Falconry Filled Day

There was a good vibe today. Falconry activity seemed to be in abundance. While I was headed out to fly I got a text from my buddy in Colorado with this picture:

He's a second year apprentice flying a female passage red-tail and doing an awesome job obviously.

Shortly after I got a text from a friend in Utah letting me know that he was headed out to the Utah Skytrials (a falconry "competition" of sorts). It looked like falconry was working its way West!

I met up with the usual gang to fly where we usually fly with less than stellar results. Gomer was too fat. He chased a couple sparrows half-heartedly before a cotton-tail busted and he took off...to go land in a tree and sun for 15 minutes or so. I finally got him down with the lure. We then went to a nearby field to watch the Harris Hawks fly. There were bunnies galore but the birds were slightly off today and didn't connect. There were two more red-tails to fly but I had to get home to take my son to a birthday party. On my way home another friend in Colorado texted me this picture of his prairie falcon on its first wild pheasant:

At least someone had success today!

The birthday party was at a park and toward the end a dozen pigeons dropped in to play clean up crew. Well a few well placed crumbs and I caught myself a few baggies! I realized after I caught them that I didn't have anything to put them in so I put them in my cargo shorts pockets...that garnered some strange looks from the other parents!...but I only lived two minutes away so I was able to dash home and put them in more suitable surroundings fairly quickly. Add 'pigeons in pockets' to list of crazy things falconers do.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up yet another sparrow trap. I don't necessarily need another one but I like building different designs and testing them out. I'm excited to see how this one does.

The traditional falconry season is winding down so I expect that days with this much falconry related activity will gradually taper out but my plan at the moment is to fly Gomer straight through since we can fly sparrows, starlings, and pigeons year round. Monday is a holiday so I'll be out flying again then, hopefully with better results on this end.