American Kestrels

[f3tti]

alrighty, so nevermind, i found it, on idaho's bureau of land management website...

"The American kestrel is not long-lived. The oldest banded wild bird was 11 years and seven months old while a captive lived 14 years. A mortality rate average of 57 percent was found. First year mortality rates have declined since 1945 with a decrease in shooting. Major causes of death include collision with traffic, illegal shooting, and predation by other raptors, including the red-tailed hawk, Northern goshawk, Cooper's hawk, peregrine falcon, barn owl, and great horned owl."
www.birdsofprey.blm.gov/amkest.htm

[jobbyjob]

Well, since this thread is about this little falcon I might as well share some practical info on them. These guys are small, wary but not hyper. They like open spaces. They dislike having anything overhead (turkey vultures, red tails, ect.) They tend to get fussy over food so make them eat with you right in their face....it helps. They tame easy and are hard to enter but when you do they hunt hard, they are little and need the calories. Dont drop their weight a lot unless you know what youre doing, they will come around quick most of the time. These are the coolest birds in falconry to me. They nest in cavities and that is what limits their population. They can be driven out of a nest box by a starling! They are a great bird to hunt in windy areas because they have a tendancy to hover in windy situations. It makes it easy to stay close and get front row seats if she strays. There is a lot more to say about these little rubies but I'll stop for now.

[riley]

Im in my first year of falconry. im going to use a red tail this year and a kestrel next year. eventually i want a euopean kestrel.

[Minca]

A nature center up in Oregon recently lost a male kestrel at 16 years old. Since age tends to be somewhat related to size, I would expect a well kept kestrel to live about as long as, say, a cockatiel.
On the flip side, they are a real fun bird for falconry, but discouraged for most. There's a fine line between their hardy side and their fragile side, and they can be tough little buggers.

[travis]

I loved mine last year got a few sparrows and 137 mice. I had a good time, 3-4 mice a day sometimes.

[demarest]

how often should they be flown? i know to some extent it depends on the individual (bird), so on average.

[Riker]

i think all birds no matter what kind should be flown 3-4 times a week if not more. i don't like the idea of "weekend Hawkers". so thats what i think

[demarest]

if anyone still is paying attention to this thread, do you think a kestrel could take a pack rat? i'm sure they could, but i mean practically. like could you hunt packrat consistantly with a large female?

[Minca]

I had talked with an old Master up in Washington who had imprinted a pair of kestrels (either two males or male/female, can't remember). He said they were extremely gamey and very fun until one of them bound to a ground squirrel and it killed the bird. A week later the other did the exact same thing and was killed. Rodents are capable of alot of damage. The warnings you hear about squirrel hawking for RT's has a reason. I had a male kestrel that, at a flying weight of 88g caught a 110g common grackle roost hawking. I'm sure if I hadn't hadn't gotten to him as soon as I did to help, it could have become a very bad experience for him.
I wouldn't suggest hawking rats with a kestrel, they just don't have the footing ability for that kind of game. Rats are much more aggressive than the mice that kestrels normally hunt, and are capable of twisting around inside their skin in order to position themselves to bite, and a kestrels toes wouldn't hold up to that. IF rats were as passive as mice, it could be like an RT on bunnies, but that's just not how it is.
Not to mention, I can't imagine it being a very cool flight.

[tomtoo]

Hello, I am a Chinese. I also like hawk, I relatively I like peregrine falcon, his top speeds of 389 KM/H.