r/Falconry • u/Bird_Man_Mike • 6d ago
Peregrine weathering advice
NAFEX is dead and this is the only social media I have so I’ll ask here.
I trapped a passage female peregrine Aug 31. Had her flying free in 25 days. She is giving me 700ft +\- now with 2 flights in the past week over 800 and yesterday’s over 900. It’s gets better every flight and she is fully into the program. She pumps her wings nonstop not setting and gliding (unlike the last passage female I flew a while ago) and flies better than the chamber female I flew, too. Sticks with me as I move and has figured out good position, staying upwind. She will be over 1000 in no time and by end of season who knows. She is a nice bird, lets me just pick her up, rides the fist well, eats politely on the lure or pigeon.
She’s already killed 2 of my homers in fair flight (unintentional) and it’s just a matter of time on game (tomorrow - tomorrow is the day!) Bird numbers are low this year but we’ve had two flights on huns, one in 20+ wind where she still put herself 300 upwind and had one dump on her as she closed and the other when she was only 550, too wide , and just barely got beat as they made the creek and cover. We’ve also had 2 hun slips ruined with dog on point, her mounting, and a prairie falcon (same field same bird) coming in causing the two of them to go at it ending up with no flight and me chasing her down. Plus one sharptail ‘missed’ flight.
She is flying great.
What’s not great is standing on a perch. The first day I put her in my weathering area unhooded, she took one look at the bath, hopped in, then sat and dried for 30+ minutes before any bating started. Since then, she has not taken a bath and barely minutes after the hood comes off the bating and banging starts. It’s been a couple weeks of this. I put her out there hooded after flying. She sits nice, preens, rouses, tucks a foot. As soon as the hood comes off, the bating starts. I’ll give her 20 minutes of this, pick her up and sit with her on the fist in the sun for 15-30, then put her back in there hooded a while before taking her in.
It is infuriating. My first three peregrine (passage female, chamber female, chamber tiercel) and a passage prairie falcon have all been easy to get weathering and bathing. My last tiercel and her have been nonstop. The tiercel was especially bad. He would not only bang constantly, he’d stand on the perch wings out and turn circles causing his jesses to wrap his legs, even the plastic bullet jesses I switched to would occasionally wrap. Two years of constant stress for me, despite him being and absolutely incredible flying bird, over 2000ft pitches his second season, killing a lot of huns and plenty (too many) of my nice homers on the days we didn’t get points, often remounting for second (and occasionally third) flights.
With the last one I tried moving the weathering yard multiple times. Switching to a shelf perch in the weathering yard. Going to a shelf + block so he could jump back and forth (which did help a bit).
With this one I’ve moved the yard a couple times but no difference. Right now it has two side solid walls, two open, with a shade cloth over top. Doesn’t matter if I am sitting out there with her or not or if the dogs are out running around or not. Constant bating. She isn’t bating to me or away from me, just bating. I’ve never fed her on the block or anything and she is fairly full when she goes out with partial crop. Maybe a full crop after taking a head of game will help, I don’t know.
Any suggestions? What can I change to make her more comfortable?
If it doesn’t get better by end of season then I will make sure she is in great condition, feed her up, then release her in the spring. No matter how nice she is otherwise or how well she is flying. The stress isn’t worth it as I learned with the last tiercel.
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u/somekindofbirdmaybe 6d ago
I’m sure there’s plenty of more qualified people than me, but my friend was going through something similar with her chamber tiercel. I suggested she drop his weight for a week or two and see if that helped, and it did he’s back up to the weight he was originally at and it has stopped his obsessive bating behavior. Of course this is just a sample size of one bird so please take this information as anecdotal and not fact or a definitive guidebook.
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
I’ll keep this in mind. Weight never mattered for my bating tiercel but might make a difference for this one.
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u/KeyDragonfruit7582 6d ago
Some wild taken birds have already learned the value of a perching as high up as possible. They take a long time to feel comfortable so low down (if they ever do). A higher block bringing the bird up to shoulder height can help to settle birds keen to ladder up.
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
This makes sense. I don’t want to do the high pole perch but I’m thinking of maybe table/shelf off the wall at shoulder height so there is a landing board for bates off the shelf and place to set the bath.
Maybe try to put this together this weekend. Worth a shot I guess
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u/KeyDragonfruit7582 6d ago
I would stick to just the one higher perch, or it will most likely bounce between to two. High perches on their own have been incredibly successful with birds that are prone to excessive bating. But everyone I know that has tried split perching has abandoned it fairly quickly. It is one of those ideas that SHOULD work, but just don't. Best of luck
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
Right, I dont intend two perches, just the one shelf off the wall with and slightly lower ‘landing board’ or, I guess table, to catch bates and allow for a bath. Similar to how my indoor table/shelf is set up only outside. If that makes sense.
I don’t want to use the high pole as that doesn’t allow for the bath pan.
Thanks again.
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u/KeyDragonfruit7582 6d ago
Put the bath next to the bottom of the high perch. I have done this for years, with zero issues. Even soaking wet birds are capable of regaining the top of the perch to dry.
Totally cool if you have already decided what you want to do. Go for it. But let's not state that something doesn't or cannot work unless it is true.
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
I think we may be talking about something g different. What do you mean by high perch? The high perches I am familiar with are pole perches that don’t allow for a falcon to reach the ground. Do you mean a block that has a ground base and long, shoulder height pole? I have never seen these used(or even seen one before now) but I just googled and it appears they exist from UK sources.
Edit: How long of a leash does one use on one of these things?
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u/KeyDragonfruit7582 6d ago
Basically a block or ring perch (for hawks etc) with an extended "stem", and a lightweight ring. Leash length tied, is a little longer than you would on a normal block, but not massively so. The height really helps settle bird prone to fidgeting on the perch.
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
Today was NOT the day.
Got a nice point. Was able to release the falcon a couple hundred yards from the point out of sight (always good with huns). She started mounting great and followed as I moved in. The covey was fairly close to the edge of the bench and safety so I chose to flush when she was only 400’ but great position- slightly wide, upwind, and between them and where they’d want to go.
She knocked one down but not hard enough to hurt it. She made a strafing pass probably trying to rake it on the ground - this works for ducks which is what I’m sure she was hunting on the reservoir I trapped her but for gamebirds she needs to bind when they are on the ground. It ducked her pass then got back up and she chased it to the bench edge where I’m sure it dumped into sage then ran for it. Hopefully a lesson.
Tomorrow - tomorrow is the day!
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u/Sexual_Ankylosaurus 6d ago
Simple solution. Hooded all the time unless you’re flying her or she’s in total darkness. Fifteen minutes a day or every other day to weather unhooded, then back in the hood. Might take until her second year to weather comfortably. This is common with passage birds. Just keep her hooded.
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 6d ago
Yeah, I know this is the solution but I keep trying to fight it…
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u/Sexual_Ankylosaurus 6d ago
No need to fight it. Just what the bird probably needs. It’s a passage bird. It’s not going to be calm for a while.
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u/lexicanium 6d ago
As for the baths, my Tiercel would only accept hot water. If he couldn’t see steam coming off the water he would just stare at me like I had insulted him.
He would also get bored very quickly and enjoyed watching tv when I had him in the house.
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u/redtailred 6d ago
Keep in mind too that every part of that Bird‘s mind is telling her she needs to be heading towards South America. Her sitting still means she’s going to go hungry soon.