Aplomado Entry 7
August 2nd
Another day, another disappointment. Two days ago, we finally saw some of our birds eating again. MB was sitting on a mobile platform eating from the quail we placed for any that would eat. We also saw two other of our birds eating bugs on their own. This means, they are surviving, albeit not as nutritious since quail are better for their growth. This lasted for about a day and a half. Yesterday, the older pair became a problem again. They began hanging out at Deep Well, making it difficult for MB to get to the quail. The other two falcons we were keeping tabs on moved and we haven’t been able to locate them. We keep trying to feed them quail but they don’t seem to have any interest in it.
All of this has greatly changed our daily activities. Before we simply sat and watched the falcons from our blind at the site but now we have to spend all day hunting for falcons. That means lots of driving around and looking through binoculars for a chance to see just one of our birds. By lunch today, I drove over 60 miles expressing my hopes to see one of the falcons. I only saw one of our birds, but I did see lots of other wildlife, including a golden eagle. I also got up close to a herd of buffalo. Those experiences were great and I would love to see them all when I wasn’t so stressed about finding Aplomado falcons.
Jason and I are also changing our schedule around since I asked for Friday morning off. Two weeks of five AM mornings every day got to be too much and he was agreeable to giving me one off. He liked it so much, he requested we alternate mornings. This will be more stressful to me but I’m sure I can manage.
Recently, I have noticed a problem which I thought would only be minor is becoming more serious. The roads we are on and the weather is being extremely harsh on all of our vehicles. I had to get one tire repaired twice in less than a week. I’ve also noticed some random noises from my truck. All the other technicians (as we are officially titled) have stressed doubts about the condition of their vehicles after the completion of this site.
As of now, I don’t know anything about what will happen to me. I keep hoping something will be decided and they will let us know but our boss is being close-lipped.
August 5th
This project seems to be getting worse and worse for our site. Initially, it was easy with just sitting and watching the falcons all day. Then, those damn older falcons moved in and it has just been downhill ever since. The most recent change came down yesterday. We are no longer to drive around looking for birds. Our boss wants us to spend all day at the site in the vague hope that at least one of our fledglings will attempt to enter the site to get at the quail. He also had us change to one person each day helping at the other site so that they can have help keeping track of their 31 falcons.
Today was my turn at the other site. After sitting yesterday without seeing any fledglings, I was hoping to see lots of them today. Most of the time, they have been seeing ten or more of the fledglings often. They also commented last night about how much the first release birds are more developed than the more recent releases. I was hoping to see this as well. As it turned out, I saw six falcons… I think I might just be cursed… Although, the person who came on after me said that six was the midday norm so perhaps I will get lucky another time.
I tried to find out more about what is going to happen with our hacksite with little progress. Our boss told us to start the report which is a very ominous sign. He also said that there is a chance that one of us will be moving to another site in order to make up for other personnel who have to leave early. I hope to be moved soon as our current activities are quite boring….
August 11th
It has been an interesting last couple of days. On Friday, I worked the morning shift and was then going to go into town but I got a phone call from our boss. It seems that another site had a technician who needed a couple of days off. He wanted either my partner or myself to go over there and help for the weekend. Well, my partner can’t drive company vehicles so I was nominated. White Sands (the other site) is over 20 miles from the bunkhouse where they are staying which means they get to drive a company vehicle. So the last two days, I have been over there, just outside the missile testing range.
It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a couple of cool guys. One of them is a falconer who decided to save money by hunting for rabbits in his spare time. He’s only been doing it for a two or three weeks and already has nearly 50 of the critters…. The other guy was on his second year with the release. Both of them were very informative and I hope to move over to that site this weekend.
This leads me to what’s going on with this site. Right now, we are nearly done with all we have to do for reporting but we have not yet found out what is going on with either of us. One of the guys at White Sands is leaving Friday but they would appreciate having a third person. Our boss says he might send one of us home already or my partner might be moved to west Texas. I think my partner is thinking that I would be the better choice for White Sands as well for two reasons. First, he is ready to go home and second, I developed a rapport with the group over there this weekend. If I go there, I will have as much fun as here.
Another day, another disappointment. Two days ago, we finally saw some of our birds eating again. MB was sitting on a mobile platform eating from the quail we placed for any that would eat. We also saw two other of our birds eating bugs on their own. This means, they are surviving, albeit not as nutritious since quail are better for their growth. This lasted for about a day and a half. Yesterday, the older pair became a problem again. They began hanging out at Deep Well, making it difficult for MB to get to the quail. The other two falcons we were keeping tabs on moved and we haven’t been able to locate them. We keep trying to feed them quail but they don’t seem to have any interest in it.
All of this has greatly changed our daily activities. Before we simply sat and watched the falcons from our blind at the site but now we have to spend all day hunting for falcons. That means lots of driving around and looking through binoculars for a chance to see just one of our birds. By lunch today, I drove over 60 miles expressing my hopes to see one of the falcons. I only saw one of our birds, but I did see lots of other wildlife, including a golden eagle. I also got up close to a herd of buffalo. Those experiences were great and I would love to see them all when I wasn’t so stressed about finding Aplomado falcons.
Jason and I are also changing our schedule around since I asked for Friday morning off. Two weeks of five AM mornings every day got to be too much and he was agreeable to giving me one off. He liked it so much, he requested we alternate mornings. This will be more stressful to me but I’m sure I can manage.
Recently, I have noticed a problem which I thought would only be minor is becoming more serious. The roads we are on and the weather is being extremely harsh on all of our vehicles. I had to get one tire repaired twice in less than a week. I’ve also noticed some random noises from my truck. All the other technicians (as we are officially titled) have stressed doubts about the condition of their vehicles after the completion of this site.
As of now, I don’t know anything about what will happen to me. I keep hoping something will be decided and they will let us know but our boss is being close-lipped.
August 5th
This project seems to be getting worse and worse for our site. Initially, it was easy with just sitting and watching the falcons all day. Then, those damn older falcons moved in and it has just been downhill ever since. The most recent change came down yesterday. We are no longer to drive around looking for birds. Our boss wants us to spend all day at the site in the vague hope that at least one of our fledglings will attempt to enter the site to get at the quail. He also had us change to one person each day helping at the other site so that they can have help keeping track of their 31 falcons.
Today was my turn at the other site. After sitting yesterday without seeing any fledglings, I was hoping to see lots of them today. Most of the time, they have been seeing ten or more of the fledglings often. They also commented last night about how much the first release birds are more developed than the more recent releases. I was hoping to see this as well. As it turned out, I saw six falcons… I think I might just be cursed… Although, the person who came on after me said that six was the midday norm so perhaps I will get lucky another time.
I tried to find out more about what is going to happen with our hacksite with little progress. Our boss told us to start the report which is a very ominous sign. He also said that there is a chance that one of us will be moving to another site in order to make up for other personnel who have to leave early. I hope to be moved soon as our current activities are quite boring….
August 11th
It has been an interesting last couple of days. On Friday, I worked the morning shift and was then going to go into town but I got a phone call from our boss. It seems that another site had a technician who needed a couple of days off. He wanted either my partner or myself to go over there and help for the weekend. Well, my partner can’t drive company vehicles so I was nominated. White Sands (the other site) is over 20 miles from the bunkhouse where they are staying which means they get to drive a company vehicle. So the last two days, I have been over there, just outside the missile testing range.
It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a couple of cool guys. One of them is a falconer who decided to save money by hunting for rabbits in his spare time. He’s only been doing it for a two or three weeks and already has nearly 50 of the critters…. The other guy was on his second year with the release. Both of them were very informative and I hope to move over to that site this weekend.
This leads me to what’s going on with this site. Right now, we are nearly done with all we have to do for reporting but we have not yet found out what is going on with either of us. One of the guys at White Sands is leaving Friday but they would appreciate having a third person. Our boss says he might send one of us home already or my partner might be moved to west Texas. I think my partner is thinking that I would be the better choice for White Sands as well for two reasons. First, he is ready to go home and second, I developed a rapport with the group over there this weekend. If I go there, I will have as much fun as here.