Prehistoric Park: Capturing Dinobirds....

Here's a fun clip from the Animal Planet series Prehistoric Park.



Of course, in my book Little Birdies!,  Mandy and Willie have to cook up their own ad hoc plan for capturing escaped dinobirds:

“So what do you think?” Mandy asked Willie, as they finally stood together watching the birds munch and crunch their treats. “Man-eating, killer birds or homesick pets?”

He knew the rational answer was probably “both” but decided to hold his professional opinion in reserve. “They seem to like you just fine,” he said.

“I don’t think they’re ever going to be as friendly as parrots,” Mandy observed, with an innocence that belied the obviousness of her statement. “It doesn’t seem to be in their nature. They never took to Uncle Dan or my brother much, now that I think about it.” She suddenly turned to face Willie, looking him right in the eye. “How are you going to capture them and bring them home?” Her tone implied that she wouldn’t be put off this time.

“Your Uncle didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me.”

What the hell… “The best we could come up with is that I’m going to try to dart them, two or three at a time if I can, one at a time if I have to. Then we’ll just throw ‘em in the truck, bring them home, and come back for more.”

“How are you going to get past all the cameras and tourists and state troopers down there? And won’t the rest of the birds be scared away when they hear the gun go off? And if you shoot them when they’re on top of the tower won’t they fall off and hit the ground?”

“The gun’s not that loud—it’s an air gun; it has more of a dull pop than a sharp crack or bang like a regular rifle. As for the rest of it, I have no idea. This was a more play-it-by-ear sort of plan. We’ll have to figure it out as we go along.”

Mandy’s face darkened with disappointment. “That’s really not a very good plan," she said.

You can read the opening chapters here: Little Birdies! Excerpts.