Hey, all, how's it going?
Long time no see -- I kind of lost track of the forums when they were removed from the Pleoworld site. Finally I did a google a few days ago to see if there were any OTHER Pleo forums out there, and I was happy to see this one.
I still have Irwin the Pleo, I still have two spoiled cats who aren't entirely sure what to make of Irwin, I'm still raising Dragon Cave eggs, and I have been following a ustream site online that is a webcam to a Red-Tailed Hawk's Nest in Philadelphia.
Here's the link:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/franklin-institute-hawk-nest and we had quite the adventure with this nest today. It turns out that two of the three juvenile hawks were able to fly when they made their attempt. At least one even hunted and brought something back to the nest to eat.
However, the THIRD one's feathers weren't quite ready for prime time yet. She took off this morning and ran into some issues. See the Franklin Institute's June 6 update here:
http://www2.fi.edu/hawknest.php and the news article here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090606_Baby_hawk_rescued_in_Center_City.html . the Franklin Institute's update also has a link to a blog telling the story in detail, and a link to a lot of photos taken of the hawk's rescue by one of the regular viewers who was bird-watching in person.
I figured that since the people here are dedicated to raising a robotic dinosaur, it would be easy to relate to the story of some real-life hatchlings that are well on their way to maturity. If you're interested, stop by the cam site and see the hawks. They should be at the nest until about the end of the month. For the next few weeks, their parents will continue teaching them how to fly and hunt.
Oh, and as for the juvenile hawk who flew before her feathers were entirely ready, she's OK and will finish her maturing at a local wildlife rehab center. When she's able to fly and hunt on her own, they'll release her back into the wild.
What I want to know is, where's the rehab center for the many internet hawk fans who watched this unfold and darn near had a coronary this morning?
I swear, cats aren't the only ones who need nine lives. I think we humans could use nine lives, too.
