Male American Kestrel
Female American Kestrel
My favorite so far: Lucy, a Peregrine Falcon. You may recognize her from a previous post.Now, the smaller birds are light and don't grip very tightly. This is how tightly Lucy grips: With one of your hands, grab your other arm and squeeze hard. That's a Lucy grip. And boy, was she heavy. A screech owl weighs about as much as a TV remote. Lucy feels like a big cat hanging on your arm. She is one of the easier birds to handle (so far) because I didn't have to chase her around the mew to get her on my glove. If you calmly approach her, she will step up onto your gloved hand. Looking at the above picture, you can see that my arm has dropped from the correct 45 degree angle to one that would encourage her to climb higher, as in up my arm, which is not protected. Guess I better hit the gym and do some weights.
This has been such a blast so far. I heart RAPTOR!
4 comments:
That pic of you with Lucy is cool - I'm so jealous!
Are the birds calm on the fist - or do they flail around any?
I notice you're not holding their feet at all - so they perch on you just like a tree branch?
So many questions - sorry!
Peregrines have long been one of my favorite birds - going way back.
Being used to small birds, I had not thought about the strength of a raptor's grip as an issue in raptor-handling. But when I think about it, that should have been obvious to me.
John: Thanks for visiting! Come back anytime! The Peregrine was so strong...it caught me by surprise because I was used to the little birds.
Laura:
Hey, I like it when people ask me questions. It makes me feel like I know what I'm talking about.
They DO flail a bit, depending on the bird. It's called bating. And they are perched on my hand just like a tree branch. I will do a post later explaining all the stuff that is involved in tethering a bird.
That's right it's called bating - now I remember.
The accipters are more prone to it or is it an individual personality thing?
Post a Comment