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.

Crow update, Edgar, Blanche and Blackie

Yesterday I released the two wild crows.  They had been here a week, had had long vocal discussions with the local crows and were flying as well as they could in a limited aviary.  Opened the door and Blackie flew out straight away.  He flew heavily but competently and didn't stop until he'd made a tree across the creek.  Whitie however snagged at the door.  I'd pushed the door open as wide as it would go but he still got stuck behind the door.  I went to the front of the aviary to herd him out of the dead end he'd got himself into.  By the time he was clear he couldn't fly.  He got to the garden around the deck and lost momentum.  I caught him again and put him back in the aviary where he seems to fly quite well from one end to the other. 

Nevertheless I'll hang onto him for another week as Edgar has graduated from the spare room to being Whitie's (should rename him/her Blanche) roommate.  Much better for him to be out in the world with lots to interest him while still having the protection of the cubby built into the aviary.  I'd put him in a cocky cage the day before as he'd discovered he didn't have to stay in the container.  Life was much more interesting from atop the stored boxes.  That was fine except for the copious amounts of poop Edgar generates.  The cocky cage was a short term solution.  Poor guy, he sat in one spot on one perch for 24 hours.  Not scared, just not knowing how to get around and onto the other perches.  In the aviary he soon worked out how he could climb along the branches to get from one end to the other.  I put gum tree limbs from the ground to the perches in case he falls so he can climb up again.  He's old enough now to start tackling some of the physical aspects of a crow's life.  Flying is another matter entirely but one step or crow hop at a time.

Seeing the two crows together, despite the difference in age, they appear quite different.  Edgar's head shape is rounder and fuller than Blanche's head.  Whether it's baby fluff I don't know.  His eyes seem smaller too.  Blanche's eyes are paler while Edgar's are definitely blue.  Of course the white feathers of Blanche throw off identification as well.  Looked up crows and ravens in the bird book today and don't know whether they are Australian Ravens or Torresian crows.  The immature descriptions aren't much help - and they all seem to be distantly related anyway.