I took Rebel out for a flight to get some exercise when I got home today. His leg seemed to be healing and the old squirrel bite seemed to be closing up nicely. His mews was all set up so I figured that we would just fly a bit after observing a few hours in the mews. He had spent the last two nights indoors with little exercise to give his abrasions some time to heal. I intended only to give him a short flight for exercise.
Rebel was actually frisky and ready to go. Decided to just walk the yard and lots a bit. On the first pass through the fenced lot, Rebel saw a squirrel in the top of a live oak and gave chase. I was somewhat worried about him, but he flew like there was nothing wrong. He quickly chased the squirrel to the top of the tall pine near the road. At the top, the squirrel bailed out and FLEW to another oak twenty feet away! It was one hell of a jump. He scampered to the top of that tree and Rebel gave chase again.
He seemed to be making mostly half hearted attempts to catch the squirrel, and I was worried that maybe the foot was still bothering him. At the top of yet another pine, the squirrel made another break for it and Rebel snagged him in the flanks, mid-air. It was amazing to watch. Unfortunately for Rebel, he crashed into some brush and dropped his prize. Try as I might, I could not get that squirrel to flush again. Rebel spent about two minutes looking for him then flew off to a tall pine tree to catch the last of the afternoon’s sun.
I was a little perplexed by his abandonment of the hunt. I tried to call him down several times, but he just acted like he couldn’t be bothered. This was definitely a departure from the norm for my bird. He finally took off in the other direction and went back into the opposite lot. I followed and he finally came down to the lure. He hopped right back onto the fist after and we went back to the mews.
Rebel had actually killed the squirrel. I found it the following day but that wasn’t the end of his odd behavior.
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