Thursday Afternoon Kestrel Fest

Thursday was slightly stressful, but after work, the sun came out and I went to the Cascades Raptor Center to wind down and photograph raptors.  At one point, I think I was the only patron there, which meant the place was quiet except for passing cars and various wrens, jays, woodpeckers, and other small feeder birds.

I said hi to Aeolus (quietly, because he was sleeping), Atticus (who gaped his beak, which I hope means hi in Bald Eagle), Banjo, Lethe, and Dante.

A little farther up, Amazon, a Golden Eagle, was being fed and weighed by one of the trainers (who I know through Pearwood).  Amazon was playing with something with a lot of feathers.  Archimedes, a Snow Owl, and Neville,  Great Horned Owl, had their aviaries next door, so I went to visit them.  Neville was blinking a lot at me, which meant he was a little cranky or territorial (later on he must have thought I was going to take his enrichment geodesic ball, because he hissed at me, puffed up, and clacked his beak at me).

I managed to see both owls being fed and weighed.  Archimedes typically looks like a milk jug or a bowling pin, so it was fun to see him looking more bird-like as he jumped onto a perch and back.  I took some photos of them with the full knowledge that the grille of their aviary would be prominent, and then mostly stood aside the camera and watched them.

Padawan, a Barn Owl, had come out of his box-perch and was standing on it.  I've usually only seen him from a front-on setting, and I managed to get some photos of him from the side.

Dmitri, a Eurasian Eagle-Owl, was hooting, and I thought maybe he might be outside his enclosure, so I went over to his side of the Center.  He was wasn't out, but Parker, an American Kestrel, was.

The best photos I managed to take were of Parker.  He is about the size of a hand.  He was being fed a mix of mouse, quail(?), and mealworms.  He was so focused on eating that he didn't move around too much (it's possible the trainers train the raptors to stand on a certain spot on the gloves to get fed so the raptors don't attempt a raid on the food pouch).  What was interesting to me was how much Parker used his tail to keep his balance.  At one point, wild raptor (? a red-tailed hawk?) flew overhead, and Parker became very quiet and still until the other bird soared away.

The trainer put Parker back, and went to work with another Kestrel.  I walked around to see more of Dmitri, who was the most active I've seen him.  He was close to his cage's grille, so I didn't bother with pictures; instead I watched him preening and stretching.  When he vocalized, a white tuft of feathers bulged out at his throat, sort of like a bullfrog's throat, and a deep "whooo" came out.

By this time, the clouds had slid in from the west, and everything was going grey again.  I wandered around and visited Newton and Nike and some of the other residents.  The overcast lighting made for some dark photos, and I thought it might rain, so I left for home.