Life of Kestrel

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Archive 2008 · Life of Kestrel

majo d
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p.3 #1 · Life of Kestrel

I have some bad news again...

Male didn't come two days. Babies are very hungry. Mother is screetching all the time. I was watching other nests here around and males came two times or more today.

Mother brought some prey twice, in the morning and around 2 hours ago. But it was too little. Babies are eating everything what they can find in the pot. Also, the younger one is half of size the older, and there's only 4 days between them. So I'm afraid, that younger won't live long...

I can give them fresh meat tommorow, but I don't know if it's the best idea. Maybe I should wait for male. I hope that nothing serious happened to him.

Edited on Jun 07, 2008 at 01:32 PM

Jun 07, 2008 at 01:30 PM

LeeOts
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p.3 #2 · Life of Kestrel

Thank you for posting these photos and describing the events. The photos are great! You are a good person and a wonderful friend to these kestrels. I hope all works out well for the birds but, as we all know, the life of a wild animal is not easy.

Does anyone know if kestrels return to the same nest each year or do they establish new nests?

Lee

Edited on Jun 07, 2008 at 01:48 PM

Jun 07, 2008 at 01:47 PM

Gravitytoy
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p.3 #3 · Life of Kestrel

Wow - I want to know where I can get some "Kestrel Seeds" so I can grow some of these in my garden!

Seriously though - Amazing shots, and what a lucky experience to witness this whole fledge cycle!

Keep 'em coming... and keep us updated!

-Rich

Jun 07, 2008 at 02:29 PM

Terry D
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p.3 #4 · Life of Kestrel

This is very special and you are very fortunate for the experience. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Terry

Jun 07, 2008 at 03:46 PM

majo d
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p.3 #5 · Life of Kestrel

LeeOts wrote:
Thank you for posting these photos and describing the events. The photos are great! You are a good person and a wonderful friend to these kestrels. I hope all works out well for the birds but, as we all know, the life of a wild animal is not easy.

Does anyone know if kestrels return to the same nest each year or do they establish new nests?

Lee

Kestrels don't establish nests. They are using abandoned nests after other birds, or some places which satisfy their needs.
And I'm not sure if they return to same place every year. I'll tell you next year

Jun 07, 2008 at 05:07 PM

majo d
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p.3 #6 · Life of Kestrel

Hello again, now I need some help.
Male haven't come since friday. Babies are still very hungry and tired, they can't move, they are sleeping all the time and all energy they spend for screaming for food. Mother is always with them, she's becoming nervous when I come to balcony.

Sure I don't want them to die, so I decided that I will feed them. For now it's the only way how to keep them alive. Mother doesn't want to eat as much as babies.
But I need some advices about food.

I will give them ONLY fresh meat. In a morning, I gave them some pieces of pork meat. But also I have lots of chicken hearts, livers and stomaches and I think that it will be better for them, it's much more nutritious than common meat/flesh, isn't it?

So I need some advices about how to feed them. I would try to give meat to mother in some extraordinary way, not just put it in front of her. She should search for it, fight for it, etc...

I'm going to contact a local zoo, maybe they can give me some more informations.

So what do you think? Any ideas?
Thank you very much in the name of kestrels

23 - Babies, 8.june 2008
This image is copyrighted by the owner

Edited by majo d on Jun 08, 2008 at 11:25 AM GMT

Edited by majo d on Jun 08, 2008 at 11:26 AM GMT

Edited on Jun 08, 2008 at 10:26 AM

Jun 08, 2008 at 09:06 AM

sejac
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p.3 #7 · Life of Kestrel

These are magic photos.

And I think a vet at a zoo may be best able to advise. At least the zoo may provide the name of someone who can help. Where I live in Australia, there seem to be few vets who know much about birds.

Best of luck to all of you.

Charles.

Jun 08, 2008 at 10:22 AM

72chevelle454
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p.3 #8 · Life of Kestrel

I'm not sure I can help much at all, but a lady I work with has a dad that is a vet, she said they had a injured kestrel and they feed him crickets (before that he would not eat, but he loved the crickets). I know this was already suggested by Rodney earlier in the post.

Jun 08, 2008 at 10:28 AM

RichYak
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p.3 #9 · Life of Kestrel

These are remarkable. Thank you for sharing these special photos.

Jun 08, 2008 at 12:06 PM

Desertrat
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p.3 #10 · Life of Kestrel

I am mesmerized by all of this.. we have many Kestrels here and you would NEVER ever get to photograph such a thing or get this close unless the bird was with a re-habber...
These are incredible and something I have never seen before so I thank you for your marvelous documentation.. you are doing a great job...
G Horn

Jun 08, 2008 at 02:26 PM

Rodney O
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p.3 #11 · Life of Kestrel

Majo

Keep up the good work with these birds. The photos are excellent.

And good luck with the feeding. Hope the links I sent continue to be helpful.

Edited on Jun 09, 2008 at 06:56 AM

Jun 09, 2008 at 06:54 AM

BDA7
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p.3 #12 · Life of Kestrel

Great photos..Have you considered leaving a freshly killed mouse on your balcony? Are they available at a pet store near you?

Jun 09, 2008 at 07:31 AM

Octavio Salles
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p.3 #13 · Life of Kestrel

BDA7 wrote:
Great photos..Have you considered leaving a freshly killed mouse on your balcony? Are they available at a pet store near you?

Why would he want to do this? Let the birds hunt by themselves... it's the best thing he can do for the future of them.

Hand feeding is only good for your pet. Many birds, including all raptors as far as I know put out eggs in an unsincronized (sp?) way. A few babies, the younger ones specially, will be weaker and will not be able to compete with the older brother for food. The older brother will ultimately lead him to starvation. This is a VERY IMPORTANT educational part of their lives! That's why evolution did it this way, don't mess with it. Competition starts at the nest. Hand feeding would only make both babies more dependent and all around weaker predators that likely won't survive very long out there.

Edited on Jun 09, 2008 at 02:30 PM

Jun 09, 2008 at 02:23 PM

majo d
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p.3 #14 · Life of Kestrel

Octavio
you're right and that's why I'm not doing it. Anyway, chicks don't want food from anyone, except their mother.

I'm not sure, if you red other posts, but this is emergency situation, and I can choose whether they all die, or they will alive. I'm not feeding all of them, I'm helping them to survive. I'm giving food to the mother, but I'm making it hard for her, I don't just put meat to her beak. I'm fighting with her, hiding the food, even when she takes it, I'm taking it back from her beak. She has to fight me, seek the food on the balcony, it takes her around 10 minutes then she can get it and feed her chicks, so don't even think that I'm pampering them

Anyway, you can't beat their basic natural instincts.
I want them to survive, and only way how to make it is help mother with feeding, because the main source of food - male, hadn't come for almost a week.

And babies are fighting each other for food, I consider it as right thing.

Also, I have some good new after a long time.
Babies are growin up FAST!! Older one has visible feathers. And mother is not afraid as much as she was before, she now can see, that chicks are really safe here, so she hunts much often, last 4 hours they ate 3 times!! Last weekend, they ate maybe once in 3 days! I'm thinking that after few days, I will stop helping to feed them.

25 And fresh photo

Jun 09, 2008 at 02:59 PM

BDA7
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p.3 #15 · Life of Kestrel

Octavio

I should have been clearer in my response. I wasn't suggesting that Majo hand feed the birds, but simply suplimenting when things got tough to help them survive, like he is doing now. I agree that they shouldn't be hand fed.

Brian

Edited on Jun 09, 2008 at 03:35 PM

Jun 09, 2008 at 03:32 PM

72chevelle454
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p.3 #16 · Life of Kestrel

majo, thanks for the update, those are the cutest little ugly chicks I have ever seen

Jun 09, 2008 at 03:35 PM

Octavio Salles
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p.3 #17 · Life of Kestrel

I'm sorry guys, I didn't know the male wasn't attending the nest anymore.

majo, you are very fortunate to have kestrel nesting on your balcony! One thing I would suggest, if possible, is to make up a fake adult kestrel puppy, with beak, eyes, feathers and all. This is the way rehab centers do to feed youngs, this way the babies won't associate humans to food, this is the most dangerous thing in hand feeding. Observe the way the female feeds the babies and mimics that, the way she arrives at the nest, the angle she gives them food, everything...

Don't be surprised or sad if the younger baby don't survive though, this is common and probably even expected.

Jun 09, 2008 at 03:58 PM

Guia
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p.3 #18 · Life of Kestrel

Majo; I think its great you are helping them out! I think the chicken parts would be good feed, as well as any large insects you may be able to catch. The adult female is wild and has proven she can hunt, therefore I do not think that hand feeding her will do much harm, and she can then feed the chicks. This will keep the chicks from associating you with food too much. Anyway, the chicks will need to learn to hunt from their mother when they leave the nest, and the mother will not at time teach them to somehow try and obtain food from humans. As you can see the young grow very quickly, and to sustain that growth they need a constant supply of food. The male you saw the female fight with may not have been her mate. In terms of interfering with nature, well humans have interfered mostly for the bad to a huge extent already, so a little help to one nest in Slovakia will not cause harm. When the young are old enough to fly they will leave the nest, maybe coming back to roost for a few days. But eventually they will leave for good and learn to hunt from mom.

Jun 09, 2008 at 04:29 PM

Karl Witt
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p.3 #19 · Life of Kestrel

You do a nice job handholding your shots

A bird in hand................ah never mind on that one

Unbelievable, hope she does not become dependent on you, although there sure is a unique bond building here. Neat update...............

Karl

Jun 09, 2008 at 04:36 PM

JakeB.
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p.3 #20 · Life of Kestrel

Very interesting story to follow... I think you're doing the right thing Majo, and you're lucky to have them there.
Thanks so much for posting updates and taking the time to help them.

Jun 09, 2008 at 04:45 PM

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