At the end of a goodly road trip through the Canadian Rockies we stopped for
the evening in Idaho south of Sandpoint. While at breakfast at our B&B a
neighbor came over to ask what to do about a large bird that had gotten
caught in their garden fence. I walked over and found a kestrel had somehow
managed to get itself lodged in a mesh net deer fence. It must have hit the
fencing with considerable force as it had torn the fencing off a support
pole. The kestrel was very alive and not a happy camper. Getting it out of
the mesh turned out to be a comedy of errors. Very, very carefully I cut it
out of the fence mesh, at one point it managed to swing a leg up a snatch
the pocket knife from my hand which I hastily let go when it moved a talon
close to my hand. It held onto the knife and screamed at me, which did not
help my shaking hands. Not sure how to get the bird to let go of the knife,
one of the bystanders poked at the knife with a stick until the bird dropped
it. Finally we got the bird free from the fence, but it was still
encumbered by some netting over a wing. The bird thrashed around on the
ground and it was clear it could not fly with one wing pinned and it was not
clear if the bird was hurt. Finally I pulled off my shirt and threw it over
the bird and it went still. At this point nobody really wanted to handle the
bird, so being the naturalist, I got elected. (One of the neighbors was
lobbying to smash the thing with a shovel- but I objected since it was my
only clean shirt) I managed to grab the shirt covered bird and somehow avoid
the beak and talons and after a bit of juggling had the bird clamped under
one arm with its neck in one hand and feet in the other. But the shirt was
covering the wing and I had to readjust my holds, and of course the bird
suddenly went squirmy on me, got its head free and I let it go. After three
more inept attempts the bird seemed to be exhausted and it let me just grab
it as one of the bystanders with scissors cut the tangled wing free. By this
time, we had quite a circle of folks, kids, dogs and even a chicken all
watching with interest. The bird stood on the ground, looking all around and
we all cheered (well, except the dog and chicken) as the now free kestrel
took flight. As we left later, 4 kestrels were perched on the wire by the
road, which my daughter called a four kestrel salute.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, and Kestrel wrangler

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