I am a bit surprised at his desire to be close to us. If he gets restless and bored, he will begin fidgeting around his perch eventually flying to the table to rummage around there. If either Karen or I go over, put on the glove. He will run over, bite the glove a bit. Then crawl up on the glove where he will talk a bit more, nibble a bit, then settle down and pop out his chin whiskers in relaxed mode. We can then set him back on his perch and he is fine for quite a while. It surprises me a bit to see that he is most comfortable in our presence. Of course that will go away as he gets older.
Today he played outside and visited Jessie for about 5 hours total. He then started making his way over to the house. He made most of the journey on foot, hopping up on the roof, then flying to the window with Karen's encouragement. I gave him a Mouse for lunch. I had to strip its skin back so that he would know that it was food.
Yesterday he was mainly a foot falcon. He played on the ground almost all day long. After he gets tired, he ends up on the ties of the weathering area. It keeps him out of the wind and I think he is enthralled with Jessie.
She however does not seem the slightest bit interested. She is right in the middle of trying to lay all the eggs that she can. She has 8 so far. I have been cutting back on her food hoping that she will stop, and it has had the effect of making her beg me to be a good mate and bring her enough food so she can continue to waste the summer. You see, a raptor that is laying eggs will stop their molt until they begin setting. Unfortunately she does not do that. The longer she continues this farce the later she will complete the molt.
The Chickens also like the area in front of the weathering pen, and congregate there about the middle of the day to nap in the shade. I found Karen sitting in a chair with the camera in her lap, watching Lee by the pen. There were a couple of hens around him, and he jumped at one. She ran, but about that time one of the older hens came up,saw that that and promptly ran over him. He got up with some pretty big eyes and took off flying for safety with the hen right behind. All Karen could do was roll up in a ball laughing. She didn't even try to get a picture. While disappointed, I couldn't blame her too much.
Yesterday evening followed the same routine, but this time I was prepared. I guess I don't have to worry about him becoming a Chicken Hawk.
https://vimeo.com/171220610 password- owyheeflyer
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