#owltraining

Whooo says raptors only train for food? Here’s another gem from the “expand your list of reinforcers vault.” Oculus the spectacled owl is a fan of tactile. This means it can be delivered contingently for cooperation in activities such as stepping up and allowing jesses to be applied for participation in educational programming. Nice work from the team at @thesantaanazoo We then went on to train a new behavior I am presenting on at an upcoming conference. #owltraining #owlstepup #nonfoodreinforcers #spectacledowl #ambassadoranimaltraining #educationalanimaltraining #educationanimal #ambassadoranimal (at Santa Ana Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8wM4WQHms6/?igshid=1tyic00ug1m3a

This clip is probably about 13-14 years old. That is when I first met Rosie. At the time she was showing some undesired territorial behavior (even a few flying attacks.) You can also see in this clip she wasn’t too fond of a glove. This could have been due to traditional raptor handling techniques in which gloves are often used to scoop birds of prey onto the fist. As you can see by our results, all this is fixable 😊 By focusing on non-coercive techniques and some environmental changes, Rosie very quickly went from being scary to being a sweetheart. She was very beloved by the team at Dallas Zoo and one of my favorites too. On record as passing at 40 years old! RIP Rosie the great horned owl. #owl #greathornedowl #owltraining #greathornedowltraining #animalambassador #educationanimal #raptor #raptortraining https://www.instagram.com/p/BxsofOYHEDh/?igshid=2sin03yos55z

Cuz you can never get enough of owls in flight #eurasianeagleowl #owl #owltraining #birdshow #birdtraining @avianbehavior (at Henry Doorly Zoo)

Bowie the Eurasian eagle owl says "keep your 'lectric eye on me babe" #owl #owltraining #birdshow #birdtraining #freeflight #eurasianeagleowl #moonagedaydream #davidbowie #davidbowielyrics @avianbehavior (at Henry Doorly Zoo)

Training in new spaces often means dealing with many environmental distractions, which can cause latency in performance of behavior. Bowie the Eurasian eagle owl has learned "change is normal" around here. And has shown great resiliency to crazy distractions like cement mixers, dump trucks, drilling and even flying trees. He's even giving the dive bombing grackles "the bird." Keep it up buddy! #birdtraining #birdshow #owl #owltraining #eurasioneagleowl @avianbehavior (at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Education Department)

A few strategies we use to start training birds to fly in new environments is to use familiar props, familiar behaviors and relax our criteria and gradually increase difficulty. Seems to be working well for Bowie the Eurasian eagle owl! #eurasianeagleowl #birdtraining #owltraining #freeflight #animalambassador @avianbehavior

Lots of animal training starts with getting your mechanics down. In bird training this means learning how to position your arms and hands, how to appropriately present cues and how to deliver food promptly and accurately. In this session trainers are practicing on short flights with an experienced barn owl. #birdtraining #owltraining #animaltraining #raptortraining #freeflight #trainingskills #practicalapplication @avianbehavior

Cover girl #scout #barnowl #owl #owltraining #raptortraining #freeflight #birdtraining @avianbehavior (at Avian Behavior International)