The Birds (Part 2.1)

It's been a very Avian weekend, what with the little hens up in Scotland and then this, the main bird event: a 'Meet the Birds' experience from the Cheshire Falconry Centre.
We arrived over in Northwich the night before and stayed at the travel lodge just up the road from the falconry centre. It was a good idea, mainly because we thought the idea of getting round the M60 on a Maunday Thursday morning (to arrive by 9am) was going to be a bit hassley. This way, we were already there!!!! So off we trotted to the bird place, met up with Mum and Dad who had come along to watch, and then in we went.
First of all we were led to the enclosure where they put the birds out on display sitting on low perches - this is so you can get an idea of the birds you're about to meet! The guide gives you a (full on) explanation about each bird, flying styles, hunting styles and falconry in general.
You then are taken down to the flying field, to meet the first 4 birds.

Bungle, the Bengal eagle owl. So beautiful! Look at the toffee coloured plumage and the colour of his eyes - orange eyes means he's a diurnal hunter.




Next was Buzz the Buzzard! He was Dan's special friend (as you'll see shortly from some of the later pictures!!!) He was very quick and friendly - stayed on everyone's glove for ages to take pictures - clearly a character.





After Buz came a nice bird - a Ferruginous hawk called Nemesis! This one had a tendency to go after small mammals and had had more than a few incidents with dragging dogs around the car park. Dogs have been banned from the centre now, not because they scare the birds, it's because Nemesis likes them....a little too much!
NB Ferruginous means 'rusty coloured' as you can see from the fabulous red tips to the chest feathers and in fact his back and wings are all a lovely rusty brown.

Finally for the first session came the grogeous little kestrel called (damn can't remember) So small compared with the other birds, and quick as a flash. However this one was feeling a bit lazy by the time it came to Dan's go - in the end, after 10 minutes of cajoling, he just wasn't going to fly over to the glove, and the keeper went to get him. As the keeper approached him, he started squauking really loudly - He thinks I'm his mum - said the keeper! Awwwww! So, he picks up the kestrel and walks towards Dan, doing 'take off' motions. The bird was having none of it.
Finally, their 2 gloves were about 6 inches apart and the bird just reached over and nicked the chicken out of Dan's glove!!! Clever little thing.