A little bit of work and play

 Yesterday, I went on a hike at the Audubon Center. It was the first time in quite awhile that I was able to walk the trails here because of the bugs. Along the way, I was playing with the settings on my camera. Despite having it for 4 years now, I am still finding new settings!! The last picture was taken by one of the new interns - its me doing a raptor program (can you tell I enjoy teaching people about falcons?).

Chickory

 Tall grasses by a wetland

Trail in the pine plantation

"Isis" and I at a raptor program

SPRING!!!

Nuthatch

I feel like we have been trapped in a never ending winter. The great news is that temperatures are FINALLY starting to warm up and the snow is melting! YAY!

Isis in mid-call, enjoying the sun (please ignore the smudgy window).

This past week we had the return of some of our friends - the robins and (my favorite) the sandhill cranes. I feel like I should go driving around in a hunt to find them. We also had the start of maple syrup season and our little education birds were given back their entire enclosures. Isis made sure to announce that spring was here and alternated flying laps in her mew and calling "klee, klee, klee" all yesterday afternoon.

BIRDIES!

Meet my birds.

Ok, they are not mine but rather reside at the Audubon Center where I get to train them. Both of them are imprinted which is why they are non-releasable.

This is Nero, the male American kestrel. He is a dirty little thing - always has food hanging from his beak and/or talons and can make his mew a pigpen. When you go to his mew he starts twittering at you as if to have a conversation.

This is Isis, a female American kestrel. Sometimes I think she is angry with the world because she can have an attitude (Isis is the bird that footed my ear). Even with the attitude she is super cute - when I stand outside her mew she often flies to meet me. When I feed her, she makes little chirping sounds and has the cutest sneezes.

~krazy kestrel~

Every now and then, you have a day where nothing goes quite as planned.

Take today for instance. I started a new step in my training of Isis. She was being a rockstar and doing really well. She was actually eating small pieces of food from my hand for the first time. Problem was I couldn't finish my training because of all the things going on in the barn.

By time I returned with the last of her food, she was hungry and unhappy. Usually, she flies to her food platform and waits for me to feed her. This time, she perched on my shoulder. Then, as if to show her dislike of the days activities, she footed my ear before flying off. Yes, you read that correctly - she grabbed my ear with her talon.

Once the laughter subsides, you will be glad to know that I am fine. I find the humor in the situation but was still freaked out a bit while it was happening.

Heres hoping our next training session goes more smoothly!!