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)