Not a good day. Today as our last day in Asheville and Rebel and I ran out to get a quick wing-stretch in before that long drive home. We had had a great trip so there wasn’t much pressure as we headed up the mountain. It was overcast, and as I have previously noted, this bird does not do well in overcast conditions. Today was no exception.
We had one good chase on a squirrel at the beginning but Rebel’s repeated misses soured the day for her in a big way. She finally flew off in a huff after the ninth near miss. Well, getting her focused again was proving difficult, so I decided that she needed a rest. She was not responding as well as I would have liked to the fist, so I decided to head on down the mountain and call her to the lure back at home. We were not that far away by this point.
Rebel actually followed really well. When we got back to my sister’s house, I thought maybe I would try to get a picture of Rebel landing on the snowman that the kids built, so I put a chick up on top of his hat and called her down. She came right down, but instead of landing to eat, she raked the chick off and flew into a tree. Oh well, it would have been cute but clearly Rebel was in no mood.
Since she was right there, I decided to feed her off of the fist as I was getting worried over her increased aggression during and after feedings. I held up her portion of squirrel and she came right down to the fist and settled in to eat, mantling like a bum does over his bottle. We were in my sister’s porch at this point and I settled back into a rocking chair while Rebel fed.
Fatal flaw number one, I didn’t have her leashed. I can’t get near her feet anymore while she is eating. She is just too damned aggressive. So I called her to the garnished glove but needed to let her eat unleashed. No problem until the dog came in. She had just finished her meal so I rose to put her on her perch when the dog nosed over smelling something she had dropped. Like a flash she hopped over and hit poor Addie in the top of the head! I was a bit pissed at myself for not seeing that coming. I reached down and picked up the bird while Addie was pushed up against the sliding glass door trying to get away.
Fatal flaw number two, I still didn’t have her leashed and I only had control of one leg. I had reached down with my gloved hand and grabbed one foot to help lift her up. I did not want to let go until I had the leash on so I raised her up intending to get a good look at the other anklet to attach the leash. Well, she did not particularly like being held by one talon so she shot her other talon out and tagged me quite quickly in the face. It was a strike meant to scare, not hurt, same with the dog. She did not try to bind to me in anyway, she just wanted me to let go of her. Well I did. Quickly.
Okay. Now I am bleeding from a couple of needle like puncture wounds to my face. My dog is pressed up against the glass watching all of this in horror, and my bird is standing on the ground looking up at me like “What?” I gently but firmly grabbed the bird by BOTH talons this time and turned her over to leash her. She did not like that much, but with all of the amped up adrenaline in her system after those two bouts, I was not going to take any chances that could result in her, or myself, getting hurt. Once leashed, she went promptly into the giant hood to let her calm down in a dark environment.
I went inside to face the family crowded around the glass watching my idiocy. When I looked into the mirror and saw how close to my eye her talon had come, I said a prayer and carefully went over everything again to make sure my lesson was learned. I hate that my bird has become so aggressive to me when she did not start out that way. It is clearly in some response to patterns of behavior that I have somehow reinforced unintentionally. That coupled with the right triggers regarding food and a perfect storm can develop almost instantaneously.
Hunting success notwithstanding, I clearly still have a lot to learn from these birds. I bought a pair of safety glasses that very same day.
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