WRITING: Part 4 FLYING HAWKS and RESEARCH WORK

Hi Everyone

Here’s Spike, the Southern Caracara (Caracara cheriway), who is a member of the Falcon family but I call him “Super Chicken.” He really does remind me of a chicken for many, many reasons. Anyway, Susan Rebel of High Country Raptors, said that even having a bird like Spike in the USA is a big rarity. So, I will treat Spike with the respect that is due him.



Here is Spike on Susan’s fist. And of course, he’s yakking away at her. He’s a very smart bird; doesn’t miss a THING. And he’s quite individualistic, as you saw before when he went struttin’ off through Susan’s house while she was preparing his travel case for him.



Here’s Spike on the wing. Now, I gotta tell you, compared to Bo, who was flitting around like Tinkerbell, Spike is just the opposite. As I watched him for about twenty minutes, I realized very quickly he was really a GROUND bird and not a SKY bird. In fact, he reminded me sharply of Pheasants, who are also ground birds. They prefer to be on the ground and will only fly if disturbed or feel threatened. For the most part, Spike was on the ground and so I spent my time hoping he’d FLY just a little so I could get some shots of him! Just the opposite of Bo who kept me running around in circles, and wondering if I got ANY photos of him because he was like a BB in a boxcar; just pinging around off the walls--or I should say, fighting with all the pine trees.



Spike is actually a very pretty bird. He’s got gobs of color here and there; so he’s spectacular in the ‘bright department.’ Here he’s coming in for a landing and it’s a nice shot of his full wing spread.




This is good shot of Spike’s tail feathers spread out like a fan as he comes in for another landing. Caracara’s are like vultures; they eat a lot of dead carrion down in South America. Them and the vultures are Mom Earth’s composters, so to speak.



It was very hard for me to tell if he was going to fly. And when he did, it wasn’t high. Rather, he’d skim an area and then land and go trotting along the ground at a good rate of speed. Spike really doesn’t prefer to fly, I think. If he could run on the ground forever, he’d be a happy camper. Like our Roadrunners we have here in the Southwest, they are a ‘ground bird’ too and you’ll see them struttin’ their stuff with incredible speed and stretch on those long legs of theirs. Spike’s the same way. And because he’s a ground bird, Susan is training him to hop up on several cut logs instead of zooming around--because that’s not what Spike does.




As you can tell, I got a lot of “landing” shots of Spike. By the time I’d get my camera in focus he was coming down for the landing.




One thing Spike liked a lot was an octagon shape of three pine logs built in a fence. Spike like to “lurk” around them. He’d be down and then stick his head (which you could barely see) above the sets of logs. And here he’s flying in for a landing in the log fence area. His favorite ‘playground.’



And here’s Spike ‘on the wing,’--well, at least a little bit!



And, I caught one of him doing his ‘running start’ take-off--just like a chicken does!! Spike and his kind are dominant over vultures, which is interesting--they aren’t as big as the Turkey and Black vultures. They also feed off Roseate Spoonbill chicks and baby caiman. There are found in open and semi-open country from south of the Amazon River to the southern tip of South America.

And so, after Spike did his ground bird thing, he did do some hopping from one pine stool to another. He’s a very shy bird and easily frightened. Susan continues to work with him around crowds of people, which make him a bit over sensitive to them and that type of environment. Still, Spike is a showy character. I just have a real hard time believing he’s from the Falcon Family because he sure doesn’t do aerobatics like the other hawks I’ve seen. Ah well, this is fodder for the biologists, not me.

We ended the nice, warm afternoon and Spike went willingly back into his travel cage and we carried them back to Susan’s car. I had lots of material from talking with Susan about her birds and their personalities. Plus, this was the first time I’d gotten to see them fly without a crowd of people around; which was nice.

This is how a writer gets information; on-the-job training, so to speak. And writers need people like Susan who are willing to open up, share their trade and their experiences so that we can put them as words on a page. I’m sure Spike will show up in my forthcoming HQN!!

In Spirit....Eileen