Aplomado Entry 6
July 26th
And the rains begin again. After the hiatus from downpours, yesterday it began to rain again. Not much fell yesterday but we had heard that the remains of a hurricane might pass through the area. Today, we have seen that proven. It has been raining since before I got up and there are puddles everywhere. There is a possibility we will get three inches by the end of the day. Luckily, I was able to make it to the site this morning without an issue. Down there, the rain wasn’t as bad.
Yesterday was big for one other reason; we got more birds. Between the two groups which came, we now have thirteen falcons in the boxes. This gives us a total of twenty birds released from our site (when this group is released from their boxes.) Hopefully, this group will be better than the last and we will get to see more of them throughout the remaining project. We also discussed how the site will end and when. It seems that the project only goes six weeks after the last group is released. This is where the September 12th comes from and makes it quite likely.
Today, I got a great experience. When I arrived at the site, I heard a very deep sound similar to what I expect from a cow. It didn’t take long for me to realize this was coming from bison. Earlier this week, my partner saw a herd walking not too far from the towers (but on the other side of the fence.) When I got up on the towers this morning, I saw the herd and got to see how they were moving. After feeding the birds, I went back to the blind and took a couple of pictures. Just more added into the collection….
July 29th
The last three days have been just short of hell around here. Friday night, we encountered our first major problem. Two older falcons, who were released last year, have been hanging around the site. The day we placed our first birds in the hack boxes, we saw both of them sitting on the towers. Both Jason and myself saw them intermittently until recently when it all changed. The older birds moved their territory to include the entire hack site. This means that our fledglings were being treated as intruders. Both older falcons began chasing any fledglings they see out of the area.
What all this means, is that our birds can’t come in to the towers to get at the quail. Saturday morning, two of our birds made it in to feed and I was able to ID them. Since then, anytime our fledglings come into the area, they are escorted out of the area and are repeated attacked.
Now, we are trying to find other locations where the birds are hanging out. We need to get the birds some quail as we don’t think they are able to hunt for themselves yet. Today, I placed quail in two locations, one several miles north and another several miles east. We have seen at least one fledgling in each location so we hope that they will have eaten before Jason picks up the food. I’ll find out when I get back to the bunkhouse.
All of this was exacerbated last night when Angel came and took our fledglings which were still in the boxes. This changes how our project will end. The plan was for us to watch the site and feed the birds for six weeks after those birds were released. Without those birds, we may have to either end early or go help at another site. Angel did take our birds to a site which might have one person leaving early. If that happens, I probably will be moving over to that site to finish out the time. At least, that’s what I hope will happen. We are still waiting to see what the big boss says he wants to happen. I hope to be able to make time to call him tomorrow afternoon.
Everything else seems to be going well. Both Jason and myself are drinking a bit heavier than we would normally but with how depressing our days have gotten, its understandable. No, I’m not going to become an alcoholic, I’m only having one drink a night and its not more than a couple of shots. Well, hopefully it will all work out soon.
(Un-cut because of a need to vent.)
And the rains begin again. After the hiatus from downpours, yesterday it began to rain again. Not much fell yesterday but we had heard that the remains of a hurricane might pass through the area. Today, we have seen that proven. It has been raining since before I got up and there are puddles everywhere. There is a possibility we will get three inches by the end of the day. Luckily, I was able to make it to the site this morning without an issue. Down there, the rain wasn’t as bad.
Yesterday was big for one other reason; we got more birds. Between the two groups which came, we now have thirteen falcons in the boxes. This gives us a total of twenty birds released from our site (when this group is released from their boxes.) Hopefully, this group will be better than the last and we will get to see more of them throughout the remaining project. We also discussed how the site will end and when. It seems that the project only goes six weeks after the last group is released. This is where the September 12th comes from and makes it quite likely.
Today, I got a great experience. When I arrived at the site, I heard a very deep sound similar to what I expect from a cow. It didn’t take long for me to realize this was coming from bison. Earlier this week, my partner saw a herd walking not too far from the towers (but on the other side of the fence.) When I got up on the towers this morning, I saw the herd and got to see how they were moving. After feeding the birds, I went back to the blind and took a couple of pictures. Just more added into the collection….
July 29th
The last three days have been just short of hell around here. Friday night, we encountered our first major problem. Two older falcons, who were released last year, have been hanging around the site. The day we placed our first birds in the hack boxes, we saw both of them sitting on the towers. Both Jason and myself saw them intermittently until recently when it all changed. The older birds moved their territory to include the entire hack site. This means that our fledglings were being treated as intruders. Both older falcons began chasing any fledglings they see out of the area.
What all this means, is that our birds can’t come in to the towers to get at the quail. Saturday morning, two of our birds made it in to feed and I was able to ID them. Since then, anytime our fledglings come into the area, they are escorted out of the area and are repeated attacked.
Now, we are trying to find other locations where the birds are hanging out. We need to get the birds some quail as we don’t think they are able to hunt for themselves yet. Today, I placed quail in two locations, one several miles north and another several miles east. We have seen at least one fledgling in each location so we hope that they will have eaten before Jason picks up the food. I’ll find out when I get back to the bunkhouse.
All of this was exacerbated last night when Angel came and took our fledglings which were still in the boxes. This changes how our project will end. The plan was for us to watch the site and feed the birds for six weeks after those birds were released. Without those birds, we may have to either end early or go help at another site. Angel did take our birds to a site which might have one person leaving early. If that happens, I probably will be moving over to that site to finish out the time. At least, that’s what I hope will happen. We are still waiting to see what the big boss says he wants to happen. I hope to be able to make time to call him tomorrow afternoon.
Everything else seems to be going well. Both Jason and myself are drinking a bit heavier than we would normally but with how depressing our days have gotten, its understandable. No, I’m not going to become an alcoholic, I’m only having one drink a night and its not more than a couple of shots. Well, hopefully it will all work out soon.
(Un-cut because of a need to vent.)