Edgar and Natalia Sketch

Blanche was released two days ago and haven't seen her since.  Opened the aviary door in the morning.  She left sometime between the 3 and 5pm feeding.  Edgar was a bit upset at first but didn't leave.  In fact he's a bit cage bound.  He has learned, very quickly, to hop on a free standing perch.  I've started to take him, on his perch, out of the aviary.  It makes him nervous  but I am hopeful that if we increase *trips* incrementally he'll gradually gain confidence.

Had another look at his wing.  The keratin still covers the shaft of his secondary feathers.  I can't see why he hasn't removed them.  The wing is about 6 inches shorter than his other wing because he has no primary flight feathers.  If he hasn't got them now, when he's fully and beautifully feathered, it is doubtful whether he'll ever get them.  It also tends to confirm why he was booted from the nest.  Once he was old enough for his parents to sense or see his deformity, he wasn't worth their time and energy. 

Whether he'll ever be able to fly is questionable.  I have seen him hop/fly upward from the ground to a low hanging perch.  The perch was about 18 to 24" from the ground.  Saw him try on a second occasion and miss.  He still exercises his wings but not as much.  He tends to flap more when he's out of the aviary.  Can't have him give up.  Crows are way too intelligent to live alone in a boring old aviary.  He needs to get out and explore the environment.

Have started a large pencil sketch of Natalia.  After the rather sad watercolour attempt of a cat I need to do something that has a chance of turning out well.  And I need an ongoing project.  The drawing is taken from a photo I took with the phone (not many years ago this sentence would've made no sense at all!).  Copied the photo which has turned out rather blurry but is okay to use.  So I'm doing a sad (at least for me) copy of a photo drawing.  Would much rather be doing something out of my head but at least, if this turns out okay, Richard will be pleased.  Haven't seen him so besotted with an animal since Caruso.