07 Dec Gambling with a Hawk
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...
Author: Hillary Hankey
19 Nov Do Owls Make Good Pets?
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 [caption id="attachment_3007" align="alignright" width="300"] Halley the Falcon bathes...
03 Sep Animal Training: What Happens When You Get Stumped?
Have you ever had a brain block when it comes to an animal training, behavior, or husbandry conundrum? Something cropped up or changed, you tried everything you could think of and got no answers or change? It happens to all of us, I think. Whether...
28 Aug Notes from the Trainer: Raising a conservation ambassador
I was reading the LA Times at my breakfast table before work sipping coffee only to be surprised by the soft, familiar click-clack of vulture talons coming down the hallway and a fuzzy baby vulture face peer around the corner at me. It was Huxley,...
05 Jul Part II: Ruminations on Free Flying Parrots and Thoughts for Long Lasting Success
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...
05 Jul So you want to train your pet parrot for free flight
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. [caption id="attachment_2581" align="alignright" width="300"] Author Hillary Hankey on a training project with...
26 Jun Setting up a Barn Owl Nest Box in Your Yard
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...
05 May What To Do When You Find a Wild Baby or Injured Bird
In the spring and summer, we often get calls from members of our community about what to do when someone comes across a wild baby bird on the ground that fell or flew out of the nest. This is a really common problem, as accidents...
26 Mar Plucker: The Story of a Lost and Found Red Tailed Hawk
In this age of the ever-expanding human population, we see so many headlines of people doing horrible things and animals bear the brunt of our callousness towards each other. The story of Plucker, my red tailed hawk that I hunt with for falconry here in...
10 Mar How to Save the World and Have Fun Doing It
Even living in the city, we are lucky to find wildlife all around us. In fact, San Diego County, known as a biodiversity hotspot, is the most biologically diverse county in the US, according to the Nature Conservancy[1]. It is also home to around two hundred...
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