Thursday, July 29, 2010

Little Joe still AWOL







Hello,



Our Broad-winged Hawk, Little Joe, is still roaming the Huntsville, Alabama area near Three Caves at the Base of Monte Sano Mountain. Originally lost five weeks ago, he was spotted last week in the neighborhood around Cleermont, Fagan Springs, Waller, Watt and Desoto Roads. He was also seen near the Maple Hill Cemetery on July 26th. Little Joe was lost during our June 23rd presentation for the Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama http://landtrust-hsv.org/ . He was harassed by the local bird population for the rest of the day and was too spooked to fly down to us. I (John) returned the next day and located him where he had roosted. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays and Robins were still after him and after two hours, I lost sight of him. He is wearing his leather jesse straps, an ID tag, and a bell, but not a transmitter, which would have helped us find him. The local Huntsville media has been great at helping us spread the word. After several weeks of sporadic sighting, several residents of the neighborhood saw him and Hallie Davenport of the Land Trust got within 5-10 feet of him. I went to Huntsville after our last show on Saturday and searched the area until dark. After a search all day Sunday (Dale joined me in the afternoon) revealed nothing, we had to abandon our efforts at dark. He is still in the vicinity and we hope to be able to get close enough to entice him with a savory rat or mouse. If you see Little Joe, call us at 423-605-8908 or 423-605-8917. Thanks to everyone who has helped us so far!


John (and Dale)


p.s. special thanks to Falconer Curt Cearley who has been running down all the possible sightings!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We may have spotted your bird at 5028 Somerby Dr SE, Huntsville, AL 35802. A large bird with powerful legs and talons was in our back yard eating a smaller bird. It was harraed by Mockingbirds and other birds. This has happened 2 ors 3 times. We tentatively identified the bird as a Peregrine Falcon, but may have been Little Joe.We have photos if we can find. Call or email for further info. (It is difficult for me to type - Parkinson's. TJH