This is the third of four beginner's hands-on classes, by the way, so all four could actually be termed "RH 101," but I like to feel I'm making progress, so....

Today, five of us worked with Cocomo the dark morph Red-Tailed hawk, and Wowl the Great Horned Owl.

Wowl is a fully-flighted bird, meaning (of course?) that she has full use of both wings and can fly perfectly well. She commands a formidable presence, the heaviest bird and one of the biggest at SRBR. And did I mention these birds are all, every one of them, impossibly beautiful?

We work on jessing, transferring, and perching the birds. Wowl is generally good-natured, but still with those big front-facing predatory eyes and a ready beak, and she *does* play the intimidation game. When I approach, she almost always gets a few good bites in while I'm lifting the glove in front of her.

Birds respond to at least the appearance of confidence and authority. If you are timid at all, they will give you a hard time. So it really pays to listen while while the instructor is talking, and then basically dive in when it's time to work with the bird.

In transferring a bird, the person with the bird on their fist first hands the looped leash to the recipient, and then moves the swivel from between middle and ring fingers to the palm on the glove. The recipient wraps the leash once or twice around their right hand, and then moves the left hand up the leash to the offered swivel. The recipient tells the person with the bird when they have the swivel, and the bird person moves their bird hand down while the recipient moves up, and the bird, usually with a bit of fuss, moves onto the new glove. Now the recipient gets the swivel between middle and third fingers, and loops the leash around the pinky on the glove. Most of us have this down pretty well after several times with various birds. The owls will go for you a bit with the beak; the other birds might do a little talon action but mostly just step up and get situated and are fine.

It's a bit trickier getting them perched or unperched. This involves kneeling (if the perch is on the ground) in front of the perch - without letting the bird *see* the perch, because they may try to go for it - resting your forearm with the bird on the upside-down "U"-shaped bow perch, tying a falconer's knot in the ring at the base of one side of the perch, and once the knot is secure, rolling your fist so the bird steps onto the perch. You can now stand away (but state and maybe national law requires that a person remain present with the bird at all times).

Everything goes pretty smoothly, although Wowl bates on me a few times when I try to unperch her. Finally, I just get her off the ground by the jesses, and she gets up onto the fist. This is something that really should only be done in extremity. Raptor-handling requires patience and free time. Sometimes, you need to wait the bird out (but I think the bird starts to respect you when it sees you're willing to perservere).

While a little daunted by these dangerous animals (I've seen the kind of gash Wowl can make on an experienced handler!), I still consider that, IF I'm gonna learn to handle raptors, I need to go at with enthusiasm, and take ecah new challenge with a certain gusto. Not everyone approaches it this way; for me, I guess it's sort of all or nothing - if I'm gonna be timid about it, I shouldn't even be there. It has become clear pretty quickly that the way to learn deal with these birds is simply to deal with these birds, early and often. So I volunteer when they ask for a volunteer (though I do try to make sure everyone gets a chance if they want - but I'm also gonna get all the time I can with all the birds I can).

I mentioned at the beginning of class that I am least comfortable with the birds bating - I think everyone has trouble with this, but maybe they take it as a given. It's very stressful for me (and I assume, the bird), when the bird launches itself off my fist to end up upside-down and often twirling, and I have to turn my fist the right way and sometimes reach under the bird and lift it back onto my fist - only to have to repeat the maneuver again and again. I worry that they'll hurt themselves, or me, in the process of twirling around with jesses twisting around legs, and I am by nature timid of hurting the bird or myself by trying to grab it.

I have already found (and mentioned) that birds bate a lot less when they have a good solid comfortable fist to perch on.

But the instructor has taken me at my word, and so suggests that I stay after class and work with Chi-Ya, the notoriously edgy red-tail who tends to bate on the slightest provocation. I handled Chi-Ya a bit in the first class, but haven't worked with her since. She's a regular-morph Red-Tailed Hawk, with very beautiful multiple colors in the wings and breast. I welcome this opportunity. The instructor get Chi-Ya jessed up and, sure enough, she bates several times on the way out of the mews and out to the back yard area. Instructor gets her perched and we let her rest for a bit before I unperch her and get her on the fist. Rumor has it she bates less with a roof over her head, so we have the perch under an awning outside. I do okay getting her off the perch and onto my fist and, though she bates a few times, she recovers very quickly if, as instructed, I keep my fist steady. And she actually gets pretty comfortable and I am proud to have her steady on my fist.

Some people avoid eye contact with the birds... I guess it depends on the bird... I won't get in a staring contest, but I want to sort judge the bird' demeanor when it's sitting within easy striking range of my face. I like having a baseball cap because I can lower it so the bill shields us from direct eye contact but I can still look at the bird. But it's so cool to be face-to-face with a bird like this - birds we have admired from afar for a very long time.

In previous batings with various birds, I have learned to aim the "platform" of my fist towards the bird's talons so they can recover by gribbing onto their accustomed perch. Chi-Ya actually whips around so quickly that, if you keep your fist in the same place, she just hops right back onto it. When she gets in that upside-down twirling position, I swoop under and behind her body with my right hand and kind of push her up onto the fist. What I hadn't been told previously is that I need to actually grab and hold onto her back as I'm doing this until she is securely perched again on the fist. Otherwise, she may not go where expected, and she or I could get hurt. What I also learn is that I need to swoop in very wide right to stay clear of her talons, and indeed, I get "footed" very slightly while recovering from one of these bates.

It feels like a puncture on my right forearm, and I would like to check out the damage, but I have a bird on my fist that I need to keep an eye on. We were going to try and get her perched anyway, so, while glancing sidewise for spreading blood (I am *such* a wuss!) on my long-sleeved t-shirt, I prepare to back her up to the perch.

And I actually get her perched successfully; she waits more or less calmly on the fist while I tie my knot and get her secure, and then back away.

I check my right arm. It's barely even a scratch, with a weird bruise along its length. No need even for a band-aid.

We walk Chi-Ya around to the front of the center, and she bates several times, but as rumored, when we go inside, she calms down and does not bate thro the classroom and the entire length of the building. At the back door, as soon as she sees sky again, she bates, and she continues to do so into the mew.

Dinner is waiting for Chi-Ya when we return her to her mew. The instructor distributes pieces of chicks on perches in the mew, offering a little piece to Chi-Ya on her perch - she grabs it with one talon, and one-legged, starts to pick at it.

I always thank the birds when we say goodbye to them in their mews, so even though Chi-Ya is occupied, I do say Thank You.

I am not using names of instructors or classmates, because I plan to post this stuff online - as a somewhat competitive person, I don't want anyone to feel that I had any unfair advantage - I got this extra time because I honeslty told the intructor what I thought my worst weakness is. And I stand ready to help anyone who wants more time or more help - and I also like getting to know all of my fellow students because these are the people with whom I'll be sitting out back with our various raptors in the coming weeks months years.