7am - 118g - Placed in weathering.
11.30am - Placed on lawn - weight 116g - had a bath then preened for about an hour. Very settled and relaxed on block.
4.30pm - Weight 112g flown to fist 20metres 7 times. Very pleased with progress - really must sort out lure for tomorrow.
5.30pm - Weight 129g - 'Bean' sleeping on block. Placed back in mews. Temperature - 29 Deg C.
Overall, very happy with progress. Lure tomorrow and when flying well to lure on the creance - FREE!
Note to self: test transmitters and change batteries on telemetry!
Good luck with the free flight! She must be naturally large for a Kestrel. Most female's I'm used to have flying weights in the uppper 80's (grams). Some males will fly in the low 80's or upper 70's. I don't know your background or experience level. If you're a master falconer with lots of experience, then have at it. I'm just noticing something that might be a problem. Let us know how things go. Here's a link to a discussion about a male kestrel's training from last season:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nafex.net/showthread.php?t=3258
You can see that the male kestrel started out in the upper 90's and had a free fly weight of 82 grams and a hunting weight around 80.5 grams. Females will be slightly heavier, but nowhere near 120 grams for flying. Just be careful.
TS