Dave, I understand your point. I still will do things my way until I know for sure that weight training is benefical{sp?} to my bird. I don't do any weight training myself and am not doing to bad out in the field for a 60 year old guy. Its hard to tell if the weight training actually makes a difference because its just a personal opinion from the falconer doing it. I have been waiting to get the eagle going until after I do the eyas peregrine pull here in NM. I know it seems kinda late and most of the eyrie's have already fledged, but, the eyrie I am going to pull from had 3 or 4 day old eyas's a week ago last Friday. We hope to make the pull a week from tomorrow making the eyas's in the 20 day old range. Then I'll get the eagle going.
Can I ask a reasonable question about weight training?
I make no bones that I am flying a Kestrel. Now a kestrel can fly off with a sparrow, or small food. If I were to weight train by tethering a weight the amount of say a sparrow, would that hurt or help? I figure that since it does carry food up to a certain weight, constantly carrying the same weight it couldnt affect it that bad could it?
raptrlvr-Good luck with the eyas's pull and getting your eagle going.
Killjoy-hmm I've thought about your question for a while. Okay, say a Kestrel hunted 1-2 sparrows a day. The kessie would only be carrying that weight 1-2 times a day. So maybe during your training, only add weights for only a few flights, equivilent to carrying a sparrow 1 or 2 times a day?
...but then again, I've never flown a Kessie, only Red-Tails ....good luck with trapping this fall, btw! (60 something days to go until trapping season comes around again in Missouri! Wooot!)
Bridget
"Falconry is not a hobby or an amusement; it is a rage. You eat and drink it, sleep it and think it. You tremble to write of it, even in recollection. It is as King James the First remarked, an extreme stirrer up of passions." --- T.H. White
If I were to weight train by tethering a weight the amount of say a sparrow, would that hurt or help? I figure that since it does carry food up to a certain weight, constantly carrying the same weight it couldnt affect it that bad could it?
The average weight of an adult English sparrow is 24.29 grams, give or take. The average weight of an adult female K is 119 grams (109 for tiercels). The sparrow would be roughly 20% of the female K's weight (even more for the tiercel).
Now, let's say you weigh 180 pounds. 20% of 180 would be 36 pounds. How would it affect you to constantly carry an additional 36 pounds of weight suspended from your legs? I don't know about you, but it would certainly take a toll on my back, hips, knees, and ankles.
If I were to weight train by tethering a weight the amount of say a sparrow, would that hurt or help? I figure that since it does carry food up to a certain weight, constantly carrying the same weight it couldnt affect it that bad could it?
The average weight of an adult English sparrow is 24.29 grams, give or take. The average weight of an adult female K is 119 grams (109 for tiercels). The sparrow would be roughly 20% of the female K's weight (even more for the tiercel).
Now, let's say you weigh 180 pounds. 20% of 180 would be 36 pounds. How would it affect you to constantly carry an additional 36 pounds of weight suspended from your legs? I don't know about you, but it would certainly take a toll on my back, hips, knees, and ankles.
ok, I get it.
So maybe the addition of a backpack and transmitter would be more than enough.
This is my first opportunity to return to the subject of weight training and the comments made about it in general and my exercise tool, The Launcher Leash, in particular. Note I will abbreviate The Launcher Leash as simply LL the rest of this post.
This summer has been very hectic with family things and I did NOT keep my own birds on their regular LL workouts though the molt as I have the last two years. This has proved two things that I knew would be true.
1. My birds all put on more weight than during prior molts.
2. They would lose conditioning just sitting around during the molt.
Only one bird was ready (last week) to start cutting back to flying weight. This was my female RT, Tess, who flew at 42 oz last season. She weighed in at 52 oz (3 oz heavier than last year when I worked her on the LL through the molt) when I picked her up and acted pretty wild. However, when I took her into my tack room in the barn and hooked the Launcher Leash to her, she immediately wanted to jump to the carpet pad and begin a workout session! Fat as she was she did 10 jump ups, including 2 where she didn't even eat the meat on the fist. However, as noted above she was noticeably out of condition as regards her ability to pull the LL. A week later she is down to 48 oz. and pulling the leash better. It will take another 3-4 weeks to fully condition her.
I want to comment on the earlier posts in this section about possible stress fractures from a bird doing jump ups, or the potential of any attached weight causing muscle, ligament, joint, etc. damage. I spoke on the phone with MIGISI and it turned out I knew her. She is a very competent rehabber as well as falconer. The study she cited indicated the stress fractures came from high numbers of jump ups with returns to a hard surface. It makes perfect sense that this could cause injury to a bird.
In fact, when contemplating the LL's design, such matters were included in both its physical design and its actual use as a training/conditioning tool.
I have always advocated using a padded flooring (heavy old carpet works for me) material to protect the talon tips, joints, etc. for any jump up exercises. I also usually lean down a bit to miminize the shock of returning the bird to the floor. And, importantly, remember that the LL minimizes the number of jump ups needed to condition the bird. It is rare I go beyond 25 or 30 in a session (versus some articles I've seen where birds are jumped 100 or more times). And the gradual, incremental increase of the applied weight as the LL is lifted inch by inch off the ground absolutely mitigates against any sudden shock to the joints, muscles, tendons, or ligaments.
As for its effacacy, for me the proof is in what I've seen with my own birds and what people who have used the LL tell me. At the last NAFA Meet, CHC Meet in Topaz, NV, and just recently the IFA Summer Picnic people come up to me to sing its praises and tell me what a difference it made in their birds strength, confidence, and field performance.
I've joked that it is literally a "BowFlex for Birds"! But like that piece of exercise equipment sitting in your basement, it only works if it is USED. And, YES, actually flying and hunting your bird is the best thing you can do for it. But for all those times you CANNOT (molt, darkness, rain, snow, time, etc.), 15 minutes with the LL will leave your bird and you both feeling better about that day you just couldn't get to the field. Oh, and when your done w/your bird, drop and give yourself 25 push-ups!
And for you continuing naysayers, please stay tuned. A researcher from a prominent raptor center recently contacted me to get a set of LLs for him to do a clinical study of their application and whether they really work. I made up LLs of many different weights that can be tried with a variety of birds from small falcons/accipiters up to eagles. I am going to be very interested to see his results.
Remember what I said in my first post on this subject. I didn't create the LL for money or fame, but to improve the strength and conditioning of falconry raptors. That is how I want it (and me) judged on its use. I welcome any and all to offer their continuing comments and insight on this topic. Have a great hawking season this fall!
Last Edit: Aug 31, 2008 15:33:59 GMT -5 by yarakone
And for you continuing naysayers, please stay tuned. A researcher from a prominent raptor center recently contacted me to get a set of LLs for him to do a clinical study of their application and whether they really work. I made up LLs of many different weights that can be tried with a variety of birds from small falcons/accipiters up to eagles. I am going to be very interested to see his results.
I too would be very interested. Will radiology be a part of the research? Please publish the testing methodology and results when it's finalized and available. I'd really like to see it. Thanks ahead of time.