Busy busy

In my last entry I said it looked like it was going to be quiet. Well that's not quite what happened. We had a few bookings come in last minute which was great and things have been busy with a few interesting bookings in the diary.

I suppose the big news has been Bella our new Barn Owl. After a bit of a slow start she has really come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks. Flying really well on bookings at the centre and Cameron House. Also doing 2 or 3 bookings on some days if we have been busy. The big news is that she flew at her first school booking this month. I was a little bit nervous about it. I knew she should be ok but it was her first time and I wasn't sure how she would re-act to being indoors. As it was she was a star. She flew about the school hall and wasn't fazed in the slightest. The following week we were at Glasgow University visiting the zoological department and Bella was flying in a lecture on birds. She was brilliant. The lecture hall was like a amphitheatre with the seats rising up to the back of the theatre and there must of been around 100 people at it. A tough venue for only the second time flying indoors. We did get off to a slow start but then she came good and was awesome. Swooping down from the back of the theatre to the front over peoples heads and then flying back up to the back when called. It is tough for the birds doing an event like this. The thing is they are brought to the place they are needed to fly in a black transport box so they can't see out out and see where they are. The box needs to be black so bird is in the dark so it will sit quietly in the box.  They may never of been to the venue before and have no time to tune in and take in where they are but they are being asked to fly. Dylan was good at it, Alba is good at it and Bella looks like she is just going to be just as good as Dylan who she is replacing. 

The visit to Glasgow University Zoological Department wasn't the only visit to Glasgow University. We also visited the vet school to give a talk on bird of prey husbandry to some of the vet students. It was also a chance to say hello and catch up with a few people who had been out on EMS placement over the summer.

The other new addition to the team - Cooper (Harris Hawk) has also been progressing well. In my last post I talked about how I had stopped flying Oran (Harris Hawk) and allowed him to have a break because Cooper has been flying so well. I also mentioned that I had  a few booking coming up. Well Cooper was great. I have been using him over at Cameron House on hawk walks. These last for an hour and go round the grounds of Cameron House. He has done about 3 or 4 and has been brilliant - flying well, looking confident (he didn't even get stressed when he watched a helicopter land less tan a 100m from us) and always coming quickly to the glove when asked. He even made a half hearted attempt to catch a crow that was shouting at him.

Talking about crows, Pele (Harris Hawk) caught 1. I am not sure how he managed it even though I was kind of watching. Crows are not the easiest of things for a Harris Hawk to catch especially if the crow knows the hawk is there. Crows are smart. Probably 1 of the smartest birds birds about. The crow was sitting in a tree shouting at Pele who was about 50m away sitting on a lamp post looking about not showing alot on interest in the crow. Pele has had crows shout at him before and has ignored them. What I think happened from the angle I was kind of watching from was that Pele flew towards the crow but made it look like he wasn't interested in it and was going to fly past it as he got level he turned quickly towards the crow and grabbed it. Even when he grabbed it there is no guarantee that he will be able to keep hold of the crow. Crows have a large beak which they stab with when grabbed. The crow was almost the same weight as Pele. The crow weighed in at 1lb 3 1/4oz while Pele weighed in at 1lb 5 1/2oz. As I said in my last post, Pele is 9 years old, he has been round the block a few times and is quite a calculated individual. I saw this calculated attitude again last week. We were out hunting and came across a pheasant. Pele was up in a tree and the pheasant was on the ground up ahead. The pheasant saw me and started running. Pele sat in the tree and watched. He knew that from where he was the pheasant had a good head start and he would struggle to get near it. The pheasant turned into the hedge it was running along and went straight into a fence. It was now stuck. This was when Pele attacked. He was straight out the tree, into the hedge and grabbed the pheasant. Unfortunately he grabbed it by the tail. The pheasant managed to escape missing half it's tail which Pele had. A lucky pheasant. I always have to watch Pele when he is flying. He might look like he is not interested or there is nothing going to happen but you never know with him. The only thing I can be sure of is if he thinks he can catch it he will go for it.
 
Today we had our 6 monthly vet inspection. This is because the centre has a zoo licence and part of the terms and conditions of the zoo licence act of 1981 is that my centre is inspected every 6 months  by the vet who I take my birds to for veterinary care and once a year by the council vet. The council vet visited last month and this month it was the vet who treats the birds when things go wrong - Alistair Lawrie. The inspection went well and the vet was very happy with everything in the centre.

The coming weeks are quiet at the moment but that will probably change. We are in the run in to Christmas so if I am not busy with bookings I will be busy with enquiries. Hopefully I will be able to get out and do fly some of the birds for myself though.

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