Good weekend!

Headed out to Bartlesville Friday after work to do a little car hawkin with Kent, and to run Maggie. Traffic was rediculous (stand still trying to get out of Tulsa, and then there is construction as you enter Bartlesville!), so I showed up a little bit late. Kent and his wife were kind enough to not catch anything till I got there though, and I was able to see a couple slips before he ended up snagging a starling. The bird is doing really well as far as being focused on the "game" at hand, and his responsiveness coming back through the window was immediate. Kent decided that he is still a bit high b/c of some "behaviors" he didn't like, and thinks dropping off another 5 or 10 grams will get him right where he needs to be. He is getting really close to turnin it on!

I tried to shoots some vids, but only came out with this "alright" one. I can't seem to get this darn filming thing down....I'm either too far zoomed out (like in this video), or else I shoot it right, but the dang thing is all shakey. Ryan shoots a lot of videos....I'm gonna have to talk to him, and see if I can gain some techniques, or new insight into how to fix this.

I went hawkin with Mark both Saturday and Sunday morning, and had good times like always. The barbary ended up connecting with some wild game on Saturday, and Sunday I got to witness 7 or 8 really nice stoops. It seems pretty apparent to me, that Mark is going to turn this bird into a very proficient hunter, and I'm looking forward to an exciting season. He wasn't interested in the homer we tossed for him though, so Mark said he still needs to bring his weight down a little bit more. When I was leaving the field on Sunday morning, I stopped by one of the Kestrel nest boxes, and Mom, dad, and four of their previously fledged young were all sitting in a row above the box. I bumped all six of them when i pulled up....two of them went off playing tag, while the other two just headed for the hills. The parents went out hunting, and I watched the female hover at about 70 feet for like two minutes, before doing a little mini stoop, grabbing a mouse. She then carried it back, and went in the nest box....i'm thinkin they (just like Mark said they do every year) are on their second clutch of the season. I ended up sitting there watching for about thirty minutes or so, as they were coming and going. Good times for sure! 22 more days!