Two Week Check-in

Shadow has been with us now for two weeks so here's his two week report card.

• Cuteness A+
• Awesomeness A-
• Bonding A

Just a week ago he was failing in all but cuteness. But really, what kestrel would fail in cuteness? It's pretty much impossible. Seriously, just 2 days ago I was complaining to my sponsor about how nervous Shadow is and that he wasn't showing much progress.

This new guy is still really jumpy after 11 days. He still opens his mouth at me when I approach. I caught him at 115 and he's down to 93 and still that way. I've got him hopping 7-8 feet to the fist from a 6' perch but if he's lower to the ground he just gets all nervous and won't do much.

Another interesting difference in him is he doesn't stay on the perch in the mew but instead I find him laying on his breast on the floor each morning and night. Like he's in his nest or scrape. He won't stand and hop up to the fist either. I have to nudge and bump him toward a standing position until he just bates away and I have to reel him in upside down and flip him back upon the glove. Each bird is its own personality I guess.

The very next morning after I sent that email, Shadow proved me wrong on all counts. I went to get him and he stood up and I asked him to hop up and he didn't fly off. I held him up to transfer him from the perch leash to the glove leash and he didn't open his mouth at me. Big improvements overnight! Weird thing about his hop up. The other birds I would press my finger against the front of their legs or belly and they'd hop up. He won't do it unless I press against the back of his legs. Go figure.

I still hadn't finished up his new mews yet with carpeting, lights, and built-in perches so on the way home today I stopped at Home Depot and grabbed the last of what I needed. Turns out I should have taken him with me. He is SO into power tools. When I got home I took him out of the mews and set him on the garage floor on a perch. He watched me and followed what I was doing the whole time, not spooking when I walked over or around him. I got the carpeting cut and put it in and then set him inside with the light on while I finished up the rest of the work. He was so curious about everything I was doing it was hilarious.

Shadow Fang prefers Craftsman

Supervising the installation of his home plate

I was putting in a couple of screws from the outside of the mews and he would hop over to that side of it to see what it was. When I reappeared at the door he hopped back over to the door to watch. I had to set my drill down at one point and he was right where I wanted to put it. I put it down right in front of him and he just sat there and then hopped up on top of it. He just wanted to watch everything I was doing. I was grabbing drill bits and screws out from under him and he didn't open his mouth or fly off, just watched. He got to see close up and in action the drill, jig saw, and miter saw with all their noise. Not a flutter out of him. So now he has a  kestrel condo and he's living large. Well, at least fluffy. The dang bird has man boobs like none other after he finishes a meal.

New bed

Man boobs!

Let's talk about meals now. After all that man work in the garage he had a healthy appetite. I set him on his indoor perch and put him on a long leash and doubled the distance that he last had flown to me to about 15 feet. He came first time, no hesitation. Wow! He was solid at that distance so I tried him on the lure on the floor and he wasn't too excited about going to the floor. He would look back and forth between me and the lure and eventually he flew toward me instead and since my hand wasn't raised he aimed for my head. At the last second he veered off and flew up to a high shelf in the kitchen. So we need to work on him hitting the lure on the ground. I put the lure away and increased my distance from him to 25 feet or so and he came after some hesitation, but he really improved in his reactions tonight. Very proud of the little guy and glad he's finally able to work into his new situation. He was just so floored for so long I was getting a little worried and disappointed. But now he's got his bottle of awesome sauce and is pouring it on everything.

I dub thee ... Shadow Fang!

I know it's geeky and weird but so am I. And it was my daughter's idea anyway. He'll go by Shadow for short. I'll just pull out Shadow Fang for drama or when he's in big trouble.

So, Shadow has been a real booger about eating. I caught him Saturday afternoon and between then and now he's only eaten one small mouse. He ate that when I left it for him in the mews when I left for work. So though he got some nutrition and all, it did nothing for getting him to trust me. That was Monday and he ate nothing yesterday and nothing today on the first attempt. After leaving him in the house while we went off to a family activity we came back and I tried again. He wouldn't take food still either on the glove or in tweezers. I finally picked up the tweezers in my gloved hand and offered it to him and he took it immediately. *blink-blink* Ok. I did it again and he snarfed it. So I switched the tweezers to my bare hand and he still horked it. After a few pieces that way I tossed the tweezers and used my bare fingers and he didn't hesitate at all (nor did he mistake my fingers for food or bite them out of spite). After finishing off all the tidbits from my fingers I had the south end of a north going mouse leftover and gave him that to finish off on his own. He went to town on it and puffed up quite a bit; the most he has poofed since I caught him. Yay! It shows he's relaxing a little more. I put him to bed 11 grams heavier than this afternoon when I weighed him and I'm hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow.

A New Start

I had been trapping for a month off and on and only caught one bird a couple of weeks ago. It was a haggard tiercel kestrel so I let him go. Yesterday I took my daughter to work and as usual I brought a mouse along for the ride. My brother-in-law was with me too. He was with me when I trapped Hazel. It turns out he's something of a good luck charm. We drove for about 20 minutes only seeing 2 birds, neither in a position where we could get a trap under them. Then my bro-in-law spotted this guy. He was on a pole about 50 yards from the road and we set the trap down in an area of bare dirt. He flew down immediately after we drove off and went straight to the trap and landed on the ground. None of this fluttering fly by or perch nearby business. He walked around the trap, kicked the tires, stood and looked at the thing for a bit, and then got up on top. He was on and off it several times but was very calm about it so didn't get snagged. I was going nuts hoping he'd get his foot in a loop soon. Finally he got his foot stuck in one loop (only one!). We got lucky!

He weighed 105g this morning after casting so he's a bit smaller than my other birds but I'm optimistic about him. I think he"ll do fine. You see, earlier in the day I was in that same area and saw a male kestrel trying to catch a sparrow and was also chasing starlings and doves. So it might be the same bird.

After getting him home, jessed, and dusted for parasites I began to try and get him to sit on the glove. He caught on (no pun intended) almost immediately and within five minutes he was returning to the glove after a bate. Wow! Hazel took two hours to just stand on the glove and Baron was at least 30 minutes. Already I can touch his wings and feet without him flying off.