Car Rides.

[Strider]

When transporting your bird should your bird face the side of the car or the front. I read that they should face the side because its easier for them to keep there balance.

[Ooby]

you read right

have em face the side.

[Strider]

Ok cause I went to a falconry meet and everybody had them facing the front but I didnt want to say anything and look like a retard if I was wrong.

[rt]

The main thing is to drive slow.

[Ooby]

Bah, ive taken my bird down dirt roads at normal speed, bumping and banging around. They handle it fine.

The freeway is a breeze. Short of the first few times when she moved around a bit more than normal, my bird hasn't had a single problem driving in the car. Hell, my sponsors finish goshawk will go to sleep and tuck his head under his wing will driving.

[rt]

My bird sleeps in her giant hood too it calms birds right down.

[falconer]

Ooby said:

you read right

have em face the side.

Seems logical to me ;D

[Minca]

That's strange, I'd always been "told" to face them foreward or back , but when looking at how the longwingers tether hooded birds in their vehicles they are always faced sideways.
When it was getting dark and Rosie had been fed, I would cover the top of her GH with a shirt or something and tether her to the handle. She would ride on top unhooded, almost always face foreward, pull up a foot and fall asleep by the time we got to our destination (home).

[Dodes]

That's what I've heard, too. They can deal with rocking back and forth better than rocking side to side. In fact, I hear that if perched sideways, they will often sit sideways on the perch to deal with the movement which leads to tail feather damage.

I like this one.....

[Ooby]

Well look at it this way. If you had to stand on a bar would you rather i push you in the chest, or on the side? You have very little balance if pushed on the chest, but if pushed on the side, you can simply bend a knee and compensate for the force exerted on you.

Birds are the same way. If fact there was a time before i had a giant hood, i had to take her to my sponsors house so he could see her. I just laid a perch down in the back seat of my car and put her on it with the hood on. As i started driving she moved around so she could stand sideways to compensate for the movement. I kept stopping and moving her back so she was facing towards the back so she wouldn't damage her tail. I finally just turned the perch so she could sit facing the left side of the car and she was quiet the rest of the ride.

/shrug

dif strokes for dif folks, but from that day on, my birds will be perched sideways.

[Minca]

That makes complete sense. I wonder if what kind of perch the bird is on makes a difference. Like how they can grip the perch affects how well they can handle the ride. And what about turns? Sure going and stopping affects foreward/backward balance, but what about turning? Like I said, Rosie almost always chose to face foreward, but that was on the flat top of the GH.

[Ooby]

If you think about it, rarely do you make a hard turn. Perhaps getting onto a freeway, or on surface streets, but most of the time its the stop and the start that is the strong force.

On turns she would simply use her tail to balance, but rarely did she have to. I payed attention to her quite a bit because i hawked for half the season in a 2 door car hehe. Turns didn't bother her, but she always had to face either the left or right side of the car. She hated facing forward or backward.

[Dodes]

Ooby said:

Well look at it this way. If you had to stand on a bar would you rather i push you in the chest, or on the side? You have very little balance if pushed on the chest, but if pushed on the side, you can simply bend a knee and compensate for the force exerted on you..

When I turn into a RT, I'll let you know which is more comfortable. I don't think comparing them to humans can explain it.

You're right, though. Different strokes for different folks. I'm going off of what was told to me by my sponsor. If the shoe fits.......

[Ooby]

well by all means go by what gary says, but my analogy DOES make sense.

Its not comparing humans to red tails, its comparing the balance you have from your toes and heals, with the balance you have from both legs spread out.

I don't think i explained it too well.

Facing sideways, a birds legs are spread, and it can absorb movement by putting weight on one leg or another. Similar to if I were gonna run at you and slam into you, you would spread your legs to get a solid stance. You wouldn't just stand there facing me because you would have very little balance standing up straight facing me.

So when you speed up or slow down in a car, which i have seen is the majority of the force exerted on the bird, it can put weight on whichever leg it needs to in order to balance, as opposed to just gripping really tight and using a tail for balance which is what would need to happen if the bird faced forward or backwards.

Make better sense?

[Tiercel78]

I was alway taught to face them sideways. So, I guess I will be the one to agree with Ooby. No matter which way you set the bird it's going to be off balance at one time or another. I have seen far more feather damage from birds that sit forward to aft(partly due to Hood design). The smaller(closet type) G-hoods are made for birds that sit sideways. Thats why the perch is more forward and the sides more narrow. The bird braces with the Carpometacarpus area of it's wing on the sides and weight transfer with thier feet. The tail dosen't get jammed into the rear of the box in a turn. Also with the perch more forward in the box the bird can lean it's brest more into the door for support on opposite turns. When my sponser sometimes puts my bird in the truck he puts him forward and aft. I always here Rugers beak hitting the door in stop and go traffic. The box is the real key to preventing feather damage. The main thing is to try to keep the bird from doing as much corrections as possible. I turn my bird sideways cause I do more stop and going than turning.