Summer Raptor Rescue Stories [Archive] - International Falconry Forum (IFF)

GregMik

21-04-2006, 08:09 PM

Tasha and I have volunteered to Monitor a couple Peregrine Eyre's this yr. The first site is on the Mendota Bridge in Mendota Heights Minnesota. It is a bridge over the Minnesota river just north of the international airport. We got the job because the nest is not really visible from under the bridge as the water is still high. We have an Aquaview camera used for viewing fish while ice fishing. It is a camera on a 60' cord with a 3 inch monitor, that runs off a battery. We have used this cam for viewing into Sharpie nest High up in a tree without climbing. I have three 12 foot extendable poles that are bolted together.

We used one pole from the top of the bridge to view the Eyre. There looked to be two eggs there at the moment. Unfortunately we can't get pics that we can post with this cam.

We didn't see the pair flying around this day tho.

The other site is on the 46th St. bridge over the Mississippi River just above Lock and Damn #1. The pair there seems to be incubating. Got a couple pics of this pair. They are not that good but you can see the birds.

Greg

Pic 1: is the nest ledge on the Mendota Bridge
Pic 2: Is the Nest ledge and Mom on the 46th St. bridge
Pic 3: Dad flying by
Pic 4: Dad again

Fawkes

21-04-2006, 08:15 PM

Cool Greg - will follow this one, Should be a great thread!

GregMik

21-04-2006, 08:39 PM

Got a call today about a bird in a warehouse. When I got to the warehouse I had to wait at the guard shack for the Warehouse manager to come and get me. When I got in I was surprised the bird was still in there as they had the skylights open. The manager said that the bird had been in there for four days. He said that the bird tried to get out the skylight that wasn't open the first day. So when they did finally open them the bird had given up trying.

After walking around the warehouse the bird was spotted. It was a male Coops, just what I figured. I was tying the pigeon to the bow when I felt something rush by me. The poor guy was so hungry he was just about to grab the pigeon right out of my hand. He landed about ten feet away on a cable reel. I finished tying up the pigeon and backed off about 20 feet. He had it in about 10 seconds.

It took longer to set the Bow up than it did to trap the bird. I didn't even have time to take and pics of the bird before it was caught.

The bird was taken to the Raptor Center for a checkup and probably will be re-hydrated. It will be released as soon as it gains it's strength back. It was a second yr bird still in immature plumage.

Greg

Pic 1: Pigeon in bow after the catch.
Pic 2: warehouse manager holding caught Coops
Pic 3: Coops

Jimmy

21-04-2006, 09:02 PM

Greg,
Is that a home made bownet? Can you send me some close-up pics of how it's made? I need to make me one so I can gather some "training aids".

Iamtheweasel

21-04-2006, 09:35 PM

LOL! I have fond memories of both the sharpies and that same bow net eh Greg?!?

GregMik

21-04-2006, 09:38 PM

Yup same Bow......

Greg

Talon

21-04-2006, 09:47 PM

lovely looking peregrine and cooper.looking forward to reading more .and seeing more pictures.great stuff gregmik.

Big JoeJoe

21-04-2006, 10:37 PM

Greg, this is a fantastic thing you and Tasha are doing:supz: and putting a thread up to explain and show it all to us through Pictures is very welcome by me it is great thank you.:supz: :supz:

Cheers Joe

Tasha55403

21-04-2006, 10:42 PM

Thanks BJJ...I just wish I'd been there! SOMEone went and got the coop while I was at WORK!!! While I was stuck in an 8 hour long class on interpersonal relationships and problem solving:vom: HE was out rescuing a coop!!! Do ya THINK he coulda waited a couple hours for me to get off??! Grumble...:mad: :yawinkle:

GregMik

21-04-2006, 10:45 PM

Fawkes

22-04-2006, 03:13 AM

Greg,
Is that a home made bownet? Can you send me some close-up pics of how it's made? I need to make me one so I can gather some "training aids".

Hear hear - I'd like to see how you made the catch mechanism.

GregMik

22-04-2006, 04:34 PM

Greg,
Is that a home made bownet? Can you send me some close-up pics of how it's made? I need to make me one so I can gather some "training aids".

Yes Jimmy,
It is a home made bow. I will get some today when I go to the peregrine eyre again.

Greg

Nemesis

22-04-2006, 07:17 PM

hi greg nice one mate must be so rewarding being able to help these bird,s
maybe you could put up some details of how long you have been doing this for make interesting reding thanks /dave :supz:

GregMik

23-04-2006, 12:33 AM

Dave,
I have been doing trapping out of warehouses for about 5 yrs. This is the first yr of Peregrine eyrie monitoring.

I don't know how interesting that is....But you asked.:lol:

Greg

GregMik

23-04-2006, 05:05 AM

I was at the Mendota Bridge today. I didn't bring the Aquaview as we were not sure if the white blotches we saw were eggs or carcasses. I have to redesign the poles to put a 90 degree bend some where so we can get closer to the ledge.

I was waiting for about 10 minutes before I saw the tiercel. he landed on the pylon in the middle of the river and was chuppin.

I waited and took a few pics. He then flew over to where the falcon was, I didn't see her to begin with. I was in the wrong position and he started copulating. Wouldn't you know.....I didn't get any pics of the sex. It happened to fast:lol:

I then snuck over close to the snag they were in for some closer shots. I got some good ones from there as I sat with her for about an hour after the tiercel left.

She is not incubating yet as they are still copulating. I need to get a date for hard incubation so we can schedule a bridge closure and machine to get under the bridge. We are going to band the chicks.

Greg

Pic 1: Tiercel on the pylon
Pic 2: Tiercel flying by
Pic 3: Tiercel again
Pic 4: Falcon preening
Pic 5: Falcon stretching

Dave Johnson

23-04-2006, 06:10 AM

Hi Greg
I've been monitoring peregrines in London uk for a few years now,and every year the juv's on there maiden flight need rescueing due to them not being able to get back to the nestledge.I've caught them on fire escapes,walking down the road,balconies and on low window sill's.You would have to be there at your site when the young fledge as one or two could end up in the river.I understand in the states this is quite a problem with peregrine which nest on bridges.The males usually fledge two days before the females{if you didn't know}.Good luck.Dave

Goshawks00

23-04-2006, 11:05 AM

Good stuff Greg, trapping hawks stuck in buildings is interesting in deed. I've been trapping them locally for our DNR for close to ten years.
The place I work at ( Fords) had a coop stuck in a plant for almost two weeks , it was living off pigeons there and the train well was full of feathers, so when a friend told me about it, I went to the second in charge at the plant to get permission to trap and release it. Because it was the Friday before the plant would close for a 10 day shutdown for Christmas , he thought it was a bad idea and didn;t want anyone in the plant..

Well those are fighting words to me.... I told him in no unceratain words that it was a Fed offense to house a raptor without a permit, and if they were the reason for the hawks death that it was a $10,000 fine!! That perked his ears up and I noticed his attitude start to change. So I continued to press him.... I said if he didn't let me rescue the coop ( a juvie male) I would call in the local newspaper and the Audobon Society( I hate them also and am surprised how quickly I used them as a leverage tool!!)

He made a phone call or two and in a couple minutes said I could have run of the plant but I had to wait until the plant was shut down after midnight....
Now this is a huge plant that has several thousand employees in it so when I got back after midnight with a couple harnessed pigeons and a bow it took me almost two hours of walking around looking in the rafters before I found him. A tossed pigeon and he was caught in about 40 seconds.

That Monday after coming back to work the plant president called me up to his office to tell me what a great job I did and that he thought it was a good coporate decision to "do the right thing for wildlife". Then he processed to tell me how he had the local Detroit paper coming down in an hour to do a press release about the "saving of a hawk' and wanted me to do the interview with them.

Ha Ha Ha!!!
Ah--- no thanks, not interested, I did what I had to do, not interested in polishing your shoes.

BTW the coop was in great shape and was living high on the "hog" from the pigeons in the plant, and I ended up keeping him for the rest of the season and hunting pigeons at several of the stables and riding arenas in our area before releasing him in the spring.
Barry

Sprout

23-04-2006, 03:23 PM

Some stunning pics again Greg, nice one. Its always rewarding to release a raptor - one of the few perks to my job!!! Well done and hope you continue to do so.

GregMik

23-04-2006, 03:29 PM

Kewl story Barry...What you didn't want to be famous?:lol:

Greg

Brit-Gos

23-04-2006, 04:39 PM

Great thread Greg, very interesting read, keep it coming:supz:

Goshawks00

23-04-2006, 05:45 PM

Don't mind being famous, just don't like "the outside world" to know where I live as I can't afford to go to prison for shooting someone that's trying to break into the breeding mews <G>
Barry

Stephen

23-04-2006, 07:20 PM

nice pics there greg hope you and tasha keep up all your good work

GregMik

24-04-2006, 05:25 PM

Yesterday was gorgeous here. High was 70F and sunny. We met the coordinator of the Midwest Peregrine recovery project (http://www.midwestperegrine.umn.edu/) at the Mendota bridge. She wanted to look at the ledge for herself with our Video cam system. There was still nothing on the ledge. She said that this female usually doesn't lay until well into May. We didn't see any birds today at Mendota.

She then took us to the new place she asked us to check up on also. This bridge is over the Mississippi in Newport, Minnesota. All the sites are within 15 miles of one another so it isn't so bad checking them all. We saw the Falcon sitting on a high voltage transmission tower. We stayed for a bit looking for the male, who was a no show, before heading to the 46th St. Bridge.

Tasha and I didn't know it but the bridge had been under construction for a couple yrs and they had put a box up over the lock and damn. We went to the east side of the river to get some pics of the box. I believe you can see the falcon incubating in the box.

Pic 1: Newport Falcon
Pic 2: 46th Falcon incubation

Fawkes

25-04-2006, 04:01 AM

nice pics Greg - but I think you meant "lock and dam" :lol: :D

That falcon is very white on the front - any idea what subspecies she's supposed to be? I always thought the eastern anatums were redder than that.

GregMik

25-04-2006, 06:31 AM

Prolly a Minnesota Mutt......Most are now ...There are no true anatums left...No matter what the breeders tell you....

Greg

Jackson

25-04-2006, 12:08 PM

nice work greg!! those pics are gorgeuos too!! specially the ones of the pere in flight!!

Dave Johnson

25-04-2006, 04:52 PM

Prolly a Minnesota Mutt......Most are now ...There are no true anatums left...No matter what the breeders tell you....

Greg

Hi Greg
I agree with you 100% in that I dont think that there are any anatum's left.When they{cornell university}started to breed peregrines for the reintroduction scheme in the states in the mid 1970's, the races of peregrinus used that I know of{there could be more}in the scheme were tundrius,pealei,anatum,peregrinus,brookei and cassini.There were nearly 3000 birds released,all these birds have over the years bred with eachother producing a mongrel falcon.Perhaps mongrel is a bit strong but I cant find another word that suits.Breeders breeding true anatum's I dont think so.If a peregrine gets imported from the states it dosen't automatically make it a anatum,it could be pealei or tundrius.But anatum is like the dodo,GONE.Dave

Bash

25-04-2006, 05:02 PM

First class thread Greg. Great read and great pics. Nice one.:supz:

Falconry Equipment International

25-04-2006, 05:06 PM

2 years ago I had someone bring(unanounced) me a spar brancher in an open wire basket that by the time it arrived had gone into shock and died within 5 minutes of arrival:evil: :evil: shame some folk can't have a bit more common sense:roll:

Dave Johnson

25-04-2006, 06:21 PM

Hi Greg
I agree with you 100% in that I dont think that there are any anatum's left.When they{cornell university}started to breed peregrines for the reintroduction scheme in the states in the mid 1970's, the races of peregrinus used that I know of{there could be more}in the scheme were tundrius,pealei,anatum,peregrinus,brookei and cassini.There were nearly 3000 birds released,all these birds have over the years bred with eachother producing a mongrel falcon.Perhaps mongrel is a bit strong but I cant find another word that suits.Breeders breeding true anatum's I dont think so.If a peregrine gets imported from the states it dosen't automatically make it a anatum,it could be pealei or tundrius.But anatum is like the dodo,GONE.Dave

Sorry,after a bit of research it was nearly 7000 released not 3000.Dave

GregMik

05-05-2006, 04:39 AM

Since it is known that I have the Aquaview...I was asked to go to another eyre. This site was on the "Getto in the Sky". Downtown murderapolis. I didn't get any pic of the building for you yesterday....but we are going back on Tuesday to check on the eggs again.

This bird is a b1tch. She is an ex-falconry bird that has no fear of humans. She is a 1994 hatch bird. The falconer that was contacted desided since she was breeding to leave her in the wild.

We were just going there to look at the box the see how far along the eggs are. She lived up the her name. I had to just about hit her with the camara pole to keep her off us. The box is about 9ft off the roof. I think we should grab her just ot cope her.......

Greg

GregMik

05-05-2006, 04:43 AM

one more....

Fawkes

05-05-2006, 04:53 AM

more great shots Greg. I've gotta get a more automated camera.
She's still wearing anklets after 10 years in the wild - I always thought they rotted off sooner... Someone should nab her, cut them off, and fix that long beak!

Jimmy

05-05-2006, 11:15 AM

And they say "wild" birds never need coping.............

Biarmicus

05-05-2006, 01:06 PM

Hi Greg,

Great pics! :supz:

That would be quite a serious bite if the female peregrine decided to bite someone out of self-defence! Her talons are probably just as sharp.

Keep us updated,

Brittney :)

Hawkmaster

05-05-2006, 04:26 PM

Greg YOU are the Man!
Thanks for sharing those with us, they are special:supz:

Tasha55403

10-05-2006, 10:06 AM

Haven't time to write up the story yet, so I'll give you Greg's version: we checked the peregrine eggs again and took some pics.:roll:

Hells99

10-05-2006, 10:10 AM

Spectacular pics, Tasha. Ever thought about making a living as a photographer? Helen

GregMik

10-05-2006, 11:15 AM

Helen,
Go to our web site and buy some pics. Then maybe we can quit our day job.

Greg

GregMik

27-05-2006, 01:43 PM

Tasha and I went to assist in banding some of the peregrines, we have been monitoring, yesterday. This is off the Ford Bridge site that I have mentioned before. There were two chicks, one tiercel and one falcon.

This is a perfect example of how digital photography works now adays. We were doing what you call "Spraying and praying". Tasha and I took around 900 pics in about 25 minutes. Here are some of the good ones.

Greg

GregMik

27-05-2006, 01:48 PM

GregMik

27-05-2006, 01:51 PM

People pics......

Talon

27-05-2006, 10:24 PM

gregmik and tasha they are excelant pictures.having said that dont think ive seen any of yours or tashas that arnt excelant.
:supz:

GregMik

27-05-2006, 10:30 PM

gregmik and tasha they are excelant pictures.having said that dont think ive seen any of yours or tashas that arnt excelant.
:supz:

Thanks Mate....

Greg

Fawkes

28-05-2006, 01:52 AM

You've done it again Greg - great thread, great pics!
I didnt realise wild falcons got quite so yellow - they look like they've been on a diet of DOC with the yolks in....

Takajo

28-05-2006, 02:30 AM

GregMik

28-05-2006, 02:40 AM

Cyrano de Bergerac needs coping. Did you get it down and remove those anklets? I wonder if anklets (being soft) are an easy way to clean the beak, while a wild bird has to use harder surfaces-thus naturally 'sanding' the beak...More far-fetched speculation..

Yes I know she needs coping. But we don't want to try to trap her till the chicks have fledged. She has been in the wild since 1995, so I don't know why she has such a long beak. When we go band the chicks next week I am going to offer myself up and see if she attaches herself to me. Then it will be taken care of. There is another bird on another building that has the same problem.

Greg

Rufus T

28-05-2006, 07:39 AM

Brilliant thread, stunning photos, keep em coming.

GregMik

28-05-2006, 07:59 AM

Thanks again....

GregMik

07-06-2006, 03:47 AM

OK...Went to a very public banding(ringing) today. I even got on the news....My 2 seconds of fame. When they put the chick on the table and then pan out....Look really quick to the upper right...There is me taking pics.

http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=17486@wcco.dayport.com (http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=17486@wcco.dayport.com) Click on play to see the video....

I have processed a couple pics...

First one is the 4 chicks and Mom thru the window. Second is dad bringing lunch(I think you call it tea)....hehehhehe

Greg

GregMik

08-06-2006, 05:44 AM

Some more pics from today. Tasha gat some good ones. All mine were out of focus. I now know that I forgot to take a pic of the building again. Sometime.....

Greg

Hacker

08-06-2006, 06:10 AM

Some nice shots there, keep up the good work m8.

Sandeep

08-06-2006, 11:23 AM

Those picturs are some of the best I seen of a Wild Peregrine....:supz: :supz: :supz: :supz:

Nemesis

08-06-2006, 01:12 PM

HI Greg most impresive photo,s exelent work you have captured the true sole of the bird in flight :supz: :supz: /dave

Tasha55403

28-06-2006, 03:21 AM

So, today we got another call for a bird in a warehouse. Our summertime trapping fun:) As usual, the people insisted it was a peregrine. Greg and I laughed and said-it's probably a coop-an adult male, probably. And I, being the foolish person I am said "I'll eat my shorts if it's a peregrine!" Well, I waited in the car with Marker while Greg checked it out (sometimes the bird gets out before we get there and sometimes it's hard to find the bird in big warehouses).
My these shorts are tasty-lol. I've gotta say-it's a first for us. The bird turned out to be a 9 year old female that was breeding on a building about a mile or so away-bands are useful. She had chased a pigeon into an Office Depot store-right through the front door! We had a bit of a dilemma, though-she had just gotten in the building that morning, so she wasn't especially hungry. And peregrines aren't generally fond of going down anyways, so trapping with the bownet like usual was going to be difficult, at best. We put it out in the back of the building right in front of the open loading dock in the hopes that if she at least took a pass at the pigeon she would go outside. Well, she wasn't too interested in that. She wasn't particularly stressed-I got some pics of her preening and she didn't seem to mind people walking right under her-she just kept right on preening.
Eventually, it became obvious the bownet wasn't going to work. So, on to plan B. The back section of the building was shaped like a "C"-a long hallway, kinda, with two entrances that went all the way up to the ceiling to let forklifts and such through. The entrances were only about 8 feet wide or so. So, Greg decided to try the low-tech method of a landing net-lol. He stood on a very tall freestanding, step ladder on wheels thingy with his landing net, and had the clerks chase the bird down the hallway in his direction. The first try he wasn't looking and she whizzed right past him:) But, on the second try she stopped on a beam in front of him and thought about it. The folks underneath her threw paper balls at her to get her to move and Greg snagged her with the landing net before she'd gone more than a couple feet-it was a great catch:) We gave her the once over-she was perfectly fine and plenty roly-poly so we released her out back of the building. A good day's work:)

Tasha55403

28-06-2006, 03:41 AM

Her name is Mendota. If you'd like to know more about her you can look her up at
http://www.midwestperegrine.umn.edu/
Look at the searchable database and enter 4/C for band number and Black over Red, for band color.
Tasha

Fawkes

28-06-2006, 05:04 AM

Great work guys! Did she catch the pigeon she chased into the building or did you have to catch that too?
The pictures are awesome, both of you - Tasha, I love your narratives :D

Rufus T

28-06-2006, 06:04 AM

I'ts theads like this that make the IFF a daily must for me, brilliant.:supz:

Iamtheweasel

28-06-2006, 12:33 PM

Agreed! Greg, Tasha, keep up the fantastic work!!!!

Lee Slikkers

28-06-2006, 01:13 PM

I agree, excellent work (on both the pics and the rescues) Greg & Tasha...

Lee

Isaac

28-06-2006, 11:53 PM

You guys are having way too much fun over there! New imprint, banding, warehouse trapping...what next?! Awesome story, great pics.:supz:

Tasha55403

29-06-2006, 11:54 PM

We are having a lot of fun, aren't we:lol: Next on the list is hunting with the baby, then ridgetrapping Greg a nice passage female gos:supz:

GregMik

01-07-2006, 02:56 AM

Who will be hunting and catching first?.....Tasha and her Sharpie or me and the Harris? Crow season opens July 15th.

Greg

Goshawks00

01-07-2006, 11:45 AM

No doubt if you got the harry hawk raedy you should have a couple doz head before Tasha is in the field. That said I betting on the girl duo to wipe your eye this year.
Barry 8-)

Tasha55403

04-07-2006, 03:00 AM

Well, today we got a slightly different call from the Raptor Center. This time it was a baby bird that fell out of the nest in someone's backyard. We were expecting it to be a coop that had fledged, maybe a little early, but nothing too spectacular. When we got there I waited in the car again while Greg checked it out. To my surprise, a couple minutes later he came back carrying a bird. I expected him to come back empty handed and have to chase a young bird around on foot. When he got close to the car I could see the bird did NOT look good. It was a young coop (too young to be out of the nest). It puked something up (water, Greg said) and it's mouth was gaping and it had a huge lump in it's throat. It had been hiding next to a rock in the water-probably trying to get away from the flies which were after it something fierce. Greg told the homeowner that the Raptor Center would fix it up, but I had my doubts. Greg put him in the back of the car, but I could hear him breathe from the front seat. We didn't want to have him to close to Marker in case he was contagious.
When we got to the Raptor Center they knew right away what the problem was-frounce. I suspected it, but wasn't sure since I had never seen it before. It was awful. It was the worst case the vet intern on call had ever seen. There was nothing they could do for the bird:cry: They put him under, took some blood for research and euthanized the poor thing.
We've only had three birds we've tried to rescue die. The first wouldn't come down to the bownet because it wasn't hungry enough. We came back the next day to try again, but it had flown into a window and broken it's neck. The second, Greg got a call for a bird trapped in a corn crib, but it had been in there too long and died in his arms. This coop was the third that we know of. Helping the birds out definitely has it's highs, but like falconry, the lows are awfully low too.

GregMik

04-07-2006, 03:46 AM

The thing that really sucked was I was roofing a garage I am building for a guy. Behind his house was a coops nest that the first male had just fledged today. He was having a good old time flying around trying to land, hanging upsidedown for a bit before he went to the next branch. By the time the day was done he was doing really well. Was fun watching him learn how to fly. Then got the call from the Raptor Center, and got this poor guy.....Was a downer on a good day.

Greg

Fawkes

04-07-2006, 05:04 AM

What can I say - the poor fellow. At least you could put him out of his misery.
Thanks for posting these pictures, I have never seen a case of frounce - nice to know what it looks like, even at a point so far gone. :(

Isaac

04-07-2006, 07:29 AM

What a bummer! :( But ya gotta roll with the punches I guess. I'm sure there will be more happy endings in the future...

Bash

04-07-2006, 08:35 AM

So sad..:cry:

Great work though guy's.

DeathFromAbove

04-07-2006, 10:05 AM

Fair Play Greg and tasha, lovin this thread, it must be a rollercoaster of emotion for you out there with all that you do, keep up the good work :supz: respect.

GregMik

22-08-2006, 12:06 AM

Ok, sorry for the long time between posts....We have had three calls in the last three weeks. The first was the weekend I was in South Dakota, when I was getting my new gos and was 5 hrs away, for a hawk in a warehouse. Tasha and my mentor went to check it out and it must have gotten out as they couldn't find it.

The second was last week. We went and found the bird right away this time. I set the trap up and we waited. And waited. and waited. We were about to give up on this as the bird was not hungry and the place was shut down for us to do the trapping. They had to get back to work. I had taken two steps to pack everything up when the coops went down on the pigeon. I ran over to the trigger line and waited a bit to pull it for the bird to get back to the middle of the bow net. Well, when I finally pulled it the coops, being an accipiter, saw it coming and let the pigeon go. He flew right out the door by the bow net. So the job was done, just not the way it was suppose to go. We have a couple pics but they are really blurry as it was dark in the place.

The third was today. I got a call about the bird this morning and then talked to the warehouse manager. He said that the bird came in this morning, was flying around fine one minute and then was sitting on a pallet the next minute. He thought it was sick. When I got there, the place had windows ringing the place up at the 25ft level in a 30ft high building. The bird had obviously hit a window and was hurt. I picked the bird up and rushed it to the Raptor Center. It was all for not tho as she has a fractured skull and a detached retina. She was put down. It was a beautiful immature female coops tho.

Greg

Isaac

22-08-2006, 01:58 AM

Bummer about that last one! :(But I suppose that's why it's okay to take a chick from the nest or trap passage birds, not a whole lot of them make it through that first year.

GregMik

10-09-2006, 05:48 PM

OK I have been on 3 more calls since the last update. One was a coopers hawk in the front mezzanine of a Sam's Club in Woodbury. The other was a hawk in a factory in South Saint Paul. We got there and it was a drill bit manufacturing plant. We went in and there was oil on the floor everywhere. It was hard to walk around in there. When we found the bird, we saw that it was a night hawk. Well I forgot to bring my flies to trap it. I told them that if they had a lift I could try to grab it out of the ceiling gerders. I was about 1/4 the way up when he looked at me and took off. Oh well, I figured this was a lost cause when we saw him land on a lower AC duct. I was able to get up on a ladder make a lucky grab for him from the backside.

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/090206NightHawk%5F4983.jpg
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/090206NightHawk%5F4989casPM.jpg
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/090206NightHawk%5F4990casPM.jpg
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/090206NightHawk%5F4994.jpg

GregMik

10-09-2006, 05:51 PM

Then the last was a coops in a warehouse behind the Sam's Club. So it was the brother to the last coops. I trapped it with a bow and a pigeon....Well....as I was writing this I got another call for a bird in a warehouse. Man the coops are busy!!

Greg

SnapeDek

10-09-2006, 06:11 PM

GregMik

10-09-2006, 06:34 PM

Rich,
We are from the US. Just looked it up on the web. I bet you call them Nightjars. They are similer but not the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hawk

Greg

SnapeDek

10-09-2006, 06:44 PM

Rich,
We are from the US. Just looked it up on the web. I bet you call them Nightjars. They are similer but not the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hawk

Greg

WEll thats something i never knew, live and learn, cheers for that Greg, RICH.

Fawkes

10-09-2006, 11:25 PM

Wow, Greg! I've only seen these once in a big cloud over Shawnigan lake - neat birds. And very cool to see some good close pics of one.

GregMik

11-09-2006, 07:46 AM

Well we went and found out the bird in the warehouse today was another passage coops. It was a little unusual to be a female this time tho. 95% of the birds caught in the warehouses we do are coops and then 95% of those are male coops.

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/Tashacoop%5F5413cas.jpg
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IFF/Tashacoop%5F5414cas.jpg

Greg

minnow

11-09-2006, 08:40 AM

nice pictures!! do you happen to keep any of these birds for falconry?

GregMik

11-09-2006, 10:16 AM

nice pictures!! do you happen to keep any of these birds for falconry?

No it would not be proper. I know it would not matter, but if somebody found out that we were using the Raptor Center as a conduit for trapping falconry birds, it could lead to a conflict. That is just not something I want to push.

Besides it is easy enough to trap elsewhere. I will be up on Hawk Ridge trapping in two weeks. We will have plenty of pics to show you guys of trapping then. Here is a web site that give a summery of the hawks seen flying past a trapping station that is 15 miles south of where I trap.

http://www.hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=288

Greg

Iamtheweasel

11-09-2006, 01:34 PM

Wish I could afford the trip up there as I really enjoyed it last time!!!

GregMik

11-09-2006, 01:36 PM

Would love to have ya.....The serious hawk trapping is gonna happen again.....

Greg

GregMik

11-09-2006, 06:28 PM

GregMik

12-09-2006, 11:59 AM

OMG....Just got another call. This time it is a hawk in someones garage. They are too chicken to capture it in a landing net and release it outside....So now I have to drive 50 miles, one way, to go do it for these ppl..I just don't know about ppl sometimes. I will get pics........

Greg

Got down there and it was another coops in a garage. The immy's are kinda stupid. Well this one had gotten into the soffit and that led to an eyebrow. The bird was stuck in there and wouldn't come out. I got a ladder and started to take the aluminum soffit apart when he decided he had had enough and went back into the garage. We got him netted him up and saw that he had two tail feathers pulled out and two more broken. He is now in the Raptor Center for fluids, food and imping. This bird had been in there for 3 days. I was kinda upset at them for not just netting it and releasing it outside again. Because they didn't it had a busted up tail and was dehydrated.

Greg

Iamtheweasel

12-09-2006, 01:05 PM

Sounds about right..... I had a call a few days ago to come pick up a "huge hawk". I got there and it was an immie female coops. I asked him how long it had been in the small wire cage. He replied "four days".....When I pulled it out, it has a large gaping hole under one wing that looked as if it was necrotic. Gun shot wound the size of a quater...I took it to the clinic, but they had to geek it. The guy who had it was also a pigeon fancier, so my suspicions are in place. He did try to care for the bird....he kept lathering the wound with first aid ointment before calling me. Then he tried to tell me he didn't know it had the wound. As if the blood covering one wing was not enough......