If you’ve ever looked at a tough behavior case and thought, “Where do I even begin?”—you’re not alone. I’ve been there, too. And not just with one species. I’m talking about cockatoos that scream sunrise to sunset. African greys with surgical bite precision. Raptors that...
It’s a stark truth in the world of raptors: around 70% of birds of prey don’t survive their first year. These aren’t just dry statistics—each number represents a young hawk, falcon, or owl that never makes it to adulthood. The reasons behind this mortality rate are...
If you’ve ever hit a wall in your training and thought, “Well, that didn’t go like I imagined,” welcome to the club. One of the things we talk about a lot at the Lab is how nonlinear analysis helps us see beyond behaviors we want...
If you’ve ever heard the words “just fly the bird on creance a few times and then you’re done,” I want to gently throw a creance line across the table and say, “Let’s unpack that.” The truth is, creance flying isn’t a one-size-fits-all stepping stone to...
I love a celebration as much as the next person. But when it comes to fireworks, I’m not talking about the kind that light up the night sky. I’m talking about what we don’t see—the wildlife scattering in fear, the birds abandoning their nests, and...
You know that feeling when a bird you’ve worked with for months suddenly acts like they’ve never seen a glove before? Or the crate they’ve entered a hundred times is now radioactive? Yeah. That. Loss of motivation is one of the most common—and frustrating—challenges in bird...
Our job as conservation educators is to properly prepare an owl for a life of being comfortable around unusual situations — while still preserving their owlness. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Owls are incredibly specialized predators. The way they forage in low light conditions...
When it comes to diet and weight management for birds of prey, the biggest thing to remember is: the number on the scale is just data. It’s not the goal. What we’re really looking at is the trend. Is the bird trending upward? Trending downward?...
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…...