Adrian walked into the aviary containing the smaller La Brea birds of prey, with a goat carcass with its legs tied, on his shoulders; it was feeding time.

About forty-eight birds from nine different species were resident in this aviary, varying in size from the large eagles and condors, to smaller caracaras and vultures. However, this whole goat carcass would likely do for all of them. It was Adrian's idea to feed these birds a whole goat carcass, rather than joints of cut meat, because around kill sites, different birds ate different parts of a carcass.

Walking into the centre of the aviary, Adrian deposited the carcass. Within minutes, every bird in the aviary surrounded the carcass, ready to feed on this godsend. As usual, the larger birds – the Clark's condors, the gymmogyps amplus, the Woodward's eagles and the Daggett's eagles – were the first to eat at the carcass, whilst the smaller species waited for the larger birds to finish – aware that the larger species' more powerful beaks would give them access to the carcass.

Turning to walk away, Adrian noticed that one of the Gymnogyps amplus was looking at him. Whilst the female was eagerly ripping apart the goat carcass with the rest of the birds, the male was giving Adrian a shrewd glare – as if wondering if Adrian was waiting to chase them off the carcass. When Adrian indicated he had no such interest, the male backed off and resumed feeding alongside his mate.

As Adrian walked away, he shook his head and laughed. Not a lot people knew that vultures were incredibly intelligent birds – aside from being highly social, scavenging was surprisingly hard work, mentally, so you always had to be on your toes when handling them. They were curious, alert and intelligent – qualities that made them surprisingly frequent escapologists.

. . . . .

After having fed the birds in the La Brea section, Adrian headed over to Hell Creek's Quetzalcoatlus enclosure – it was feeding time for these giant pterosaurs. Reaching the aviary, Adrian saw the ten large pterosaurs either grooming themselves, basking in the sun or searching for food.

Whilst they were bigger than any flying animal the park had, they'd honestly been smaller than Adrian was expecting – as Leon had later explained, these were not the more famous Quetzalcoatlus northropi, but a smaller species that was roughly half the size. However, they were still about as tall as him at the shoulder.

Of the flock, six of the azhdarchids were already mated pairs, whilst four adolescent individuals, two males and two females, remained unmated and single – the females were called Nimbus and Sirocco, whilst the males were Cirrus and Zephyr.

It was Cirrus who Adrian was focusing on. When he and Drew had found him, he was severely injured and near-dead from heat exhaustion, malnutrition and dehydration. Linda had not expected him to survive the night. However, he'd pulled through and, in the intervening days, had gotten some of his strength back. However, he still had a long road ahead.

Adrian whistled and called Cirrus over - he was being fed separately from the others, ever since Adrian had observed Zephyr bullying him over a cow carcass. He'd informed Kyle of this and Kyle had ordered Cirrus be fed separately. At Adrian's whistle, the azhdarchid came walking over, letting out his typical throaty squawk.

Lifting a chicken carcass, Adrian smiled and threw it to the Quetzalcoatlus, who snapped it up and swallowed it, before letting out a goose-like hiss, indicating he wanted another. Adrian gently rolled his eyes and threw the second chicken carcass to the pterosaur, who eagerly swallowed it. Walking closer to Adrian, Cirrus put his massive head on Adrian's shoulder, to which Adrian smiled and rubbed him under the beak, as the Quetzalcoatlus let out a series of happy-sounding, satisfied clicks.

. . . . .

That evening, Adrian closed the book he had been reading. Tomorrow, he would finish it - it was important to learn about the creatures they had brought back, so they could care for them properly. Besides, he had his own flock to care for.

A hoot turned his attention to a nearby bird box, where a great grey owl stared at him with pleading eyes. Sighing, Adrian 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 to let her take flight. Pallas searched the grounds of Adrian's bungalow, for whatever unfortunate small animal had taken her attention.

As he watched his avian companion fly away, Adrian couldn't help but smile. He'd had her for around three years, and she'd been the second bird he'd learned to command after his starter bird, a Peregrine falcon by the name of Kralle. He still had Kralle with him, though right now, he was tending to his brood, as was his mate. The two had initially been cautious of the owl in their midst, but somehow, he'd managed to get the three birds to get along.

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

He allowed his thoughts to swim for a little bit. He'd first met Drew and Leon by complete accident, over a decade ago. In 8th grade Biology, their teacher had put them together on a project. Prior to that, he'd only ever known Leon as "the weird kid who knew all the answers" and Drew as the star of the basketball team who somehow always got straight As. Social cliques being what they were at the time, they'd never interacted. However, working on the project together had made them realise that they'd shared a lot of interests.

They'd formed a little trio since then. Of course, Adrian had always been the loner of the bunch; he appreciated his friends' company, but he preferred solitude above most other things. Adrian always liked having time alone so he could think or do some drawing. Drew and Leon had a joking nickname for him, "Hawkeye", both for his interest in birds and for the Marvel character.

After graduating and the pet store, Adrian took a year out so he could carry out his lifelong passion; falconry. In the few years since he'd completed his falconry training, he'd acquired and mastered many birds, including a bearded vulture, to the shock of his friends. Vultures, after all, weren't normally associated with falconry – however, they were surprisingly popular in recent years.

Speaking of the bearded vulture, he turned to see that Ajax had just fallen asleep. The lammergeier was one of his newest acquisitions, obtained during a visit to Kazakhstan, where he had been learning about the native birds and learned about the country's long history of falconry. Bearded vultures were particularly large, powerful, bold and fierce, making them difficult birds to tame – however, through a lot of close handling and bonding, he and Ajax had gained a mutual respect. Adrian being able to train such a powerful and strong-willed bird at such a young age was the mark of a prodigy.

When Drew had asked him to join him at the Novum facility he was stationed at, he jumped at the call. He was astounded to find the plan was to bring back prehistoric animals. It was Drew's statements of new horizons that intrigued him; this wasn't just some conservation centre. The falconer in him had also jumped at the opportunity; an opportunity for something new. That was the problem with being a prodigy in any field; when you reached the top, there was no new worlds left to conquer. To be the first man to fly a teratorn or a Haast eagle or even one of the larger pterosaurs; that was something!

Jack had really come to grow on him. He'd thought him annoying at first, but over time, he'd come to enjoy his company – to be honest, he reminded him of Leon. It was surprising, really, they were complete opposites; however, they shared that same determined-to-impress personality. Alice, on the other hand, he quite liked – she was calm, responsible and level-headed. They'd bonded quite closely on the Pliocene South America mission.

Now, though, his attention fell onto his first acquired bird, Dawn Song. Named for his habit of hunting at dawn, he was a Common Buzzard, and the two had formed a deep bond, one that they shared with Pallas and the falcons.

Now, falconry was traditionally a form of hunting – falconers often used their birds to hunt animals and Adrian was no different. Dawn Song, Pallas and the falcons had often caught him animals in the past – in fact, the team had had a duck caught by Kralle for dinner tonight,. He wondered if prehistoric birds, or even some pterosaurs, could be trained to do the same. Probably.

Right now, though, Dawn Song was trying to offer a morsel of meat to the most recent of Adrian's acquisitions.

The newest member of his flock was only a chick at this point; however, even when she was fully grown, she wouldn't be particularly large. She was a La Brea caracara, brought back from the most recent mission. Alice had found her, orphaned and the only survivor of her clutch, and Adrian had immediately taken her to hand-rear. When she was older, he would train her – he'd never trained caracaras before and this was a new challenge.

However, given that she was still a little chick, this would likely be a slow process.

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

XXXXXXXX

So, this is Adrian's POV chapter – he's sort of the bird and pterosaur expert of the mission team (gravitating towards birds of prey). Most of his APs will be birds and pterosaurs and when there's a prehistoric bird or pterosaur prominently appearing, he'll probably go on the mission.

BTW, the caracara chick was a last-minute addition – I know he has Cirrus, but I wanted a smaller bird of prey for him to train. However, since this idea came late, just as I was writing this chapter, I have no idea for a name for her (and it is a her) – any ideas?

This takes place shortly after "Return of the King" – I toyed with having this take place after Return of the King, but I decided to start Adrian bonding with Cirrus here, since I was aware that each chapter was meant to establish the personalities of the non-Drew team members and give some characters a little nuance.

I'm going to crowdsource a few names for some of the other birds on the La Brea aviary - any ideas?