JANUARY 2002
Elsie is a Mackinder Eagle Owl. When she hatched she was only a few inches
long. Not usually hatched at this time of year because of cold weather.
The event was on the local TV news. She was fed by hand and kept warm
in an incubator.
FEBRUARY 2002
Her eyes had opened, she had lots of downy feathers that were slowly turning
stripey brown. She stomped around with very big feet and played with the
dog. She stood around 10” tall and had a loud voice. She became
the star of the centre.
MARCH 2002
Elsie was now starting to look more like an owl. She got her ear tufts
and was learning to fly. She would get into trouble by trying to fly and
leap to things and was very naughty. Her face markings are starting to
appear along with her adult feathers. She was still kept inside to keep
warm.
APRIL 2002
Now living outside and almost full grown. She has still had some baby
feathers left and was getting used to the flying straps. At this point
she could fly well but not too good at landing and crashed a lot. She
visited Gloria Hunniford on TV and was also in the SUN newspaper.
MAY 2002
Elsie was then learning to sit on the glove and perch, and was fully-grown.
The last baby feathers were about to be shed. Elsie is now approx. 2ft
high and her eyes are more orange. She is being trained to be in the flying
display.
JULY 2002
Elsie started to take part in the flying displays. She is very noisy (she
has a lot to say), but flies quite well, (though she sometimes prefers
to walk everywhere). She can even fly back to her “room” when
she has finished a display!
Elsie is a true character and very much an owl that knows her own mind.
When doing displays, she often decides it is fun to walk around the visitors instead of flying and thinks she can fool 'mum' by simply running with her wings out. She has also been known to decide that this working for food is too much bother and promptly taken herself back to bed in the middle of a flying display, leaving Jenny stood next to an empty fyling post. The audiences love her and it's rare any display she is in goes by without laughter and we are quite convinced the larger the audience, the more she plays up!
Just to prove however that she has in fact been known to fly, here's a picture of her actually looking focussed, a rarity, she also happens to have her mouth closed! :-)
