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.