Okay, I lied...

The truth is I spent the weekend in Kansas hunting pheasants (with guns) with my father. I took the bird along so my wife wouldn't have to "bird-sit" and couldn't pass up the photo op. :-) All in good fun. Now for the real update:

Shojiki na hanashi ni yoru to jitsu wa otoosan to issho ni Kansas shu ni itte jyu de kiji kari wo yatte kimashita. Okusan ga taka no esa wo yaru no wa kirai node amecho wo motte itte, ikka no shashin wo kiji wo jyu de totte kara satsue shimashita. Jissai ni amecho de kiji wo toru koto ga dekittara sugoi kedo uso wo tsukimashita. Kono ato honto no hanashi wo shimasu:

The day I left to Kansas I took Dulcinea out to my sponsors place to see how she'd do on a bagged sparrow outside. This was to be her first attempt at a sparrow outside and at somewhere around 91g things went less than smoothly. We went to a park near the house, tossed a weighted sparrow on the grass about 50 yards away and I started walking toward it. I had the creance on the bird because I didn't know what she'd do with a sparrow...that was a mistake. She didn't go after the sparrow until we were about 10 feet away and then veered off at the last second. She flew up around the small tree where we'd placed the sparrow tangling the creance in the branches. She wasn't hanging or anything but we knew she'd have trouble coming down. We got it an untangled as we could and then she dropped out of the tree on to my glove when I called. It's been a few days so I don't remember how, but she ended up on the ground shortly after and a big ol hag red-tail flew over us and landed in a big tree next to where we were trying to do the sparrow. That freaked her out pretty bad and she wasn't going to do anything with that red-tail there so we packed up and went to do a quick pigeon flight with my sponsor's praire falcon.

Kansas shu ni iku chokuzen tomodachi no tokoro ni suzume wo tsukamaseyo to omoimashita. 91g de ii kana to omotta kedo dame deshita. Suzume ni ikezu ni ki ni tonde itte shimaimashita. Te wo dashitara sugu modotte kimashita ga sono ato yasei no red-tail ga tonari no ki ni arawaretta. Red-tail ga ittara zettai tobanai to wakatta node tomodachi no Praire hayabusa wo mi ni ikimashita.

We tried the sparrow again in the field where we flew the praire falcon but she was still too freaked out from the RT to do anything and may have been a bit high for the circumstances so I fed her her rations and called it an unsuccessful day.

Praire wo tobashite kara mou ichidou suzume wo yaro to shimashita ga mada mada red-tail wo kowagatte shoshite taijyu ga chotto takakatta node ikenakatta. Esa yari dake ni shite owarimashita.

The next four days were spent in Kansas and I didn't do much with her. She got to eat some tasty pheasant heart and liver though and I got a great hero shot with her on a rooster pheasant (see the post below).

Tsugi no 4paku wa Kansas shu de kiji kari wo yatte imashita node kunren wa nanimo shinakatta. Ikka no shashin dake wo totte, kiji no naizo wo tabesashimashita.

We got back in to our regular routine yesterday and at 91.3g she was as good as I could ask for. She came multiple times while I was trying to get set up but a gentle toss sent her right back to her perch. After quite a few tidbits she was being a bit stubborn and wouldn't come to the glove but as soon as I tossed the lure out she was in the air again.

Kino kara kunren wo tsuzukemashita. 91.3 gram de honto ni yokatta deshita. Sukai yobazu ni tondekimashita. Ippai tabette kara mou ikkai yobou to omotte te ni tonde konakatta kedo lure wo dashitara sugu ni kimashita node yokatta desu.

Today was probably the last day of creance work. I took her down a half gram to 90.8g and she did awesome. There was a stiff breeze blowing and when she came with the wind she was really hauling butt. Again, it was hard to get set up without her coming to me before being called! When I would send her back to her perch she'd catch the wind and go up 20 or 30 feet and buzz over to her perch and then smack the lure when I brought it out. She never tried to go anywhere even with the wind and while there isn't anything to get caught on out in the middle of a soccer field the creance really wasn't necessary.

Kyo wa sen wo tsukeru saigo no hi deshita. Mou chotto taijyu wo herashite 90.8g de tobashitamashita. Kaze ga chotto tsuyokatta node tonde kita toki wa sugoku hayakatta. Kaze ni mukatte tondara su meteru agatte perch ni modorimashita. Doko ni mo ikou to shinakatta node kore kara sen wa iranai to omoimasu.

I'd like to do some baggie starlings with her but don't want to wait too long if I can't get any. Tomorrow I'll use my lunch break to scout an outskirt of campus where I've seen tons of starlings on a billboard and may try and slip her at one if I can find any on the ground. Wish me luck!

Kore kara kari wo shitai to omoimasu ga starling wo sakasenakucha. Ashita kara sagashimasu! Kinchou suru kedo ganbarimasu!!