Training Begins . . . and a Naming

Today is Tuesday, day two of training. So far, my new bird has only accomplished the very first, basic lesson, that of learning to take the glove, and regain to it after a bate. She is working through her fears, and slowly, as time goes on, will become less and less afraid of me. This is called "manning", and it is the first necessary step. She has taken just a couple of little tidbits, but I think this was mostly because they were by her beak, and annoyed her enough that she bit at them.

I had some help in this first step by Dave Noble. He and his wife, Linda, came by for a visit yesterday, and he helped the hawk to learn this first step. As we worked with her, and visited, we were cracking jokes, and tossing around naming possibilities. She was trapped in the Bloomington - Normal, Illinois area. Someone suggested "Bloomie", or something like that. Then, I think it was my husband who said "Abby-Normal" (making a joke from the movie Young Frankenstein). I thought about it, and decided that the name Abby actually would be a good enough name. So, unless I change my mind, her name will be 'Abby'.