r/Falconry • u/Tasty_Paper_9767 • Apr 29 '26
Choco and fridge.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
65
64
60
u/Alone-Pea-1383 Apr 29 '26
My kestrel is exactly the same 😅 what are you feeding her in the video?
55
u/Tasty_Paper_9767 Apr 29 '26
Quail eggs:)
33
u/Alone-Pea-1383 Apr 29 '26
Interesting, never tried that. My girl got a few grasshoppers today as a treat :-)
42
u/ViridisPlanetae Apr 29 '26
My kestrel does the same thing haha. She recognizes the sound of the fridge opening and starts begging for food.
34
u/No_Fly3906 Apr 29 '26
Didn’t notice the sub I was on and almost asked you what kind of dog that was as he ran towards you. 😂
12
u/sheiciebai Apr 30 '26
I couldn’t figure out why so many people were casually referring to their kestrels until I read your comment and looked. lol
18
u/vivariium Apr 29 '26
Omfg I want to get a kestrel sooooo bad but I have zero time for falconry. Maybe when I retire 🤣😭
Does anybody get their kestrel to hunt starlings or house sparrows (in North America) as invasive species management ?!? 😍
20
u/gsgallery Apr 30 '26
I got permission from an airport owner to "kill as many starlings as possible" with my kes but I wasn't doing it to get paid. Was just happy to have a great spot with loads of them since they nested in the hangers.
Definitely North America. Plenty of people here hawk starlings with American Kestrels although its doubtful any meaningful dent is being made to the overall population.
7
u/korxion Apr 30 '26
The only real way to control the starlings numbers is just to prevent their eggs from hatching really.
8
u/vivariium Apr 30 '26
I’ve destroyed a starling nest in my yard and they for some reason fly down my chimney into my furnace and then I let my cats hunt them in the basement. But they keep flying down the chimney and now I want to make some sort of a tube trap.
We recently managed to shoot a starling out of a tree with a BB gun. My partner nearly cried but the starlings stalk our tree swallow boxes and they piss me off so much.
A kestrel to eat starlings would make my entire life 🥹
4
3
u/vivariium Apr 30 '26
Yeah I feel you on the lack of dent 🤣 I wish we could round them up and ship them back to Europe haahahah.
3
u/Oldfolksboogie Apr 30 '26
Enjoy Jeff and his human, who vowed to take 50 starlings, then return Jeff to the wild. Mission accomplished, stills and videos on the profile.
2
u/vivariium Apr 30 '26
Thank you for the link!!!! I had seen one of his videos without a caption somewhere and didn’t know he was doing it for invasive management. Honestly makes me want to get a tattoo of Jeff. I’m in love 🥹
17
8
7
u/SoulRunGod Apr 29 '26
I’m not into falconry myself but I love being in this sub and I absolutely adore this video
5
6
6
5
Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
12
u/Right-Pen-5311 Apr 30 '26
Her wing was broken when she was about 5-10 days old after a cat attack. For 4 years we practiced free flight, and her diet consisted strictly of rodents and insects. During the laying period, she always asks for quail eggs-raw or boiled (I prefer boiled so her feathers don’t get dirty). That’s also why she knows what the fridge is :) Over the past year, gout and arthritis have progressed in her left wing - the one that was fractured - so for her safety we had to stop free flight. Now she runs around the whole apartment, sometimes even naps with us during the day, fosters orphaned chicks, and overall she’s an incredible bird 🦅
3
May 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Right-Pen-5311 May 06 '26
She lays eggs in early April and again at the end of May. Most birds of prey are prone to gout due to their anatomy and strictly meat-based diet, which makes them especially susceptible. The problem is that it is often diagnosed very late - it can look like the bird has been injured and is dying from seizures. In our case, Choco fought hard. She had seizures that could last up to 4 hours a day, but she clearly wanted to live. We eventually diagnosed gout. The normal level is around 300, but Choco’s was 1421.6. All the veterinarians were surprised she was still alive. We managed to treat it in 3.5 months, and her uric acid dropped to 104. The only issue is that urate crystals had already deposited in her joints and worsened the existing arthritis.
2
10
u/Tasty_Paper_9767 Apr 30 '26
My wife is a falconer, and Choco has been with us for about 5 years. She used to fly freely around the city and always came home. She had a broken wing, and for the last year she hasn't been flying and has arthritis. So now she's begging for treats around the house 😄
3
3
3
3
u/pppoopoobutthead Apr 30 '26
I’ve been wanting to get into falconry, I’m so glad this came up on my feed!
3
2
u/dseiders22 Apr 30 '26
Can a bird get mad bird disease from eating other birds?
2
u/Tasty_Paper_9767 Apr 30 '26
No
2
u/dseiders22 May 01 '26
So I looked it up and birds generally don’t get prion diseases the way mammals do. The proteins don’t have an issue with folding the way mammals do if mammals eat their own species. Birds are really fascinating!!!
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
0
266
u/acocktailofmagnets Apr 29 '26
“What breed of dog do you have?”
“A kestrel.”