"Doh!" - Homer Simpson

Well, I see it's been a while since Kylie posted here, so I thought I would update the masses. Whoever said nothing exciting happens during the molt has not met Kylie Taylor. She can turn the most monotonous day into an exciting and exhausting adventure. After an action packed day of shopping Kylie decided to let her bird fly free at 10 pm Sunday night. Straight out the garage door she flew leash and all. One moment of inattention was all it took Kylie was tethering Katana to the perch in the garage when she turned to say something to Brandy and I and Kat bated. The leash went right through Kylie's glove. After an all night search nothing turned up. Silver lining was we found a new rabbit field. There were so many rabbits running around that Kylie was able to pick one up with her bare hands to use as a live lure.

The next morning Kylie checked the 2 places she was sure the Kat would be, but still no luck. Finally we spotted Katana in a tree on a residential road. She was getting harassed pretty good by the local mocking birds. Katana was not interested in the BC or the live lure, instead she just kept flying from tree to tree. Finally she tried to fly across an open field and could not make it. She landed on the ground. Oh the benefits of a fat and very out of shape bird. We were finally able to run her down with her only being able to fly away a few yards at a time. With every flight she let us get closer until we were finally able to grab the leash.

I'm sure everyone will read about this in the apprentice corner of On The Wing eventually, because many things can be learned from this little jaunt across the neighborhood. First of all pay attention at all times. Second always hold the leash tight and never let go until the bird is securely tethered, or the giant hood door is shut. Third don't give up. Even though it may seem an impossible task it can be done. In Kylie's case the same thing that worked against her was the thing that eventually got her the bird back; a fat non hungry out of shape bird. If all else had of failed the water hose was the next option. A fat bird definitely can't fly with wet plumage.

Kylie will probably add her version of the story at some point.

An Update on the Moult

Well, after doing some research today, I learned that a Red-Tail Hawk has a total of 54 flight feathers: 14 primaries, 28 secondaries, and 12 tail feathers. To date, Katana has dropped 17 of them. I have also started quite the collection of body feathers as well. She currently weighs around 1300 grams, and spends the day sitting contently on a perch in the living room, with visits to the weathering yard as weather permits. The vote is in - she is a dark morph. Her red tail is coming in strongly barred, and her body feathers are darker with hints of silver. Here are a few pictures to show her progress.

Summer Time Blues

Kylie is getting impatient with the whole molt process. She does not seem to understand that the birds don't drop all their feathers at once and immediately replace them, although this is how she would like for it to happen. And she's tried to get me to do unscrupulous things to make that happen, but I've rebuffed said efforts. So far there are about 10 wing feathers and 3 tail feathers gone. Numerous body feathers have gone by the wayside. The new body feathers are considerably darker than the old. The tail feathers are red, not white. That makes Kylie happy, and we all know if Kylie is happy then Krys is happy. The tail feathers appear to have black stripes throughout, but time will tell the rest of that story.
We have done a lot to stay busy. Kylie et al have helped me build a new mews in anticipation of my getting a tiercel sharpy next spring. Kylie and friends have been hard at work renovating my house. We have now moved on to expanding Kylie's mews. All that's left in that project is to lay the pea gravel, place perches, and put up the last wall. Now Kylie is recovering from yet another back surgery.
On happier notes the THA picnic was last week. Kylie was named Graphic Designer of the On The Wing. Kylie will also be running for the recently vacated secretary treasurer position and I will be running for Northern Director. We also plan on making a day trip to Houston this weekend to pick up Katie. From all that Ky has said Katie has been in good hands with Greg Barrow and she looks forward to having her back at the house. Hopefully Katie will be added to the hunting party this fall. Heck I hope now that she will have the dog back she'll still keep me around.

It's Snowing!!

Well, the molt is in full swing. It has started snowing in the living room when Katana bates, a result of the body feathers she is dropping. She has also become restless, and causing damage to her passage tail. She seemed to do well in Krys's new mews, so I am going to begin conversion of my mews to accommodate her. Hopefully, this will prevent damage to her new feathers. Also, her new tail feathers are just starting to push through, and yesterday I saw a hint of red. :)

2 More Tail Feathers

Katana is now back in the air conditioning, and fully recovered from the other day. When I came home last night, I put her in the weathering area for a few hours. Around 6 I went out to feed her, and surprise! 2 more tail feathers! When I brought her back inside after eating, she bated and played dead bird. I took the opportunity to check her out. The tail is not poking in yet, but her secondaries are almost in. They are a beautiful dark and silver. She is definitely going to be stunning when she is done!