Introducing “Tahoe”, Red-Tailed Hawk

Introducing “Tahoe”, Red-Tailed Hawk

It took a week for Tahoe to respond to food reward, but she ate a chipmunk on the 6th night after trapping. With a trap weight of 1147g, and a response weight of 1030g, we are on to the next step of training: Step to the glove. This is one of the most critical times in the training, getting your hawk to respond to you and your glove. More importantly, it’s necessary for the raptor to know what to do when you enter the Mews, to take her up for training, or out for Hunting!

Some additional lessons we covered during the first week:

  • Drinking from the Squirt-Bottle
  • Cleaning and Brushing the feet
  • Changing out Jesses
  • Swapping leashes
  • Placing in the Giant Hood
  • Hooding (although she has learned how to take it from me and toss it on the floor)
  • Stepping from Glove to other perch

During the course of the week, Tahoe also got comfortable sitting on the glove, fairly flat-footed, instead of gripping the glove tightly. She also has been ‘rousing’, indicating her additional comfort level with my presence and handling. The picture above was the very first time that Tahoe was standing on my fist just a few hours after trapping. She was a little unsteady, but quickly was able to gain her balance. More pics of Tahoe over in the albums…

On to the next training lesson!

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