The
previous
season
log
can
be
found
atCisco'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.
For seasonal totals, please email
me.
Cisco, 5X
intermewed passage red-tail hawk, riding the T
perch.
(Photo: Jay Mangum, 2010)
A female rehab
red-shouldered hawk, that I call Ms. Elbert (Photo:
Lynne Holder)
Reward offer:
A reward will be paid to anyone providing information
leading to the
arrest/conviction of the individual who shot and killed
Cody Birdwell's
peregrine falcon. 17 year old Cody was flying his
bird west of
Katy, TX on November 1st, 2010, late in the day. The
bird flew
off, and Cody found him hanging on a fence, shot and
decapitated.
If you have information, please send an email to
chuck.redding@gmail.com. $750 will be paid upon
arrest, and
another $750 upon conviction of the individual.
Cast
of
characters
for
those
not
familiar
with
the
web
site,
local
falconry
buddies:
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.......
I quit hunting late last month. It
was an
odd season, with very few rabbits in the fields. Cisco did
pretty well
overall, finishing his season with a bird caught while hunting
rabbits
(none to be seen) out in Katy. A very low year for
rabbits, with
Cisco's catching the smallest number by half of his previous low
of his
six season career. Cisco caught around forty cotton rats,
and a
half dozen squirrels. Oh yes, about ten mice.
I
hunted with an often poorly motivated red-shouldered hawk.
I still have Ms Elbert. She is a
great companion hawk,
with no screaming and she's well mannered overall.
She is
beginning to molt, dropping a half dozen primaries so far.
I have
kept her weight in the mid-600's. The preview of her adult
plumage is stunning. I will make an effort to keep her
engaged
next fall, and may even take her out this summer to hunt
starlings. Much of her attitude this season was related to
my not
providing her with enough game to catch. She finished the
season
with a dozen birds and ten cotton rats, a mouse or two, some
retiles
including the water mocassin that nearly killed her.
3/17/2011
–
A
"discouraged"
Cisco
catches
his
sixth
squirrel Thursday after work
I took Cisco to the FM 1960 field two days ago, on
Tuesday. He
had a couple of flights on squirrels but that was it. Also
had a
scary moment when he decided to chase something in a ditch just
the
other side of 1960 (four lanes of not slow traffic). A
frightening moment, but not for him. I had to run across
1960 and
retrieve him. Fun.
Last
Saturday
he
caught a cotton rat in the woods while squirrel
hunting. That's a first. Speaking of cotton rats,
Lynne
Holder caught eight this week, with Dart, the Harris hawk.
Today,
because
it
was
warm, I did not take Cisco to work. I took him out west
of town to have another whack at the squirrels. He's
been missing
lately and it's been a couple of weeks at least.
Today, sunny and
warm, the woods were full of squirrels. Cisco
started out fine,
but in a few minutes he left the woods and flew across the
street to a
field and chased a rabbit. I helped him, but was
wondering if he
was losing confidence in his ability to catch
squirrels. But
within 10 minutes of returning to the woods he put in a
hard attack on
a young squirrel, but missed. He circled back, and
the squirrel
leapt
from the tree. Hawk and squirrel were plummeting to
the
ground. It's an amazing sight. Thwack! and a
squirrel
squealing. This was a very small buck cat squirrel,
similar to
the first one he caught years ago. I didn't have my
camera, so
here's another picture of Cisco with a squirrel.
Three
texts
from
Lynne
Holder
as she and Ron were returning from CO in early March:
Dart
has
screamed
since
we
left Colo. 5 hrs...ready to throttle him. He
seems to like Irish music. Oh. No he doesn't.
I
may
let
the
next
eagle we see eat him.
Ron
wanted
to
put
his
box- with him in it- in the trash can in Raton.
3/6/2011
–
A
weekend
with
a
squirrel and a swamp rabbit
Today and yesterday were a study in
contrasts. Saturday it was so
windy that I nearly didn't fly Cisco, and he handles almost any
wind. It was overcast and cool. I ended up taking Cisco to
the
park, accompanied by Ben Maudlin, who I met six years ago as he
was
entering college at UH. Ben is back and has a renascent
interest
in falconry. Rob will probably sponsor him. The trees
diminished
the winds enough so that Cisco was in fine form. He found
and
chased squirrels, ultimately catching one right above my
head.
Ben was impressed.
Today
was
sunny
and
cool.
Nice
weather with no wind. Late in the
day after picking up Stephanie at the airport, I took
Cisco to De
Soto. He was heavy, 994 grams, but seemed eager when
I approached
the weathering yard. He initially blinked at a swamp
rabbit, but
later put in some wonderful flights. One was very
fast and hard
followed by a wing-over, and a miss. A few minutes
later he
grabbed a swamp rabbit that dragged him under the rose
bush. He
had the cane cutter by one leg. I cut my hands and arms on
the thorns,
and ultimately let the rabbit loose, something I rarely
do. But
it's late in the season, and I have caught rabbits
carrying kits in the
past. So off he went. We could have put this
one in the
game bag, but I let it scamper off.
3/1/2011
–
4th
squirrel
for
Cisco
I finally got Cisco to a good hunting weight, a little high
maybe, but
946 grams is not bad. I had to work a little late so
instead if
driving across town, I took Cisco to what I call the 1960 Field,
north
of the big airport. I burned an extra 30 minutes of
daylight
working late. Funny how work can interfere with
hawking.
This hunting area has not been great; Cisco caught a swamp
rabbit and a
few squirrels there over the last couple of seasons. It
looks
like a field that should be good with varied habitat. This
evening was slightly warm and sunny, a nice day to be out.
I
weighed the hawk and released him so he could fly around while I
got my
boots on and put on the other gear.
Cisco
was
very
focused.
We
went
into
the
woods and he looked for
squirrels. Initially it seemed there weren't any, but soon
we had
a flight or two. I managed to let one squirrel get to the
ground. Cisco continued to look up and down in the trees,
and
suddenly did a wing-over into the brush. Looked like a rabbit
flight. He missed, and flew back to a tree. I walked
around
a little, lost sight of the hawk, heard a crash and a
squeak. I
decided he had scored. When I could not call him from the
trees,
I was convinced that he had a kill, but I could not find him in
the
heavy brush. I had to go back to the car for my
receiver. I
hate to leave a hawk on the ground with a kill at dusk with the
possibility of horned owls in the area, but had no choice.
At the
car I turned on the receiver and could pick up the L.L. XLF's
signal. I hiked back to the area, tracking the hawk.
It
seemed that he was on the ground. I quickly found him at
the base
of a tree with a big buck cat squirrel. He was breaking
into it,
even though a squirrel's hide makes it difficult for the
hawk. I
let him feed a little, then traded him off. On the way
back I let
him eat the head, which he finished at the car.
Cisco
was
very
restless
after
the
hunt,
even
with a full crop. I
realized that he wanted to be in the hawk box, not perched on
the new
car perch. I left the hawk box at the house, on purpose,
since I
didn't think I had a use for it. I was wrong. He
will dive
into a hawk box after a successful hunt and is content.
Today he
had to ride home hooded.
A
very
poor
cell
phone
picture:
2/27/2011
–
Ms.
Elbert
burns
through
another
of
her
nine lives (email addresses deleted)
On Sun,
Feb
27, 2011
at 4:12 PM, Mark Reindel<>wrote:
Hey..what happened with your bird today?
MR
from Chuck Redding
<chuck.redding@gmail.com>
to Mark Reindel
bcc: Jim Ince ,Matthew
Mullenix
,Kate
Redding ,Lyn Redding ,Roger Crandall ,Cody Fields ,Cody Birdwell
,
Cameron Turner , Lynne Holder , Charli's Email
date: Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 9:42 PM
subject Re: rsmailed-by gmail.com
Mark,
Just fixin' to send an email to you and some other folks.
I
bcc'd a few folks on this reply............
I had the RT and RSH weathering out in Stephanie's
back yard
like any other time. They perch about 8' apart.
We had been
doing chores and had the back French doors open.
We
keep an eye on the birds when they are out, but have never
felt
compelled to sit with them the whole time. I came out
the back
door to the yard, and Steph says, "What's up with
Cisco?" I
looked over and saw Cisco with crest flared, intently
looking across
the yard and up just a little. He started screaming
that classic
angry RT sound. I said, "He must see a red-tail."
I looked
in the same direction that Cisco was and saw a hawk coming
in very fast
heading straight for Ms. Elbert. First impression was
a big
Cooper's. I yelled, waved my arms, and ran at the RSH.
The
immature male RT broke off its attack, within a
few feet of
the red-shoulder, and I think he may have been on the ground
for a
second. It flew off quickly.
I will never leave any small hawk out without sitting
with
her. This was too close. We had been in and out
of the
yard, the dog and cat were running around and we were
standing right
there when it happened. If I hadn't rushed at the RT
he would
have clobbered her. Likewise if Cisco hadn't
reacted...................
--
Chuck Redding
Houston
This is Steph's back yard, but the picture was taken
months
ago. When the aforementioned attack took place, the
bird's
positions were
reversed, not that it makes any difference
2/22/2011
–
Weeks
later
The two hawks, Cisco and Ms Elbert have been busy.
Cisco, always
productive, took his third squirrel last Saturday.
Cliff Johnston
came along and was impressed by Cisco's approach to
squirrels. He
chased some around the woods, then sat upon a hollowed out,
dead tree
trunk. I could not get him to leave. He was
working a
squirrel that was safely ensconced within. Apparently
Cisco was
trying to get the rodent to come out, maybe even provoking
it to
charge. Ultimately, it did, Cisco grabbed it by the
head and
quickly parachuted to the ground. This is the first
time I have
seen him take a squirrel like this. Two days earlier,
on Thursday
after work, Cisco took another squirrel. See below
Thanks
to
an
idea
of
Kevin
Johnson's
I
mounted
a transmitter on the
red-shouldered hawk with a new method, which I believe is
extremely
safe. It uses an upside down
plectrum from Western Sporting, with an extra pair of holes
punched in
it. A loop of parachute cord runs under the wings. It
seems to
work just great. I like it because I think a hawk
could put on
any amount of weight without the harness constricting
her.
Marshall's backpack can get tight on a hawk, IMO. See
picture
below. Two holes are hidden under the
transmitter. The cord
is just a single strand. This system is much easier to
install.
You could also use Marshall's plectrum and tape, just change
the way
you route it. I like Marshall's plectrum better, being
more
compact and smoother.
2/7/2011
–
Lots
of
time
has
elapsed
and
a
THA Associates Mini-Meet
It has been two months since the last update to this
page. To my
avid readers, I apologise again, but can't guarantee
anything.
This season has been like that, even though I have been
hawking a
lot. On Saturday, 2/5/2011 we held the first ever
mini-meet for
THA associate members. My co-chairs for the event were
Cody
Birdwell and Lynne Holder who brought their hawks. We
had
amazing cold weather, with repeated night freezes. My
office
shut down the day before the meet, and as a consequence of the
weather
we had a number of no-shows, or more appropriately,
cancellations.
Nevertheless, Lynne Holder drove in from Chappell
Hill
with Dart, and a number of participants came from as far away
as San
Antonio. We met at Denny's on Westheimer, a spot where
Mike
Wiegel and I frequently meet on Saturday mornings,
pre-hunt.
After a nice long breakfast we split off into two hunting
parties. Lynne and I took our three hawks out to De Soto
Street,
followed by the Barkers. Nathan Andrews rode with
me. We
put Dart up first and he put in some nice flights mostly
chasing cotton
rats. He caught one, we hunted some more and put Dart in
the
car. My two hawks were both very fat from
the day before. The previous day, the red-shoulder
caught a
cotton rat out in
Katy,
while Cisco nabbed a squirrel, his first of the season, in a
wooded
area near Cullen Park. I was a little ashamed to have
two hawks
with large crops the day before this meet. Well, not
that
ashamed. I decided that although Cisco hit the scales at
1.02
kilograms the morning of the meet, he is always safe and
dependable, so we let him hunt. He was ready to
hunt. Cisco
rode the
T pole, and after
blinking at a couple of swamp rabbits not to his liking, he
caught one
hiding in a shallow gulley. He hadn't not caught one in
a while,
so
this was nice. He has
caught 29 cotton rats so far this season -
I think going for his own record. We all talked a while,
and
the Barkers left. Emrah called, telling me that Cody's
bird
didn't score, and that he was heading back to The Woodlands;
Cody
and his friend Zach were heading home.
Lynne and I, along with Nathan and Nisha Andrews, had lunch at
La
Hacienda. Afterwards, Lynne went home while the Andrews'
accompanied me to Katy. Ms. Elbert, the red-shouldered
hawk
caught her 9th cotton rat. She hunted well, attacking
birds and
cotton rats, being only moderately distracted by the local
red-tails.
Interesting
information on
Ms. Elbert:
The
red-shouldered hawk was hot early on, up until early October, then
was
a bit lackadaisical for several months even though she steadily
caught
cotton rats. No birds since very early October.
Between her nascent screaming and lack of focus, she became much
less
fun to fly. She spent most of January at Charli Rohack’s in
Bryan. When I got her back she had gone from 550 grams to a
portly 700 (leave it to a rehabber.....). The amazing thing
is
that a hawk I considered plump at 550 grams is much more focused
than
she has been for months, now attacking everything that moves in
the
field. Her fist response is not diminished, she rides the T
pole
better than ever, and is extremely quiet. Right now her keel
feels like that of a typical bird’s taken right off a BC. In
my
life I have never flown a bird so fat. Live and learn, or maybe
live
and get more confused...............
Back Row: Zach, Emrah Binatli, Stephanie Barker, Logan
Barker, Eddie
Barker, Daniel Rasi, Nathan Andrews
Front Row: Cody Birdwell w/ Katy, Lynne Holder w/ Dart,
Chuck Redding
w/ Cisco, and Jim Ince with Ms. Elbert. Standing
between Jim and
me is Dalton Barker.
Photo by Stephanie Jennings
Ms. Elbert enjoying a cotton rat on 2/4/2011 - day before
meet
Cisco enjoying a squirrel on 2/4/2011
My
hawks
at
the
THA
meet in January Cisco,
Elbert, and
Dart (Dart screaming, amazingly enough - one reason he is
now Lynne's
hawk)
12/7/2010 – A couple of
rodents
I have not been very attentive to the web site this season.
I'm
sorry. Here is an update.
Rob Evans, as always, continues to catch cottontails with his
latest
red-tail, out in Katy. Lynne Holder and Dart, the Harris'
hawk
are having a good season in Chappell Hill, TX, with Dart's
pursuing and
catching a fair amount of quarry.
I have been giving Elbert a lot of field time, with Cisco's doing
very
well with less field time, maybe half as much. Nevertheless,
Cisco has caught a half dozen rabbits, including a swamp rabbit,
and
plenty of rodents. Elbert has not been very successful in
the
field in the last two months. The bird flushes have been
few, and
she has been high in weight a good part of the time. In the
last
week or two I have brought her weight down.
This morning I took the two birds out to Katy. Elbert was
down to
508 grams, lower than I have ever flown her, but I did not see any
real
increase in her keenness, so I will bring her up some. I
have
generally been in the range of a 1% daily change, actually closer
to
1/2% per day, since she generally gets flown every other
day. She
was as high as 550 or 560 in recent weeks. This morning in
the
chilly air she looked with moderate interest at some field
sparrows,
and I carried her along a ditch so she would have a shot at some
cotton
rats. Along this same ditch, Cisco has caught a number of
mice
and cotton rats. Toward the end of the ditch, very close to
where
Cisco caught a cotton rat and cottontail on Sunday, Elbert caught
and
killed a big cotton rat. She dragged it deeper into the
thorns,
and it took me a while to cut away the thorns and transfer her
off. I wanted the red-shoulder to at least
catch
some warm blooded prey, and she did. On Sunday she
caught a
lizard. probably a skink. This was on a cold day in field
where I
have never seen a lizard.
Elbert had a big crop after eating most of a rat, and weighed 600
grams
tonight. I took her back to the car and brought out
Cisco.
He was quite heavy this morning, having not cast yet, and I
wondered
how responsive and eager he would be. On Sunday he ate a
rabbit
head and a large cotton rat. He did not disappoint me.
When
I got to the field this morning, I found a large casting in the
hawk
box, and he left a healthy slice on my tail gate. He
attacked
birds in the ditches, once doing a teardrop stoop on a sparrow in
a
bush, after hovering above the bush for about five seconds.
A
very cool hawk, he is. At some point he caught a mouse,
blinked
at a rabbit, but then pursued that same rabbit a few minutes
later. A pretty good morning overall, with both my hawks
catching
game, however humble.
11/23/2010 – A herculean
effort by
Team Cisco pays off
The second full
day at the Dodge City NAFA meet was great. I got up before dawn to
take Cisco to a field that Rob Huber and I located yesterday. A
good
looking field that the owner,
Sheila Urban, told us was filled with quail, pheasants,
cottontails,
and jacks. Yesterday morning
Rob and
I
kicked
around for a good hour or more. We flushed only a single small
cottontail that Cisco attacked and missed. Cisco bounced off the
ground, and chased it into an open area with vegetation cut way
down.
This is normally a perfect situation for my hawk, but the rabbit
vanished. A great flight, the first of many in the next 24
hours.
Rob and I
returned with Cisco in the evening, and had a number of fine
flights
with my hawk powering very fast, and pursuing hard. He ate two
mice
that he caught – alive, I think. Super effort by Cisco. Every
flight was good, but the bunnies just disappeared in this field. I
have never seen anything like it.
This
morning was
a frosty 20F and foggy. I got up before dawn and ate breakfast.
Rob
had a NAFA board meeting, so I went alone with Cisco. My car was
coated with frost, as was everything in sight. I had no gloves
and
no watch cap, so I carried the T-pole bare handed, wearing a
baseball
cap. Very mature behavior for a man pushing 60 years old. Cisco
was
reluctant to come out of his hawk box, but settled down to
attacking
the rabbits with vigor. When he returned to T-pole after one
flight,
he had frost on his face and whiskers. After about a half mile,
the
pain in my hands was sufficient to force me back to the car,
where
Cisco happily jumped into his box. Apparently I only thought
that my
hands hurt while I was carrying the pole. When I got in the car,
the
pain was screaming, or maybe that was me. I went back to the
hotel
to pick up a heavy sock to use as a mitten.
We returned to
the field. It was now sunny and a balmy 25F. Besides, I was armed
with a sock. Cisco, still longing for the Gulf Coast, had to be
coaxed out. We continued to flush these transient rabbits and
Cisco's efforts to catch them were spectacular. I began to wonder
what he could possibly do, and hoped that he wouldn't get
discouraged. We took occasional breaks when Cisco got cold. He
would fly to a fence post to rest; I would call him to fist from
100
yards away. We'd head back to the car to warm up. In a few minutes
he was ready again, though never willing to leave the hawk box. I
moved the car down the road about ¼ mile to try another
field.
We
walked to a tree line, where Cisco took a stand, following-on very
well. Our efforts finally paid off. Cisco launched from a pine
tree, flew about 40 yards, and did a classic RT wing-over,
slamming a
good sized cottontail. One of the most rewarding outings in six
seasons with this hawk.
In
other
news,
Elbert is recovering well from her water moccasin bite of last
Tuesday morning. One week ago today. She has survived near
starvation, a direct blast of a skunk, and now a near deadly
snake
bite. She seems ready to hunt, though a little fat. I will slip
her
on some starlings tomorrow. Isaac Nichols will bring his
kestrel.
Elbert prefers the cold weathering yard to being in a hawk box
in the
hotel. Cisco, of course, loves hotel rooms..... Below are some
pictures
of this morning, and a clip of the red-shoulder riding to the
NAFA meet.
