I tied the plane out on line and we put all our stuff within easy reach, and started to work using the hangar for a work space.
While all this was going on poor Lee was left to his own devices. He did very well without adult supervision. He has progressed remarkably, and gone from hanging around the house and now prefers the Hack tower at the far end of the field. He has found that there is a nice shady spot inside the little hutch on top that he can get in to sleep and be in the shade while having a commanding view of the surrounding territory.
The days have been a bit of a blur, so a lot of the stuff he was going through and learning was missed by my having to work on the vehicles. I had one day that I was able to go for a walk, and lee followed a bit before going back to the hangar. When I arrived back he flew out to meet me. He has taken to flying over head while I am doing my chores in the mornings, breaking off to chase the Pigeons and strafe the Jack Rabbits. One of the mornings, I had taken his jesses off and walked outside with him to see what the morning had brought us. He sat for a while, and then took off zipping a Jack Rabbit by one of the rock Jacks at the end of the yard. He came within inches of the Jacks head and scared it. The Jack jumped up about 3 feet high doing a complete back flip, and promptly left the area.
Another of the little interactions that I saw was when he had decided that he was bored and landed in the yard where the two dogs were. They had been playing by running and jumping at each other. Lee joined right in, nipping at their heels and running little short spurts at them. They ignored him completely. I find it a bit amazing that Josie for instance does not retaliate if he runs up and nips her on the leg. She just moves out of the way, whether I say anything or she even knows that I am watching. Lee definitely is not afraid of them, and they tolerate him much more than he deserves.
Lee has stopped asking for breakfast and lunch. The lunch thing stopped two days ago. I didn't force him to do it, he just never came in and indicated that he was hungry. I was a bit surprised that I didn't have to do any thing to initiate it. He just never came in. A couple of days ago, he was hanging around the house, so I offered him the lure for lunch, and he just shined it.
His flying has increased by leaps and bounds. He got up a little bit above the house and allowed the wind to float him around over the house. When Karen came back from the mail on Tuesday, he was busy exercising the Pigeons. They were all over the area, with Lee right behind. Karen finally drove into the yard with the Schwan's guy following. ( rural frozen food delivery ) They were talking and Lee dove down, flew in the garage door and straight through the hangar and out the other side. He then came in and landed on one of the truck mirrors while Al was working inside the truck. I decided it was time to feed him.
Yesterday we were trying to finish up the last truck and he flew into the Hangar and landed on my tool box. I took the hint and got his lure for him.
I tried to get some video of him, but the little camera does not do well without a tripod and he is too fast for one of them to be effective. I can't keep him in sight as most of his flights that would be close enough to video are around the house.
He should be hard penned now ( blood all out of the feathers). His wing beat has gone from a butter fly to a snappy pretty darn good wing beat that he can be proud of. Some Prairies fly lazy compared to a Peregrine. Little Lee isn't one of those. He is looking good!
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