a peek at k8

One bird in the first release group is K8 - you can see the bands on 59 and OK clearly in this snippet, but K8 is the restless alpha female you see at the end (actually, the only female in the group). Her constant pacing and impatient hopping around often leaves other birds wondering how they were knocked from their perch. She's feisty. This morning most of her tail feathers were a few inches shorter - in the final moments of the video below, you can see some of them starting to break.



It won't impact her much, since baby feathers are fairly weak to begin with. They just grow super quickly and it takes a lot of energy to get them out so fast. Adult feathers are slower to come in and of a much higher quality.

[will add two more photos here when I get a chance!]

EDIT:





In the lower photo, you can see the quail board in the background - we slide a little wooden tray into the box so the falcons never see us. Quail are zip-tied to the board so the birds won't pull them all off the board... it prevents buildup of nasty, over-ripe, smelly quail pieces. Aren't you glad you asked?