Thanks for all your interest and patiance about the status of your entries. My computer started having issues than it crashed. Still recovering. Training will begin around the 9/15 give or take a day. Stay tuned. Mike
9/15 .This is the hardest thing I ever have to write. On Saturday 9/11 about 45 State Entries have gone missing. I have stressed over this for days. This is what I know. At 7:00 am I opened the outgoing traps to let the birds out. About 8:10, I went out and chased everyone out of the loft and off the board to get them up to fly. A group of about 70 was routing off to the NE and most of the others flying around the loft. I went about taking care of my birds. Later in the day about 1:00 I went out to put out bath pans, before the club came over for clock reading. As I was doing this, some birds that are easyly recognizable, I didn't see around,, so I started to look around, didn't see them and guys started to show up for clock reading. About 6:00 I went out and fed and I noticed when I got to the last section there wasn't the number of birds that normally follow me around my feet and a flighty bird caught my eye. It was a stray, and it turned out to be a bird from Visalia. On the roof was another bird that wasn't mine, that I never got close enough to to see where it was from. Then that evening, Dan and I went to the Delta Classic shipping. There, I found out North Road Combine (Fresno) released near the convention hotel at 7:00 and 7:30 no where near where my birds are??? Also while discussing this, I found out Tim and Carl trained the AGN and Showcase birds that morning at 7:10 (200 Birds) and 7:25.(600 Birds) from Elk Grove. It takes my birds about 45 min from Elk Grove and that puts those birds in my area about the time my birds were out and that small group routing. I spoke with Tim, he did have 1 stray but it was a Fresno bird not one of mine. So I don't know what the heck happened, I can only assume. I was out with the birds until 1:30am going through birds stressing out. 2 birds were waiting to get in on Sunday morning and another came about 9:15 looking like it had flown 100 miles. Training will start on Friday, I will be going slow with this group, they have not routed to my expectations to go to fast. Thanks Mike
9/17 The birds went on their first toss did okay, they will go every day through the 22nd progressing in small increments. I have to update the Inventory list showing the birds I started with training today. I will start clocking them later next week when they get about 12-15M. Mike
9/20 The birds had rough toss today from about 10 miiles about 18 missing. Saturday and Sunday the birds did very well and today was totally the opposite. Mickey said they left well heading South shouldn't miss home. Only 10 birds home when he got back with the training trailer. This happen like only 3-5 times all of last year. I have to check all the birds out and update the current birds. I am working on a report that is easy for me to update to keep track of the birds. I am working on that now. Thanks Mike
9/26 The birds completed their 9th toss today about 27miles. The birds are released in 3 groups about 15 minutes apart, that is why you will see seperation of time in the report. The 9/26 toss is accurate with all the current birds in training. I have some injuries and I had to replace some rings on birds that were here, but not showing on the 9/22 and 9/25 toss. I don't have a report for 9/24, Loft lost power before the birds arrived. The birds are coming very well right now. They will be going about 35 miles on 9/27. Thanks Mike
9/29 The birds trained Monday and Tuesday from Twin Cities with an off day Wednesday.(They had been trained 5 consecutive days.They were scheduled to go on Thursday, but Dan Welch/Shasta Classic is releasing from Manteca on Thursday and their flight pattern should be very close to they directions these birds would be coming in from and I did't want a release after 8:30 with the current heat wave we are in, so I am avoiding the possiblity of the birds coming into contact with each other. They will going to Elk Grove Friday and Saturday. The 9/27 toss I was home, so I had Mickey release the whole team at once to see the status of all the birds against each other. You could see the results for yourself 114 birds clocked in the first 60 sec. 9/28 toss they were broken down into the 3 groups with 15 minutes in between releases. There were no losses these 2 tosses. 9/27 the clock missed 1 bird and on 9/28 I left one bird home to recover from injury. You will see a couple of birds start reporting again as they are recovering from injuries and 1 not reporting due to an injury on 9/28 toss. If you want to ask me any question you can email me at mgonigan@msn.com. Thanks Mike
10/5 I have been very busy the last few days, and haven't put any updates here. The birds have been 40 miles 3 times 10/1, 10/2 and 10/4. The 10/1 and 10/4 toss the birds were very slow times from 1 hour to 1 and 40 minutes, but the 10/2 toss they were about 45-50 minutes (the correct time). Remember the seperation in arrival times is because they are released in 3 groups 15 minutes apart. The weather was partly cloudy the 3 tosses, so I don't know what is disturbing them. On 10/5 we dropped back to the 31 miles spot and they smoked home. These tosses that they take so long from are stressful to me, but the knowledge and wing time the birds get will only help them later. They will be going 53 miles on Thursday and released all together for only the second time. Thanks Mike
10/9 The birds went 53 miles the last days. Thursday and Saturday mass release, Friday 3 group release. The birds flew about an hour and 5 minutes each time. Today's toss was one of the most beautiful sites I have seen on a toss. About 118 birds came in one big ball and made a half cirlce and the clocking began. The first 111 birds in 23 SECONDS. 5 birds flew around a minute or so and 5 more birds joined them and left me at 123 of the 135 birds that went. The birds are off on Sunday and onto Woodland on Monday about 65 miles. Currently the birds are on the same time schedule is last years team. Thanks Mike
10/14 The 10/11 toss is from Woodland the birds did very well. On 10/13 we dropped back to 30M for a tune up for Woodland again on 10/14. They did well and they will be off to to Dunnigan for Saturday morning about 80M. Thanks Mike
10/16 Very nice toss today the birds worked and didn't lose a bird. 1 bird was removed since the last toss with a hurt wing. The birds showed no ill effects of the toss and they will be setup for a short toss then we go to 100M. Thanks Mike
10/20 Ths is the next toss since Saturday. The short toss was removed to adjust the schedule with the weather changes coming. Yesterday the birds went on the 100M toss from Williams. This was one of those, the good and the bad of training. The first drop was 62 birds in 31 seconds 2 hours flying time excellent time, then 4 minutes later 22 more than very few after that. 10 came together after 5 hours. There were 108 birds on the day and 8 the second day. Tosses like this are gut wrenching. The weather is going to be factor over they next week. I will be fitting in tosses as the weather permits. Thanks Mike
10/21 We got in a toss today from 53 miles before the weather comes in. Tosses will be completed as weather permits. Thanks Mike
10/ 26 Yesterday the birds were sent on a 30M toss to set up the toss today from Red Bluff 166M This is sooner than I wanted, but the weather pattern is not going to let me be flexible. I had pits in my stomach, if I made the correct decision to jump 60M. See the results!!! The birds performed terrific 109 birds beat the driver home. Those 109 birds within 11 mintutes. 3 hours and 10 minutes of wing time. 3 birds missing. This was the longest toss they will being going, but not the last. The will going another 3 tosses I hope, weather permitting. One of those will be between 60-80 miles depending on which day I get to go. Thanks Mike
10/30 IMPORTANT- Loft Lunch tickets will not be sold at the Loft site. They need to be purchased on Thursday night or Friday morning at the hotel. If you haven't registered for the dinners or want a Loft Lunch email Karen Silviera ASAP at SilverK58@aol.com The birds have not been on a toss since Tuesday, the weather is not cooperating. The birds are loft flying daily superbly. They will be trained probably 3 more times from Sunday to Wednesday. One will be between 60 to 80M to sharpen them up. Thanks Mike
11/2 The birds went 10/31 and today 11/2. The birds on Sunday from 53M, I feel didn't do very well. Mickey said they wouldn't leave and he watched them for 15 minutes. The speed was slow and gaps inbetween groups and several late and some out overnight, I left the clock running into the second day 11/1. Why they were confused I don't know. Maybe it was because it was Halloween..... They went today 80M from Dunnigan. They did well, I guess. What is really frustrating, over the last 2 tosses I have lost 3 birds that have been coming the whole time and yesterday I got 2 back from 10/19 toss, put them right back to see what happens and they came well. Go figure. They will go for a stretch tommorow 30M and they will ready for shipping night. MIke
Thanks very much for the encouragement and support over the last 2 years handling the race. It wasn't easy and the positive comments and support are always aprreciated. For the birds that need to be returned, I will probably be at all the events in Northern CA events auctions and shows in November and Dec. Let me know where the best place to bring the birds. PH 209-814-7002. Thanks again Mike
