Countdown to Cooper's Hawk

[forestfalcon]

Well, after quite a bit of reading, and talking to people, I've decided on a passage female Cooper's Hawk for the season. I'm planning on trapping a week from today. I would like to tether the new bird on a pole perch in the living room...problem is, I'm not really that handy when it comes to making/building things like that. I can make most of my equipment, just not this...without help. Does anyone have a good design, that is relatively easy to make? I have a lacking in building skills, so the more 'kindergarten' the instructions are, the less cursing I'll have to do while building it. Thanks so much!

[dirthawker]

well if you are going to go with a pole perch then it is basically a 4" round post screwed to a 4'X4' ply wood base. cover the top with carpet or astroturf and and a screw a ring into the center of the top of the pole to tie the bird down.

but I like to use a rotating ring perch with the tie down that goes to the spike on the bottom of the perch

[Modoc]

If i was gonna build mine again i would go with 4'' round pvc pipe, 6ft high, with the flat cap glued on top and the fitting attached to the plywood on the bottom. Then you can gorilla glue a carpet type doormat onto the top 3ft. drill a hole in the top cap and attach a swivel with about 3inches of elastic to absorb some shock then a swivel to that and your good. I found that after only a day or two with random bates they learn very fast and soon it becomes there favorite place to be.

'what dirthawker said"