The Job:

There are two basic aspects to our job as hack site attendants. First is the physical care of the falcons:food and water,and protection from scavengers and predators. The second is observation and record keeping about details of the falcon’s activities, feeding patterns, flights, hunting skills and behaviors, including contacts among themselves and with other species. They are observed through tiny peep-holes for 5-7 days while inside the hack box then from a distance for 6 weeks after release. And, about once a week, we host visiting biologists, professors, and other officials who visit the site to observe the project and the falcons. The job features periods of intense awareness and activity contrasting with waiting- for-something-to-happen-time bordering on stupor. Rain or shine!
The falcon’s physical care requires a lot of thinking about and handling frozen “feed quail” at a rate of .75 quail/falcon/day; not something I’ve really done much of... One must calculate the ever-changing food requirement - hard for the math challenged, thaw the quail and, for the first 2-3 weeks of each group’s arrival, inject them with an electrolyte solution then cut them in half for the young or pierce them whole; another new job skill. The quail are then carried up a 15’ ladder and attached to the tower with zip ties. This has a definite “yuck” factor but isn’t so difficult once you adjust to the schedules. (More on the Yuck factor later… bet you can’t wait!)
After the three intense 14-hour days following each group’s release when we were on-site dawn till dusk (some days reaching 110 in the shade) you can imagine our relief to change to the current split-day schedule… and it’s not a winner in its own right. We rise at 5:15AM, drive to the site, prep quail and get the tower set-up by 6:30-7. Returning to the shelter area, we set up scopes and observe the falcons taking notes until 10 or so when we return to the tower to remove leftover quail, clean, refill water pans, etc. Then we’re off site about 5 hours and, at 4:30, repeat the process all over again, packing it in at dusk when we, like the falcons, go to roost. Any personal business, photo work, writing, driving the 35 miles to town for groceries, etc. is done in that little window between feedings. For us oldies, it’s also nap time to preserve sanity and some degree of civility.
Sunrise and sunset are ever-changing kaleidoscopes as well as the coolest parts of the day when falcon and other wildlife are most active; our “happy times.” That still leaves about 4-5 hours “work.” This less-dynamic period of observation and record keeping has generally been my task. I find the nuances of falcon activities and interactions more interesting than Erv; probably related to my detail-oriented nursing background. He generally keeps us from getting sunstroke or stuck in the mud, damaging expensive optical equipment, falling off ladders, etc and, as you have seen, he concentrates on photography and has captured some great images. We are tiring of the routine but continue to learn volumes about ourselves as well as the falcons and the myriad life stories around them.