A Hawk For The Bush 2013 Imprint Sharp-shinned Hawk

[BestBeagler]

I'm enjoying this little hawk immensely so far! He gets fed roughly every two hours some times less but never more than 4 hours. I've been feeding only sparrows and starlings. I had my freezer full of small birds before I even got him. He eats about four/five sparrows a day so far. Very alert and active and easy to feed. Today he stood for the first time a couple of times for a few seconds. I keep him in a tall clear plastic tote under a heating lamp on a dimmer switch to adjust the temperature. I've used this in the past with imprints and it works a treat. I'll keep everyone posted to his progress. I will not be following any type of recipe. I have imprinted a few birds now and will go with my own methods and adjust accordingly.

[BestBeagler]

He's growing fast. He's starting to stand for a few seconds yesterday and try's to take a few steps. Today he's starting to try to walk (if you can call it that) and flap his wings! Eating lots of good sparrows and dipping the tidbits in water to keep him hydrated and making sure he gets the good fat and brains. They are special birds. He already is my favorite of all the eyases I have raised. There is just something about these guys.

[BestBeagler]

And here's a picture of my good friend Joe Katt and myself. We've been emailing and talking over the phone back and forth now for over three years. He taught me most of what I know about finding accipiter nests. It was great to meet him in person.

[BestBeagler]

These were just taken now. I sit with him outside a couple of times a day in then in the sun to get the vitamin D to make sure he grows strong bones. When he opens his beak I put him in the shade to cool down. He's something else how fast he grows.

[jeffandheidi]

He looks great!

[colelkhunter]

Don't let him fool you folks, here is Isaac in his natural habitat on sharpie day.

[BestBeagler]

Don't let him fool you folks, here is Isaac in his natural habitat on sharpie day.

LMAO yep on the ground looking up LOL. I hate climbing trees. Look at my chubby belly. I need to loose some weight. It takes me so long to climb and since I'm so fat I really need to dig those spikes in. I can do it. I'd climb almost anything if I HAD to. Thankfully, Joe was a good sport and did the climbing.

[BestBeagler]

He's growing fast. Petting him lots and playing with his feet. He's standing up and flapping now and again. I put anklets on him already. I have found the earlier I do this the better. Once they become aware of the use of their feet they do pick at their anklets a bit at first. Maggie the gos would still pick at her anklets out of boredom I think, but my guess is if I put them on before they gain the use of their feet and realize what they are the anklets might just become a part of them. In the past I would put them on early but always about the time they were standing well for a bit. This time I put them on really early.

[BestBeagler]

Here he is today.

[FredFogg]

Issac, he is looking great! Are you still going to go for a sore goshawk that you were talking about in a prior thread?

[BestBeagler]

Issac, he is looking great! Are you still going to go for a sore goshawk that you were talking about in a prior thread?

You betcha! I intend to fly the sharpie till the cover goes down and take it nice and slow with the gos and just enjoy the ride! Then put the sharpie up for a reverse molt and fly the gos early fall through the winter. It's going to be a dream year for me!

[tripwest]

really looking forward to the sharp-shin threads this year, bucket list #4 for me. thanks and can't wait to read how you plan on doing things

[wesleyc6]

He looks good Isaac. How much longer before you go to get your goshawk?

[BestBeagler]

Some pictures from this evening.

[wesleyc6]

Your bird is quite a bit younger than mine. Finn has some feathers so far out on his back that the white is showing.

[BestBeagler]

He's starting to tear off of the scored carcasses now and really working them over. I am surprised to find he prefers to work on the carcass himself over me feeding him? I usually find they prefer the freebee easy to eat tidbits offered but he actually would rather use his feet and pull his own food. In fact on more than one occasion he could be enticed to eat by dropping the tidbits in front of him for him to pick it up on his own. I will still offer him food from my fingers but also just leave a carcass in there for him to work on when he wants. I'll post some picture of him latter on today.

[BestBeagler]

He thinks he's a brancher now He jumped out of the basket himself. I fed him some sparrow from my fingers. So far he is very gentle and picks at the little pieces of meat. I don't trust him to self feed from the carcass entirely yet. He's preening away like crazy!

[jeffandheidi]

Hey Isaac, how's everything going with you and the shin?

[BestBeagler]

Hey Isaac, how's everything going with you and the shin?

Very good! I love this guy just like we all feel about our shins! I told my wife yesterday this little hawk is my favorite hawk I have imprinted and I think I would cry if I lost him LOL. So, I will only be hunting him in the open country and not risk hawking in the city unless we are in big fields. I just don't want to loose him due to a collision. If I can reduce the odds anything bad happening I will.

He is seriously maybe three days behind yours and Wes's bird maybe a bit more. Everything you and Wes see in your birds I see in mine and I mean EVERYTHING. From the squatting while muting to instinctual butt dunking when getting lightly misted in the rain the other day. It's amazing.

Since mines a few days younger I see a sneak peek into what mine will do a couple days ahead. You guys are doing such a good job with your threads and since yours are a head of mine I've just kind of stopped putting the updates as much. You guys better be out in the field before me though!

[Breeze]

Hey Isaac! Enjoying your shin thread immensely. Thanks for posting and will be following your guy along with all the others. Look forward to all the hunting stories!

[BestBeagler]

Here are some pictures from this morning. He's younger then the others on here. He's plucking and pulling on whole sparrows but it's just exercise at this point. I still feed him from my fingers to fill him up. He is not as hungry in the morning compared to the evenings and is not as hungry as often.

[BestBeagler]

I still have him under the heating lamp turned down low at night. I wonder if I can stop with that tonight. I feel better safe than sorry and he seems to like a little heat still.

On another note, I heard that shins like bathing and boy they sure do! I take him out a couple times a day in the hot sun and mist him with the warm water that's in the hose.
He enjoys it to no end. So funny watching him. When he's done he jumps up to his nest box soaks up the sun and preens away.

I have not had to tie him down at all so far. Compared to the rest of the guys on here this bird is staying in his basket most of the time or perches on the edges and handles. I also have him higher up in the house too so that may help but even outside on the table he doesn't have the urge to take off for higher perching spots. I wonder if it's because he's just younger than the others.

[BestBeagler]

He fledged yesterday he flew four feet. Today he's flying 8 feet and landing pretty steadily. I tied him up for the first time and attached his jesses. It was non eventful him being tied up for the first time.

I am hand feeding this bird from my fingers and his manners so far are great. He's very patient and waits for me to feed him. I pluck the bird in front of him and the feathers really get him going. Then, I open the bird in front of him and just pull off pieces of meat and he just waits till I hand him his tidbits and he takes them gently. He lowers his body and head and backs up a little and takes the tidbits gently. I really like how things are going with him so far. I will sometimes give him a whole carcass to feed on and I will feed him tidbits as he eats of the carcass. He looks forward to the tidbits offered from my fingers.

I have not been that "touchy feely" with him since I've had him. I have not made a huge effort to touch his feet or anything like that. I've just gone with the flow and enjoyed the imprinting process. I haven't gone out of my way to spend a ton of time with him. I spend time with him when I feel like it. He's spent a decent amount of time in the car while I drive. Today while I was driving he jumped out of his basket that was in the passenger seat and jumped up to my shoulder and fell a sleep cheeping at me and preening my hair. I was kind of surprised at how affectionate he was.

I've thrown every set plan/recipe out the window this year and just following some foundations and things I have learned in the past and it's so much more enjoyable for me. I'm trying to emulate nature as close as I can when imprinting this bird. We'll see what happens in the future but I'm enjoying the present!

[FredFogg]

He is looking great Isaac! Man, I feel for you folks in Michigan, to have to put a temporary band on a sharpshin is about the stupidest thing I have ever seen!

[BestBeagler]

He is looking great Isaac! Man, I feel for you folks in Michigan, to have to put a temporary band on a sharpshin is about the stupidest thing I have ever seen!

Thanks! He has been the most fun imprint I have had so far. The imprint male coops I tame hacked was a close second. Next year I will look for sharpies rather than goshawks I love these guys so much I can't imagine not having one.

[passager]

Beautiful bird Isaac.

[wesleyc6]

He's Growing for sure. Looks good!

[hcmcelroy]

He looks good and great management...just go with the flow.

Harry.

[Breeze]

Isaac, he's beautiful! Love the way you describe working with him, too. Awesome bird!

[BestBeagler]

Wow, a lot of changes for this little guy in a short time. A change of plans happened. My intention was to tie him up as soon as he learned to fly but yesterday I had to go check up on goshawk nests and could not take him as I had to do a lot of hiking and did not want to tie him up when I was not around and my wife did not like the idea of risking anything going wrong when I was away that might have to be fixed that she might have missed. So she closed all the blinds turned off all the fans and covered the mirrors and my house became a mew.

She actually loves this imprint much more than others I have had. I was getting updates all day on his progress. My wife is a teacher and claims he has ADHD. He won't stay in one spot for long. He will take off for something and then change his mind right as he gets there and veer off to another spot. He is killing imaginary birds all over the house now and constantly picking up things and dropping them. Yesterday, he landed on the world globe and walked around the world like it was a tread mill. . He eats on his own terms. I feed him at his nest basket like the parents would. He "homes" back to it often through the day eats a few bites from the sparrow carcass and then flies off and comes back and eats some more. Yesterday, he ate SIX sparrows! Blew my mind he could pack that many away but he is burning a ton of energy. In the evening he gets jumpy like all my imprints have done. Simple solution, I put his nest basket up higher and turn down the blinds and it darkens it enough that he just relaxes and calms down.

He sure is fun. I didn't like the idea of him learning his freedom but if I want to go with nature as a model for imprinting doing what I am doing is pretty close. Him flying back to the nest for food sleeping in it branching and learning to fly and land and veer around things. So maybe it's not the worst thing. Still, I he will have to have lessons in being tied up through out the day every so often. But he (and us!) are having so much fun and he is so entertaining to watch it's hard to tie him to a perch. He is especially imprinted to me and prefers I pick him up to all others in the house (my family is visiting) he will look at me and make content little cheeps. I sure do like this little guy.

P.S. It's snowing in July!

[BestBeagler]

I tied him up yesterday. He's flying around too good now and I am worried he will pick up speed and crash into something. That and the slices everywhere in the house are getting too much LOL. I wish I had hardwood floors. He fought the leash for a few minutes this morning when first tied up but that was it. He jumped up into his basket and hasn't bated since. So things are going good on that front. I'm going to start feeding him sparrows on the glove and maybe offer some baggies soon and start some lure work soon.

Would I be crazy to just use a small bird carcass as lure? For these little guys it's easy to do. The minimalist approach is appealing. My sole method of retrieval for this little guy will be calling it to the fist anyway. That's what I am thinking anyway.

[hcmcelroy]

Isaac,

As you know a number of imprinted accipiters have suddenly started flying indoors and crashed into windows.

A dead sparrow on a line would be hard to resist...

Harry.

[BestBeagler]

Giving him sparrows now. He went for them right away he knew they meant food. Probably totally unnecessary giving him baggies. I think the whole baggie thing is unnatural don't know why I am doing it but I am. Earlier training conditioning than necessary but there you have it.

On another note. I just heard from a friend that had a friend that had a male aplo die because he hit a window while in the car. So I won't be having my sharpie loose in the car. Never had a problem with the gos's or coopers in this scenario but I guess it can happen with smaller birds.

I'm training him to the GH as well. That's going good. Not much training. I put him in at night when he gets uncomfortable in the evening look for a safer place to roost and he just settles right down in the GH no fuss no nothing just easy as anything. No wonder people like these guys.

I talked to Brian on here with the other sharpie and he said for accipiters they are ever so alert of their surroundings. He was right. This bird is aware of everything that moves nothing escapes him. Tiny swallows coming in and out of view super high in the sky, leaves rustling, he is just much more aware of his surroundings compared to our other accipiters.

[PeteJ]

When you're at the bottom of the raptor food chain, you better pay attention to your surroundings right?LOL Enjoying the Shin threads even if I'm not chiming in much. Good to see so many making the attempt with them. Continued success...

[BestBeagler]

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update. He harpenned 3 days ago. I have not done any weight reduction and he’s been killing baggie sparrows for about two weeks now. I let the sparrows loose upstairs in my house a few primaries pulled and the fun begins. He will chase them for up to ½ an hour before committing to want to eat. In the meantime, he’s playing cat and mouse waiting for me to ferret them out from under furniture and corners to get them to fly. I’ll be hunting this week coming up. We work great together he will look at me once he’s got it cornered or the sparrows wedged itself and hiding for me to get it out for him. Got to watch where I step because he won’t move for me LOL telemetry in grass higher than my ankles will be a must!

This imprint has been the most fun imprint I have raised. I fed him from my fingers from day one, complete food association and I call him to the fist (no glove) for food. The relationship this imprint has with me has been the best of all my imprints. He chups, twitters, whines, screams, gives me the warning call when he senses danger he’s what I would call the hardest imprint I have had and just a joy. Oddly enough he’s also the bird I have put the least effort in socializing and exposing him to new things. It’s weird and I don’t know if it’s because he’s a sharpie or the fact that he’s been finger fed from day one but there is certainly a difference in his behavior to me compared to my other imprints. I don’t know if it’s the change of methods, the individual bird, or the species but his relationship with me is head and shoulders better than any of my other imprints and they were pretty good if I may be so bold to say.

Carrying has been a total non-issue so far (knock on wood). He kills a baggie (untethered). I let him break in while I just lay nearby. Once he calms down and breaks in I offer a pre-skinned sparrow carcass on the ungloved fist and he trades off as nice as you like; waiting for me not trying to fly off or look around. He trusts me more than any other imprint I have had. He prefers to keep his back toward me (he knows I have his back LOL) and keep an eye out facing the world. He prefers I tower over him as he eats. He finds it protecting. I had him outside today for some training and I could tell he was uncomfortable being in the open. He knows he’s bait for everything.

He is still an accipiter no doubt about it. During penning since I did not lower his weight he was just super charged for a day. I closed the blinds and turned off the fans and just let him blow some steam in the house, WOW amazing to watch him fly. I resumed letting him fly around inside just to give him some exercise and learn to fly and such. It did wonders for him rather than just keeping him perched. He’s an acrobat of the skies for sure! Amazing to watch what he can do. Anyway back to him being an accipiter. Yes, I notice the chittering at higher weights the bit more flightiness at a higher weight and he will show me where I slacked in exposing things to him as a youngster. So it’s not like sharpies are some super mellow hawk with no behavior idiosyncrasies. The beauty of them is their fast metabolisms. It helps I do think in working them out.
He loves his giant hood and finds comfort in it. I put him in there when he’s amped for some reason and evening comes. He hops right in, rouses, wags his tail, fluffs up and tucks a foot up happy as can be.

I think I will try raising my next imprint accipiter like this one. I don’t know if I will be in a world of hurt or not using similar methods I have used on this bird with say a coops or gos. I don’t know if it’s just because he’s a sharpie that things are just working out so smoothly or what. I have broken probably every ingredient in the “recipe” LOL and he’s still a joy and just the most fun imprint I have had. I have some ideas I’d like to try tweaking with a gos or coops. Anyway, to whoever reads this I hope you’re having a great summer! If you don’t hear from for a while it’s cause I’m out hawking and having fun! Hope you are to friends!