October 22, 2015
Yesterday 10/22, I read that NOAA data pointed to 2015's being the hottest year on record, and September was the hottest in history as well, even surpassing a couple of strong El Nino year Septembers in the past. I was hoping that my whining about the heat since early last month was just that. What does this have to do with falconry?
We were out in it again on Thursday morning. I took the Harris's hawk out near Bush Park. It was like summer. Farrah spotted a squirrel and tried to catch it. I found her in the heavy tree brush on the ground looking up. The leafing is so heavy that I never actually saw the squirrel, but he was there. I took her deeper into the field trying to kick up swamp rabbits in the Cherokee rose bushes, but saw none. Then into the woods where there were more phantom squirrels. I would like to take Cisco back here. It has not been productive in the past but given the current game situation it looks better by comparison.
Our total take here over maybe ten or a dozen trips, has been two deer mice, and a small cat squirrel. That was Farrah. Cisco once grabbed a large swamp rabbit in a thick rose bush after an amazing and penetrating plunge. He had only one foot on it and couldn't maneuver. It escaped.
Still better luck than Captain and I. I see squirrels and rabbits all the time, but not in the right places. I did potentially make a contact through Calvin that has 100 acres that they do nothing with other than the occasional deer hunt. Still going to look into Sam Houston National Forest as well.
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