I had thought to quit writing in the Blog for a while since my falconry is over for the year, but then I realized that Tami is just starting hers. So I asked her this evening if she minded documenting the progress of her little Kestrel. I suppose that some of you are interested in the progression from wild Hawk to one that hunts.
Of course the first part is missing, where Tami and the kids are manning this little guy. That is taming him to the hand and getting him used to humans. A lot of that is done by walking with the bird before any of the lessons and of course as a lesson in its self.
Of course a little one on one with your son isn't that bad of a deal either. The first thing required is to get a handle on how to maintain your birds weight at a level that is safe for him but one that he will still be responsive. That isn't too hard a task with a bird the size of a Harris Hawk, but with a bird that weighs in at 104 grams it can get a little dicey. With a Harris the normal reduction in weight can be as much as an ounce ( 28.5 grams) With a Kestrel 2 grams is more like it. A lot easier said than done.
One of the factors that slow the training process with a bird that weighs 104 grams is that they sometimes need to be fed twice a day. Sounds as though that might speed things up, but actually it hinders progress more often than not. Orrin seems to lose about 5 to 8 grams from morning to evening feeding. So of course you can't feed him more than that or he doesn't respond well, and a piece of food the size of your thumb nail will take the edge off his appetite like you wouldn't believe.
Orrin actually has a fairly slow metabolism, one that we think will allow us to feed him only once a day. Of course each change in amount of food as well as the type, all take one day to get an idea of what is happening. ( different types of meat have different food values that can make substantial changes in one so small.)
Tami fed him enough food last night, with a mouse as the main part of his meal, that he weighed 123.5 grams at the end of his session. Today at 4:30 PM he weighed 104 grams. He does respond at that weight, but not as he should. We think that he should be closer to 102 grams. She will feed him to 121 or so tonight with the main part of his meal being a sparrow. We will see what tomorrow brings. She may have to give him a little tidbit tomorrow morning to adjust for the difference in food value.
We are flying him on a creance now, and so far he is good for about 25 feet, but he is busy looking every where else, so his response is not what it should be.
At the end of the lessons Tami tosses the lure for him and he responds quite well.
Not quite slamming into it, more selective, but not surprising for one that pounces on Mice heads from the tops of poles.
Hopefully we will get his weight down a bit more tomorrow, and he will start to be more attentive.
The end of the day.
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So glad you're documenting!
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