I'm looking to get some kind of bird, not a parrot.

I've looking into a barn owl, but i'm not sure about any other options, this would be my first non-parrot bird so obviously nothing too advanced.

Any ideas?

cheers

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, 6 Pacu, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado

what about a Magpie? really clever and easy to tame.
Barn owls a good choice of owl, have u thought about an eagle owl, kestrel, harris hawk ( as these are popular) or if you have a bit more to spend it would have to be a peregrine falcon, this would be my choice.
happy searching.
cheers,
Mark.

i was looking along the bird of prey route really.

Also what sort of prices am i looking at, I know its not gonna be cheap, not worried about that but i have no idea about costs yet, it's only something I really thought about today, i've been thinking about it for a while and after speaking to a friend i think i'd really enjoy it.

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, 6 Pacu, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado

hi, up here 40 for a barn owl or kestrel, 60 upwards for a eagle owl, harris hawks vary alot in price, ive seen them between 100 and 500! peregrines 600/700 upwards.
cheers,
Mark.

the bird itself is only a very small part of the price. you will also need the right aviary, equipment, tackle etc, plus it is well worth doing a decent falconry course so that you get a good idea of how to actuly keep, handle and train these birds. this is not the simplest thing to do, far too many would be falconers loose there birds because, although they have a basic idea of what they want the bird to do, they have no experience in training them properly.
harris hawks and common buzzards probably make the best beginer's birds. they are large, calm and relitivly easy to train. owls tend to be lazy, unpredictable and dificult to train. kestrels, being so small, can be quite dificult to regulate the weight safely with no experience and, like all falcons, are highly strung. magpies actuly make great pets, although very high maintenance, their care is somwhere between parrot, raptor and monkey.

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David

my collection:
3.7.0 Leopard Geckos
2.3.1 Crested Geckos
1.1.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
2.0.0 Blue Tongued Skinks
1.1.0 Green Anoles
1.1.0 American Green Tree Frogs
0.1.0 Columbian Boa Constrictor
1.0.0 Normal Corn Snake
1.0.0 Amelenistic Corn Snake
0.1.0 Dione's Rat Snake
1.0.0 Everglades Rat Snake
0.1.0 Grey X Everglades Rat Snake
1.0.0 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Giant African Land Snail
1.0.0 Kestrel
2.0.0 Cats
plus whatever wildlife the orphan season brings!

Yeah I've got a friend who bred various falcons and owls for 20 odd years, he's gonna help me alot untill he thinks im ready to do it all myself.

I didn't look into harris hawks because I had heard they cost 500quid plus and with the aviary and other gear to buy as well it wasn't something I could afford.

The Plan at the moment is to have a 15x8 foot aviary, with 6x8 of that under cover. Basically Im building it onto the side of a shed. Well that's the plan at the moment. If you don't think thats a good idea, I can rip the shed out and build completely from scratch, it's just I wanted to avoid doing that if possible.

Once I've found the right bird for me I'm obviously gonna research seriously into it. Then if he can help me my mate will help with the training etc until im experienced enough. If he can't help I've found several courses that im researching at the moment.

Then after all that, im off to buy the aviary materials. What would you recommend? Once I've done all that I'll be getting all the extra bits i need, al the training and handling gear, stuff for inside the aviary etc. Then hopefully if it all goes to plan getting the bird itself.

Cheers for all the help, like i said i havent got much knowledge at the moment

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, 6 Pacu, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado

you realy need to know what species you are getting before you start to desgin and build the aviary, or buy the equipment. the layout and materials of the aviary will vary depending on what bird will be living in it, for example, many owls will roost in an enclosed box in a sheltered area so your best bet would be to leave the shed complete, cut a small hole in the wall with a ledge each side and fix up a shelf with a box inside. a harris hawk on the other hand will not like to go into an enclosed space, but still needs a sheltered area to roost so the shed with one wall removed and a shelf or perch fixed high up one corner would be much better. some birds will be fine in an aviary made from standard aviary wire, others such as many falcons are better with special netting to stop them injuring themselves by flying into the wire.
the tackle such as the anklets, jesses etc will need to be custom made for the specific bird. you can do this yourself, as they are not dificult to make once you know how, or there are people who will do this for you.

__________________
David

my collection:
3.7.0 Leopard Geckos
2.3.1 Crested Geckos
1.1.0 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
2.0.0 Blue Tongued Skinks
1.1.0 Green Anoles
1.1.0 American Green Tree Frogs
0.1.0 Columbian Boa Constrictor
1.0.0 Normal Corn Snake
1.0.0 Amelenistic Corn Snake
0.1.0 Dione's Rat Snake
1.0.0 Everglades Rat Snake
0.1.0 Grey X Everglades Rat Snake
1.0.0 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Giant African Land Snail
1.0.0 Kestrel
2.0.0 Cats
plus whatever wildlife the orphan season brings!

yh the plans aren't concrete. That was just my initial idea. I'm trying to locate a reasonably local falconry centre to do a course. Then after that I should know what bird would be best. then obviously the plan becomes more exact

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, 6 Pacu, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado