California Hawking Club Annual Field Meet
January 2007 – Sacramento
Photographs of the meet can be viewed here.
Tuesday January 9th at 7a.m I set off with my sponsor Mark and his Harris hawk ‘Wiggs’, followed by Bryan and Sondra with their respective Red Tailed hawks. We were on our way to Sacramento for the annual CHC Field Meet. Weather conditions were perfect, the roads were actually clear and we communicated via walkie talkies. Once past the Grapevine, we stopped in Bakersfield to fly Wiggs. No sign of rabbits here. Bryan decided to fly Scarlet but didn’t have any luck either. We drove on looking for suitable fields taking several detours off the highway. After a couple more pit stops we thought we’d found a perfect spot to fly Sondra’s bird, Gabriel. However, he decided to just keep perching in trees as far away as possible and, although returned to the glove each time, was obviously not interested in chasing prey. We then flew Wiggs again but still no sign of rabbits. As the California landscape keeps changing and more housing and industrial developments sprout, it is getting more difficult for falconers to find any decent hunting grounds.
We arrived at our hotel about 8pm and it was much colder there than when we left my valley. By the time we all got checked in lugging respective bird kennels, I was too tired to join the gang for midnight supper so figured on a good night’s sleep. However, I think they forgot to turn on the heat in my room. I was so cold I had to sleep with added sweaters, socks and an overcoat on the bed. I’m not sure I actually ‘slept’ as the next sound I heard was the cry of a hawk coming from a nearby room. Looking at the clock it was 6.30a.m. I was about to dive further under the covers when I heard ‘kack, kack, kack’ the familiar sound of a peregrine. I jumped out of bed so fast, throwing my coat over my jammies and headed out my door. Sure enough there were two falconers getting ready to leave on a hunting party. Dave had a goshawk, and his roommate had a falcon, called ‘Lady’. I could have joined them if I hadn’t volunteered to help at the pre-registration desk for the morning and had an apprentice workshop at 11am. Back to my room and a couple cups of tea later, I wandered downstairs to watch the construction of the ‘weathering yard’ where they were fencing in a huge landscaped area of the interior grounds. It was day one and only a handful of falconers had arrived. By late afternoon there were several peregrines and Harris hawks perched in the yard and I had the hardest time trying to figure the peregrine breeds. They were so beautiful with unusual colour markings but I was too embarrassed to ask at this point. By 6pm some of the vendors had set up their stations next to the registration area. This is where you could purchase gauntlets, perches, blocks, hoods, you name it. Anything and everything to do with falconry. Even some great artwork and collector books. The programme for the first evening was a talk by Vickie Joseph, DVM who shared some valuable information about West Nile Virus vaccines for birds.
Day two: Once again I was woken by the sounds of raptors. These birds just can’t wait to get out and hunt. I would love to have joined the groups but I had more workshops to attend. Fortunately there were many breaks to go view more birds in the yard. This time I plucked up the courage to ask questions. You have no idea how relieved I was to be told by several ‘seasoned’ falconers that they also had no idea of the peregrine hybrid mixes. You had to ask each individual handler and, by the end of the event after observing more than 30-40 longwings, I was still no wiser. However, a budding 13 year old falconer-to-be called Connor could i.d. nearly every one of these hybrids. There were a lot of Gyr/Saker mixes and it was rare to see a standard Anatum.
Day three: It got really cold overnight and all the bird baths in the yard froze solid. There was also a vicious wind but today was Lure flying competitions so we headed for some far away field and I was really tempted to view from the warmth of our vehicle. However, the excitement of watching hawks chase a mechanical rabbit lure was thrilling and if the winds hadn’t been so high, I’m sure more falconers would have entered their birds. Next up was the falcon lure competition. I have to say this was the highlight of my trip. I forgot that I couldn’t feel my fingers or icicles were forming on my lashes. Watching a falcon ‘ring up’ (climb) against buffeting winds, disappear from view, then suddenly appear out of nowhere to chase a lure cannot be adequately put into words. The all time Master of this event is Joe Suffredini who, with his Lanner/Saker ‘Grover’ put on the winning show. He had his tiercel doing loops, figure eights and chasing the lure between his legs. The bird even buzzed a cameraman and, at one point, I thought it was going to land on my head. I spent time later talking to Joe - he and his brother run Avian Entertainment training animals for the movie industry and special events. He said the birds know it’s their job to ‘work’ every day! That evening we had a BBQ poolside with huge projection screen where we watched some amazing falconry videos. Thankfully the hotel provided many portable heaters.
Day four: Up at dawn to get on the road for the ‘World Famous CHC Sky Trials’. Promised as a crowd pleasing event held in a wide-open field. Even though it was still single digit temps I managed to help out collecting the $2 donation entrance fee. I’m sure there were about 100 people braving the elements as we waited for the PA system and food truck set up. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to warm up my fingers enough to take any photographs at this event. Due to the windy weather, once again we only had about 9 falconers willing to fly their birds in this competition. The idea is for each falconer to walk out into the middle of the field, un-hood his falcon and wait for it to ‘ring up’ high enough for them to ‘serve’ (release) a pigeon so we could get to view a stoop. I lost sight of the first entry and so did the falconer. He was last seen with his telemetry equipment and I never did find out if it was retrieved. The next few birds became specks pretty quickly as most of the birds took advantage of the gusty winds gaining 1,000 feet pitches. But the action was so fast and faraway when they reappeared in a dive, it was impossible to actually witness a strike. I was somewhat disappointed until the last entrant – a guy called Joe Roy who participates every year. He released his falcon and it actually stayed in view, right above us, just ringing up in a leisurely manner. This bird would just ‘wait on’ watching Joe obviously expecting to be ‘served’. But Joe was busy chatting to his buddies out in this field and we’re wondering why there’s no pigeon. He’d glance up at his bird and look away. The bird then starts to ‘ring up’ higher, we can still see him as he once again ‘waits on’ for his trainer to ‘serve’. After several more climbs (against strong winds I would add), we all start chanting ‘release the pigeon Joe’, but now Joe decides to ignore all of us and lies down on the ground sitting back on his elbows just chatting away. The bird is still watching his trainer and obviously understands it has to keep climbing until it is now out of view, at which point Joe decides to stand up and ‘serve’ the prey! Well, let me tell you, when that falcon reappeared in a stoop like a 200mph missile just above our heads it was one of the most exhilarating scenes I’ve witnessed. I should also add that most of the pigeons escaped serious injury except maybe the last one and each falcon returned to the gloved fist for their treats after each performance.
That evening we attended the Banquet where they give out game pins to falconers who caught the most prey during the week. Also I was lucky enough to win a hawking vest off the ‘super raffle’ table along with a fabulous t.shirt from the SkyTrials.
Sunday the four of us caravanned home, made a few pit stops and decided to detour through the Mojave desert to fly each bird. This time all three hawks were far more successful than previous days. Also, we tallied how many other birds we’d seen along the way. I think it was about 80 red tailed, 2 red shouldered, 20 plus kestrels and a fake owl.
This event was definitely what you call an ‘E’ ticket: Exciting, entertaining, exhilarating, educational and exhausting! I absolutely loved being woken by the sound of a hawk or falcon. Beats an alarm clock any day.
Veronica B.
January 2007 – Sacramento
Photographs of the meet can be viewed here.
Tuesday January 9th at 7a.m I set off with my sponsor Mark and his Harris hawk ‘Wiggs’, followed by Bryan and Sondra with their respective Red Tailed hawks. We were on our way to Sacramento for the annual CHC Field Meet. Weather conditions were perfect, the roads were actually clear and we communicated via walkie talkies. Once past the Grapevine, we stopped in Bakersfield to fly Wiggs. No sign of rabbits here. Bryan decided to fly Scarlet but didn’t have any luck either. We drove on looking for suitable fields taking several detours off the highway. After a couple more pit stops we thought we’d found a perfect spot to fly Sondra’s bird, Gabriel. However, he decided to just keep perching in trees as far away as possible and, although returned to the glove each time, was obviously not interested in chasing prey. We then flew Wiggs again but still no sign of rabbits. As the California landscape keeps changing and more housing and industrial developments sprout, it is getting more difficult for falconers to find any decent hunting grounds.
We arrived at our hotel about 8pm and it was much colder there than when we left my valley. By the time we all got checked in lugging respective bird kennels, I was too tired to join the gang for midnight supper so figured on a good night’s sleep. However, I think they forgot to turn on the heat in my room. I was so cold I had to sleep with added sweaters, socks and an overcoat on the bed. I’m not sure I actually ‘slept’ as the next sound I heard was the cry of a hawk coming from a nearby room. Looking at the clock it was 6.30a.m. I was about to dive further under the covers when I heard ‘kack, kack, kack’ the familiar sound of a peregrine. I jumped out of bed so fast, throwing my coat over my jammies and headed out my door. Sure enough there were two falconers getting ready to leave on a hunting party. Dave had a goshawk, and his roommate had a falcon, called ‘Lady’. I could have joined them if I hadn’t volunteered to help at the pre-registration desk for the morning and had an apprentice workshop at 11am. Back to my room and a couple cups of tea later, I wandered downstairs to watch the construction of the ‘weathering yard’ where they were fencing in a huge landscaped area of the interior grounds. It was day one and only a handful of falconers had arrived. By late afternoon there were several peregrines and Harris hawks perched in the yard and I had the hardest time trying to figure the peregrine breeds. They were so beautiful with unusual colour markings but I was too embarrassed to ask at this point. By 6pm some of the vendors had set up their stations next to the registration area. This is where you could purchase gauntlets, perches, blocks, hoods, you name it. Anything and everything to do with falconry. Even some great artwork and collector books. The programme for the first evening was a talk by Vickie Joseph, DVM who shared some valuable information about West Nile Virus vaccines for birds.
Day two: Once again I was woken by the sounds of raptors. These birds just can’t wait to get out and hunt. I would love to have joined the groups but I had more workshops to attend. Fortunately there were many breaks to go view more birds in the yard. This time I plucked up the courage to ask questions. You have no idea how relieved I was to be told by several ‘seasoned’ falconers that they also had no idea of the peregrine hybrid mixes. You had to ask each individual handler and, by the end of the event after observing more than 30-40 longwings, I was still no wiser. However, a budding 13 year old falconer-to-be called Connor could i.d. nearly every one of these hybrids. There were a lot of Gyr/Saker mixes and it was rare to see a standard Anatum.
Day three: It got really cold overnight and all the bird baths in the yard froze solid. There was also a vicious wind but today was Lure flying competitions so we headed for some far away field and I was really tempted to view from the warmth of our vehicle. However, the excitement of watching hawks chase a mechanical rabbit lure was thrilling and if the winds hadn’t been so high, I’m sure more falconers would have entered their birds. Next up was the falcon lure competition. I have to say this was the highlight of my trip. I forgot that I couldn’t feel my fingers or icicles were forming on my lashes. Watching a falcon ‘ring up’ (climb) against buffeting winds, disappear from view, then suddenly appear out of nowhere to chase a lure cannot be adequately put into words. The all time Master of this event is Joe Suffredini who, with his Lanner/Saker ‘Grover’ put on the winning show. He had his tiercel doing loops, figure eights and chasing the lure between his legs. The bird even buzzed a cameraman and, at one point, I thought it was going to land on my head. I spent time later talking to Joe - he and his brother run Avian Entertainment training animals for the movie industry and special events. He said the birds know it’s their job to ‘work’ every day! That evening we had a BBQ poolside with huge projection screen where we watched some amazing falconry videos. Thankfully the hotel provided many portable heaters.
Day four: Up at dawn to get on the road for the ‘World Famous CHC Sky Trials’. Promised as a crowd pleasing event held in a wide-open field. Even though it was still single digit temps I managed to help out collecting the $2 donation entrance fee. I’m sure there were about 100 people braving the elements as we waited for the PA system and food truck set up. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to warm up my fingers enough to take any photographs at this event. Due to the windy weather, once again we only had about 9 falconers willing to fly their birds in this competition. The idea is for each falconer to walk out into the middle of the field, un-hood his falcon and wait for it to ‘ring up’ high enough for them to ‘serve’ (release) a pigeon so we could get to view a stoop. I lost sight of the first entry and so did the falconer. He was last seen with his telemetry equipment and I never did find out if it was retrieved. The next few birds became specks pretty quickly as most of the birds took advantage of the gusty winds gaining 1,000 feet pitches. But the action was so fast and faraway when they reappeared in a dive, it was impossible to actually witness a strike. I was somewhat disappointed until the last entrant – a guy called Joe Roy who participates every year. He released his falcon and it actually stayed in view, right above us, just ringing up in a leisurely manner. This bird would just ‘wait on’ watching Joe obviously expecting to be ‘served’. But Joe was busy chatting to his buddies out in this field and we’re wondering why there’s no pigeon. He’d glance up at his bird and look away. The bird then starts to ‘ring up’ higher, we can still see him as he once again ‘waits on’ for his trainer to ‘serve’. After several more climbs (against strong winds I would add), we all start chanting ‘release the pigeon Joe’, but now Joe decides to ignore all of us and lies down on the ground sitting back on his elbows just chatting away. The bird is still watching his trainer and obviously understands it has to keep climbing until it is now out of view, at which point Joe decides to stand up and ‘serve’ the prey! Well, let me tell you, when that falcon reappeared in a stoop like a 200mph missile just above our heads it was one of the most exhilarating scenes I’ve witnessed. I should also add that most of the pigeons escaped serious injury except maybe the last one and each falcon returned to the gloved fist for their treats after each performance.
That evening we attended the Banquet where they give out game pins to falconers who caught the most prey during the week. Also I was lucky enough to win a hawking vest off the ‘super raffle’ table along with a fabulous t.shirt from the SkyTrials.
Sunday the four of us caravanned home, made a few pit stops and decided to detour through the Mojave desert to fly each bird. This time all three hawks were far more successful than previous days. Also, we tallied how many other birds we’d seen along the way. I think it was about 80 red tailed, 2 red shouldered, 20 plus kestrels and a fake owl.
This event was definitely what you call an ‘E’ ticket: Exciting, entertaining, exhilarating, educational and exhausting! I absolutely loved being woken by the sound of a hawk or falcon. Beats an alarm clock any day.
Veronica B.
Labels: falconry, falcons, hawks, peregrine falcons
posted by Amy Ries at 6:58 PM
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