Perhaps I was too hasty with the name?

Day two of Putty Tat's introduction, and it is interesting to say the least. She is of course still convinced that I am a villain of the first degree. A new bird of course will react to that fear one of two ways, fight or flight. So far flight hasn't come into the picture. Her talons are razor sharp, and I refuse to clip them. She is going to need them soon. So far she has not acted like a Putty Tat, maybe a Hell cat, or Edwina Sissorhands, but when she gets over her fear it should get better. She has long legs, and can reach out and touch you before you can move.

We went for a walk when it cooled a bit.

 

I started to straighten the leash, and out flashed a foot full of razors and I have three new leaks in my hand. If one reacts, then the action has gotten the desired (for the bird) result. I reached up high enough that it was not comfortable to use her foot, and with no hesitation, she bit my thumb, hard. By the time that we got to the end of the runway, it finally quit hurting. I need her to get over this, so when we got back to the house, I got one of my work gloves and put it on my right hand and proceeded to pet and touch her feet.

She footed me four times, and got no response from me, so she decided to bite.

I touched her all over for quite a while and she did not use her feet again, but she didn't quit biting. After we had sat there for a while, the storm clouds began building. It finally got pretty windy, so I finished feeding her and put her on her perch. I will have to use the work glove until she decides that biting and footing causes no reaction. I generally do not pet my hawks, but I am going to have to in her case or carry a lot of band aids.

We began to get some thunder bumpers and Karen went in, leaving me with the elements. One of the things about here in the Desert is that July is lightening month. Its going to be pretty serious with all the weed growth. So as I sat there we had a strike just over the hill to the South.

and another down along the Hwy. This one was apparently put out by the rain, but the one by the Hwy has gotten to be pretty good sized.

We will see how large the BLM lets it get before they put it out. I am of the opinion that they have a tendency to want to justify their existence.

The lightening was popping all around the place.

I am sure that the BLM will have plenty to do after this evenings fireworks.