Wednesday 16 April 2014
The weather has been lovely, well OK - little in the way of rain, but it is still not quite half way through April so it is bound to be cold on occasion. Our opening of the hospital went well, Bill and Kris Bailey were wonderful, the day was fine if a little cold, the birds flew well, the food was great, as was the drink, dogs behaved, I think Sedge was a little over excited at one point, Bill was wonderful and the official opening of the hospital is now done.
The breeding goes on apace, we have four baby Lanners, three are fine, one had a difficult hatch but that is doing well now. The chicks with the various parents are doing well. Sadly the Sakers are infertile again, which was a big disappointment, and not one we expected, the
Turkey Vulture eggs are also infertile, so we are trying again with them. The second Griffon Vulture is out and doing well, I have to make the decision as to whether or not to return it to its parents, that depends on a number of issues right now. The first Grey Buzzard Eagle of the year is out, only one egg this time, but the chick is cool and we have six burrowing owl chicks who are heaven!
The first show of the year, Cotswold Vale Point to Point went very well, it is a great show to start the season, really relaxed, no pressure, a 40 minute slot which means we can really do a good demonstration and all the birds did brilliantly, The Thinker, the new Harris Hawk did well - it was his first time away, and Bush Master who has not been away for two years was superb! I am more relaxed about the shows for this year now, although I have to say I hate doing two demonstrations in a day, it is not fun and I don't think they do as well.
The flying birds are really coming on and Pinotage is back out, and on duty today, the White-tailed Sea-eagle and the young Grey Buzzard Eagle are both out for the season and Megstone the Merlin is finally flying really well, it has been a battle but she seems to have got it now. I have grounded my Hobby as she really needs a moult, and Muckle Row the Red Kite, although extremely temperamental is flying really well too, we have a wild one coming around probably once a fortnight now, which is great to see.
Sedge is about the same, his KerDog finally arrived and he is being fitted today, his swimming is going OK, he has finished the Laser treatment for now and the electrical impulse stuff is done once or twice a day. We are having the occasional battle with his little willie, but it is behaving today!
The new Brooder and Incubation facility is coming on, it will be really good to get that done because the chicks don't like the bright sun for feeding and we have a window away from the sun in the new building. We need kitchen unit bases and we need a computer if anyone has one to spare!!
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| Some people say that mobile phones don't kill conversation - really???? |
The theme for the names this year is weather, I have printed out about nine pages of names some of which are lovely Black Blizzard, Cloud Burst, Dust Devil, Sleet, Wind, and so on as well as cloud formations. Lots of choice! We have a new baby Eurasian Eagle Owl to join the team, the Asian Brown Wood Owl chick is going to join as well and we are crossing our fingers that our Hawk Owl eggs are fertile as I have not trained one of those for ages.
Condor hatching in time for Easter - how about that for an Easter Chick!
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1 comments:
I have just done a huge catch up on your posts!
I'm thrilled the Sedge seems to be doing better and I hope more promising signs appear.
I was sad to hear of so many deaths over the winter especially Pioneer. We have some wonderful pictures of Kat flying her on her last day volunteering with you.
I love the naming theme this year, I think there will be some fantastic one's from it. The breeding is going really well and I hope it stays that way. Holly seems over the moon! The little cameras for us to view were a brilliant idea!
Kat and I are hoping to come back up for The Falconry Weekend and volunteer, if you'll have us!
Can't wait to see the new and improved ICBP - you've done so much and it lifts my spirits to see.
Best wishes to you, all the dogs, all the birds and all the staff,
Alex Quill
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