In my last entry I said it looked like it was going to be quiet. Well that's not quite what happened. We had a few bookings come in last minute which was great and things have been busy with a few interesting bookings in the diary.
I suppose the big news has been Bella our new Barn Owl. After a bit of a slow start she has really come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks. Flying really well on bookings at the centre and Cameron House. Also doing 2 or 3 bookings on some days if we have been busy. The big news is that she flew at her first school booking this month. I was a little bit nervous about it. I knew she should be ok but it was her first time and I wasn't sure how she would re-act to being indoors. As it was she was a star. She flew about the school hall and wasn't fazed in the slightest. The following week we were at Glasgow University visiting the zoological department and Bella was flying in a lecture on birds. She was brilliant. The lecture hall was like a amphitheatre with the seats rising up to the back of the theatre and there must of been around 100 people at it. A tough venue for only the second time flying indoors. We did get off to a slow start but then she came good and was awesome. Swooping down from the back of the theatre to the front over peoples heads and then flying back up to the back when called. It is tough for the birds doing an event like this. The thing is they are brought to the place they are needed to fly in a black transport box so they can't see out out and see where they are. The box needs to be black so bird is in the dark so it will sit quietly in the box. They may never of been to the venue before and have no time to tune in and take in where they are but they are being asked to fly. Dylan was good at it, Alba is good at it and Bella looks like she is just going to be just as good as Dylan who she is replacing.
The visit to Glasgow University Zoological Department wasn't the only visit to Glasgow University. We also visited the vet school to give a talk on bird of prey husbandry to some of the vet students. It was also a chance to say hello and catch up with a few people who had been out on EMS placement over the summer.
The other new addition to the team - Cooper (Harris Hawk) has also been progressing well. In my last post I talked about how I had stopped flying Oran (Harris Hawk) and allowed him to have a break because Cooper has been flying so well. I also mentioned that I had a few booking coming up. Well Cooper was great. I have been using him over at Cameron House on hawk walks. These last for an hour and go round the grounds of Cameron House. He has done about 3 or 4 and has been brilliant - flying well, looking confident (he didn't even get stressed when he watched a helicopter land less tan a 100m from us) and always coming quickly to the glove when asked. He even made a half hearted attempt to catch a crow that was shouting at him.
Talking about crows, Pele (Harris Hawk) caught 1. I am not sure how he managed it even though I was kind of watching. Crows are not the easiest of things for a Harris Hawk to catch especially if the crow knows the hawk is there. Crows are smart. Probably 1 of the smartest birds birds about. The crow was sitting in a tree shouting at Pele who was about 50m away sitting on a lamp post looking about not showing alot on interest in the crow. Pele has had crows shout at him before and has ignored them. What I think happened from the angle I was kind of watching from was that Pele flew towards the crow but made it look like he wasn't interested in it and was going to fly past it as he got level he turned quickly towards the crow and grabbed it. Even when he grabbed it there is no guarantee that he will be able to keep hold of the crow. Crows have a large beak which they stab with when grabbed. The crow was almost the same weight as Pele. The crow weighed in at 1lb 3 1/4oz while Pele weighed in at 1lb 5 1/2oz. As I said in my last post, Pele is 9 years old, he has been round the block a few times and is quite a calculated individual. I saw this calculated attitude again last week. We were out hunting and came across a pheasant. Pele was up in a tree and the pheasant was on the ground up ahead. The pheasant saw me and started running. Pele sat in the tree and watched. He knew that from where he was the pheasant had a good head start and he would struggle to get near it. The pheasant turned into the hedge it was running along and went straight into a fence. It was now stuck. This was when Pele attacked. He was straight out the tree, into the hedge and grabbed the pheasant. Unfortunately he grabbed it by the tail. The pheasant managed to escape missing half it's tail which Pele had. A lucky pheasant. I always have to watch Pele when he is flying. He might look like he is not interested or there is nothing going to happen but you never know with him. The only thing I can be sure of is if he thinks he can catch it he will go for it.
Today we had our 6 monthly vet inspection. This is because the centre has a zoo licence and part of the terms and conditions of the zoo licence act of 1981 is that my centre is inspected every 6 months by the vet who I take my birds to for veterinary care and once a year by the council vet. The council vet visited last month and this month it was the vet who treats the birds when things go wrong - Alistair Lawrie. The inspection went well and the vet was very happy with everything in the centre.
The coming weeks are quiet at the moment but that will probably change. We are in the run in to Christmas so if I am not busy with bookings I will be busy with enquiries. Hopefully I will be able to get out and do fly some of the birds for myself though.
677
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Friday, 4 November 2011
Another Duck
October finished how it started and carried on right through - WET. While it has been wet and raining most days it is mild so while the rain has been a pain it has been warm rain. The waterproofs have always been close at hand.
Back to the birds. The flying team is getting smaller and smaller all the time. It always happens at this time of year. There are no more big displays, corporate events are few and far between and it is just bookings over at Cameron House and in the centre over the the coming weeks. I have decided to give Brel and Oran both of whom are Harris Hawks a break and I have stopped flying them. I always stop flying Brel at this time of the year as he does all my display and demonstration work. As there are no big demonstration or corporate work there is no reason to keep him going. He only flies from April till October. He spent yesterday eating a large squirrel. I also decided to stop flying Oran as well. I was going to keep him going up until the end of the year but with Cooper doing so well so quickly I decided to stop flying him. To be fair he needed a break. Oran is a great bird and has worked really hard over the last 18 months. He flew all of the summer 2010, he then got about 6 weeks off in the autumn 2010 and then was brought back for Christmas 2010. I was going to stop flying him after the New Year but we were busy and I just kept him going. He did get about 5 weeks off around April/May 2011 and then was back flying again all summer mainly doing the hawk walks over at Cameron House. He has been a star with only the 1 screw up back in September. I decided to stop flying him because Cooper was flying well and also because he was looking a bit scruffy. He did finish off with a bit of a flourish on his last hawk walk at Cameron House for the season by catching his 3rd duck. When I caught up with him he was in the water, using his wings as paddles to get to the waters edge with the duck held firmly in his talons. Saying that the duck was an easy target and he knew it. The duck had a broken wing. In the end a bit of a mercy killing.
Ok I go hunting with the aim of killing something. Using a bird to catch the prey is maybe not the most efficient way compared to a shot gun or rifle but 1 thing I will say if the bird catches the prey and the prey breaks free then the prey should be ok with nothing more than a few cuts. The 1 thing I don't like about guns/rifles is that if you don't kill the prey and it escapes after being hit and you can't find it then it is in for a long and slow death due to blood poisoning and infection with broken bones and serious injuries. That was what happened to the duck that Oran caught. It had a broken wing. Once I had killed it I could take a closer look at the wing. The wound looked a few days old, with the bone coming through the skin. On closer inspection I found an air gun pellet lodged in the wing with the bone shattered around it. Anyone who uses a air rifle to shoot at duck is just being cruel. There is no other way to describe it. There is no skill in shooting at duck on the water or ones that are on land. Most air rifles don't have the power to kill a duck unless you shoot it in the head, unfortunately most people who have an air rifle don't have the skill to do that. It's the first time I have come across something like that and I hope I don't see something like that again. It has kind of hardened my views and opinions on air rifles and who should have them.
On a more cheerful note Cooper the Harris Hawk continues to do well. The fact that he is flying so well made me think that Oran should be finished up early. He has been doing a few bookings at the centre and has done a full lap of the grounds of Cameron House with me flying him - all of which he has flown well in. This weekend I will be relying on him with 5 bookings in the next 2 days. He will be used in at least 2 of them.
The other big news is with Pele. On his first hunting day this season he caught a rabbit. He had had a few attempts at rabbit and pheasant and then he caught a rabbit. It was a good size weighing in at 3lb3 1/4oz. Pele was flying at 1lb 5oz. Saying that I suppose it is not that big news as it was Pele. At 9 years old, he has been used in the last 8 seasons for hunting and having caught many rabbits, pheasants and various other things he knows what he is doing. He is always very calm and I get the feeling he is a bit calculating compared to the other the harris hawks. Unfortunately his second hunting session was rained off.
The next few weeks are quiet in the diary but it is November. Saying that while it is quiet I will be busy as I gear up and prepare for Christmas advertising. Time to start dealing with the real world.
655
Back to the birds. The flying team is getting smaller and smaller all the time. It always happens at this time of year. There are no more big displays, corporate events are few and far between and it is just bookings over at Cameron House and in the centre over the the coming weeks. I have decided to give Brel and Oran both of whom are Harris Hawks a break and I have stopped flying them. I always stop flying Brel at this time of the year as he does all my display and demonstration work. As there are no big demonstration or corporate work there is no reason to keep him going. He only flies from April till October. He spent yesterday eating a large squirrel. I also decided to stop flying Oran as well. I was going to keep him going up until the end of the year but with Cooper doing so well so quickly I decided to stop flying him. To be fair he needed a break. Oran is a great bird and has worked really hard over the last 18 months. He flew all of the summer 2010, he then got about 6 weeks off in the autumn 2010 and then was brought back for Christmas 2010. I was going to stop flying him after the New Year but we were busy and I just kept him going. He did get about 5 weeks off around April/May 2011 and then was back flying again all summer mainly doing the hawk walks over at Cameron House. He has been a star with only the 1 screw up back in September. I decided to stop flying him because Cooper was flying well and also because he was looking a bit scruffy. He did finish off with a bit of a flourish on his last hawk walk at Cameron House for the season by catching his 3rd duck. When I caught up with him he was in the water, using his wings as paddles to get to the waters edge with the duck held firmly in his talons. Saying that the duck was an easy target and he knew it. The duck had a broken wing. In the end a bit of a mercy killing.
Ok I go hunting with the aim of killing something. Using a bird to catch the prey is maybe not the most efficient way compared to a shot gun or rifle but 1 thing I will say if the bird catches the prey and the prey breaks free then the prey should be ok with nothing more than a few cuts. The 1 thing I don't like about guns/rifles is that if you don't kill the prey and it escapes after being hit and you can't find it then it is in for a long and slow death due to blood poisoning and infection with broken bones and serious injuries. That was what happened to the duck that Oran caught. It had a broken wing. Once I had killed it I could take a closer look at the wing. The wound looked a few days old, with the bone coming through the skin. On closer inspection I found an air gun pellet lodged in the wing with the bone shattered around it. Anyone who uses a air rifle to shoot at duck is just being cruel. There is no other way to describe it. There is no skill in shooting at duck on the water or ones that are on land. Most air rifles don't have the power to kill a duck unless you shoot it in the head, unfortunately most people who have an air rifle don't have the skill to do that. It's the first time I have come across something like that and I hope I don't see something like that again. It has kind of hardened my views and opinions on air rifles and who should have them.
On a more cheerful note Cooper the Harris Hawk continues to do well. The fact that he is flying so well made me think that Oran should be finished up early. He has been doing a few bookings at the centre and has done a full lap of the grounds of Cameron House with me flying him - all of which he has flown well in. This weekend I will be relying on him with 5 bookings in the next 2 days. He will be used in at least 2 of them.
The other big news is with Pele. On his first hunting day this season he caught a rabbit. He had had a few attempts at rabbit and pheasant and then he caught a rabbit. It was a good size weighing in at 3lb3 1/4oz. Pele was flying at 1lb 5oz. Saying that I suppose it is not that big news as it was Pele. At 9 years old, he has been used in the last 8 seasons for hunting and having caught many rabbits, pheasants and various other things he knows what he is doing. He is always very calm and I get the feeling he is a bit calculating compared to the other the harris hawks. Unfortunately his second hunting session was rained off.
The next few weeks are quiet in the diary but it is November. Saying that while it is quiet I will be busy as I gear up and prepare for Christmas advertising. Time to start dealing with the real world.
655
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