Glowy clouds

Back from raptor vacation, you guys didn't have a photoshoot or anything while I was gone, did you?

I'm adding a new member to one of my toy raptor packs.

The yellow and brown JWFK Battle Damage raptor kind of looks like she could be one of Survivor's grown-up chicks, so that's who she's going to be now. She won't need very drastic repainting, but I'll still spruce her up a bit.

Reuniting with maximum and minidad (okay the size difference isn't that big, but I think the jumping raptors are pretty cute being a bit smol) parents. Grappleclaws is Survivor's chicks' biological father, so the new raptor being yellow can be a trait inherited from him. I'm glad she actually is not as brightly yellow as the photos I'd seen of her made it seem, and this colouring looks like a natural variation of the brown JP1 raptors. I might change the colour of her claws to darker for a bit more contrast, and she could use more stripes.

I don't know if I'll do anything about the Battle Damage feature. It's a little distracting, but these are toys, and I don't mind if they look it. She has a case of the tilted feet like my Attack Pack Blue, but she can still stand pretty steadily, if leaning to one side a bit. I think that's also fine by me. This pack has had a tough life, and as her scarfaced other mom and grandma know particularly well, raptoring can lead to all kinds of odd injuries.

Ceiling beans

New uses for wings

The SWFL eaglets have reached 8 weeks of age, and some new milestones.

E15 has started exploring the nest tree outside the nest! So far not any further than the closest branch, referred to by viewers as the nest's veranda, but branching is an important step towards fledging. And what's more, E15 has broken the record for earliest branching among eaglets at this nest!

E16 has given the veranda a few calculating looks, too, but has stayed in the nest for now.

What E16 has gotten quite good at already, though, is mantling their food! Raptors cover their prey with their wings when eating anywhere they might get their meal stolen, and the eaglets have started learning this skill by guarding and trying to steal food from each other. Above is dad M bringing in a fish, and E16 immediately claiming it while E15 watches from behind their little sibling's wings.

Four sunsets

The last one is from a couple of weeks ago.

JP backpack keychain

As in it's a keychain shaped like a backpack. It's got little arm straps and a working zipper so you can put small things in it. I've had it floating around for ages and the clasp no longer works, but I just realized something...

I bet it fits him!

A little snug, but it does! They even have matching colours.

Now we can match, too. :D

Don't watch the mouth, watch the hands

About time I applied these wise words by Peter B. Parker to JP/W raptor behavior, because what do I not use as an excuse to wonder and ponder about that.

While not quite as much hand-talkers as humans can be, the raptors in these movies do sometimes use their sharp bunny-hands in a way that can be used to read something about their intentions. When I looked at another behavior of theirs, snapping one's jaws at someone, I concluded from its use that the Raptor Squad do see Owen as part of their pack and even part of their family, and even though things got tense between them several times, the raptors didn't actually want to hurt him. Another detail in the paddock confrontation also points at that the raptors' aggression towards Owen in that scene is posturing rather than a genuine attempt at hurting him, because they're angry at him for stealing their prey and need to express that, and may consider Owen's actions to be overstepping his place in the pack, but he's also their dad, and a squishy human who would get seriously injured more easily than a fellow raptor would and they know that.

I think how they hold their forelimbs during their unrestrained interactions with him also fits this.