Kes is growing feathers

Kes is eating well and every day he seems to get more feathers.   The baby fluff is slowly being replaced by proper kestrel plumage.   We’ve been hand feeding him so far but today we tried letting him feed for himself – and it was a success.   He won’t feed when there’s anybody there but when he’s on his own he walks about and eats all the meat strips.   This is great progress because if we were to keep on hand feeding him he would become ‘imprinted’ on us.  This is not good if he is to be released back into the wild.  An imprint bird will follow humans around and not learn to hunt for himself.   We want Kes to be totally free and able to feed himself – and that’s what he’s doing now – he’s a wild thing and this is all to the good.