2005 female parent reared sparrowhawk

[Wilfred]

so as from today I got some female sparrowhawk. It is a parent reared one.

I got her this afternoon and took her with me hooded. But at home I decided to put the hood off and just try how she behaved. Of course not that at ease :roll:

But managed to get her on the hand once and a while. And took some pictures. They are not that good since she was really in beginning of training and did not feel like just sitting on the fist while the strange guy was with her. But I will attach the nicest picture. Just took this one some 2 hours or so ago.

[HawkMan69UK]

nice spar buddy let us know how you get on with a P R rather than imprint

[BrianM]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO very nice mate

[Jastreb]

Nice bird m8 keep us inform!
Cheers Jastreb

[Tim Laycock]

She looks very good Wilferd. 8)
Did you recieve the patterns/equipment I sent you?

[Wilfred]

She looks very good Wilferd. 8)
Did you recieve the patterns/equipment I sent you?u

Well no..i did not yet. The swivel I use is acceptable now however...some very small sampoo swivel. Think your one will be better and I'm sure I will receive it next days and then change that for sure. And the leash..the one I now have is quite thin but guess your setup is thinner. If not I will arrange some very small leash myself.

I just took some hood with me yesterday. It was already on when I got the spar and fitted perfectly. Like I said I took it off yesterday already once and also hooded her again. Was very easy in fact to hood her. But I guess I will not use the hood that often. Only get her used to wear it for instances I might still need to hood her. At the moment she is also not wearing the hood. I will try to train her without it, think that's better in fact.

[Tim Laycock]

Im sorry you have not recieved the stuff yet Wilfred. :(
If she stands well to the hood I would definatly carry on with it regularly even if its only to keep her acostomed to it for the sake of convinience.
If you have to car hawk to enter her her good manners with the hood will be a gift 8)

[Wilfred]

Im sorry you have not recieved the stuff yet Wilfred. :(
If she stands well to the hood I would definatly carry on with it regularly even if its only to keep her acostomed to it for the sake of convinience.
If you have to car hawk to enter her her good manners with the hood will be a gift 8)

Yes I will definitely keep her accustomed to the hood. But she's doing well without till now...this morning she was not that easy but after about 3 times of 1,5 hours carrying she's already quite at ease. I saw here with one leg up sitting this afternoon. And cars do not bother her that much anymore. So this goes well.

This morning she weighted 258 grams (with swivel and so on). Some 3 hours ago still 255. And an hour ago also 255...so quite high in weight still.
But the V-bone is quite sharp already..so will try whether she want to eat this evening. This morning she did not care to.

[Tim Laycock]

Good stuff Wilfred. Keep us posted :D

[Wilfred]

well she's doing fine....she's quite at ease now and feeds out of the fist. But till now did not jump. Tha's probably because she has been at some constant weigth at around 250 grams al the time till now...think this evening she will be lower in weight and then I will try again

[SakerYZF]

mmmm nice spar:D

[Wilfred]

today I brought the spar to 225 grams or so...and we did some training in the field. That is, I and some friend of mine who is already austringer for about 25 years or so. The spar was doubting a bit first time. But second time she came immediately on 2 or 3 metres. Which is OK for now. I hope she will improve quite quick on the fist and that I will have her flying at 5 or 10 metres really soon now. Then I will introduce her to the lure also. Tomorrow I will probably try to get her flying to the fist at about 4 metres distance with weight just a little bit higher also...around 230 grams or so I hope. Since i think 225 is little bit too low for her.

Yesterday I showed her my peregrine, now weighting about 1100 grams, at save distance of course. Her whole body only said one thing: " i wanne catch you (the peregrine)". I think that's quite promising maybe.

I will keep you all informed here about developments of my spar.

[Shikra]

nice spar wilfred, on what quarry u will train her?

[Wilfred]

nice spar wilfred, on what quarry u will train her?

well actually i can not say yet what will be major prey...since i have to see how the spar develops and what hunting grounds i can get extra and so on...my idea is to fly her just at all the prey species available and possible to fly at. I do not know all english terms but small corvids, small gulls, the black and white birds and that kind of prey. And will try woodpigeon or so also probably just what is available at the moments and spots. And will try to go to belgium or places in Germany where partridge is still allowed to hunt at. Basically i will definitely not fly her at only one prey species but just anything available and allowed to hunt at.

Today was some good improvement again. I did get her to the fist at 60 metres or so! But response was not quick enough still so i have to train her on the line for some days still. Also because i only introduced her to the lure just after the first flight today. Second time today was not a flight in fact but just let her jump to the lure. I first tried to call her on it but she just did not know it enough so i took her on the fist and she jumped to it. After that i just held the lure very fixed and the line with the spar attached also. To prevent her from flying away if she would try and also to prevent her to fly me in the face if she wanted. Flying away with the prey she luckly did not try today (she did on the fist days before) but she threatened me a bit to fly me at the face when i came too nearby. But also did not (yet).

Next days I will mainly concentrate on getting quicker response both to fist and lure. Distance is enough, response is not yet to let her free now. And i have to get it more into her mind that it has no advantage (trying to) fly away with the prey.

[OutFlying]

Is she flying free yet ? weight now ?

OF.

[Wilfred]

Is she flying free yet ? weight now ?

OF.

No not flying free yet...its just that we had some days with too much rain and she does not respond too well still and response to the lure is too less yet. So i think it will last some more days still...because i want at least to have better response to the lure.

[OutFlying]

Any real progress ? Is she still at 225 -230 grams ?

[Wilfred]

Any real progress ? Is she still at 225 -230 grams ?

yes but today little bit lower no real progress problem is that she does not respond to the lure that well and response to fist is also not quick enough...so have to continue a bit still training her on creance

[OutFlying]

If she doesn't begin to respond at this weight (how long have you been manning her now ?) when will you decide to try something different ? All the young quarry will be very strong on the wing by the time your flying free and success will be hard to come by - further negating your reasons to try and enter her at a high weight. My advise is to use a weight which she'll respond to, carry on the manning process while your hunting with her on the fist, success and fitness will raise the early lowish entering weight.

OF.

[GoshawkRST]

My femmale sparr did not response well with 220 grams, so, slowly, I get her going perfectly with 190 - 193 grams. She already caught 5 bagged pigeons and 2 wild quarry: 2 megpies. She hunts with 188 grams.

[Wilfred]

well i realise about that it takes quite some time my way not decreasing weight too fast..but now she's actually responding quite OK with 220 grams or so will have to decrease little bit further probably. I will fly her free as from next days and indeed continue training while she is flying free of course and try getting her at quarry as quick as possible now.

[Finnish]

Wilfred keep us posted on the progress. :)

[Tim Laycock]

Wilfred,
Be carefull not to switch her onto quarry too soon.
Like a Gos, Obedience is paramount with a Spar or it will quickly be lost.

[OutFlying]

Wilfred,
Is she finally hunting ? if so how's she going and with what success at 230 grams ?

Yours Jim.

[Wilfred]

Wilfred,
Is she finally hunting ? if so how's she going and with what success at 230 grams ?

Yours Jim.

well no..actually i have some problem now since i had some hunting grounds but may not go there..so have to find some new next days or so and then i can continue...it was really bad had her that far that she could fly free and then i could not...and really can not since it is not allowed here in Netherlands. But will do my best to find solution of course next weeks

[ColdZero]

any update on this thread? I just find it through a google search

[HoumaFalconer]

That Is A Awsome Looking Bird, I Hope Everything Works Out Ok
Dennis

[BFG]

Looks good nice one m8:lol:

[North East Harris Hawker]

either you only have very little hands or she is a bl**dy big spar!

[Wilfred]

just have to respond to this thread at this moment that I was not able to hunt with her last season. Due to the fact that I lost some hunting grounds to start with. 2 places i was told I would be able to hunt there without problems. And afterwards I did not get new. But the spar is still alive and very healthy and so on. So I will try to hunt with her this year probably but for some months or so have to see. At the moment there is not much interesting to tell about her just have to wait for the hunting season approaching again

[Moses]

she is a babe mate, beautiful

[ColdZero]

sorry to hear you couldn't hunt her, what a bloody shame. I hope you find some more land soon. Do you have any more pics? Shes gorgeous, and definitely looks big!