Spark, 2004 Female sparrowhawk in Japan

[Isaac]

Good things come to those who wait! I picked up my beautiful female
Sparrowhawk this afternoon. She weighed 224 grams when I got her
home and despite the guy I bought her from saying that she wouldn't
eat from the fist yet she not only did that but I got her to jump about
a foot to my fist to eat as well! I gave her 30 grams of quail and put her up for the night. Things are looking good! At this rate we'll be out in the field slaying sparrows in no time. Can't wait!

[Parahawker]

Good news,
though i got the impression you had already picked up a Hobby!

either way well done,
Keep good tabs on her eye colour, its the first sign of mineral & suger levels dropping.
Have some mice & kids ABC vitamin drops on hand at all times incase.
Dosent cost anything to be careful

happy hawking

[Hawkmaster]

Great have FUN! What kind of Sparrowhawk is it?

[Isaac]

Sunday morning she weighed 227 and jumped the length of the leash to my fist. I fed her 30g of quail and took her for a walk. We passed a group of sparrows hanging out by the train tracks and she got that look in her eye and bated at them! Just thinking of the potential flight got my adrenaline pumping! I can't wait to get her all trained up. It's still too early to know the flying weight but this morning (Monday) she was at 237 and acting fat. I got her to jump to the fist a couple times but it took a lot of time and coaxing so she only got 15 grams of quail and we'll weigh her again tonight and see how she reacts. Maybe another 10-15 grams of quail. Its so great to have a bird again! :mrgreen:

[Isaac]

Last night I got up to get a drink of water and as I was about to lay down I heard Spark flapping around in her mew. I ran out to see what was up and scared off a prowling cat! I was up most of the rest of the night worried about it coming back. Spark sits on a screen perch in her mew right next to my bedroom window so I can hear her when she bates but I'm worried about being in a deep sleep when some cat scares her off her perch and I find her dangling by her legs in the morning. Maybe I'll put bells on her? She's doing well but still a little high at 227. Jumps to the fist but not instantly yet. I'll have to cut the rations back a bit. I'll bet her flying weight will be 215-220.

[Isaac]

Spark was interested in some sparrows and a pigeon that were wandering around the train tracks on our early morning walk today. Just a few grams lower and I think she'll be there. She jumps to the fist readily now and I think I'll go pick up some line for a creance tonight. My lure should be here today too.
I fixed the screen perch by attaching a platform about 8 inches down from the top of the perch. If she bates she should just land on the platform and be fine. Takes care of the dangling by the legs concern but now there's another one! I noticed some scale damage on her left leg today. I can't make the leather any softer! I'll put some neosporin on it during lunch and keep an eye on it but it would be awful if it got any worse. :?

[Parahawker]

Two things quickly

With a Spar, dont drop its weight anymore.
Manning & confidence are the key.
A spar that wont fly one day at 200 will a few days later go free at 210gm
its a hard one to ballance.
but just make sure you dont use weight reduction as the key method

secondly
the shelf on the screen perch.
Im sure that you cant do this without causing damage to the tail
as she bates off her tail will be against the perch rather than verticle upright while bating
Bell her up & make sure her jesses are no longer than 5inch from ankle to screen tie
if need be watch her on the screen & work out if you can change it for the better.
This might mean the surface texture needs changing cause it catches the jesses or feathers
or maybe you need to change the location cause she bates to a certain perch nearby

Sounds like your going good otherwise
Wish you luck

[Isaac]

Thanks for the info. I don't see how someone could just "start up" falconry and be okay. I have about a billion questions and I've already flown other birds (albeit that was a few years ago). It's great to get all this input and adjust as I go along.
As for the bird, she continues to do well. Jumps great when we're at home but is still distracted when I try and get her to jump out in the field. I take her for walks every morning for about 45 minutes but only recently started trying to get her to jump out there. I'm sure she'll come around once she gets used to it. I tend to err on the side of feeding the little girl too much right now as I'm scared to death of taking her too low. She's hanging around the 230 mark but I can tell she needs to come down a couple more grams. Not by any means a drastic reduction in weight, just a couple grams less for the next couple days.
Keep the advice coming. I appreciate it.
-Isaac

[Isaac]

Progress! She flew about 10 feet on the creance today out in a vacant lot behind my apartment. It's the first time she's done well out in the field and flew father than ever. It did take some coaxing though. She tried to take off once and once I got her settled back on the perch she sulked for a few minutes so I had to start closer again but eventually got back to being 10 feet out. She's still at the 230 mark and I still think she needs to come a bit but we'll see how she does over the next few days. Once she starts coming instantly out in the field I'll know its the right weight. I'm thinking 220 at the lowest but probably 225. Time will tell. The first week has been good.

[Isaac]

She was down where I want her today and did great. Flew twice the length of the short creance I've got which ends up being around 20ft. I'll switch her to the long creance and fly her in the empty parking lot behind the apartment tomorrow. I've been putting neosporin on her leg to help with the scale damage she got early on while I figure out how to free loft her. I hate leg problems! I'm crossing my figures it doesn't get any worse before I can fix the mews up. She doesn't seem to be favoring the leg and since she's footed me a couple times while I've been trying to put medicine on her I know she's still got strenth there :shock: but I want to be careful.

[Isaac]

Took a big jump today. Switched to the longer creance and she came about 30 yards. I think she would've come further but a crow showed up with some other birds and freaked her out. She flew up to me, did kind of a hover thing above my fist for a second and then got too nervous and took off to a bench covering about 15 yards away. I walked over there and tried to whistle her down but the crow was hanging around and she didn't like the situation so she tried to take off again. Thank goodness for the creance! That effectivly ended our training session though. I fed her the rest of her meal when I picked her up and called it a morning. This weekend if all goes well I think I'll introduce her to a live quail (on a line of course). I love this stuff! :mrgreen:

[Darren]

hvae you any pics of her?

[Isaac]

Ah yes, pictures. Need to pick up a digital camera but all my money disappeared when I got the bird! Go figure! :wink:

[Isaac]

We've had a few bumps the last few days. One afternoon I tried to introduce her to the lure and she was able to pull the meat off and fly to the neighbors roof with it! The way she sat back on her tail on the roof bent most of her tail feathers but a little warm water and they seem to be doing all right now. The next day however she wouldn't use her left foot! I checked her over for signs of bumblefoot and took her to the guy I bought her from to see if he could see anything wrong but he couldn't figure it out either! She stayed off that leg most of the day yesterday too but when we went on our walk this morning seem to be using it like normal. Go figure. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on her feet for the next week or so though, any problems in that area could really screw up the season. Ahhh the joys of having a bird again... :wink:

[Isaac]

It's been awhile since I posted but things are coming along. I have to leave the bird at the sitters for awhile while I head back home to the states for my sisters wedding and the holidays. I hate to leave her in the middle of training but hopefully the rest will help with the foot infection that she seems to have developed. She's responding well to the lure and jumps off it to the fist like a champ. If I wasn't going out of town I would've already had her kill a quail and gotten started on the sparrows. What's with the little sis planning a wedding during the season!! :wink:
P.S. Tried to download some pictures but the files were too big. Any suggestions?

[Sean]

email them to hawkmaster and he can sort em out i think

[Hawkmaster]

They simply need resizing to 600 pixels wide OR as the man says send them over and it will be my pleasure!

[Hawkmaster]

Here it is, Enjoy!

[Isaac]

Thanks for posting my pic Hawkmaster. That's me and my girl outside the apartment right before I had to take her to the sitters...

[Isaac]

Well its been awhile, too long actually. I have some good news and some bad news.
Good news is her foot infection is better and her feet are looking healthy again.
Bad news is I picked her up from the sitters yesterday and her tail is gone. Every single one of her tail feathers is broken! I don't know where the guy who kept her for me (who houses birds professionally?!?) put her that she could've done that to her train but it pretty much ruins the season. Anyone have an extra spar train?

[Tiercel78]

That really sucks man
The guy who sold her to ya dosen't have any spar trains?
I'd think that he would know where to get a spar tail or at least some tail feathers. I never been to Japan and don't really know how things work over there. American in Japan are you in the military? I'm in the Navy stationed in Jacksonville FL work on P-3Cs. I may have a chance to be station over in Japan sometime and intrested in how things work.-Zach

[Isaac]

I'm not in the military. I'm on what's called the JET program. It employs around 6,000 foreigners here in Japan. 90% (including my wife) are english teachers but I speak Japanese so I applied for a different position and now work in City Hall as a translator. I do sister city correspondence, miscellaneous translations, etc. etc. Not all that exciting and it leaves me plenty of spare time to check all the internet chat groups. Let me know if you make it over to Japan, I can at least point you in the right direction if you're interested in flying something while you're here.
-Isaac

[Hawkmaster]

How did you get to learn to speak Japanese?

[Isaac]

I was a missionary for my church for two years over here. I had to talk to people every day so you have to learn fast! :wink: After those two years I lived in Hawaii where I went to college and every job I had there had something to do with Japanese and I had a lot of Japanese roommates and friends so my Japanese improved...and now here I am!
As far as the bird goes, I'm bringing her weight back down (she was 30 grams high when I picked her up from the sitters) and thinking about attempting imping with pigeon feathers...Wish me luck! :?

[Isaac]

No tail still but doing great as far as training goes. I dropped her a few more grams and that has made all the difference. She comes to the fist like a champ and didn't try to carry the lure for the first time today!! As soon as she finishes the lure she jumpes to the fist like a champ. She got quite a crop full today as I was quite happy with her. Hopefully a baggie quail on Saturday...

[Isaac]

My little spar took her first free flight today! After foot infections and vacations that took way more time off training then I ever wanted and then returning from the states to a pig fat bird with no tail (see prior posts...) I finally got her down to where she needed to be and she did wonderful! I put her on a sign post and called her to the lure and it was instant response. What a beautiful sight! I love it.
My only disappointment for the day was that she didn't go after the flock of sparrows that I tried to slip her at before we got to where I was going to fly her. Where I usually train with her is down by a river with lots of baseball diamonds and today they were all in use so I had to walk quite a ways down river before I felt comfortable flying her. As I headed down river I saw a small group of about 8 sparrows put down on the bank. I figured that if I was going to fly her free anyway might as well try and get a flight out of it! As we got near the group one or two that were on the outer edges started to get nervous and jumped a couple feet. She crouched down like she wanted them but didn't go so I kept walking to where the rest of them were. They all jumped a bit and she crouched again and then they all took off about 5 yards from us. I tried to toss her at them but she just hung on to the glove seeming to say, 'What are you doing!?" and they were gone. As a chamber raised bird I don't think she's ever killed anything before so I didn't expect her to actually go after them but a guy can wish can't he? Since we can't use bagged sparrows here in Japan I'm going to bag her on a quail tomorrow and maybe a couple more times and hope she gets the idea. If she'll kill quail she should take to sparrows right? Wish me luck.
-Isaac

[Varmint]

Bummer about her tail man?

If you are gonna use a diff kind of feather to imp, try something corvid? maybe Jackdore? or Rook if you can get them and try to trim the webbing on each feather to that of the original tail!

Corvid feathers are great as spar imps, and provided you inp high enough and use a suitable material which matches the flex and bend of the feather shaft (like Fibre Glass rod, cut down or Carbon Fibre) you should get good strong imps to last the rest of the season, maybe also try a tail guard when imped?

Sounds like your having fum mate! keep up the good work and keep us informed of your progress?

As a sub note: any falconers looking for a great imping needle material in the Uk need only go to your local B&Q
They have racks which contain Metal threaded bar and rod, Corner pieces ect but also have fine, white Fibre Glass round rods (at about £1.20) these rods can be cut to any needle length required, split long ways with a scapel to the disired needle width and are exstremley flexible with out being brittle, in short, superb imping needles!

[Hawkmaster]

Here are a couple of pictures posted on Isaac's behalf.

First one is of the damaged Spar tail, boy to me she looks like a bit of a Gos really!

The second is of Siberian Gos photographed at the distributors place.

[Isaac]

Thanks as always Hawkmaster. For some reason the pics aren't showing up on my computer at the moment but the first picture should be of my poor spars battered tail. Any feathers that look like they're still intact at that time were barely hanging on and have since fallen off. She really only has half a tail at the moment. I have yet to get a hold of any suitable feathers for imping.
The second pic is of a monster siberian gos that I fell in love with but don't have the $$$ or space to even think about.
The good news is that my spar tackled her first live quail over the weekend, half tail and all! The season only has three weeks left over here so I'm going to have to keep her busy! Happy hawking everyone.

[Shaun Byrne]

I cant see the pics either, they'll probably be back when the site is sorted.
Glad to see you got her entered, wild or baggy? What was it?

[Isaac]

It was a baggie. I wish it was a wild one! A couple more baggies this week and then the real thing next Saturday if everything is looking good. Hopefully a tail will pop up before then... :?
-Isaac

[Isaac]

Over the weekend we went on our first hunting expedition. We wandered around some rice fields trying to get her to chase all the little dicky birds. She jumped at one sparrow but it really was just that, a jump. I was looking for birds in an irrigation ditch and she suddenly jumped in the other direction at a sparrow that was hanging out in a bush on the side of a rice paddie. The sparrow easily dodged her and screamed at her from deeper in the bush and then took off. She decided not to chase it. It was not for lack of quarry that she didn't succeed as there were little birds all over the place. As she has never killed a sparrow before (only baggie quail) maybe she just doesn't know that she should be chasing them? I'm going to try and trap some sparrows (I found out they're legal to trap during the falconry season) and bag her on one of those. We ended the day with another baggie quail which she took easily. We'll try for wild quarry again soon.

[Hawkmaster]

Might need to drop her weight 2 or 3 grams?

[Isaac]

She was actually lower than she had ever been before. If anything I think she was too low. She usually flys around 210 and was slightly lower than that on Saturday. I was worried she might be sick for a bit so I've brought her weight up a bit. She seems to be doing better though and I'll bring her back down to flying weight for this weekends hunt.

[Colohen]

Isaac
Glade to see she is doning well for you ! Looks like she has a broken feather :?: Might be better to imp it if it is . Did you try checking with the one you got she from to see if he had any molted feathers you can imp in place of the broken ones till she molts out? What about pigions there common enough?
How is the new wife taken the sperrow hawk? No problems I hope :shock:
Good luck :D

[Isaac]

"A" broken feather is an understatement. See my previous posts to see just how bad it is. I've been looking for feathers to imp but haven't had any luck. I can't even catch a pigeon to use! The season here in Japan ends in two weeks though so she'll be put up for the moult soon enough. The wife well, endures my hobby. :wink:

[Isaac]

A couple pictures of last weekends hunting trip:

[Isaac]

Had a little unexpected fun this afternoon! I went home for lunch and to fly the spar for a little excercise. We went over to our usual training ground down by the river but the wind was a bit strong so we headed home without flying. As we got near my apartment there were a bunch of pigeons milling around in a vacant lot by my place and she took off after them!! There were probably five or six hanging out on the ground and as we got close to them she crouched down and focused in on them. I thought there was no way that she was actually going to go for it as they're at least as big as her if not bigger and she's never killed anything bigger than a quail but suddenly she took off! When they flushed she followed for a second but I think their size and number got the better of her and she broke off pretty quick once they were in the air. She landed on the second story window sill of the neighbor's house and I called her down and fed her a good size meal. It wasn't much and for you pro's out there I'm sure it wouldn't have been nearly as exciting but I can't wipe the grin off my face! I love it!

[Isaac]

Spark and I went out to the rice
fields again on Saturday to see what we could do. She acted
interested in a few of the further slips and flew at a couple
feeding birds but once they took flight she broke off the flight. I
need to convince her somehow that chasing those birds will bring her
a good meal! Anyway, after an hour or so of wandering the rice
fields without much luck we decided to head back to the club house.
(The Kansai falconers club was just started in January of this
year). When we made it back I noticed that we had some pigeons in
the coop next to the club house. Since Spark has shown quite an
intrest in pigeons recently chasing the neighborhood pigeons twice
this week I thought I might try a baggie pigeon and see how she did.
We tied it to a line about ten feet long and then I walked up to it
with Spark. As soon as we came around the corner and she saw the
pigeon strutting around in front of her (about 10 feet away) she
lowered her head and got that focused look in her eye. A second
later it flapped its wings and she was away! She latched on to its
hind end and went for a bronco ride while the pigeon tried to shake
her and since I wanted this to be a good experience for her I tried
to grab the pigeons wing to help her out after about 30 seconds of
riding. My mistake as Spark decided to latch on to my hand instead!
I was wearing light fingerless gloves that she got a pretty good
grip on so I had to walk away from the pigeon for a second while we
untangled ourselves. As soon as Spark was settled on the fist again
the pigeon jumped again and Spark took off after it again and
latched on to its rear end again. The pigeon jumped a few times and
then Spark managed to rearrange her grip and grabbed it by the head.
I waited for a bit until she started to try and pluck it but the
pigeon wasn't quite finished so I moved in (carefully this time) and
dispatched the pigeon. I was so proud of her for taking it on! She
got half a pigeon breast (about 50 grams which is a lot for her!)
and was quite the fat and happy hawk when we got home. I weighed the
pigeon after she had had her fill and it was about 350g. Add what
she ate and it was about a 400 gram pigeon that she tackled! Her
flying weight today was exactly half that! What a cool bird! Have I
said how much I love this sport yet? What a cool weekend, now that
she's had a taste the neighborhood pigeons are really in for it! :twisted:

[Isaac]

One more

[Isaac]

He he! I love it!! A little lunch time hawking paid off today with
Spark's first wild kill! I love this little bird! It started raining
last night and continued all day. I headed home at lunch just to
weigh Spark eat lunch but as I got near the apartment I　noticed a
pigeon sitting on the phone lines above the empty lot behind our
place. I couldn't help myself and jogged around the corner to see if
there were anymore feeding. Sure enough there were about a dozen
milling around and I　thought might as well. There's a neighborhood
watch guy that sees me flying my bird in that lot sometimes and I
mentioned that I was going to see if my bird would chase the pigeons,
he was all for it! I rushed back home pulled out the telemetry (just
in case ya know) weighed her and even though she was a bit high I
figured if she didn't go for them then I'd just do a quick flight in
the lot anyway. I　was not disappointed! When I came out of the
apartment the neighborhood watch guy was waving me over and pointing
to the pigeons which had added a couple to their number since last
I'd looked. As soon as we rounded the corner Spark crouched down and
got that look to her that means she's serious. For a minute I didn't
think she was going to go, she just stared them down on my fist. I
took a step forward and half of them flushed (they were about 15
yards away) and she took off! She hit one of the stragglers about ten
feet off the ground and pulled out some feathers and then it b-lined
it for the cover of a garage around the corner with Spark hot on its
tail. I think pulling feathers just got her going even more! She's
never actually chased anything in the air before so I was already
pleased as punch but I lost them as they went around the corner. I
ran around to see where they had gone but couldn't see them and
thought I　may have to run back to the apartment to pull out the
reciever and find her. Then I heard some scratching and then they
were! SHE　CAUGHT　THE　PIGEON! She had a foot on its chest and one
on its butt as it was trying to peel her off under the tire of a bike
parked in the garage. I adjusted the bike tire so she could get a
better grip and she nailed its head. I　helped her dispatch it and
fed her the neck and then both legs. I would've liked to give her the
heart and liver but I　was still in my slacks and tie and didn't want
to go to work covered in blood. I was 15 minutes late for work but it
was well worth it!!!! Unfortunately no pictures but with lunch time
hawking a very real possibility most days I'm sure there will be
more. This is great!
-Isaac

[Sparrow Hawker]

Hi Isaac,

Sounds like your having fun just proves that spars can be flown virtually anywhere :) Congratulations on your spars first kill.

I'm seriously thinking of flying one next year been told there fantastic fun and the quality of flights are excellent.

All The Best,

HH

[Shaun Byrne]

Nice one Isaac, looks like the baggie pigeon really switched her on mate.

[Isaac]

She took another pigeon in a quick flight on Saturday. I got it on video but the file is too big to post anywhere. Anyone know how to shrink files?

[Jack Merlin]

Isaac,

Very interested to see the breast of your spar is streaked and not barred. Euro spars have barred breasts in their first year and thereafter. In contrast, gosses have streaked breasts in their first year, then barred.

Do you know what subspecies she is?

Jack

[Isaac]

Interesting. Unfortunately I don't know the subspecies. I don't know much about Spars at all. Being from the U.S. I never had a chance to even see one or hear much about them until I got the opportunity to work with this one here in Japan. I've always thought she looked like a mini gos though. All I was told when I bought her was that she was accipiter nisus but I doubt that helps much. She's a great little bird though. Loves pigeons and had a nice little sparrow slip today but no luck.

[Isaac]

I rushed home at lunch hour to get a flight in during my break. As I
pulled up to my house I could see about 20 pigeons in the empty lot
waiting for my arrival. I got my gear ready in a flash, put my glove
on and went to get Spark out of her mew. As I approached she was
bouncing all over the place. Not a good sign as I fed her later than
usual yesterday after a short sparrow slip in the evening (no luck on
the sparrows though). As I opened the mew door she flew to the back
of the mew and I *gently* shut the door behind me. My mistake! She
bolted past me, knocked the door open and took off to the roof of a
house across the street! No telemetry nothing. ****, I thought, but
no worries she's just across the street. I went outside and whistled
her to the fist...No response. Hmmmm. Let's try the lure. I swing it
a few times with a loud whistle and she starts head bobbing. Ok, this
is going to work...here she comes aaaannnndd there she goes! She
passed the lure and landed on the roof of our apartment building. I
tried to whistle her down but the angle isn't good so I walk to the
other side of the street and try from there. Another pass except this
time she lands on a building farther away. With the telemetry in my
pocket and not on her leg I'm starting to get worried. She's
obviously way too fat but the half hearted passes give me hope that
she's got some interest in food. She made another half dozen or so
passes never getting more than 15 yards from the lure on the ground
before heading to the top of the highest building in our neighborhood
(about ten stories up and a block away). All sorts of explitives were
flying through my head and possibly out my mouth while I'm thinking
of how to install a double door system on my mew as soon as possible
if I ever get her back. I end up in the vacant lot where she still
has a good view of me from her regal perch and whistle and swing the
lure for a good 15 more minutes and finally she takes flight. I tense
up as she nears the lure...she's still headed for it...YES! She
finally binds to the lure and immediately tries to carry it. I've got
it secured unbelieveably tight in my hand and step on the line as I
walk toward her just in case. I gingerly reach for her jesses as she
begins to pick at the quail attached to the lure. Not until the
jesses are in my hands do I let out an audible sigh and let my heart
rate drop. I put her back in the mew as she finishes her SMALL meal
and make sure the door is shut *tight*. Needless to say I was late
again to work but it was worth it. Gotta love falconry!
-Isaac

[GoneHawking]

Glad to hear the story ended on a good note, It's happened to me before now and you just kick yourself for it, still we all learn over the years by our mistakes, sometimes we learn the hard way and sometimes we live to fly another day.

This is where I think imprint spars come into their own as even over flying weight mine would have come straight to fist or lure or better still she would have followed me to the flying ground as if nothing was up.

Sounds like your doing a great job with her though, keep up the good work.

[Isaac]

“Why do I do this!?” I thought as I sped my little scooter through the freezing rain at 11 o’clock at night on the tiny back roads of the Japan country side to “Horus Wakayama” the starting point for my adventure to Flight Festival 2005, Skytrials in Japan. I had been sick all week with a head cold and my wife had caught it too so not only was I risking my own health by driving in freezing rain I was leaving my sick wife, who speaks no Japanese, miserable in bed for the weekend without her English lifeline as well. What was I doing!?
Our trip began at midnight after we had packed the car with goods to sell and the two birds that were to accompany us, a gyr/saker and Russian goshawk. 15 hours later when we were STILL on the road I began again to wonder why I do this! The trip was scheduled to take 8 hours but snow began to fall on some of the mountain passes so they closed the roads...while we were still on it, which is why it took us so long to get there. We finally arrived at our first destination at 4 in the afternoon, 16 hours after we had left.
Our first stop was the largest breeding project in Japan. They had some amazing birds including white goshawks and a golden/steppe eagle hybrid that would cost about $15,000 if you were interested. Every sort of bird used in falconry was available for the right price, even the cheapest would go for about $1000 (European hobbies). An American kestrel in Japan would cost you $1500. Even raptors that wouldn’t be used for falconry were on display, from various eagles (including bald), and vultures, down to the smallest owl. I saw some of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen in my falconry career there but my pockets aren’t deep enough to consider even half of them.
Our second stop was another raptor propagator. This shop looked just like a pet shop with owls and small accipiters on screen perches on the display floor while the more expensive birds and birds that were being kept for customers were kept upstairs. They had a beautiful black-shouldered kite and a South American Harris as well as the by now familiar white gos. Coming from America where the laws are so strict it was amazing to me to see raptors being sold like this although they all seemed very well taken care of.
After a good night sleep in the hotel we headed to the field where the “Flight Festival” was going to be held. It was a public park complete with joggers and a person flying a kite. The space where the sky trials was to be held was no larger than a football field with a jungle gym to one side, a public golf course across the street, and permanent restrooms, a far cry from the middle of nowhere field that I am used to attending in Utah. The contest was split in to 5 different events. The first was a time trial where a balloon was sent up to 100 meters and the falcons were timed on how long it took them to get to the lure suspended beneath it. There were only 3 contestants for the balloon event and the gyr/saker that we brought won the event. The second was a luring contest where the falcon who made the most passes won. That contest was won by a merlin who made 30 passes, the closest large falcon only made 18. The third contest of the morning was what they called a sky trial and the winner was the falcon who went to the highest pitch (judged using a range finder). Most of the falcons that participated in this event wandered far and wide and while I don’t recall the pitch of the winner, second place was only 106 meters. We were treated to a visit by a wild peregrine during this event that came to play with one of the contestants birds and hung around for a few more flights even landing in a nearby tree. I wished my camera had a tighter zoom as it was an amazing bird through the binoculars. I had no idea that Japan had wild peregrines!
After a lunch break the first of the short wing contests began. Both of these contests were time trials in which the contest stood on a line and a judge waved a live pigeon about 60 meters away. The bird was timed on how long it took to go from the fist to a line about 50 meters away. The contestant could not “throw” the bird, the traditional method for Japanese falconers to slip their birds at prey (a forward thrust of the arm), the bird had to leave the fist on its own and pass over the line. The first contest was for goshawks, the second for Harris hawks. With about two hundred people lining the edge of the field, after the goshawks had made their attempt at the pigeon (as soon as the bird crossed the 50 meter line the pigeon was hidden) many of them did not want to come down from the nearby trees that they landed in, whereas every Harris came immediately back (make of it what you will...:). This was an interesting event as I’d never heard of anything like it in the states.
When the events were over we were treated to various demonstrations by miscellaneous raptors. There was a barn owl that could beat anyone at rock, paper, succors by landing on the correct perch, a vulture that would waddle around behind its owner where ever he went, and a cacara that could probably run as fast as it could fly. The black-shouldered kite from the day before flew to the lure and an unusual eagle did a few flights to the fist. All in all an amazing display of raptors, most of which I had never seen or heard of before!
With a long drive ahead of us I wanted to leave the event as soon as it ended but my companions convinced me (by being sole possessor of keys to the car) to stay for a banquet afterwards. We sat on the floor on tatami mats and listened to traditional Japanese shamisen music (played from speakers) while we ate a variety of Japanese food cooked on a type of indoor BBQ. Japan has a way of alienating foreigners, anyone who has been here will know that you can’t seem to escape being pointed out or stared at on the street, but sitting in a crowded room of Japanese falconers discussing techniques for taking game and making your bird fly better, being the only foreigner in the room didn’t seem to matter. I’d never felt more “accepted” in Japan then I did during that banquet and I realized that the brotherhood of falconers is as international an organization as there is. We all share the same passion for these magnificent raptors and their abilities and feel privileged to have a relationship with them. I made a lot of friends that night and my trip to the flight festival wouldn’t have been complete without it.
I got back home to Wakayama (where I live in Japan) at 5 o’clock the next morning. My wife woke up with a migrane and work was two hours away but the question of why I do this didn’t need to be answered anymore. I’ll post some pics later...
-Isaac

[Isaac]

My spar lost part of her tongue due to some sort of infection! Makes it rather difficult for her to eat but she's not loosing any weight and we're optimistic about next season heading into the moult. Happy moulting everyone.

[Isaac]

The Harris I'm working with in the off season while Spark moults...

[Tim Laycock]

Sorry to hear about your spars tongue Isaac, that does not sound good! But as you say, at least she is not losing weight.

How is her moult progressing?

[Isaac]

We've worked a system out so she can eat fairly well now and I don't think the missing tongue will cause any problems for the upcoming season. She's about 30 grams over her flying weight but still hasn't dropped a feather yet! I'm not too worried though, no need to hurry things up when I can't hunt with her again until November. Even at 30 grams over I still jump her to the fist and weigh her every day so I think taking her up after the moult won't be a problem. She'll be ready to hunt come opening day. It just seems so far away! :cry:

[Tim Laycock]

Its good that she is still willing to jump for food at +30g, says a lot about how she thinks of you.
I bet you cant wait for that new tail to come through :)

[Isaac]

Yeah she looks pretty ragged at the moment. I'm hoping to have a feather perfect bird to chase pigeons and (cross my fingers) teal come November. 8)

[Jack Merlin]

Both my gosses have just started moulting secondaries so I'll bet your guy won't be far behind. We have had some wonderfully warm days, but it is back to winter now. That's the north of Scotland for you.

I put 50kgs of ground barley up at the pond a couple of weeks ago and most of it has gone so I am expecting a bumper season on the ducks! Cock pheasants everywhere, so I just hope they have a few hens with them too.

[Isaac]

If I ever make it your way I hope to see what you've got up there!

[Tim Laycock]

I dont think you would be dissapointed Isaac, It sounds great doesnt it

[Jack Merlin]

If I ever make it your way I hope to see what you've got up there!

You will be very welcome, hamster and all!<g>

The invitation extends to Blackbird -- and, hopefully, the passager...

[Tim Laycock]

The invitation extends to Blackbird -- and, hopefully, the passager...
Thanks Jack :wink:

[Isaac]

It's about time!! Spark finally dropped her first primary yesterday! Hopefully things will move along a little faster from here on out...

[Tim Laycock]

:shock: Its about time isnt it Isaac :lol:

Parent reared spars :roll: Untimely Moulters :)
Is she aviary an bred or passage bird Isaac?

Tim

[Isaac]

She dropped another one yesterday (same feather, opposite wing).

[Isaac]

To be honest I'm not sure of her background. At first I thought she was captive bred since you aren't allowed to trap passagers in Japan but apparently she's a passage bird or a brancher from somewhere else in Asia. (Not sure where) I don't know how the whole importing/exporting thing works here in Japan but I know there are a lot of birds coming from Russia/Siberia.

[Tim Laycock]

I don't know how the whole importing/exporting thing works here in Japan
One things for sure, If you started Importing spars home you would not be short of takers :lol:
Your countrymen seem to regard the Sparrowhawk in much the same way mine do the Coopers hawk--
They would very much like one,but they are difficult to get hold of!!
You could make a killing Isaac :lol: :roll: :mrgreen:

[Jack Merlin]

I exchange one many years ago with a falconer in New Mexico. He sent me a prairie in exchange. He was over the moon with the spar as it was an ideal size for quail and he had a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, spars lead such a hyper life, some accident usually over takes them.

BTW, someone posted a picture of the feet of a male Coop's. I was amazed how long the toes were, typical of a bird catcher and very similar to a spar. But the female's feet seem to be more goshawk like. Of course, this was only one photo and may not be typical.

[Tim Laycock]

I have only seen two Coopers Hawks in my life, these were a pair in a breeding aviary. They almost appeared to be a different species, The male was not a great deal smaller than the female but they were not of similar build at all.
The female was built a lot like a mini tiercel gos, but the male was not.
He looked like the fruits of a "drunken union" between a spar and a Goshawk :lol: