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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Wednesday, Thursday Morning

Wednesday was quiet, and I am getting low on hawk food, so I went to the local grocery store for some supplemental hawk food (turkey legs and wings) to make sure I do not run out.  I feed a mixture of turkey and whole animal, for proper nutrition.   I also made a list of forgotten supplies, and I stuck to the list and got the things I should have brought when I left.  These items will always be packed, ready to go for my next assignment, for this type of work often has short notices.  Same with my attire,  I keep it clean, pressed and ready for travel.  The hawks were flown after dinner by the pool area.  I flew all four, one at a time,  I had a lot of interest from the guests,  and enjoyed explaining the concept to them.  The hawks did very well, not wandering off, sticking close.  For traffic to the East and the power lines to the West are a big concern.  The pigeons that were thinking about hanging around moved on east across the street.  I waited until just about sundown  The hawks were also wanting to go to bed and were flying around their enclosures.  Hawks do not like to be out at night, for owls are their natural enemies.  I overcome this fear by having their enclosures always around on a cart.  With the perch illuminated on both the T post and inside the enclosures. The do not end up roosting in a high  tree in the dark, instead they seek the safety of their enclosures.   They are much more confident that they are safe with this method and will come in after dark.  I wrapped things up and ended the day.

Thursday morning, with pre-dawn walks, I found one lone pigeon on the 5th floor light fixture.  I chased it away and it moved on.  I spoke briefly with security detail on the west side.  I  then finished my survey and found no pigeons roosting on the south side restaurant awing frame.  I think that as an inexpensive perch deterrent.  Rows of black colored cable ties, about 8 inches long wrapped around the awning framework with the spacing about ½ to 1 inch would be something to try.  For the next groups of pigeons in the area will be looking for places to roost as well.  I set the hawks out, and it is a hot day, so I made sure the misters are on.  As I was setting up the pigeons were flying about and I noticed several with lots of white on their plumage.  I've not noticed these whitish pigeons before.  So a loft is mingling with the feral pigeons in the area.  Then I noted more evasive flying and above them was the local Cooper's hawk.  She tried for several stragglers, but had lost her element of surprise and was out flown.  She flew east across the highway down into the trees.  The pigeons landed on the South side of the hotel and  I proceeded to chase them away to across the street. One of the largest pigeon clubs in the US is in Broward County http://www.browardcountypigeonclub.com/  Later in the day, it was only a few pigeons about, so it was slow, and warm, and breezy so I started organizing for departure to save time later.  I set the hawks up in their boxes after dinner and waited a while, for the sunny day kept the pigeons away for about an extra hour.  I waited until they were moving into the area and started flying the hawks one at a time across the pool area.  On sunny days the west restaurant side is vacant of pigeons, just too hot and uncomfortable there.  I flew the hawks until sunset, packed them upand called it a day.  As I was driving back to park, one of the employees needed a ride to pick up a part for his car.  A heater hose.  The one he purchased did not fit.  I took him to the parts store, but they did not have the correct one.  We went back, I told him to bring the broken hose, for there are several heater hoses (5) on his model car.  The clerk at the store confirmed that another local store had the parts in stock, we went there about 5 minutes prior to closing and he got the part to his car.





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