Girls Day In

After almost two years, my wife finally overcame her fear of Crows/Fig. She's naturally very patient, gentle, and respectful towards animals, and always earns high respect from them for that, but I thought this day might never come. She has started playing with Fig, and bringing her inside on her own all of a sudden! Fig even told her, I love you, over and over again. I have to give Fig credit too though, as she's the one who initiated play, and remained calm and trusting enough to be transported inside by someone who never handled her before. When I came home today, Fig was even happier than usual, for having made a new play friend, and closer connection. Scientists need to figure out how exactly birds manage to smile, and have such a colorful repertoire of facial expressions. Here is  the photo my wife took after playing with Fig, and bringing her in for the very first time on her own. You can see she's quite beaming, and satisfied with herself, too, about having made ground socially. And she's improved a lot over her fear of iPhones, as you can see, totally relaxed, foot up and everything. Bravo ladies!

You may have noticed that Fig's tethers are removable. She actually enjoys wearing permanent tethers, but I feel it may be safer to have them removed when she goes unsupervised. I am happy to share the design I use with anyone interested. They are very easy to put on and take off once the bird is well trained. They are suitable for Crows in particular as the design is intended to stifle their uncanny Houdini-like ability to escape from knots, loops, and pretty much any constraint.