Who has spotted who?

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Falcon talons

Take a look at these weapons and these pictures will make more sense.

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Falcon Attack!

I just think these pictures are just awesome. They really whiz by at terrifying speed. Hence the blurry bird. Very, very cool.







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War Wounds

These silly buggers weren't wearing hats, which is a poor plan of attack with New Zealand falcons. That's Rich on top and Shane below. You can see below that even when I had a hat, one of the birds gave me a little tattoo.



This wasn't in the job description.

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Christmas in New Zealand

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Merry Xmass

We took a couple days off and visited Rich's home in Palmerston North. It has been a nice, relaxing time. Christmas here is a lot more like the 4th of July back home, because it is summery and people tend to have beer and barbeque. Not the big fireworks, though. I got to roast the chicken, since I got practice at Thanksgiving. I also carved the bird and made the gravy. The food turned out quite well and overall it was a fun time. I expect to get a couple pics up soon.

Just a Little Speed Bump

Now that we are radio tracking falcons, the job requires rushing around in the truck, trying to keep up with the birds. Fallen trees make it a little harder, but in New Zealand, we call this a "speed bump." I got over it. Notice the left-side steering wheel.

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Phase 3

We are already on to Phase 3, which is one of the longest and most important parts. This is the radio tracking, which will reveal where the falcons hunt, and what and how often. We can also see if falcons share territory at all. It should be less gruelling and more fun than the nest searching. We will have to wait for the falcons to take off and then follow them by truck as best we can. There are plenty of tracks out here, but some of them are pretty shocking. I am certainly getting a lot of 4WD experience out here.

I have done radio tracking on a couple projects before and it is not rocket science, but I have never tracked moving targets before. I think it will be a lot faster and less precise. With roosting bats, they sit still, so you can easily work your way toward them. These falcons will keep moving, so I will have to be quick about it. I hope it works!

Eyes in the Sky

Here is one female keeping a close eye on an intruder (me). She was not that far from my head when I snapped this and she only got closer. It was a hard shot to take since digital cameras tend to wait a second before taking the pic. I had to shoot early and hope she flew into the frame. This time she did. It's cloudy, of course. You can also see that her tail feathers look a bit knackered. This comes from sitting on a nest; they get scraped on the ground. It is one way to tell, just from looking at an adult, if she has eggs somewhere.

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Silly Falcons

We have been pretty successful at catching the adult falcons and we are gettting the radio transmitters out there pretty quickly. When we catch the falcons, we often put a hood on them because it calms them down. In fact, they often fall asleep, even though they have been kidnapped by huge ugly monsters. I guess birds aren't that smart. What is funny is that their head often sags back until they are looking right up at the sky. I think they would drown if it rained. Their necks just turn into wet noodles. It is pretty amusing.

If they don't fall asleep they will try to bite, but they usually just snap at the air. We still have to stay alert because their necks are surprisingly flexible and they can reach you even when you think you are well out of the way. Rich does the harder parts, so I have not been bitten at all.

Catching Falcons

The general technique for catching raptors is to put out some kind of bait and then put little nooses around the bait. When the bird grabs the bait, the noose grabs it back. Then you can run up and catch it. You just have to find the appropriate bait for each type of raptor. The NZ falcon primarily eats small birds, so one thing we do is put small birds behind a screen covered with nooses. We also put small birds behind a net, which is a less common technique, but it works really well with these falcons. The most unusual technique takes advantage of how aggressive these birds are. NZ falcons will physically attack you if you enter their nest area, which is very unusual for birds. In this case, we just put the nooses on our heads and we are the actual bait. It is a pretty crazy idea, but it works! I will try to post pictures over Christmas.

Phase 2

We have been searching for nests for over a month now, but we are about to start Phase 2 of the project, which is putting the radio transmitters on adult falcons. The whole purpose of nest searching was to find these adults so we could get the radio tags on. It will be a change because catching and handling the adults is completely different work. It should be good though because we will be a lot closer to the birds. When we are searching we often don't catch anything at all. Once the radio tags are on, we will be able to locate and follow the falcons with our radio receivers and learn more about their home range and activities.

New Zealand Herald

We had a reporter and photographer from the NZ Herald come out with us for one day. The Herald is the biggest paper in NZ, so it is a big deal. They took a lot of pictures and it should be cool. They are putting together a big thing on NZ species. It is not breaking news, so it won't come out until January some time. I will link to the article whenever it comes out. I may be in it, or not. Wait and see!

UPDATE: The wait is over!

Family Portrait

Here is a great family portrait of chicks that are 15-18 days old. The female in the middle is a lot bigger than her two bothers.

In this close up of a chick, you can see the notch in the beak. This notch is what distinguishes falcons from all other raptors (hawks, eagles, vultures, owls, etc). The notch is used to grab and break the neck of prey. It's hard to believe from looking at this little cutie, though.

Hey! That's my hat! Nap somewhere else!

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