Kes is a secret eater

Kes squawks when I go near, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a ‘keep away’ or a ‘feed me’ sound.   I am trying not to get him ‘imprinted’ on me as returning him to the wild is our key aim.   We’ve rescued and reared kestrels before and it’s been our experience that they go back to being wild things very quickly.   Falconry enthusiasts are able to fly these birds but can only do so out of hunger.   When the kestrel is released she will come back for a piece of meat or a dead chick.

This is the standard food for birds of prey.   They have a miserable life being tied to a perch with leather jesses on their legs.   They want to fly but they can’t except for the few minutes when their captors allow them..  Birds should be free.

I’m no longer hand feeding Kes.   He eats when he wants to and that is never when anyone is present.   I cover his pen floor with leaves and then put strips of raw beef down.  Also a raw egg with the shell cracked open.   While I am there he looks at it and looks at me and then looks back at his meal.   He makes no attempt to go near it or feed himself.

When I have gone he must come to feed and walk around.   I usually leave him about an hour and then go back to see what he’s been up to.  The meat has gone, some of the egg too and there are bird droppings to show that he has walked round.   I’d like to have a video camera so that I could see him eat.  Does he grab the meat with his talons and then take it in his sharp hooked beak?   i wouldn’t dream of disturbing him so I don’t suppose I’ll ever know.