Rotating perch

Here is a perch my sponsor recommended to me. It's sized for a smaller bird, sharp-shin or merlin maybe.

It swivels around on a base plate with a lazy susan set up between. The hawk is tethered to the eye bolt on the side and when the bird flies off, or bates, the perch rotates with her. This keeps the leash from being pulled between the tail feathers and possibly causing damage. I imagine the force of the bate will also be turned in to the energy needed to turn the plates and soften the blow. I hope to start with a goshawk,
 (another topic for another time,) and therefore needed to increase the scale of the design.

I decided to make the perch 12 inches high as many commercially made bow perches intended for larger hawks were around this height. That meant the diameter would be 24 inches. I bought some oak veneered 3/4" plywood for appearance, strength, and price. I also found the largest lazy susan swivel they had, 12", and set off to make the perch.

 

I cut it out, then sanded down to final dimensions. I also smoothed and beveled the edges. Then I attached the upright to the base with wood glue and six 4" grabber screws. I added a strip of oak edging to strengthen the joint with more glue and nails. Now I cut out the floor piece from 3/4" plywood, then determined where the center is and added the swivel.

If you look closely you can see a large hole at the 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions. Those holes will be drilled out from the bottom. This then allows screws to be put in from the back side of the floor plate to the underside of the perch floor plate. You can see there are three hole sizes in each quarter of the circle. Pick which size you need, screw in one and then the opposing one through the access holes we made, rotate the floor plate 90 degrees and put the other two in. From the top there is visible connection.

Now I am coating the perch with several layers of boiled linseed oil. It should give a very hard and easy to clean surface while bringing out the color of the wood.

I also found out how to bend schedule 40 PVC pipe. I had tried to use a heat gun to put some bend in a pipe, but I couldn't get it to a uniform heat. Recently it dawned on me to try what I do with Kydex. I heated the oven to 350 degrees, and put a 18" piece of pipe on a baking sheet, with one end resting up on the edge. I do this to see when the plastic becomes malleable and bends in the heat. After only two minutes, the pipe became soft and flexible. I put a slight bend in it and then held it against the counter until it held the curve on it's own. I then ran some water through it to cool it the rest of the way. I also learned to keep the pipe away from any heating elements as it can burn and warp.

I'll be using this on top of the perch to give it a good dimension, and then wrap it with astroturf. I'll cut a grove down the middle, heat it up then mold it to the wood.

Here's a picture of my dad as we work on the new trap design.

Here's the final product

Good news

Thing's are starting to move along. I found that the big access side only had one zip tie keeping it shut and an edge had been bent up. I'm pretty sure that is how the bird escaped, the dog is teaching me a lot about my designs. I zip tied it down and no more escapes. Wednesday I caught two more birds, so I added them to the V trap bringing us to three guests. But first here is a picture of the rubber gasket and then the hook.

And now the next birds caught. Two fer.

 The V seems about right now with three, and outside starlings are crawling all over it, but even with lots of bait inside and some on the restricter plate outside, none have entered. My wife mentioned suggested when the newly fledged ones are out during the warmer weather we might have a lot more luck. My sponsor recommended adding a place for the starlings to hide when they're stressed. So my large CO2 chamber became a hiding spot.

Here are the components on the Mack truck, and there's the V trap's new home. The little opening contraption is called a blast gate. It's made of ABS and is normally part of a woodworker's dust vacuuming system.

 I painted it black, screwed a dowel going from side to side, and put in a rabbit wire floor to keep them out of their feces. Now it is mounted to the side of the trap supported by a shelf and a wire retainer.

Now when I want to clear out the birds I can slide the gate shut and still use it as a CO2 chamber. Here bit is mounted on the trap.

 

And now for the best part, this morning when we went to check the trap and there were FIVE starlings in there!

My daughter helped me transfer them into the smaller box and I gassed them. It was quick and smooth. We put them in baggies and went to get a couple English sparrows my dad caught in a funnel trap. Very productive day. Total: 3 caught but escaped, 3 in the V, and 10 in the freezer.

Here we are bagging the birds.

Ups and Downs

Here's the first bird in the Nest Box (NB.)

Looks like a mature bird. It was very highly strung, really working to get out. I moved it into the V trap.

Unfortunately the night was cold and when I checked in the morning, it was dead. But there was another one in the NB. So I put the first one in a bag for the freezer and moved the other one over. This one was calm but pecked at me every chance it got. Here it is in the "V."

I think this was a he because of it's calm yet aggressive nature. He also started to eat shortly after arrival. You may notice in the first picture I used zip ties to secure the catcher. I decided I would construct a hook made out of heavy wire. I put this on the support you can see behind the left side of the cage. Then I pushed the pipe through the rubber on the catcher lid then eased it back down on the hook. It was stable, with a tight fit, and should be easier to remove the cage.

Well, yesterday there wasn't anything in the V. And insult to injury, nothing in the NB either. There were dog tracks around the trap, so many in fact it was bare dirt and no snow. I don't if the bird was so worked up it found it's way back out the slots or ,very unlikely, the dog pushed the access hatch open.

Today though, another one in the NB. So I moved the trap up onto the Mack truck bed, about 4' feet off the ground. Hopefully this will cut down on the dog's ability to stress the birds, the bird will still be there in the morning, and I can get another bird from the NB and start a small flock. I think I need a couple birds in the trap to see if the V can bring birds and keep them on it's own. I also put a branch over a couple of the slots.
 
I'm hoping I don't need to monkey with the slots, but if I can't keep birds in I'll try to decrease the width of the slots. If that doesn't work, I've got some ideas for one way wires. Another idea might be to attach an mechanism like the NB to the side of the V with the cage replacing the down tube, and maybe a plexiglass flap and a couple little magnets to hold it shut as the one way valve.

My dad said he put the plexiglass plate in the 3" T on the back of the chicken coop and caught a sparrow. We'll see if that was a fluke. I'll get pictures of that trap.

I also started to build that rotating perch with my dad today. I'll show that and some of the paracord jesses ( pronounced jessies) and a leash. Plus a lure.

Active trapping

First off, caught my first starling (which didn't escape) today! I transferred it to the V trap and hope to start luring his buddies in.

I will be posting pictures of the adjustments I made to the system, as well as my first bird pictures too. But there's no slot for my SD chip on this computer machine, so those will come later.

This is a picture of a trap made by Richard Van Vleck. I don't know how the internals work, but I have attempted to reverse engineer it, or at least how I would build it.

He describes it as having a dropping floor and a sweeping wall. By looking at the roof I imagine the wall pivots and keeps in close proximity to it. The floor drops when the bird lands in the bottom of the cavity, and the doo hickey hanging off the side appears to be the counter balance which would move up and down in that slot. When the floor drops down the bird drops into the pipe in the bottom, from that point it is similar to the Nest Box set up.

Here is what I would make the inside look like.

 I would make it out of light sheet metal. Here's a preliminary template. Though this model isn't to scale, I would make each square 5"x5" or 6"x6".

Then I would bend the sheet metal like the following. The hole will match the hole in front exactly so that as soon as the floor drops, the entrance hole will be closed off very quickly. I would rivet the side wall tab to the floor tab.

The side is the rounded one, the floor has the two flanges, and then the back.

I would drill a hole through the two flanges under the back wall for the hinge axle. I'm still cogitating about putting the counter balance along the side wall flange or center it in the floor.

Starling Trap: V Trap

This is the trap I'm hoping to fill my freezer with. I had a good time making this: its dimensions are 4' high x 3' wide x 4' long. It has no moving parts, at least not involved with catching the birds.

I wanted it to be light and strong enough to withstand moving from one location to the next. I'm sure there are cheaper ways, but I want this to last years in all kinds of weather. This simple little set up with three boards and some holes is the heart of this trap. The slots are 1 3/4" wide and 5 or 6 inches long. The vertical boards keep the birds from crawling along the wire to the slots. The width of the slots is too narrow for a starling to fit back through with its wings out. Also they naturally want to fly up and away, which leads them up to the peaks on either side and away from the slots.

I used rabbit wire because I wanted to make sure that nothing can get to the starlings and to increase the trap's longevity. I'll see how long the zip ties will last, but I plan on using wire around the bottom once I see how things go. I'm always open to adjusting and love making things better.

I left one of the top sections hinged so that birds could get used to going in and out for a week and then zip it closed.

I actually got rid of the arrow shaft and just zipped it on loosely. I didn't like the gaps at the top. I got it all closed in.

Then I added an exit hole. My plan is to construct a cover out of weed barrier (left over from our landscaping this summer.) It's black and cuts out light, and I put it on when I've got a bunch of birds in the trap. I'll let them sit for a while, then open the sliding cover over the hole. I'm thinking I'll put a white pillow case or something similar for the birds to escape into. That'll go into a container with some CO2. It's all theory right now. Maybe make a down pipe like on the nesting box?

I put a perch and some cover in one of the high sides. I also added an access hole with a round opening to reduce the chance escape. I also found some little magnets shaped like washers so they hold the hatch down quite well.

Completed trap. Or a really big paper weight.

Starling Trap: Nesting Box

 I plan on trying to feed my hawk starlings and English sparrows as much as possible, so I have built two traps to get them. One plays on their nesting and territorial drives, the other on food.

In a UC Davis study on trapping starlings, the most effective way to lure them in is other starlings. So for my V trap to work at it's best, I'll need to get a few lure birds. Enter the nesting box.

 Looks normal on the outside, but once the target bird hops in, the internal can drops. The lever is counter balanced to drop with between 4 and 5 quarters.

I used a bunch of washers on a bolt that can be removed or added depending on how it preforms and the quickness of the reset. The axle rests on Delrin blocks from an old cutting board. I also put some tubing and washers on the axle to ensure the can pivots up and down without much deviation and no contact, even when its on it's side.( Trying to stay one step ahead of Murphy.) The can pivots to the bottom and the top hole is covered and a hole on the back is revealed.

The bird hops off the can into a 3" PVC elbow. I put in some holes to give some light, to increase the likelihood the bird will move down the garden path and drop down the pipe.

The bird drops down the pipe into a collection box. The first several birds I catch will go into the V trap but after that, CO2, vacuum packer, and the freezer. I'll put the cage in, with a block or two of styrofoam to take up space, in a clear storage container and crack open the CO2 for second or two, and let the birds sleep. Mostly I wanted the CO2 for the big trap and major bird processing sessions. Its actually from a paintball gun set up.

Here's the set up.

Next the V trap.

Pre-apprentice Falconer

I keep telling my family and friends about what I'm doing as I prepare to become a falconer, and many have suggested this as a way to show them.

I actually became interested in falconry after having read " My Side of the Mountain" in sixth grade. After multiple resurgences and re-evaluations every few years, I finally felt I was in the right time and place. With family support, a stable job, and a great location near farms, open areas, and water, I'm ready to start.

I've read many, many books and publications, researched websites and online forums, and most importantly spoke with several experienced falconers.

I intend to keep this simple and straight forward in presentation, primarily because I want to avoid it becoming too much for me to keep up with it. But please do ask questions.

Steve

P.S. Takagari was a Japanese term for falconer including those of the Samurai class.