Is it possible to target train a tiel to let me lift his wings for harness training? He doesn't really like me touching or lifting his wings, when I do he tries to pull away or act like he wants to bite.
It’s not considered target training but yes, you can teach a bird to allow physical manipulation.
To do that you need to have a really good understanding of their body language as things can very easily go sour resulting in a bird who refuses to train or lunges at the presentation of your hands.
You need to take it incredibly slow, start with your hands quite a ways away from the bird (hands pointing ‘guns’ at the bird), click and reward every time you present your hands that way, slowly working your way closer to their body ensuring not to progress until they are fully comfortable with the step you’re on. From there you lightly touch their sides, the edges of their wings, under the wings, and gently pushing up on the wings, a bird who is comfortable will present no resistance to the wings being lifted up. For training the bird to have the wings lifted in to the harness you would then accustom the bird to you using more fingers on the wings, opening and closing the wings partially, until you can work on manipulation inside the harness.
Always, always, always pay attention to their body language, if they’re resisting you pushing their wings, walking away, tipping their heads down, lunging or shying away you need to stop and back up a few steps until they are comfortable enough to allow you to move forwards.
