Author: Hillary Hankey

19 Aug What’s the Difference in Using Systematic Desensitization versus Counter Conditioning in Animal Training?

Posted at 14:02h in Animal Training, Bird of Prey Training, Parrot Care and Husbandry, Parrot Training

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When we have an animal, or in our little avian saturated pocket of the world, a bird, that is showing fear, stress, aggression, or anxiety of some sort in response to a specific stimulus, traditionally we have turned toward procedures such as systematic desensitization or...

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28 Jul What is a Hanging Bate and Why Do We Want to Avoid Them at All Costs?

Posted at 11:28h in Bird of Prey Training

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If you have ever handled a trained bird of prey, you might have had to deal with a bate. A bate is when you have the bird on your glove, you have the jesses tucked in, and the bird decides it wants to go somewhere...

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14 Jul 34 What to do when your bird picks favorites

Posted at 16:33h in Podcast

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Everyone has preferences, and our birds and other animals are no different. From Amazon Parrots, African Greys, to ravens and Turkey Vultures, the birds that we work with make no bones about it when they have chosen a favorite. Sometimes it is harmless and maybe...

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18 Jun 33 Interview with Wildlife Biologist Wes Larson

Posted at 15:45h in Podcast

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Hillary got to sit down with the Griz Kid! Wildlife biologist Wes Larsen, bear expert, and all around awesome person talked with us about his work with HawkWatch this spring banding Golden Eagles in Utah....

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04 Jun 32 Thinking of Free Flying Your Parrot?

Posted at 15:39h in Podcast

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As a professional free flight bird trainer with high visibility, Hillary has heard from many different companion parrot free flyers of various experience levels. These insights reveal many different outcomes in free flying companion parrots that survivorship bias doesn't always reveal This episode examines several important...

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27 May How Understanding Nature Can Help You with Dogs and Babies and Dancing Barn Owls

Posted at 14:47h in Food for Thought, Native Species

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Recently in our podcast episode #29 Why Scientific Literacy Matters to Our Animals, we spoke about how the human brain is wired for thought in different ways and how that impacts the way we interact with the world. Shocker of all shockers, this has direct...

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21 May 31 Applying Negative Reinforcement for Calm Behavior (and what the past has taught us about challenging animal training science)

Posted at 12:30h in Podcast

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In this episode, Hillary uses her experience as a guest speaker at the ABMA 2021 conference as well as her evolution on the principle of applying negative reinforcement in using space as a reinforcer to reinforce calm behavior in challenging birds to help the listener...

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06 May 30 Member Interview: Adopting a bird during the pandemic

Posted at 15:04h in Podcast

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In this episode, Hillary speaks with Harry Decimo and his partner Hailey. Harry is a member of Avian Behavior Lab, our online education program catering to the world of animal care professionals and other animal lovers and enthusiasts. ...

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28 Apr 29 Why Scientific Literacy Matters to Our Animals

Posted at 15:24h in Podcast

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This podcast episode is a wide ranging topic on the concept of how understanding how our brain is wired for thought helps the animals in our care as well as conservation. From concepts of how we handle behavior questions we don't know the answer to all...

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03 Mar 28 Adopting an Umbrella Cockatoo with Liv Morton

Posted at 14:52h in Podcast

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In this episode, Hillary speaks with Liv Morton. Liv is a member of Avian Behavior Lab, our online education program catering to the world of animal care professionals and other animal lovers and enthusiasts. Hillary and Liv talk about the ins-and-outs of working with male cockatoos....

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