I've been asked this question several times now so I thought I'd write my thoughts here.
"Are there differences in this passage bird versus other falcons flown at snipe?"
Well, I am very early into my season so I don't feel comfortable making much of a comparison at this point but I do have a few initial observations.
The first, obvious, fact is that Doc has caught snipe quicker than any other bird I've flown. I caught him on Oct 11th, he was free flying on Nov 2nd and caught his first snipe on Dec 6th and has gone on to catch two more this week.
By comparison my best Barbary was obtained in June and didn't catch the first snipe until Nov and not another until Jan.
Doc, as I would have expected from a passage bird, has very good flight skills. He's powerful on the wing and has a natural tendency to stay upwind of me waiting for a flush.
When a snipe flushes there is NO hesitation, he comes down fast and determined. The tail chase he had a few days ago was nothing short of amazing. My Barbary's have tailed snipe and pushed them a few hundred feet up and forced them back to the ground to catch them but Doc's chase seemed to go on forever and he was at least 500' up, truly amazing.
His manners are still wonderful, he hoods well and has not tried to carry.
PASSAGE BIRDS FOREVER!!!!!
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