10 Apr Is This Owl a Good Ambassador Candidate? Here’s What You Should Really Be Asking…
It’s that time of year when people start making decisions about their next ambassador owl. Whether you’re raising a young bird or reassessing an existing one, the question always comes up:
“Can this owl be trained?”
I recently had a consult with a wildlife rehabber that zeroed in on this exact topic—only the bird in question wasn’t an owl. It was a turkey vulture. But what we discussed applies across the board, especially when it comes to working with owls.
Because here’s the truth: the success of your ambassador owl isn’t just about species or background—it’s about your team’s communication, your training plan, and how you manage context and expectations. That includes things like:
- Working through inconsistencies between staff
- Managing visual cues so the bird knows what’s coming
- Adapting your timeline based on the bird, not a calendar
- Knowing when a bird needs a consistent trainer vs. exposure to more people
- And defining success that doesn’t just mean “stepping on a glove”
Take an ambassador owl who’s had a mixed history—maybe they were handled inconsistently as a juvenile, or started in a program where restraint and forced handling was the norm. If you’re trying to transition that bird into a trust-based program now, the way you set context becomes everything.
That’s why I told the rehabber:
“I’ll literally wear a different shirt. Wrap the syringe in blue tape. Anything that makes it crystal clear—this is not that.”
If the bird is used to restraint in a specific context (like a certain glove or handler), and now you’re asking them to engage voluntarily, they need a clear signal that says, this is training, not a trap.
This is especially true with owls. They’re masters of subtlety. They’ll tolerate a lot, sure—but the cost is often invisible until you look closer. They internalize stress, freeze, or shut down. So if we’re only measuring success by whether they’ll sit on a glove or tolerate being carried, we’re not asking the right questions.
So what are the right questions?
- How does this bird respond to change?
- Are we seeing learning, or just tolerance?
- Are our handlers adapting to the bird—or just trying to get the bird to adapt to them?
- What signals are we giving that either build or break trust?
- Are we defining success based on what we want, or based on how the bird feels?
When I work with teams raising or reworking an ambassador owl, I don’t just look at the bird. I look at the system around the bird. Is the communication clear between team members? Do people feel safe admitting when things didn’t go well? Are we adjusting the training plan based on what we’re observing—or just pushing through a checklist?
If you’re thinking about starting an ambassador owl this year, or working with one who’s already on your glove but not really with you—this is where I’d start. Not with the species. Not with the gear. But with a question:
How are we setting this bird up to feel safe and successful, every step of the way?
Because at the end of the day, training isn’t just about getting a behavior. It’s about shaping a relationship.
Where Ambassador Training Really Begins…
We’re hosting live training sessions three times a week inside the Avian Behavior Lab, where you can see exactly how we set the tone for trust and progression—even with birds that haven’t had the easiest start.
Use code AVIAN at checkout for 2 weeks free, and catch our live sessions where we build real-world skills with real-world birds. No highlight reels. Just the work, as it happens.
Let’s raise better ambassadors—together.