Comparison's

I pulled Jez from the Mews yesterday. he weighed 680 grams.

Amazing how much he has changed in a year.

Here is a  side by side comparison taken by my wife.

Old and New

I had 2 transmitters lying around doing nothing. Both were the FMV 1/3N Transmitter nice transmitter but since moving over to Marshall Scouts i have not had the use for them. I also prefer the screw caps to secure the batteries.

With having the Kestrel these where way to big a friend lent me what i thought was a FMV mini but it turns out to be a MX Mini 377 which is even smaller. He needs it back to fly a merlin so i went on the hunt for a new transmitter and in the price range i could afford (which was about $100). the MX Mini 377 was out as that is around $170. with just moving house money is tight.

I first tried the FMV mini , this might be ok for the merlin’s or coopers but no good for a kestrel.

The specs for the mini are good and if i was flying something bigger i think i would come back and look at a mini again, the price isnt to bad either at $104 dollars but whilst it is light 4grams with battery it is has a large form factor.

So the other option was an LL electronics Merlin Special. They have two options available but i went with the great range and lighter weight 14 miles and 3 grams with battery. the price was $129 which was right at the limit of what i wanted to spend.

 

So once it arrived i dully tested it and made sure it worked. I plan to use it on a neck mount which from what i have read from other falconers shouldn’t be an issue.

 

AK Training

She’s flying to the fist quite happily but that’s all she wants to do. So from today we are not flying to the fist she either has to fly to game or a lure, she has started to fly to a lure (10 feet) but doesn’t really chase it, she will pounce on it if it’s like a foot away. The same goes for a sparrow. she won’t chase it but will pounce if its right at her feet. I let her have an English sparrow and make in. I don’t think she has ever caught a sparrow so right now it is getting her weight dialed in just right and presenting lots of sparrows for her. right now she is a 96.6 so i have reduced the one gram decreasing to 1/2 gram decreases.



 

AK well feed on sparrow.

(incedently i wouldnt normally let her crop up on this as there is a risk of sour crop but to get her switched onto sparrows i let her eat what she wanted)

 

My wife has been doing some amazing photography during training.

 

 

 

 

Harris Training

 

I'm in no hurry to get started and want to bring his weight down more slowly. currently he is at 700grams , im aiming for 640grams. We should be there by the end of the month . i want to try and solve the screaming that he was prown to last season in the mews (but not in the field)

The season is slowly starting

We moved house and we are still unpacking, i'm racing against time to get all the hunny do list completed. Jez is weight is starting to come down.

A short while ago i took on an imprint kestrel. some family had taken it in, they panicked when they found out it had to be licensed and tried to get rid of it, it flew back..... being an imprint that's really no suprise but they didn't know that.

 

The idea being to get her flying and hunting and then release her. Apart from the imprint screaming i'm pretty pleased with her progress. Almost got her ready for Lure flying and then onto catch some sparrows and starlings. So far she is at 101.6 grams ( was 110grams) when i got her.

 

I have finally had some success at sparrow trapping thanks to another friends pointers on funnel traps. I've been using elevator and V traps with little success , so i turned the V trap on its side, instered a funnel and closed the rest of the opening and success.