03 Avian Teachers: Larue the Crested Caracara and fearful behavior

Larue the crested caracara has taught us a lot of things, we wanted to zoom in the focus on three things here that are not only common issues as trainers, but are relatable no matter if you are working with a caracara, a hornbill, or a companion parrot.

Caracaras are intelligent like parrots and corvids, social, enjoy walks like hornbills, vultures, and other species, and ride around on the glove like raptors, although Larue doesn’t have traditional falconry equipment like anklets and jesses.

In this episode, we discuss how
1) as a team, we worked through his wing bandaging maintaining a positive relationship
2) we give him tools to work through his fearful behavior
3) we use alternative motivational techniques so that we aren’t relying on a heavy weight management practices.

The article I mentioned about Larue’s vocalizations is here.

His angel wing background with video! is here.

And you can support his wild relatives by purchasing greeting cards and calendars here, with proceeds supporting conservation programs in the Pantanal region as well as Central America.