As a bird trainer and caregiver, you are likely aware that the behavior-response feedback loop is one of the most critical components to maintain communication with the bird in your care. It's one thing to pay attention to a bird's body language, it is a...
The challenges faced by facility owners and non-profit leaders can be as diverse and intricate as the avian world itself. Advancing toward more sophisticated training behaviors, motivating teams, ensuring consistent record-keeping, and fostering a supportive environment despite varying levels of avian familiarity—these are hurdles that...
Each opportunity for continuing education teaches us something new about science, animal behavior and training, and the peers we share our work with. This season’s workshops were no different, as we reflect on the powerful conversations we had this past fall at the Bird of...
What do you get when you cross parrot lovers from California, bird of prey educators from Wyoming, thirty birds, a few hooftstock and chickens, and a hailstorm all in one workshop? A whole lot of mind-expanding fun! The Animal Training and Behavior Workshop at our...
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...
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...
Reprinted from our sister site, The Avian Behavior Lab If you have ever seen a bird of prey hooded sitting calmly, you might have wondered how a falconry hood works. Is the raptor calm because he is hooded or is he petrified in fear? Does it...
As we progress in our animal training technology, there are many practices that we are re-evaluating and refining, and with good reason. As we have discussed in our blog, podcasts, and from Day One of our online membership, the extensive and pervasive use of weight...
This past month, we had a webinar on how to build motivation in birds of prey and published our article that outlines our weight management philosophies (or lack thereof, as it is in some cases!). Often we think of training birds of prey as fairly...
Do you have a parrot that does not stop screaming and you don’t know why? Or has your bird suddenly refused to step up any more and you can’t figure it out? In an educational program at your zoo, does your bird prefer to sit...