Rosie's cage               

As Rosie is unable to fly but, guided by her natural instinct, still tends to climb the highest possible spot available it would be rather foolish to put her into a common flight cage. Her beak would soon break again and the joints of her legs would not stand the continuous 2- or even 3-meter drop. There would also have to be many ladders to climb up.

To make it as safe for her as possible a special "flight" cage had to be designed. I built a little shed for her to protect her from the weather (sun, snow, rain...), to give her a feeling of safety. She has a nest ledge there, which she is able to reach by jumping. All the perches are easy to either jump or climb and have different diameters and surface to reduce pressure on the feet and talons (her feet can never rest during flight!). The distances between the perches are small so Rosie can jump ("fly" for her!) from one to the next. There's also a stone to reduce the sharpness of the claws and avoid self-puncturing. Her food is provided on the stone, so she has to go there and thus wears her claws. On the ground I put a layer of about 20 centimeters of sand to make the landings soft. There's a bath for her also, not too deep, as she is afraid of falling to her "bad" side, which can make her struggle to get up again for minutes. She might drown in deeper water.

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Photos 1 and 2: The cage from the outside with the little shed on the right. An interior view, with the different perches, the stone and Rosie's bath.

Photos 3 and 4:  Interior view showing Rosie near and on her nest ledge. From her "good" side she looks just like a healthy Peregrine now.

Photo 5: The right wing was amputated completely. I've marked the spot with the red circle.