14 November 2018
Kris brought her scale over today to get a true weight on Alder, who is at 1145 grams. Her weight is still high, but the rate of loss is healthy. Alder is a bit more responsive today and paying more attention to food offers. She’s getting better about stepping up and back, though still sticks like glue to the scale. One tail feather is bent and another broken from the rough vet visit. If she continues to damage her tail feathers we will have to put on a tail guard. My scale is definitely malfunctioning so unfortunately that means having to buy a new one.
Alder broke the gate clip holding the leash to the perch and flew up to the window curtain rod. No damage done, but she is more determined than ever to get loose again. We will have to come up with a more secure option.
15 November 2018
Alder was reluctant to come out of the crate this morning so I left her in there 15 minutes and tried again. She was better the second time, so I think we will try this as a routine. I gave her a bath pan and within a minute she was perched on the edge drinking and kicking the water. She sat on it for a good 10 minutes before returning to her perch.
She shows interest in organ meat, but not enough to jump for it. Alder continued to refuse food all day. Our interactions went something like this:
Alder: Ooohh. That looks tasty. Is that for me? *peers intently at tidbit*
Me: Of course it’s for you. Come get it.
Alder: PUT IT IN MY MOUTH. *opens mouth wide like a spoiled baby bird*
Me: No, you’re a big girl. You come get it.
Alder: That looks like garbage and I bet it tastes terrible. I don’t want it. *turns away*
After many attempts to get her to jump for food, she ended up jumping to my glove and just sitting there so I gave in and fed her a tidbit for good behavior. She loves her bath pan. Much less fuss this evening about going to her crate for bed.
16 November 2018
Alder was mean when I first tried to get her out of the crate so I shut her back in it. Maybe it is giving her what she wants, or maybe it is teaching her that she needs to cooperate of she wants to come out. After a few minutes she was settled and came out without issues.
She managed to unscrew the link clip and get free again but did not fuss or bate when I scooped her up. She politely let me change her jesses out while on my glove. She did eventually eat a mouse while sitting on my fist but wasn’t very enthusiastic about it. Her keel is starting to feel bony now. At bedtime, instead of thrashing around in her crate, she roused and settled in peacefully.
17 November 2018
Today we started an hour later than normal and Alder was less grumpy. We spent 2.5 hours walking outside. She won’t eat. She will let me touch her legs and belly now. We experienced climbing through the bars of a gate (video) today and she did very well. Another 2 hours in the evening, much better behaved.
18 November 2018
Kris came over this morning to check up on Alder. I guessed her weight to be 1095 g, based on her behavior and level of activity over the last few days. She was at 1094.5 g, hah! We went for another long walk in the morning. Shawn came out on our afternoon walk and it didn’t take long for Alder to relax around him. He said she has come leaps and bounds from the last time he saw her. It was a shorter walk tonight due to fading daylight. She was showing greater interest in food but we were interrupted by Jeff with the entire family in tow. She was thrown off, and lost interest in eating.
19 November 2018
This morning I had Alder out for a couple hours and things went well. I had to run errands so put her back in her crate. When I got back later and went to take her out she freaked out, tried to fly out the door in a panic and footed me hard. It turns out that Jeff came into my office while I was gone and opened the door to her crate to see if she was in there. Likely that scared her because she does not know him or trust him yet. She is grouchy.
I bought chicken liver in hopes it will be more enticing for her. She was more focused on the food, but still would not jump to my glove for it. She went to bed without a fuss.
20 November 2018
Upon opening the crate I found that Alder’s jesses were off. She politely stepped on my glove, and I lifted her carefully out of the crate. She stood patiently on my fist while I put the jesses back on. It was awesome. She is down to 1075 g today and hasn’t eaten any tidbits in a few days. The staring at food is much more intense now, but still no jump.
Another new behavior I have never before experience with a newly trapped hawk is having the hawk hop to the fist the first week. They sometimes will readily step up on an glove when offered but not hop on to it. Interesting!
Alder jumping to me was unexpected for sure. She jumped a good foot and a half from perch to my glove and didn’t even take the food. It happened several times, which was definitely interesting. Other than when I ask her to “step-up” onto the glove, she never did step onto the glove for food. She went straight to jumping for the sake of jumping, then to jumping for tidbits! A little backward, but I don’t mind.