Yawning, Sean closed the book he had been reading. Tomorrow, he would finish it - it was important to learn about the creatures that already lived on this island, so that they could work to bring back extinct ones without harming the extant ones. Plus birds watching was something he could do when he wasn't helping tend to the residents.

A hoot turned his attention to a nearby bird box, where an owl stared at him with pleading eyes. Sighing, Sean opened the cage, before putting on a glove and allowing the owl to cling to his hand. Once she was secure, he carried her to his balcony let her take flight.

He didn't need to worry about Twin Horn getting eaten by predators - Horned Owls were native to this island, and they were the dominant aerial predators at night.

As he watched his avian companion fly away, Sean couldn't help but smile. He'd had her for around five years, and she'd been the second bird he'd learned to command after his starter bird, an American Kestrel by the name of Swooper. He still had Swooper with him, though right now, she was tending to her brood, as was her mate. The two had initially been cautious of Twin Horn, but somehow, he'd managed to get the birds to get along.

And those hadn't been the only birds he'd learned to master.

In the few years since he'd completed training with falconry, he'd acquired and mastered many birds, including a bearded vulture, to the shock of his friends and siblings. Vultures, after all, weren't normally used for hunting. Buzzards didn't count, since Old World Buzzards were birds of prey.

Speaking of buzzards, Seren had just fallen asleep. The female Augur Buzzard was one of his newest acquisitions, obtained during a visit to Africa, where he had been learning about the native birds and met with other falconers. Augur buzzards were particularly devious birds, as they were adapted to snatch food from other flying birds, making them thieves amongst other birds of prey. He'd never forget the time she'd once stolen a piece of candy for him from his elder brother. Contrary to what Tristan had said, Sean still wasn't sure that his brother had forgiven him for that incident.

Now, though, his attention fell onto his first acquired bird, Dawn Song. Named for his habit of snatching up prey just as dawn broke, he was a Common Buzzard, and the two had formed a deep bond, one that they shared with Twin Horn and his Kestrels. Dawn Song had often caught him cottontail rabbits, including a variety of Eastern Cottontail that lived on this island. In fact, the team had had one of his catches for dinner tonight, alongside other trophies caught by his menagerie of birds. It would not be unreasonable to state that he was the master of falconry amongst his siblings, not that it was a major problem. Privately, though, he could tell Tristan was a little jealous of that.

Right now, though, Dawn Song was trying to offer a morsel to the most recent of Sean's acquisitions...who wasn't even a bird!

The newest member of his flock possessed a long, bony tail, as well as a crested head, whilst his body was covered in fuzz, rather than feathers. Named Small Crest, he was not a bird, but a pteosaur, specifically a Rhamphinion. A recent arrival from Early Jurassic Arizona, Sean had taken an interest in him almost instantly, and had immediately attempted to begin training him. After all, learning to coexist with humans would make reintroduction into the modern world easier.

However, given that Small Crest tried to bite him whenever he was offered food, this would likely be a slow process.

...Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Now to let his flying foxes out for the night!

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AN: Short chapter, mostly focused on Sean. Sean is sort of the master of the air amongst his siblings, and gets alongwell with birds, as well as bats, and eventually, he'll add pterosaurs to that group. For now, though, he's got his work cut out for him.

Also, if you want an idea as to what the pterosaurs in this story look like, go to Pteros . com

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!