Here and there

It's been a while so thought I'd just post what's been happening here at IBR. Little kestrel, COOP, has not been seen for three days now. I assume she finally connected with the local kestrels and is now a wild and free bird. I worry but then I can't hold her little foot forever so hope she's doing okay.

I'm planning on releasing one of my swainson's hawks this Sunday. I tried to do that a couple weeks ago but she decided she couldn't fly anymore. She's now in the air so will be set free. The other swainson's still has some feathers to replace before she leaves.

The baby ferruginous hawk, WHIT, is still here. He's eating great but hasn't managed to make a live kill so I won't take him back to Meeteetse until he does that. In the meantime, he's flying quite strongly now so when he passes the prey hurdle he'll be ready for release.

The eagle nest that Nicole and I have been sharing monitoring duties with another couple has not had much happen in the past week or so. One of the babies fledged over a week ago but the other one, I call him SLUG because that's what he looks like when he lays in the nest, is still there. He's made a couple hops around the nest but never out into thin air. We will do one of our twice weekly visit to the nest this Sunday morning and hopefully will be able to watch this very large baby take to the sky. His parents and sibling have been seen so are still in the area.