Butterfly Buddy
Orion is my 7yo Vizsla butterfly finding buddy. In this image, you see him waiting for my next command as we search the forest for Mourning Cloak butterflies. Orion is trained to respond to hand signals for field direction (a'la Delmar Smith's, silent command system ). On this day, we did not find any.
Yesterday (Easter Sunday, 27 March), we returned to find two, but they were flying and did not land. So no 'coming-out party' photos. When I warms-up in a few days, we'll try again.
Finally, yesterday in these woods, to my (and Orion's) surprise, he locked point on a mature male Wild Turkey. Just I turned to get a closer look, it flushed with a loud BOOM/SQUAWK. Imagine a 4 foot diameter ball of feathers shot out of a cannon as it turned on its afterburners, instantly clearing the tree-tops of this mature Oak/Maple forest and trimming its wings as it sail off to land safely in a distant Buckthorn thicket. I was caught totally off guard, so (again) no photos. Very impressive !
Butterfly Buddy
Orion is my 7yo Vizsla butterfly finding buddy. In this image, you see him waiting for my next command as we search the forest for Mourning Cloak butterflies. Orion is trained to respond to hand signals for field direction (a'la Delmar Smith's, silent command system ). On this day, we did not find any.
Yesterday (Easter Sunday, 27 March), we returned to find two, but they were flying and did not land. So no 'coming-out party' photos. When I warms-up in a few days, we'll try again.
Finally, yesterday in these woods, to my (and Orion's) surprise, he locked point on a mature male Wild Turkey. Just I turned to get a closer look, it flushed with a loud BOOM/SQUAWK. Imagine a 4 foot diameter ball of feathers shot out of a cannon as it turned on its afterburners, instantly clearing the tree-tops of this mature Oak/Maple forest and trimming its wings as it sail off to land safely in a distant Buckthorn thicket. I was caught totally off guard, so (again) no photos. Very impressive !