Best Day Yet

I took the Baron out to the nearby fields with my sponsor and a seeled starling. It could still see light and when it was released it flew straight toward the sun which was at a low angle and in the wrong direction. In that direction were horse corrals and houses. My bird sat and watched it fly off for maybe 10 seconds and I wondered whether he would go but he finally launched. By that time the starling had a 40 yard head start and was released about 10 yards from us. But the Baron flew it down and bound to it in the air about 10 feet up and they landed in the middle of the ooey-gooey horse corral about 100 yards away. The horses didn't like all the flapping and screaming from the starling so they moved to the far side and watched. I slipped and slid through the muck and recovered the Baron and his catch. He did mantle and made one hop away from me with the starling but when I came around to the front of him he settled down and let me help him.

Lessons learned:

1. Approach the bird on his prey from the front.
2. Release a prey bird further away from the buildings.
3. The Baron will work for his food.

My sponsor said the Baron did very well except for the waiting part at the start. He said I should bring his weight down a little while doing these first training flights to make sure he's sharp and to be able to train the right behavior. I had him at 108g and we will try him again on Monday at 105g. Then it's back to work for me and dark evenings for another month or so. :( It's been great to have this last week and a half of day time to work with the Baron.

I had told my sponsor of the flock of starlings I mentioned that he bated at in my last post and he was very surprised that they were so far away and that he was so keen to get at them. That got my sponsor thinking and he suggested we try training him on flocks of starlings like he would a merlin. He has been a falconer longer than I've been alive and he knows merlins very well. We'll see how gamey this little kestrel is and if he'll go for that sort of hunt. I'm game for training him to do whatever. I mean really, car hawking isn't in the repertoire of a normal kestrel so why not ringing flights on flocks of birds? Sure, a kestrel may not have the speed, but if he has the smarts to approach them correctly, he just might be able to cut out a bird from the flock. I'm excited to see what we can get this bird to do with my sponsor's knowledgeable help.

Flying Free

I took the Baron out this morning at 103.7g and was going to find a starling slip for his first free flight; something that would keep him focused. We drove all over and found nothing on the ground though he sure was interested in lots of things he saw through the window. A flock of starlings was zig-zagging over a field about 100 yards away and he bated toward the window. Good eye, boy!

We went home and I unleashed him in the back yard and he flew to me and the lure for his tidbits with no problem at all. Quick response every time. Later on in the day I took him out at 105.5g and he responded just as well. I'll keep moving his weight up and see where the breaking point is.

The starling trap was seeded with 5-6 yesterday afternoon and this morning there were at least 12 in it. Yay!

I finished the giant hood today and I think it'll hold up fairly well.

I also went out with my sponsor to help him flush ducks for his gyr/peregrine. He made 3 stoops but no catches. Those ducks are quick and smart. It was great to see his bird do its thing, though it was a little freaky to have a falcon zoom 5 feet away from my head toward its quarry.

Train the Trainer

You've heard of the blind leading the blind? Yeah, that's me training my kestrel.

The last few days were very discouraging with the Baron. I was trying to get him to respond to me outdoors but he wasn't very consistent and he wasn't doing well at ALL if he was on a perch higher than my head. Luckily I have a sponsor to train me how to train my bird. After getting online and whining to a fellow falconer and getting some spot on advice, I was able to get a hold of my sponsor who gave this advice. Don't worry too much about operant conditioning and all the psychology stuff. Just show the bird the food, get it on your glove, end of story. I was trying to get the bird to come to me without showing him food, then giving him food. He says that for larger birds that need more exercising with jump ups etc. you'd want an OC trained bird so you don't have to feed them so much to get in the amount of exercises they need. But with a little kestrel they get in enough exercise with regular hunting and feeding games and they rely more on ambush than speed of flight anyway.

So I took the Baron out this morning and had him responding immediately to food on the glove til I fed him 5 grams. This was in tiny tidbits about the size of a pea or smaller. It was such a relief to see him respond so well and to allow myself to accept this method of working with him. My expectations from reading what others had done were way too high. Were they possible to achieve? Sure, people have. Possible for a beginner like me? I guess not. :) And the "old fashioned" way works just as well.

Sigh of relief. My faith in myself and the Baron has been restored. Let's get some starlings!

I'm taking him off the creance outside tomorrow. Yeah. Pretty scary. But get this. Tonight I took his 5 grams of tiny bites outside and within 20 minutes he had gone through them flying back and forth across the yard. I have a couple of 7 foot, 3 inch diameter bean poles in the garden and he loves to perch on one of those. I go across the yard about 50 feet and just call his name and raise the glove and zoom he comes over, grabs the food, looks for more, then I toss him up in the air and he flies back to the pole. Immediate response every time. It was beautiful and one of my falconry highlights to date. <3

A few more things. One, I cut out the pieces for a giant hood today so I can take him to work and fly him at lunch break. We'll see how the weather does, though, it's supposed to hit 50 by Friday! I'm guessing that would be too hot in the car if not in the shade. I'll have to bring a thermometer with me and experiment and check it out.

I took the Baron out to the fields nearby to work with him and got a good first flight from a fence post. Then he just sat there and wouldn't come. I was facing toward the sun (luckily) and saw a shadow flit past near my feet. I looked up and saw a male kestrel flying around us in circles, checking us out. After a minute the wild kestrel screamed his alarm call and kept it up. I thought, boy, he's a cranky one yelling at my boy like that. But just then I saw another larger shadow go past my feet. I looked up and saw a Marsh hawk (Northern Harrier) flying by about 200 feet up. The wild kestrel took off after it to chase it away while the Baron flew in the opposite direction only to be pulled up short by the creance in the weeds. I got to him quickly and stood by him while the hawk flew off. Thank goodness for Mr. Cranky Pants kestrel that saved my bird. He was definitely a good luck bird and when I get to the point of trapping again, my next male will be called Lucky in his honor.

Lastly I spoke with "the starling guy" when he brought out my baggies and he has a couple of extra traps sitting around doing nothing. He said he'd rather they get used than sit there so I met him this morning and we put one up at a local dairy. He gets 80-100 starlings a day some days in the winter time. We'll see how well it works. But hey, it's free food for the Baron and I didn't have to build the trap. It's a humdinger of a trap, I tell ya. Very ingenious design. What a great guy to loan it out when he makes money on the starlings he catches. Chalk up another point for the Utah falconry community.

Bird food

Two days ago I thawed out a starling and set it up in the kitchen on the floor so it looked fairly convincing. Then I brought in the Baron with no leash and let him have a look at it from about 7 feet away. After his usual glance around the room to make sure nothing was going to get him, he launched at the starling and landed right on it and started plucking and going for the eyes to break in to the food. This tells me one important thing: he knows that starlings are made out of meat. Yay! I don't have to teach him that it's food. I was able to pull a leg from the starling and trade him the visible meat for the feathered bird. I did the same thing last night to increase the distance and improve on my trading off technique. I think we both did well.

I'm getting some pretty good mileage out of the starlings with him eating everything but the intestinal tract, beak, lower legs, and major skeletal structure. The skull is fairly thin and digests well so he eats most of it and of course what's inside it, and the neck, all without much casting the next day. I'm no dietician but I would imagine that amount of digestible bone would be giving him some nutrients that the meat alone wouldn't give.

Today I took delivery of 5 live starlings from a local falconer that has a few traps around the area. The live birds (commonly referred to as bagged game or baggies) are used to train the Baron on how to tackle a live and kicking starling. They are a little more active than the freshly thawed birds. I set one up in the back yard tethered to a weight where it would be out of sight from the back door. I then brought the Baron out on the creance on my glove and kept him from viewing the starling. When we were in position I turned around and let him see the prey. He looked around a bit and made sure nothing was going to get him and within 30 seconds he launched. The starling leaped up to fly away but of course was tethered. But even with all that wing flapping and frantic behavior, the Baron made a good grab and got the bird on its back with one foot on the chest and another on the neck. I quickly made in and held the starling still while the Baron tried to do a number on it, biting at the neck and eyes. The prey was quickly dispatched and the Baron got up on my glove to take a leg in trade for the rest of the carcass.

I do believe I have me a ready-made starling hunter. :0)

Braiding

The Baron has a taste for leather. Not in some kinky way, mind you, he just likes to chew on his jesses; constantly. I even bought some "Thum" stuff you paint on your kids' thumb or fingers to prevent them from biting nails or sucking thumbs. It didn't bother him at all on the leather. He did try to bite the brush and it got wiped through his mouth and he did a cartoon head shake and smacked his lips a little after that. But then he went right back to the Thum-coated jess buttons.

I have seen people use braided jesses made from synthetic fibers that seem to be more durable. Some people even use clothes buttons rather than tying a knot button. My problem is I have no idea how to braid and the internet is so big, I didn't know where to start. So I consulted my small circle of friendly falconers and found that Sandie (another DIY-on-the-cheap falconer like myself) knows how to braid stuff. *high-five* She emailed me copious quantities of instructional commodities which were very useful in teaching me how to get done what I needed. I was really surprised to be able to turn out very serviceable, though neon yellow, jesses in just 30 minutes including learning and false starts.

I have this spool of 500ft of neon yellow nylon mason line from Home Depot. I use it for everything: leashes, lure line, creance (it's on a reel and has a handle to wind it up), and now jesses. I think it's #18 line and when I measure the width it's about 1/16" wide. I think it was rated at 150lb breaking point, and though this kestrel is massive and manly, I don't think he'll be breaking this line any time soon.

I got the new jesses on him and he's tried to pull at the buttons but they're metal and flat rounded so he can't get much of a grip on them. (ha-ha sucka!) I'll keep watch on the braided parts and see if they fray or wear from his biting but I'm thinking they'll do fine. As I'm writing this I'm noticing that he's just sitting quietly on his perch where normally he'd be chewing and jerking on his buttons like crazy.

Going the Distance

This last weekend I left work early on Friday to have some light outside before dark and took the Baron out to the nearby field to work with him in the daylight outdoors. It was our first time doing that. I need to boost his (and my) confidence in working outdoors. The field didn't go too well. There were too many weeds catching up the creance (training leash). But it was a start. Saturday I stayed in the back yard with him and let him soak up the sun for an hour while having him fly to me now and then. He was rather distracted but didn't do too bad. He did try to fly off a few times though. Sunday we went out to the yard after church and I had him flying about 55 feet to me rather immediately at 105 grams. Not shabby at all. I was still rewarding him after each flight or two, so he stopped flying to me after 5 successes.

I spoke with my sponsor and another falconer friend about how to keep him coming after 4-5 successes and they said to vary the reward he gets so he doesn't get rewarded each time. This will keep him from filling up and being done. So I thought about it and yesterday I just exercised him by calling him to me and gave him no food. He did wonderfully! He flew right to me immediately each time I raised my glove. And his weight was higher than normal (108.8g), so he's doing great! After thirty minutes of that I let him eat the demon mouse. He really got defensive over it at first, he knew it was his usual prey and he was keeping it away from anybody. But I just sat on the floor with him and touched his feet and wings now and then and he kept his wings folded rather than spreading them out protectively (mantling). He only spread his tail a little and now and then would turn his back to me to eat in peace. I picked him up on the glove now and then while he ate so he knew I wouldn't steal his food.

Tonight I gave him the same program. Long flights indoors to me with no food reward and I did it without the creance. So basically he was flying free but for the house containing him. Then I fed him his daily meal from the lure in 6-7 rounds. I would throw the lure within 5 feet of him and he'd fly to it and eat the food. If the meat didn't come right off the lure I would walk up and pick him up with it so he gets used to being picked up with what he catches. The last couple of bites on the lure I made him grab the lure as I swung it past him. Once he grabbed it with his foot from the perch, the other time he jumped to it as it was near the ground. I think he's coming along nicely.

I need to build his giant hood so I can take him to work with me and work outdoors with him at lunch time. I'm afraid that just going outdoors on weekends won't be enough to get him past the distractions and focus on me.

Lastly, I got video of Baron von Cuteness preening. It was the first time I saw him do it.

More training

The Baron is taming down very nicely but he's not moving along in some parts of his training as much as I'd like. He will let you touch him on his legs, feet, belly, chest, and beak. But don't try to touch his wings or back. He won't try to bite very often but he turns circles to avoid being touched and then will just fly off to get away from it if you insist. But normally he's just a fat puffball of a bird and fairly content to sit on his perch and rip at his jesses like mad.

I have taught him to tolerate the hood a little better. I put a piece of food in the hood and he ducks his head in to grab it and eats it. Then I (try to) put the hood on him and he doesn't fight it as much as he did initially; doesn't bite it, just tries to avoid it. If I miss, I put the food in again and give it another go. When I get it on him I don't tighten it up. I just leave it on a couple of seconds, tell him Good and take it off and hand feed him another tidbit. Did that 4-5 times in a row and it went easier and easier each time.

Today I got him used to a couple of new things. From day one I've been feeding him cut up bits of meat. It helps me to know how much nutritious food he eats versus filler (skin, feathers, bone, etc.). I have been trying to get him to eat a starling head for a few days now because I want him to get back to grabbing onto his food with his feet and taking bites of it, just like he was doing before we met. Not that I'm going to feed him that way often, but I want him to keep his natural eating method and not just expect to be hand fed tidbits every time. The other reason is that he's probably just been eating mice and grasshoppers all summer and may not "know" that birds are food. Today he finally latched on to the head and got the hang of it and gave his beak and neck muscles a good workout; one of the other benefits. Letting them work on tougher bits of food helps keep their beak, neck, and back in good shape. It's kind of like giving a dog a bone to occupy them but without over feeding. It's called a tiring.

The other new thing he finally caught on to was eating off the lure. I've been calling him to the glove each feeding and the last couple of days have put the lure on the glove with meat on the glove. Then moving to meat attached to the lure held out on the glove, and finally tonight I put meat on the lure and laid it on the ground just under his perch. He jumped down and ate from the lure, grabbing it in his talons and ripping at the meat just like he did the tiring earlier.

The one thing he's not doing so hot on is coming very far to me. The furthest I've gotten him to fly to me is about 6 feet. And after 3-4 flights he quits. It's kind of frustrating because I'm using feeding time to train him to fly to me and after 4 bites, he still has a ways to go on his meal. But I can't cave in and move closer just so he'll eat or he'll end up training me. I called my sponsor and asked what to do and he said after he eats that little bit he may be full enough to feel fairly independent and to just stop at that point and feed him up or find other things to have him learn while he's eating. Like eating from the lure, getting used to the hood; anything I can reward him for.

Lastly, he finally found his voice. I was hooking him to the perch today and was having a little trouble attaching the clip to the jesses. One of the jesses was free and the other I was trying to clip. He realized the one foot was free and was trying to pull the other away but it was held tight in my fingers. The mismatch kinda threw him off and he was really upset about it and he let us know with a high pitched call. Later in the day Bella (the dog) walked up to sniff at him and she was being very brave to do so because she's terrified of him. The Baron wanted none of it and let her know with his alarm call again.