Eagle Journal

Hello everyone,

Driving down this morning I was not all that sure what I was going to find because the larger hay field has grown so tall that it surely had been cut by now and the other smaller fields haven’t had enough time to grow yet. So things could be in question. When I got down there I drove past the big hay field and, sure enough, it was all cut. So I went to the smallest field and it was way to wet to walk in. That left the large dry field from hell. That’s what I call it. You no doubt remember me complaining about it in the past. I noticed that ¾ of the field had been plowed which makes it just a little easier to walk innot that much easier though.

I stumbled my way out into the field and Widow showed no signs, as in zero signs, of hunting. She sat without flinching as jack rabbit after jack rabbit flushed!? She looked at them but didn’t pull the trigger. Two things I think are at work here: First, Widow, in her mind, feels her only chance to catch a jack is in 6”-12 dark green alfalfa hay. Why? Because that is the place where she has had the most success. She did catch one in this dry straw colored field awhile back but that was only one rabbit. Because of her lack of hunting experience and not having developed any sort of move that she can put on a running jack, she does not have the confidence to chase one out in the open field. In hind sight, I probably should have altered the fields more so Widow would not lock on to just one field, but I felt that her having success was more important right now. Second, (and this is my theory based on years of hunting and flying birds through the molt) when birds molt, the new feather grows in with blood up in the shaft. We all know this; however, I have noticed that the eagles I am hunting are very careful when attacking larger prey like jack rabbits because the new feathers are soft and easily broken. And just as importantly, I believe they are tender. Eagles avoid putting a lot of pressure on them, the pressure that comes from making quick turns. This is most noticeable with the primary feathers, as they are the feathers that drive the eagles forward in flight and, therefore, are required to do the most bending in flight. Widow has new half-grown primaries on both wings now and dropped another old one while in flight today. Over the years I’ve noticed this repeatedly and, most noticeably, with Jackhammer, my male golden eagle. I could clearly see that he was being very careful going in on jacks during the time he had new feathers growing in on his wings, as compared to other times of the year when he would slam into whatever to grab a jack.

So these two scenarios came into play today, causing Widow to be backed off from hunting at first. But then she could not resist and began launching on the jacks. Walking through the dry field I kept close to the part that is not plowed yet, hoping that she would see a jack in the weeds which would not be unlike hunting in the alfalfa field. Widow suddenly came to life and launched into the wind which was at our backs. Flying up and over my shoulder, she turned, using the wind to gain speed quickly. She flew hard the entire way, angling down fast into the weeds but missed! I was just about out of the field when another jack exploded out from under my foot and Widow, with surprising quickness, just, and I mean just, missed that jack!!

With Widow now fired up I did not want to end the day while she was still hunting, so my only other option was to hunt along the railroad tracks and off the side of the bank. If she still wanted to hunt then this would be a good challenge for her. Being a little tired from the field from hell, my plan was to walk along the tracks and flush jacks off the bank out into the cut hay field. I would say that, standing on top of the bank, it drops off 20 feet, maybe 25 feet, down to the hay field floor. There are always jacks hiding in the star thistle and weeds along the side. They burst out and run either out into the alfalfa field or along the bottom of the bank. So there you go put out a little effort and she could catch one. As I walked along, jacks started to run down the bank. Widow would launch, the jack would see a big black B-52 coming, and do an about face, staying in the weeds can’t blame them! But it was only a matter of time before one jack was going to keep running and Widow would have her shot. Now, why you ask, would Widow go after a jack out in the open field, seeing that she has not wanted to before? Good question. Keep in mind that I am standing on a 20-25 foot tall bank with heavy weeds covering the bank all the way to the floor where it is open dry dirt until the hay fields. Widow sees the jack flush, reacts by launching off my fist, and she is flying nearly straight down thinking she has a shot at the rabbit in the weeds. Then the jack rabbit appears out in the open with Widow already barreling down on it. Two things come into play here. First, the fairly strong wind was at our backs which meant she was going on a downwind slip with a lot of speed. Second, Widow’s favorite hunting method is going after jacks in tallish cover, i.e. the hay field. Those two points combined to show Widow that she has the ability to catch jacks with shear speed and power. The first couple of jacks we flushed Widow actually launched, flew hard, and the second the jack came out in the open, she shut down and landed. But on about the fourth such flight Widow launched, went bombing down the bank, the jack appeared and she hit the after burners. The jack, seeing this thing coming at it, went into an immediate 180’ turn. Widow closed and got OH so close but missed! She easily flew after 20 jacks, missed, landed on the ground, and had to fly all the way back up the bank to my fist.  If anything, she got a great work out. Man, if this young eagle didn’t have bad luck she wouldn’t have any luck at all!

For those of you that have asked, I am dropping Jackhammer’s (JH) weight in preparation for flying. He’s a little fat. To show you the differences in personalities Widow has yet to draw blood on me but when I hooded JH, weighed him and put him back on his perch, that’s all, I was bleeding from two spots. He is a fun bird to fly. I can’t wait!

Hope all is well,

Joe