a small bird. I took her back toward Houston and she caught a couple of birds. Here she is eating a starling.

Last Saturday she caught her third bird.

August 14, 2010 - The red-shoulder feeds the red-tail - Ms. Elbert's first kill

Finally, Ms. Elbert caught a bird in a parking lot up off Highway 6. She got good slips several times this week, as I have been taking her out in the evenings. She came close to catching a few deprecating grackles, and a couple of starlings, but all escaped. Nevertheless, she has been persistent. This morning it paid off. Her first kill, I let her feed up on it. What was left, I gutted, dressed and fed to the red-tail. She's now officially a game hawk, and a meat hawk too. Sorry - I left the camera home this morning. Ms. Elbert weighed 533 grams when we left the house.

August 8, 2010 - Hunting Update

Most days I have been taking Ms. Elbert out to attack birds in the urban environment. She has pursued, has a great eye for birds, but we have yet to score. In Oak Forest this morning she nearly caught her first grackle, but missed. Today I managed to slip her one too many times, with her getting a reward each time. She got balky, and it took about 20 minutes to get her out of a tree. I forget that she does not have a red-tail's capacity to wolf down food.

Here is Greg Pearson's beautiful anatum peregrine tiercel. Out of Danny Ertsgaard’s breeding project, Greg just got the bird recently. He calls him "Turley."

August 1, 2010 - Hunting?

Yesterday, Wiegel, Lynne Holder, and I took Elbert out west of the house for some hunting. She rode the T pole well, but we didn't catch or even flush any game.

A big day for Cody Livingston. His red-shouldered hawk caught a cotton rat and a bird.

July 26, 2010 - Ms. Elbert flies free

The text message that I sent to some friends right after I got back from the school yard. A big day.

"@ 540 grams in a drizzle. Off the perch to the open field, a few from the tree, including the last, to the chick garnished lure. Then a hop to the fist and home w/ a full crop."

Yes, Elbert is a girl. Cody Birdwell's RS bird flew at 415 grams.

July 19 -20, 2010 - Elbert trains himself

Monday he flew 100 feet to the fist effortlessly, several times coming without being called. He landed on my head once. Tuesday I thought that I would "train" him to the T-pole. Went to school yard, attached creance, and he immediately flew to the T pole. Within ten minutes he was flying across the field to it. So far so good.

July 18, 2010 - The easy part is very easy with this bird

The early part of training, once you've trained a hawk or two, also is the easy part. Man the bird, reducing his weight gradually, and get him to fly to the fist. With Elbert, this part has been the easiest of any hawk that I can remember. He doesn't mantle on food or scream, and is very tolerant of dogs, cats, and people. At 545 grams, tonight at the school yard he flew at least 70 feet to the fist. Why only 70? Because I only spooled out about 40 feet of line. I always put the spool and weight between me and the hawk, so get roughly twice the creance length. With a red-tail, I put the hawk in the middle of a field and call him to fist, with my being near the edge of field. My feeling about red-shoulders is that they don't like being in the open, so I put the training perch by trees, and call him toward the center of field. Don't know if that does anything good, but it seems to work. He sits very relaxed on his training perch. Important: Although he is near the trees he cannot get to them. Getting your hawk caught on trees, fences, and power lines is the classic rookie mistake with a creance. Elbert was very responsive, eager to fly to me, and has not veered off even once when called. Yesterday he flew to me, uncalled, while I was attempting to lengthen the line, and when I looked up startled, he veered off. The leash and jess setup I use with my hawks makes creance flying easy and safe. Tie the bird to the perch with both jesses and leash. Remove a snap from one jess, and attach creance with bowline (knot). If I have my normal jesses with a small hole, I pass the creance though the hole and put a figure eight stopper knot at end of line. See pictures of my setup.

Tonight the hawk would have flown 100 feet with no problem I think. I'll find out tomorrow.

This is roughly how far he flew tonight. The line length is about 40 feet. The spool is in the foreground. The hawk is near the trees but cannot fly to the trees or any other object.

With a bowline (knot), the creance is attached to one jess only. One would never tether a bird to a perch with only one jess. He is intently watching the sky in this picture.

July 10, 2010 - Elbert makes significant progress - he flies to the fist
I told Charli Rohack that Elbert would hop to the fist yesterday. OK, I was a day late. Yesterday he wanted to, but wouldn't quite do it. Today after hanging out on the patio with Mike Wiegel and me, along with Mike's Barbary, he was ready. At about 560 grams, I took him into my mew/office, and set him on a perch. Offered a chunk of DOC, he didn't hesitate. He flew about a foot to the fist, then by the third flight, about 3 1/2 feet. He is very relaxed, unafraid of the dog, cat, or Cisco, at least from a distance. He preens on the fist, rouses, sits with a foot tucked up. Here are a few pictures:

Elbert looking curiously at Tariq	Elbert and Tariq, Mike's Barbary
	Soo Barrow with Charlie
Gregg and Soo Barrow and I, along with Hannah (L), Charlie (center), Elbert (R), and Cisco in foreground. Taken on a visit on July 3 after picking up the red-shoulder in Bryan. The camera was set on timer, and I had to run back into picture.	A detail of Charlie, the famous Harris' hawk from Matthew Mullenix's book, In Season. Charlie is now about 13 years old, and is being flown by Soo Barrow. He had a good season. There are other pictures of Charlie here: http://virtualvideo.cc/falconry/Houston.html

From an email to Charli Rohack

Until today while at work, I have kept him in hawk box every day this week because I was afraid of his getting leg abrasion from bating. In the evening I have tethered and carried him. Today I tethered him in the office mew, and checked him many times from the web cam; I saw only one possible bate. I think he will be OK. The perches in the office are very low, and it takes hawks a little while to realize that they can’t fly to the higher objects in room. The little RS has figured that out now, and seems to be fine in there. He flies from perch to perch, which all the hawks do. This guy does something no other hawk has done. He starts to fly to a file cabinet which is to the right of that V-shaped back perch. When he comes to end of leash, he flutters back to the perch without turning down. Even Dart the HH didn’t do that. I have kept 2 RT’s and a HH in that room successfully. Cisco is there whenever the weather is really bad. I have maintained Elbert’s weight at 585 all week, but did not feed him yesterday. I think he will hop to fist tonight and get a good reward and dinner. He is coming along, but this week I have had little time to man him. He eats readily on the fist. I was pleasantly surprised when I carried him outside on fist. He was quite relaxed and watched swallows flying overhead. Most hawks take a step back when taken outdoors, but not him. Tomorrow and Sunday he will get more attention.

I just realized that this email will go on my web site as a log posting.

Elbert looking at picture of golden eagle

June 14, 2010 - A new hawk for the summer

Don't tell Jim Ince, but I'm taking on a red-shouldered hawk in a couple of weeks. Charli (Charlotte) Rohack, my friend and apprentice in Bryan, has a little male RS that was found by a retired falconer's neighbor. The bird was in a roadway, very weak, with the parents flying overhead. The falconer, Steve Magyar, took him to Charli, who is a rehabber. The bird weighed 250 grams, but has now beefed up, and is closer to 400. I will take him and, I hope, teach him to hunt. If he can catch some summer cotton rats, mice, and maybe a bird or two, I plan to release him while there is lots of warm weather left. The new Texas regs allow me to take the bird without penalty on my permit. I can give him back to Charli, release the bird to the wild, or transfer to my permit. In the last case the bird counts as a wild bird taken. The regs allow 180 days in which to do this. The one issue that I see as a possible problem is my husbandry, as I have no facilities to free-loft a bird. My birds are tethered. If the RS bates from the perch too much there is the potential for leg abrasion, and I would have to return him to Charli.

The bird will be called Elbert. This is consistent with my alphabetic naming convention. Why Elbert? Two years ago my sister, nephew, Mike Wiegel, and I climbed Mt. Elbert, the tallest of the "Fourteeners" in Colorado, 14,443 feet or so . The climb was in honor of my father, who died in early 1999. When he was a young man he climbed Mt. Elbert, and mentioned it to me as we were driving near Leadville nearly forty years ago. He said it was easy. I beg to differ, as would my climbing companions. But we succeeded. It was the toughest thing I've done physically in a score of years. This little hawk will be called Elbert for that reason.

I will pick him up in early July, and will keep you updated on his progress.

Little Elbert

Mount Elbert


Cisco feeding on coturnix (quail)	At Steph's the birds weathering - boxes block Dart's view of Cisco so Dart won't scream at him. Technically this is from fifth season, not sixth.
May: Cisco is a relentless squirrel hunter, believe it or not..................	Cisco and his young girlfriend, Katy, chilling on the lawn in March
	A couple of old pictures of Cisco, taken in late 2005 and early 2006. At left, 1/7/2006, Cisco's second rabbit ever; the first one caught at Gold Fire. Above sitting on perch in December 2005, I think.