Kestrel Pics

[MtnMan]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and just figured I'd post a few pictures of the kestrel I flew last year. I released this bird this summer, but thought the pics were decent enough to post. These are pictures my wife took during some creance training.

(Hehe, I'm also using this as an opportunity to see if I can actually figure out how to post pictures, etc...)





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Phil

[tony123abc]

Nice picks. What a small bell. Cool.

[MtnMan]

Yea, it's a pretty tiny bell. My friend/former-sponsor is a bell-maker, and that's the smallest size he makes.

[everetkhorton]

Phil:
The picture are just fine! What are you flying now. We all like pictures, thanks for posting.

[MtnMan]

This year I'm flying a twice intermewed passage redtail, and a once intermewed passage prairie falcon.

The redtail I named Belle (caught her in a Taco Bell parking lot, hehe). She's a great bird (on squirrels primarily, but also of course on bunnies). I have far more squirrels near me, and need to drive about 45 minutes to get into some industrial parks for the bunnies (I live out in farm country). We don't have all that many cottontails out here. I plan to release her after this season. Last year she flew at 46.5 oz, 44.5oz her first year. I haven't really dialed her in yet this year. Still "tweaking".

The prairie has never been flown free, only to the lure on a creance. I received her on a transfer this summer. I think the stress of the transfer may have delayed her moult, and she's quite far behind. She just dropped her last tail feather 2 days ago, and her last primaries in the last week. She'll be my first opportunity to work with a large falcon, and I'm excited as heck to get started with her! At her current state of moult she's not ready to drop her weight and really start training, but she'll do creance calls to the lure. As soon as her flight feathers are grown in though...

I've been doing LOTS of manning with her this summer. I've also been loitering here on the boards trying to absorb anything I can to help me get her going. One concern I have is the massive amounts of feral pigeons all around me. I'm envisioning long chases from one farm to the next... I'm maintaining her at 28-28.5oz, and have no real idea beyond a guess as to her flight weight.

[Raptorick]

nice pictures. keep it up!