Back in the Saddle

Well, I picked up a very happy Scarlet from Noel this morning. He was kind enough to care for her while I was recovering from my spinal surgery. I knew that he was just going to feed her and not work with her whcih was ok, I am just glad to have a competent adult watching her. It was on less thing to have to worry about while laid up in bed. I had asked her to keep her on the higher side, which he did, and I picked her up at 116 grams this afternoon.
Her training will resume tomorrow, and I have set up a creance for when we move outside. I will begin introducing the lure immediately and working on reenforcing her fist response. It is time to set out the sparrow trap....which will result in a call from my sponsor for some live lures!
I am really looking forward to progressing with her, now that I have the surgery out of the way. Don't get me wrong, my road to recovery is a long one with physical therapy in the future, but the exercise I will get working with Scarlet can only be beneficial.

Getting her preen on

Making progress

Today was just another day at the office...
During the morning feeding (107 grams again :) She did really well at the short distances as usual. I decided to try her a little further, and true to form she did a fly-by around the office. Never a dull moment. LOL. I got her back, put her back on the perch and then let her hop to my glove one more time before feeding her ration.
That evening I fed her a little later than usual but I knew her weight was ok. I stayed at my boyfriend's house, so we flew in the bedroom where I could close her off from any windows she might try to fly out of. Instead of starting close with her I decided to immediately go for the longer flights just in case her wandering was due to the fact she had already eaten some before I backed up. Her first flight was hesitant, but she the flew the full length of the room, corner to corner, with only wandering once. We did about 15 flights at this length before I fed her the rest of her ration. Scarlet is definitely figuring out the game.
The good thing about my schedule and life style is she is being flown in several different places. The scenery is never the same, nor the stimulous around her. I hope this will make the transition to the outside creance a little easier.

8:30 am - 107 grams....Fed 7 grams mouse
2:00pm - 110 grams
9:00pm - 106 grams....Fed 8 grams grackle

Holding Steady

The past few days have been fairly uneventful, but also very beneficial. Scarlet has been holding steady at 107 grams and I have figured out the weight management. I have successfully held her at 107 grams for 4 days now, and her response is getting better. She still gets ADD if I try to get more than 10 feet away, but closer her response is instant when called to the fist. Truth be told, with her response the way it is I did not want to drop her lower until I got the better scale, which I now have in the car. :) I will start to drop her in 0.5 gram increments every other day, based on her response.
I have my back surgery on Monday, so I will raise her weight 1-2 grams and she will be introduced to the lure while I am in the hospital.
Other than that, I am very happy with her progress. We are taking things slowly, but hopefully slow and steady will win the race. :)

12/11 - 12/14

Well, I missed a few days of blogging. Must admit, I tend to slack off on the weekends when I am away from my computer.
Scarlet is coming along nicely...and definitely developing a personality. She is much more animated and enjoys puffing her feathers up when acting curious. We have also taken to playing a little game where I will bend over, then she will mirror me. Silly, I know...but entertaining none the less.
Her appetite is back, and she is eating off the fist with no problems. I also have her flying inside about 8 feet, but anything longer than that gets sticky. At the longer distances she will begin to fly to me when I call her, but then peel off and perch elsewhere. Her daily food intake has increased as well from 4 grams twice a day on Friday and Saturday to 7 grams twice a day yesterday.
I made a lure this weekend and once I add the food clip I will begin the introduction. Other than that, not much to report. She has taken to the wall perch at home, and sits quietly watching TV with me.

12/11
8:30am - 116 grams
10am - 115 grams...Fed 6 grams mouse
3pm - 119 grams

12/12
10am - 116 grams....Fed 4 grams Finch
3pm - 113 grams
10pm - 110 grams...Fed 4 grams Finch

12/13
11am - 109 grams...Fed 4 grams Finch
10pm - 109 grams....Fed 4 grams Finch

12/14
11am - 108 grams
1:30pm - 107 grams...Fed 7 grams rat
10pm - 107 grams...Fed 7 grams rat

Day 5!!

Well, we are coming right along. Scarlet is definitely bating more at work so I am keeping a close eye on her feet and legs to make sure she is not doing any damage. I was able to get her to eat 7 grams of mouse off my fist yesterday afternoon, though I must admit she is still not acting very hungry.
After work Noel, Denise and I visited on of our favorite watering holes for a brew. This is a great place to man a bird, with lots of stimulation. She did very well, although acted freaked out most of the time. We passed her around the table to get her used to other people. After about 2 hours I headed home and sat with her on the fist for another few hours before bed.
I am happy with her manning, although the bating could tame down a bit. She is overall a very calm bird and I have not heard a peep from her as of yet. I can't wait to see how her training progresses.

7am - 121 grams...7 grams mouse
12:30pm - 124 grams
8:00pm - 119 grams

Day 4!!

Another day at work....Today Scarlet is getting much better. She recovers from every bate now, on the fist and on the perch. She is much more alert and curious as well as more animated. She is rousing much more also on the fist and perch.
She finally decided to eat...after much convincing. After speaking with Matthew Mullinex, he suggested that I offer something fresh and more enticing. I did not have sparrows as per his recommendation, but was able to present her with a mouse which she promptly ate from the fist. She ate 8 grams before losing interest. She did get a little lower prior to eating than I would have liked, hence the reason I sought out some sage advice. Matthew assured me that her weight was fine, and they often lose weight more quickly at first then it will level out.
I spent the evening manning Scarlet and she is doing much better. She still likes to bite at the glove, but has not taken to biting at me. I am able to touch her all over to examine her, and he feet and legs are staying in nice condition.

7:30am - 126 grams
11am - 124 grams....Fed 8 grams mouse
3:30pm - 126 grams
9:00pm - 125 grams

Day 3!!

Today was Scarlet's first day at work. Kenny made her a nice wall perch that fits over my cubicle. She did very well today. Most of the time she was just chillin' and looking around. She did bate a little bit but always recovered. She is definitely becoming more curious and alert. I even saw her first rouse.
I tried to feed her prior to leaving work, but she was still uninterested. I was able to get 2 grams of gracke into her which I hope will be enough to sustain her weight. I am targeting her to be at 126 grams tomorrow morning, 2 grams less then when she ate best last.
She is sitting on the fist nicely now and recovering from all her bates. When she gets bored she has taken to attacking the glove and biting it. This causes her to bend over on the glove so I see that as a good sign.

7am - 136 grams
11am - 131 grams
3pm - 129 grams....fed 2 grams grackle
9pm - 129 grams

Day 2!!

I have a study session today for finals this week which monopolized my morning. I awoke at 8:30am and spent 1 hour with Scarlet on the fist before my study partner arrived. I decided to try Scarlet out on the wall perch during while studying so that she would begin to get used to me and the surroundings. She did very well with only a few bates but it did take her several hours to actually stand up as opposed to sitting on her legs. She spent the evening on my fist and was standing nicely by the end of the day. She even took to pulling on her jesses and biting the glove. She is definitely coming out of her trap shock at this point.I tried to feed her again at 8:30pm. She started out strong, acting as if she was famished. She then took to flicking the food away as if not hungry. I decided to put some food on the glove at this point and figured she would eat if she was hungry. She did bend over for the food, but instead of eating she only tossed it off the glove. I put the food away and called it a night.

8:30am - 135 grams
1pm - 131 grams
8:30pm - 128 grams...Fed 10 grams of grackle at 8:30pm.

And it starts!!

Saturday 12/6 I set out trapping with Chris Robbins. He was looking for a Red Tail and I was looking for a female Kestrel. Needless to say, within 1.5 hours we had trapped one of each and was headed home. I trapped a gorgeous female Kestrel, weighing in at 135 grams off the trap.Now the fun begins. It is rather quickly that you discover all the equipment differences between the larger Red Tail and tiny Kestrel. Fortunately, Noel and Chris helped me out with equipment and ensured that I have all the needed gear.I spend the remainder of the day manning her down. She was still really freaked out and reverted to playing dead bird. She would sit on the fist (or lay) but not really stand up. By the end of the evening, however, she was standing on the fist as well as recovering from bates. I even managed to get her to eat but did not make her do anything for it.

11am - 135 grams
5pm - 130 grams
10pm - 128 grams...fed 30 grams of grackle at 10pm.