Birds help us track environmental change, understand animal behavior, and even spark innovation in how we design and solve problems. Whether we’re talking about conservation, climate, or cognition, birds are at the center of some of the most important questions we can ask about the...
Let’s talk about something most people never think about when it comes to birds of prey: beaks. We all admire those powerful, curved weapons—how they tear through meat with ease, how they shape the silhouette of a raptor’s face. But what happens when those beaks grow…...
Tina the burrowing owl spotted it before I did — a tiny flicker of movement that I completely missed. Birds are like humans in that they rely heavily on vision to perceive the world. But what they see — and how they see it —...
If you have worked with a bird who has a hard time with the smallest of changes, such as a vulture, raven, or older parrot, you can probably appreciate that when 17 year old condor Suyana joined the Avian Behavior team after living her entire...
Aggressive behavior in parrots is one of the most common—and emotionally charged—challenges faced by caregivers. But too often, it’s a topic that gets reduced to quick fixes and generic advice that doesn’t address the underlying issues. That’s why we brought together parrot owners, trainers, and behavior...
Some of our birds are work horses—and some of them are WORK horses when it comes to conservation education. Oakley the Harris’s Hawk, for example, is endlessly versatile. She's a class favorite in our Hawk Walk Falconry Experience, and for good reason. You get to see...
Choice and control are really buzzy words in animal training. Here’s the thing about how we use them in animal training: it sounds really nice in a conference slide or an Instagram caption. But when you’re out there in the aviary or standing in front...
It’s that time of year when our skies are full of travelers—songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl—millions of them flying under the cover of night as they migrate north for spring. And as magical as that sounds, there's a very real problem they face along the way: light...
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...
