Sundays! Aren’t they the best? Long lazy mornings in bed, sleeping while deeply nestled in your pillow long after the sun rises, and slowly opening your eyes to see the world already percolating around you? Not if you have a parrot, I bet you’ve been...
What do feeding ducks bread at the pond and our caracara, Larue have in common? Well, that's actually a trick question. You might have heard that feeding bread gives waterfowl a deformity called angel wing. The epidemiology is not exactly clear. But what we do...
I found a baby wild animal all by itself, what do I do? Would you believe me if I told you we see this question everywhere, and it breaks my heart when babies are “saved” unnecessarily. Now for a bold statement: if we love wildlife...
Have you ever had a particular event or individual that you can pinpoint that started a change in the way you viewed the world? In my case, it was both. It started with Kipling, our Southern Ground Hornbill, and when we went on a project...
When you get a hawk like Casino, you have a feeling that he is going to be a bit of a risk. He’s an uncommon hawk to be finding himself for sale at two years old at a neighboring falconry facility. And yet, when I...
When we are out in the world with our conservation ambassadors, it’s common for raptors like Guinness the Eurasian Eagle Owl and Halley the Saker Falcon to get a big reaction. Birds of prey, especially owls, captivate us on many different levels and have done so...
I was sipping coffee and reading the newspaper at my breakfast table before work only to be surprised by the soft, familiar click-clack of vulture talons coming down the hallway. A a fuzzy baby vulture face peered around the corner at me. It was Huxley,...
I wrote an article about the many risks facing companion parrot owners that were considering training their birds for free flight in 2014, and my conclusion was essentially “Please don’t.” The stipulation to that is that in-person guided mentorship is a critical component that is most...
This article is a reprint from our 2014 learningparrots.com article. This paper went on to be translated in to seven different languages, and I presented it in front of audiences in three different countries. On a given week, I find about three or four emails in...
Barn Owls in Mythology and Pop Culture At our first ever Family Farm Day at Avian Behavior International on June 2, 2018, we learned how virtually anyone could set up a barn owl nest box in their yard and enjoy not only the thrill of watching...