But he didn't stop. He kept coming, stooped at the waist, eyes now fixed on me. Time to scramble. I took off and flew across the pen, landing just to the left of the bald guy, my two buddies to his right. The tall guy turned and headed my way again. Yep, I was certainly the target. I jumped off the ground and headed for the far perch behind him. As I set my foot down, the tall guy turned and used his long arm to shoot his fingers around my leg before I could get reset for flight.
We wrestled a little bit, but before I knew it, he had me upside down and was grabbing for both legs with his other hand. It was over in a flash - I was captured. Pecking at his hand and arm with my beak didn't help as he wrapped the other arm around my wings. Now I was trapped headed toward the door. But then he stopped and talked with the bald guy. They both looked at my leg, at that band I've been living with for a while now. They looked confused. The bald guy shook his head, pointing to the band.
Then the tall guy did something I didn't expect. He just put me on the ground and let me go. What the heck! My lucky day. But he wasn't finished. He started for one of my mates. All of us were flying around wildly by now, not sure what was going on, swooping over and around the tall guy, who was by now crouching as he moved. Unfortunately the mate he was after was already on the ground moving toward a corner. Big mistake. The big guy just spread his arms and looked like Count Dracula as he backed him further into that corner. My buddy couldn't move to get away, though he tried a little to the left, then a little to the right. In no time he too was caught by the leg and hauled upside down to get his wings wrapped.
Again the tall guy walked to the bald guy with his prize, looking relieved. Again the bald guy looked at the band on my buddies leg and scratched his head. Then the Queen Mother entered into the pen. We all know her well, most of us having been picked up sick or injured off a field or roadway, hauled into her van, and brought to this zoo for eagles. She took one look at my buddy and shook her head. Again the tall guy put my buddy on the ground and let her go. What the heck?? Is he going to torture all of us? My buddies chest was heaving from all of the stress.
Queen Mother peered behind the plastic drapes that protected each end of the pen (we often fly into it trying any means to get away - if not for the drapes there'd be many more injuries from us crashing into the wall). She pointed down at orange beak who was hiding the whole time behind those drapes. The tall guy moved in for yet a third strike. His victim was doomed, since he was trapped behind the plastic wall. Orange-beak was different that way, always hiding, and Queen Mother knew that. He was also different in that he didn't have a colored band like the rest of us. This time the tall guy walked out of the pen with his new and final prize. We didn't see that poor orange-beaked fella for another hour and a half when the tall guy dropped him off. All pooped out, he crawled back behind the plastic wall.
The eagles are identified by colored bands around their legs, or on their beaks as in this case. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to tell the color, as their are many shades of blue, red, green and, in this case, orange. Because the eagle we were to exercise was hiding behind the drape wall, I thought it was a process of elimination, so grabbed two that looked close to orange but weren't orange. I claimed my instructors had intentionally mis-directed me so I could get some practice in the second stage of training. By the end of the day, they declared me qualified in eagle capture in the flight pen. Next stage is capture in the flight room in the dark. Can't wait......
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