If you find anything on this let us, well me know. I have loads of pics of lil K birds and only one or two is hooded. I saw Mat M. say that they are so small they have a hard time supporting the hood weight but I have no experience.......Yet!
Not this season but I might after I fly a RT. I am very interested in them. After my app is over I would like to fly a cast of merlins...so a K seems like a nice place to start, well I hope anyway.
Post by BlueTiercel on Sept 4, 2005 7:36:41 GMT -5
I will be flying kestrel as my first bird/birds. My sponsor who has flown merlins says that the kestrel is the natural choice before you fly a merlin. I cant imagine the kestrel would have trouble holding up a light kangaroo hide hood. I may not know what I am talking about but that sounds ridiculous. They have the strength to rip little animals into small pieces to eat them, why not have the strength to hold up a tiny little roo hood? I have heard they man down so well (merlins even tamer) that you usually don't need one, this is just something i read, though not sure of my sponsors view. Prolly safe to be able to hood any bird, and have a hood available in case of emergency.
Hello everyone I have always flown the little devils. A little about hooding them. They will take a hood but they get so tame it is not really a requirement. As for hooding after trapping I never have, I just put them in a shoebox until i get them home. I always train my kes to hood but i never end up actually hooding them while hunting. Been a micro-falconer for several years and I love the guys.
If Your future Kestrel is anything like my current Kestrel, It won't like a hood. Mine never needs it anyway. I built a perch and place it on the passenger seat with a towell under it. She rides in the car there without ever bating. She also sit's patiently when I take her to work for a 10 hour day. She seems to make a little noise at work now, because she knows I will feed her to keep her quiet. She now has control in that situation. Darn bird knows I can't have her squaking at work.
Anyway, I brought her home after trapping in a box, and we tried the hood a few times, but it was more trouble that it's worth. Without the hood she pays pretty good attention to what I'm doing, Manning, Training, Hunting, Working, Driving. You can tell I spend alot of time with my Kestrel.
I suggest alot of time over a hood. You'll get very little from a hooded kestrel as far as getting her used to people.
The only reason i am seriously considering hooding is a) getting the experience b) i want to be able to carry/tether my bird in the presence of large buteos(local hawking meets)without scale damage/excessive bating. in this circumstance, hawk box wouldn't work. good reasons? R.Demarest
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." - Thomas Jefferson
I went to a falconry meet in Utah this summer and they had two kestrels there. Both females, unhooded. Both were about 15-20 ft from a great horned owl among other falconry birds and completely calm. I don't know much about kestrels but I don't think that should be too much of a problem.
"Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the walker?"