Baby update

My kiddo was let out of his box a few days ago, and now he spends all his time cozied up to me.  He's growing up fast, putting on weight and feathers every day.  Before I know it, he'll be fully fledged and on his way out of here.

But for now, he's my responsibility, so I'm teaching him all of my best stuff.  For instance, when Humans peek in the window, I hiss extra loud, and even throw in some beak-clacking and feather-fluffing.  The kid is starting to mimic me very well, and with our fearsome displays combined, the Humans don't seem inclined to come into the cage.

Here he is practicing his scary-face:

I taught him that!

When Humans do come into the cage, I make a point to avoid them as much as possible, instead of my usual behavior of letting them approach and jess me.  I can't have my kid thinking that wild Raptors are supposed to spend time near Humans!  He's becoming very evasive as well.

I have other responsibilities, too, like showing him how to rip and tear his food.  He's at that age right now where he just swallows everything whole, but once he's out in the wild and catching larger prey than the mice the Humans are feeding him, he'll have to know how to shred prey into manageable sizes.  So I make a point to grab my mice with my talons, and tear them apart with my beak...but he's still just gulping his down.  Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually.

Did I mention that the baby gets fed tons of mice?  He has a lot of growing to do, so he's always chowing down.  It's a perk for me too, because I get to eat all the mice I want!  I'm an old hand at this, and I learned long ago that when I have a baby, the Humans have no choice but to keep feeding us if the mice are being eaten, because they can't let the baby become malnourished.  I think Humans call this "milking the system", and it's a very nice side effect of raising a kid on room service!

Ooh, speaking of mice, some more just dropped in through the food chute. Signing off!