Feb 18 – Florence Meet

I had been excited for this meet for weeks.  My friend Al was hosting a falconry meet at his home outside of Kingstree and he was expecting anywhere from fifteen to twenty local falconers to come with many different kinds of birds.  Several non-falconers had also come to learn more about the sport. 

My daughter elected to come with Rebel and I, but we had to leave Addie at home.  Most of the falconers were dividing up and heading to their respective spots when we pulled up.  Al asked if I would take a few people behind the house in the hardwoods and show them a Red Tail at work.  Our entourage included an ex-marine who was working for the local news channel, a young boy and his father, my daughter, and then Al joined us a bit later.

Rebel was as keen as she could be and ready to hunt.  I had been lowering her weight steadily in anticipation of this meet and she was flying at 39.6 ounces.  My bird has been as high as 46 ounces in the field this year and has still killed and followed well.  While she had killed at higher weights, her trap weight was still much lower than this at 36 oz. and I have been questioning myself about taking her weight upwards.  I had definitely noticed that at the higher weights, I spent my time following her rather than vice versa, and I wanted to rein in that behavior.

There were a lot of questions, most from the reporter.  He was sporting both a video camera and a still camera with a lens the size of Rebel.  Rebel chased four squirrels right off the bat but did not catch them.  I guess she was shaking off the nerves or something.  I haven't heard of a bird with performance anxiety before, but hey, this bird is teaching me something new everyday!  Anyway, she would chase one and get it moving then get distracted by another she saw.  She would chase that one and then see the first one move again.   Poor girl does not do well with too much information overload.  ADHD I guess.  I blame the parents... ;)  Her usual hunting style is to get a squirrel moving, push it up higher in the tree, and then wait for it to make a break out on a long limb where she can snatch it easily.

After the first few flights, Rebel seemed to settle down and get back to her normal hunting style.  I was proud of how well she was following and paying attention.  Her first kill came after several near misses.  She had cornered a young squirrel in a tree and caught him when he tried to escape out on a limb.  Unfortunately, she also saw fit to carry this squirrel about three hundred yards away.  

We caught up to her in a small ravine and traded off without incident and set her back up for another run as it was so early.  We were joined by Al and another young future falconer when we set out.  We headed down into the bottom area near the swamp and it didn’t take us very long to get a squirrel running. 

This squirrel was the endurance champion of the season.  He sprinted from tree to tree before Rebel could even get her bearings.  Rebel took a few dives at the squirrel but the wily little thing was smart enough to not run out on a limb until after Rebel had had a near miss and was looking for a new perch.  By far, this was the smartest squirrel we had faced all season. 

The squirrel finally took refuge in a red oak and hid wisely in the moss.  I thought that the guy had finally lost his wits when I saw a squirrel burst out the base of the tree and try to run to another tree with Rebel hot on his heals.  It turns out that our wily squirrel was still high in the red oak and Rebel had actually flushed another one!  This squirrel led Rebel on a wild chase on the ground and finally disappeared into a knothole at ground level.  Rebel actually went inside the hole to investigate and we got a few pictures, which were pretty cool.

Rebel was pretty frustrated getting back on to the fist.  That frustration wore off quickly however as we had no sooner started heading out when we saw another squirrel trying to ghost off through the trees.  Rebel gave immediate chase and almost caught this one on the first pass.  It was actually pretty impressive acceleration from the fist.  I would say reminiscent of how a Goshawk would do it, but I have honestly only seen one fly... 

She missed the first pass and ended up chasing this squirrel thought several trees before catching it out on a limb like it’s predecessor.  The amazing thing was that she was actually stradling the limb with one talon on either side, holding on to her quarry.  She hung like that for a couple of minutes making sure she had completely killed her prey before she got herself loose.  This one too, she carried about three hundred yards or so.  I had to get out the tele to find her location, but the trade off was pretty smooth.  I really think that this bird totally gets the game even though perhaps she is not completely satisfied with the rules…

Anyway, we scored a very nice double in front of spectators and I could not have been more pleased.  Rebel spent the rest of the day out on a perch surrounded by Red Tails and I even had time to make it down to Maddox’s soccer game.  It was a great start to a great weekend!

It turned out that the picture of Rebel hanging upside down with the squirrel made the front page of the second section of the Florence Sunday paper!  In still frame, it looked like she had just peeled the squirrel right off of the tree and was flying away with it.  It was an amazing shot and I am hoping that the photographer can send me a digital copy of the picture.  I will post it immediately when I get it =).