Sibley sure caught a lot of game. Not enough to keep us fed (an old joke by John Craighead) but kept me on my toes. Mostly ducks, mallards preferred, and we have the same season a gun hunters, with a week tossed in mid- January for good measure. Here she caught a rooster Ring-necked Pheasant at Teller Wildlife Refuge, yummy. We let them pluck away, eat some neck meat, and then offer a formally frozen quail and they step off the warm kill that we keep/eat. 4000 year old sport.
Major reflections today on Sib. Every morning since we got the Falconhouse I would walk over there first thing and see if she was still with us. Half the time barefoot on the gravel in the driveway. Then I’d make the coffee. This is a major blow over here. But all night I recounted her hunts and programs, and figured she flew about 2500 times (most days, 7 months a year, 20 years.) Only spent one night out. Now THAT was a night I didn’t sleep. Got her back at Metcalf after I followed the beep signal all the way to Stevensville and it was a kennel full of mountain lion hunting dogs with transmitters on their collars, same frequency. The owner turned them all off and silence. Then found her standing on a fence at the refuge…whew.
Our Hero Bird, Sibley has died. Last evening fine, and today I was cradling her for a half hour with her heavy breathing as I sat on the edge of the Falconhouse. Every morning I would tell her “Five more years.” Well, it worked for two years. Thankfully. I was reminding her of all her amazing stories and conquests. She opened her eyes and died at 2:30, in my arms. Buried by the building, wrapped in a Sibley t-shirt from 22 years ago. As you can imagine, I am devastated and trying to imagine Life without Sibley. What a hero, pal, educator, and family star she was. This will be tough.
Top photo is the bridge across the slough in the back, taken in May. Second photo is now at the beaver dam. Barely any water flowing now, and always happy to have the rain. The Blog from July 6th shows the beaver dam in early construction, whew. This is actually Childs Creek, and nearly every year that bridge is floating in the spring runoff and we have to re-install it, somehow.
A snapshot today of the Falconhouse, our home and the warehouse of the neighbor's in the backdrop. Hopefully won't get 100 degrees in the new building any longer and have to move Sibley inside every afternoon, but we shall see. No shade and planted little pine trees all around that will help. Eventually.
The new 2026 Raptors of the Rockies Calendar and this will be the cover. Twelve months of photos, other birds and mammals this time! Burrowing owl mother and youngsters that nested in an old badger den, the Sapphire Mountains near-by.
How many photos of this bird do you need, Kate? Apparently dozens and a few more today, love this gal.
My artist friend Deborah Mitchell gave me this when I first started printmaking in 1989 and it hangs in the studio! Yep, that was an old pick-up line, remember?
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