February 14

An interesting thing happened in the field today—I have done most of my hawking over the years in the late afternoon, because I think passage hawks are keener to catch something during this period. And, as the sun started to go down, if we were not successful, it has not been unusual for them to come (uninvited) to be fed, having been condition to be fed at a certain time every day. But, I have had to switch from late afternoon to morning hawking because of my new job, yet, despite this change in day, Okie continues her behavior of wanting to be fed after a couple of hours. So, rather than it being a time of day thing (for her), it appears to be the result of conditioning. If I hawked every day for three hours, instead of two, I imagine she would not have been bugging me until later on.

But, the real interesting thing (to me) came in the form of screaming when this happened today; just two or three vocalizations, but, she was, very definitely, begging as she would, and I am sure did, with her parents. Now, understand, she was trapped at 40 ounces (in good weight), with a baseline weight of 38 ounces. Her weight today was 41 ½ ounces. I have experienced this vocal behavior before with a passage hawk above trapped weight; so I found it interesting.

I’ve thought about this a bit, and Okie, as with all my hawks, has received the majority of her food off my fist, even if she catches something. So, they become very condition to me as a the provider of food (if need be) like their parents in the past. It has worked against me with CB HH’s, in terms of screaming, and would definitely work against with an imprinted accipiter, in terms of aggression (IMO) and is the main reason I don’t want to imprint a hawk. I have had to learn most things the hard way, but, the one thing I did not have to learn was—one should stick with what works for them, which means flying those hawks that are most receptive to our form of conditioning; plus, I don’t think imprinting is for every falconer. Anyway, the reason why I mention this is because I think—in Okie’s case—because of my conditioning method, she now views me in a similar light as she did her parents, and is vocalizing as she did then, even though she is well-beyond being a fledgling or a sore-hawk. I suspect that if I were to hawk her much longer, this vocalization would become more pronounced if she didn’t catch something. It also confirms (to me) that screaming for food is probably not related to weight, but, rather an empty stomach.