New Friends

Thanks to Jaime and Lisa Johnson that happened by while we were flying Sibley up the Blackfoot today. They both shoot Canon and this was with an 800 mm a long way off!

Return of the Filmmakers

Last night we had a great program for Five Valleys Audubon- falcons, hawk and owl for a packed house of birdwatchers (thanks, friends!), and this morning a film crew from Bozeman. Zero Point Zero West joined us for a show to be featured on the Sportsman's Cannel called "Apex Predator." Rick Smith booked the gig, having been over here in 2011 with host Casey Anderson (below) and National Geographic Television. Beautiful foggy backdrop and frost today with a discussion of avian sight, hunting strategies, and the prey search image of Golden Eagles with our bird Nigel. Six episodes in total for the series and they all said, "We'll be back!"

Today

Sibley wants a snack

And See You Monday Night, Too!

And next, the Five Valleys Audubon meeting tomorrow evening at the university. We'll see a PowerPoint of bird photographs, and discuss the natural history (and personal history) of the Aplomado Falcon, with star Sonora from The Peregrine Fund. I’ll also touch on American Kestrel population status across the continent, a kestrel on hand. Alisa the Red-tail and Jillian the Great horned Owl as well rounding out the total, and of course we’ll practice “hooting like an owl.” We will have a stash of all of my books for the signing – and bookmarks for all our friends! 7:30 pm at the Gallagher Business Building, U of M, free and open to everyone. We love Audubon!

See You Tomorrow

Join us for a book signing at Fact and Fiction Books tomorrow from 2:30 until 4:00 pm. I'll see which kestrel wants to join us, Ella or Wes, maybe both! Rumor has it they will have a big holiday parade right down Higgins in front of the book store when we are done.

Decisions...

We have a film crew coming over next week and wondering where to fly Sib. Apparently it's for a hunting show on TV, and they want me to talk about raptor vision with the host. So of our 4 or 5 location options we are wondering scenery, potential for game, high flight, or low swoops and goofing off like today at One Horse Creek. Decisions, decisions, and a nice shot in light snow this afternoon. Great because I tripped and fell on my camera hunting with Jay on Sunday and wondered if the focus was off on the lens. More experimentation needed, but this looks fine, Nikon fans!

No Vegans Here

I know that a lot of folks wonder what these raptors eat, and today I spent hours butchering chickens. Yes, nineteen live birds, three of which that have been fed to the eagles and now the rest installed in the freezer. We thank our Raptor Backers for the food, items that include game meat and thousands of mice from a genetics laboratory. Plus, we buy quail that all of the falcons enjoy, and for the Sharp-shinned Hawk, quail legs every morning. Max the Golden Eagle pictured here tries to eat everything offered, not at all fussy and a glutton. 25 years old and he's been getting quite bossy with his roommates Nigel and Sonny.

Another From the Archives

At the Open House for Ohrmann Museum and Gallery a month ago, a friend Kathleen toured around the entire yard and confessed, "I so much love these sculptures, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what one of these pieces is supposed to be." It turned out to be this one, a raccoon I made and gave Bill and Phyll as a gift eight years ago. A wire animal, mask and ringed tail in black that Bill kept for a while, then welded his signature animal heart inside, seen in red. That's the raccoon's heart and Bill's wry smile with his flock/herd of sculptures in the background.  I told Kathleen that the mystery sculpture was one of Bill's early impressionistic efforts. HA! We sure miss you, Bill.

Sonora's Hang-Out

Our little Aplomado Falcon will probably be spending nights inside again if we hit negative numbers for temperatures. Actually, around 5 degrees and she's in the spare bedroom. This is where she hangs out every day, regardless of weather - her perch on the book case door. Yes, there is paper below and a perfect house-mate. She'll be the star for our Five Valleys Audubon program on Dec 8th. More reminders on the way...

Prairie Falcon

This is another photo from Thanksgiving, and Jay was calling his Peregrine back to the lure when this bird landed in the tree near-by. A beautiful male Prairie Falcon that watched us for a bit then took off across the Bitterroot Valley, heading to the Sapphire Mountains.

One of the Ones That Got Away Today

In Living Color!

The new Newsletter is up on the web site, thanks Steve, so see it here in living color. I mailed out 100 yesterday, the rest today, and pretty old-fashioned I know. I like reading on paper, so call me a throwback. Packed with news and photos and gift ideas for the holidays! Raptor Round-Up #46:

Northern Harrier

Yesterday's "Marsh Hawk." A buoyant young bird interacting with the Peregrines as we were hunting ducks. I love these hawks and the only aggressive behavior I have ever seen between the species in all of these years was when Sibley knocked down a duck and four or five harriers came in to claim it, forcing the falcon to retreat to a snag with her tail between her legs, so to speak. Otherwise it's an aerial ballet, playing games over our heads. The lower photo is from 2012, a favorite photo.

Bitterroot White-tail Today