Day 2 of the Season for Sib

We missed opening day of falconry season with the trip to Boston, and now hard at it with Peregrine flights that started Monday. This photo is day two, and just look at that molt! Fortunately she has since dropped both of those crummy outer wing feathers (primary 10's) and should be clean as a whistle feather-wise in no time. Today was Sibley's best day yet, and she circled around one Horse Creek for a while, remembering that it more fun to do that than perch in a tree. Now just looking for some pheasants, if you have one to spare anywhere in Western Montana. Let me know.

Penguin Flies Home

We brought my metal Penguin sculpture home today, and I promised Tom that this will be last time for a transfer. Promise. It had been at the Missoula Art Museum all summer, along with the Red-tailed Hawk which will live at Caras Nursery for a while. So glad to have the big guys at the museum load it into the pickup on a sheet of plywood, then down the ramp on the dolly and back into the yard tonight. Many expertly taken photographs with cell phones out the car windows document the penguin's drive through town and down to the Bitterroot. Notice the courthouse in the background, and a guy on a bicycle in the alley suggested that next time I make one out of aluminum. Recycling material.

Just Back From Boston

Okay. I've had my proudest moment, and now can retire. Just kidding, but not about the pride factor. I just delivered the keynote for the annual Eastern Massachusetts Hawk Watch Meeting in Medford (pronounced Medfud) and the highlight of a lifetime. Paul Roberts invited me to speak last year and at first I thought he was kidding, but it really happened this weekend. A record number of 140 raptor lovers were in attendance, record new membership sign-ups, and even a standing ovation at the end. That was after I had everyone hoot like a Great Horned Owl. My in-laws were even there, and I spent one day with sister-in-law Ellen touring the north shore, Davis-land. I had another engagement Saturday at the Joppa Flats Education Center, and went birding with Paul's wife and daughter, Julie and Laura at the legendary Plum Island. My first time in Boston, and one thing is for certain: I'll be back, with Tom next time, if we can figure out how to take care of the dogs and cats...and birds!

Partial Albino Red-tailed Hawk Re-surfaces

I kept this quiet, sorry friends, but didn't want this rare bird to be scared away by flocks of birdwatchers. The locals always knew about the "white hawk" in the southwest end of Missoula, first spotted over the winter. I brought my camera up to Snowbowl skiing several times and would stop by to get some photos on the way there and back. You could spot her a mile away if she was in the air, and perched before the leaves came in. Most of her tail has the regular coloring of an adult (at least two or three year old) but just a few flight feathers are brown. Where has she been the last few years, to just show up unannounced? No one in the neighborhood had seen her for the last 6 weeks then voila! Back on the scene and maybe she was nesting, which would explain her absence. They are looking for more white hawks, with the brown barred tail of a youngster.

Prairie Falcon Flies

This Prairie Falcon completely recovered from a badly sprained left leg, and proves it in this photo. She was hacked out with the eagles. The screen on the top of their 40 foot building allows hawks to pop up and "escape" when they are flying well enough, and they release themselves. One Red-tail came back and climbed back inside two years later, standing next to the eagles waiting to be fed. The hillsides across the river behind the house are perfect habitat, and she headed that direction yesterday. So keep your eyes peeled, hawkwatchers at the MPG Ranch!

Return of the Wayward Ten Year Old

Deja our Harris's Hawk flies around the property every day, 12 months a year, and sometimes stays out for a while in the summer. In 2008 she left for a couple months and returned when the ground squirrels estivated, or retreated underground in the heat. She was seen in the neighborhood and Lee Metcalf NWR. This time Deja split in May, never to be seen again anywhere in the valley. Yesterday, I was walking out the door with my camera and gloves to move a rehab Prairie Falcon from Deja's building into the flight enclosure, and lo and behold - there was the errant hawk standing on Chesty's building, shouting BLAA! Chesty had just been out flying for an hour and lucky they didn't see/kill each other. Dej flew over to the glove for a mouse and on inspection, she had an overgrown beak, one tail feather left, and her feet were filthy, but not too skinny. I cleaned her up, coped the beak and she perched here in the office while I kept an eye on the Prairie. Deja, you have some molting to do, my friend.

Caras Nursery Sculpture Show

For the seventh year running, Caras Nursery on South 3rd West is hosting an outdoor sculpture exhibition, metal and stone amongst the shrubs and trees. My piece Red-tailed Hawk has been at the Missoula Art Museum for the last two months, along with the Penguin, and now is back outside. George YBarra puts together the fine collection of pieces each year, and even had Don Grazier of Ronan bring a giant BLUE Heron, wait until you see. The opening is this Saturday, and the show is up until the end of October. Thanks, Bill Caras!

RRU #38 - The Photo Issue

Raptor Round-Up Newsletters were mailed out Tuesday, and check it out in color on our web site, raptorsoftherockies.org. I call it the Photo Issue, with over 50 images, mostly our big Bald Eagle nest and favorite Ospreys on the Clark Fork. It's been a busy four months with the trusty Nikon D700, and now a new (used) 500 mm lens. Can hardly wait for next years breeding season and see what we can find!

Three's a Crowd

Three back at the nest Monday! Looks like the last photo with all four Bald Eagle young was on June 25th, and after that, one has stayed elusive. The most frustrating experience of my photographic life has been capturing all four at once. One would always duck down as the fourth stood up. Always. Or one was looking the other way. I must admit that out of irritation I might have shouted, "Hey, look over here!" which never worked. They have locomotives and a highway speeding by, so a puny human standing 100 yards away is nothing.

What? Bald Eagles Still Lingering!

Today's visit was number 40-something to our favorite nest on the Clark Fork River, and three Bald Eagle fledglings were at the nest, begging away. One was laying down and our friend Carmen Bassin pointed out that it really is the only place they can do that, good point. Return to the sticks to "pop a squat." In the mean time they might be hunting on their own, but kind of doubtful, as both parents keep returning with all they need. We did observe one youngster crash to the ground to retrieve a pinecone, which was treasured and plucked. Not off the hook yet, photographing these birds, a month and a half after they fledged and still a joy to see them all.

Osprey Young Returns

For those of you still watching the Riverside Osprey web cam, a lucky hit would be to see the family return to the nest, since the baby fledged on August 7th. I lucked out five days later when driving by the spot and saw an adult plunge to the river so pulled into the parking lot by the nest to grab this shot. This is the youngster hoping for a free meal, and the female also returned, looking up and down river, after which she split. Young Ospreys can hunt on their own after leaving the nest but must figure out that crazy light refraction of observing a fish under the water and scoring a meal. Parents will be heading back to Central or South America in the next month, with youngsters soon to follow. The babies remain in that "wintering ground" until they are old enough to breed for perhaps three years, which is atypical for any migrant, the only raptors to do this that I can think of (aside from one Hawk-eagle) and another reason to love the Ospreys!

Fifty Years Later

Jay Sumner climbed down this cliff in 1961 and collected his first Peregrine Falcon fifty years ago, before all of you kids were born, and today we re-lived the experience over breakfast. Formally called the "Tasty Freeze Eyrie," Jay and John Craighead and daughter Karen hitched a rope over a tree at the top, and Jay got his first falcon for the sport that would dominate his life. Falconry is hunting wild game with a captive bird, and in this case a baby that was flown for many years. On Saturday we met with fellow falconers at our annual state picnic in Livingston, then Jay showed me a bunch of cliffs that he had been checking nearby since a teenager. We brought our binoculars into the restaurant, and were treated to the pair of Peregrines flying across the cliff, chasing swifts while we were eating breakfast. The waitress was un-astounded, but that's fine because we both were!

Big Weekend of Birds

Carmen Bassin and I made the trek to Bannack State Park near Dillon on Saturday for a program with iPod, Alisa and Nigel, all heroes. We were told that it was the biggest crowd they had ever had for their Saturday speakers and we sold a box of books, yippee. Then Sunday we were joined by KUFM public radio aficionados Annie and Larry Garde for a day in the field. Starting at Riverside Health Care we spotted the just-fledged Osprey across the river on a cliff, mother near-by. Then off to the Bald Eagle nest and a treat with both adults and all four young, begging and begging. Three fledglings returned to the nest, and the male delivered a small fish that must have been swallowed in one gulp. Join us this Thursday on the Pea Green Boat MT Public Radio 4 to 5 pm and we'll talk about the nest, and other goings-on.

Clinton Gravel Pit Peregrines

Yesterday Jay and were treated to some hunting forays by the Peregrines at McQuarry, otherwise known as the Clinton gravel pit. Looks like they fledged at least one young, a female that joined her father in a stoop on a swallow. Then he returned to the rocks and some shade, when the adult female appeared. She caught two swallows in ten minutes, and all in the heat of the day at 3 pm. I would never think this spot would be parked in front of this eyesore with a scope, but Jay always said, "Some day..." Maybe a mayor tourist destination for ecotours, headquarters at Poor Henry's Bar? Probably not.