He didn't seem especially impressed by freedom. Where's those snacks?? #falconry #hawk #redtailedhawk #bird

Oh hey! Forgot about this account! Whoops Anyhow, continuing where I left off... Our first free flight had to happen without my sponsor, which was a lil nerve wracking, but it went swimmingly. We even had a surprise visit by a dog & some hikers and Nugget was not especially bothered. #falconry #hawk

It took a lot of convincing to get him to *land* on the snow as well. And even then, he didn't want to put his feet down. lol

Adventures in extreme bird watching.

Next I needed to convince him to fly over the snow, which took a lot of doing. We were probably out there for 30 minutes before I could get this sort of response. But he finally decided he was more hungry than freaked out.

He spent a lot of time staring at the snow banks, like they might get him if he wasn't careful. Thankfully they kept a respectful distance away. The sun came out and he spent some time sunning with his wings open. 🌞 ❄️ #falconry #bird #hawk #snow

Mother. How could you leave your small man in the big white like this?? #falconry #bird #raptor #hawk

Nugget's training ended up taking longer than expected, so I brought him with me to finish it in the great white north when I went home for the holidays. First I had to get him accustomed to the snow. He was very dubious. He'd seen it, but not on the ground like this.

Uhoh!! Rain! Rain is actually good for loosening up the outer layers of beak and nail, which allows them to scrape them off & sharpen them. It's not unheard of for birds to choose to be in the rain. Captive birds tend to get overlong beaks & it may be because they spend more time inside.

The face of someone who knows he's pretty. #falconry #bird #nature #hawk #raptor

Friend shaped! #falconry #hawk #raptor #bird #nature

CW >> Dead rat Nugget continued to have luke warm interest in the lure for a while. It slowed up our training & was sort of bewildering given the rabbit fur lure, which I was told often can make them too possessive of the lure even when the food is gone. I've seen that since, but not with him. Lol

Pretty eyes! #falconry #bird #raptor #nature #eye

My current falconry season got very busy for a while. Can't wait to share those pictures! But for now, have a dork. ❤️ #falconry #hawk #bird #raptor

At some point the saw horse we used for training got taken away so we had to improvise... #falconry #hawk #raptor #nature #bird

Poof with maximum tail fan for inexplicable reasons. Probably something exciting in the distance. Cute little dork. #falconry #bird #raptor #nature #hawk

Don't ever presume you could look even half as majestic as Nugget looks fresh from the weathering area. #falconry #hawk #redtailedhawk #nature #bird #raptor

Nugget after his first lure training session with a big full crop! #falconry #bird #raptor #hawk

Cw>> dead animal & blood Fight for the spaghetti! Nugget was not willing to tuck in right away. This was strange & he needed to make sure the spaghetti was worth it first.

Cozy night in with Nugget and his hat hair and watching TV with friends. ❤️

There were a lot of things I didn't document with Nugget because I was learning them for the first time and focused on that. I'm glad I did get a creance flight! He was always very good at coming to the glove. The lure was another story... #falconry #bird #raptor #hawk

"Mother, how could you leave me in the rain?" It was a brief drizzle. His indignation was not brief. #falconry #raptor #bird #hawk

He didn't seem overly impressed to be put outside again. He was one of my more chill introductions to the weathering area. #falconry #bird #hawk #raptor

Took about a week to go from wild animal to putting his foot up after a meal on the glove with me. 😍

Cw>> mouse guts Someone was a bit too enthusiastic when we moved on to eating off the glove. We switched to frozen mice after this to lengthen mealtime and cement that it was safe for him to put his head down around me.

Sleeby. Poofy. #falconry #bird #raptor #hawk

Sometimes a bit of meat is so offensive you have to just nope right off the back of the glove... It won't help but it might make you feel better... #falconry #hawk #bird #raptor

A very pretty pale little fellow. Fond of mice. #falconry #bird #raptor #hawk

Bird.exe has stopped responding. Trust takes a while to build. And a lot of eyeball calibration! #falconry #bird #hawk #raptor

I could tell right off the bat that he'd be a dork. #falconry #raptor #bird #hawk