Post by Minca on Jun 15, 2005 18:42:51 GMT -5
When my sponsor first got his peregrine she was a nasty thing. He's a grandfathered in falconer (been doing it long enough he never needed a sponsor) and she took about a month just to man down. When she was not out weathering in the yard or flying, he kept her in a completely dark room, as opposed to just hooding her incase she threw the hood, for over a year. Which basically means for over the 365 days of the year her number of daylight hours never changed.
In this situation, she began to molt right on time in the spring when everyother bird began molting just like clockwork. This room she was kept in was in the basement and so was kept a somewhat cool steady tempurature all year round as well.
A strange phenomonon that totally does not coincide with all the things I've heard about birds molts being triggered by this or that. Somehow this birds body knew what time of year it was, maybe she was making subconcious mental notes of the height of the sun in the sky when she did get out, who knows......
just food for thought.
In this situation, she began to molt right on time in the spring when everyother bird began molting just like clockwork. This room she was kept in was in the basement and so was kept a somewhat cool steady tempurature all year round as well.
A strange phenomonon that totally does not coincide with all the things I've heard about birds molts being triggered by this or that. Somehow this birds body knew what time of year it was, maybe she was making subconcious mental notes of the height of the sun in the sky when she did get out, who knows......
just food for thought.