The Avian Behavior Podcast

Training your bird for transportation isn't just an important part of education programming, it's a good life skill to have. For wildlife rehabilitation organizations, nature centers, and other small bird of prey centers, this is an essential skill that trainers rely on. For companion parrot people, this is an important behavior to trainer before it is needed in case of emergencies. This episode is an excerpt from our roadmap on Your Bird's First Education Program inside the Avian Behavior Lab. It's full of tactical advice on how to shape calm behavior for riding comfortably in a crate in a vehicle. We talk about what to do about tidbitting, why we don't use food very much to shape this behavior, and what we use to reinforce with instead. We discuss challenges with equipment and how to use context to shape the behavior.

Support courses in the Avian Behavior Lab include our latest updated version of Crate Training, the roadmap, Creating a Training Program, and How to use context to shape a behavior.

Looking to the wild for answers is a common refrain among bird people when it comes to care advice, particularly nutrition. And while this concept seems well grounded in science, the actual practice is much more complex and nuanced. For parrots, we don't always know what, how, or why the eat what the eat. And when we do know, replicated the conditions and food stuffs can be impossible for those of us who have parrots in our care.

We sit down with fellow science communicator Dr. Stephanie Rosenbloom who not only has a PhD in chemistry, but a keen interest in parrot nutrition. We tease apart the idea of the appeal to nature fallacy, that occurs when a person assumes that what is natural is good and true, without considering the effects of their actions on the environment. We discuss a recent post that went viral on social media about parrots eating meat and other topics about diet and further into philosophy.

For more of Stephanie's talks, you can check out https://avianbehavior.thinkific.com/courses/avocet-2024

"If you are looking for guarantees with free flight training in birds, you are in the wrong place." In this episode, Avian Behavior International founder Hillary Hankey and ABI Animal Training Lead Katie Pnewski talk about how developing skills for birds and training staff around fly offs has been instrumental in their practice as team leaders. A practice of safety and growth doesn't come from expecting mistakes not to happen, it comes from preparing for them to happen and getting the most out of the experience when you are working through a solution. In free flight, you learn that true growth comes from being in uncomfortable situations. 

Our Handling a Fly Off course is dropping in the Avian Behavior Lab. Sign up for a free 14 day trial with the code AVIAN. 

Check out our registration for  fall 2024 Bird of Prey workshop in September and Advanced Workshop in November 

Owls make remarkable ambassadors to highlight conservation work, but they can also make for challenging training subjects and divisive ideas in the training community. We have remade our entire Owl Ambassador Masterclass to reflect the nuances among species differences and address some of the challenging conversations around parent raised owls, rehab vs captive bred ambassadors and even falconry equipment. 

To access the Raising an Owl Masterclass, check it out here: https://avianbehaviorlab.com/masterclass-owl-sales/

For a 14 day free trial of the Avian Behavior Lab, use the code AVIAN  https://avianbehaviorlab.com

Having a parrot with extremely complicated screaming, attacking, pair-bonded behavior that won’t let you out of their sight without an intrusive cascade of undesirable behaviors can be a problem for the entire household. It also means layers of stress when you are torn between appeasing your parrot and your family. This excerpt from our deep dive masterclass series for members of the Avian Behavior Lab helps us look at the angles of this complex issue and how we tease apart which challenge we take on first from a science-based perspective. This series was extremely enriching, and we know you will glean some actionable details from the science here.

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For more information on how we avoid using restrictiveness and intrusiveness as metrics, check out Episode 58

For AvOCET 2024 information, check out our registration page.

Stay up to date on our workshop schedule here.

This interview with Gail Buhl from the Minnesota Raptor Center and Partners for Wildlife is a thoughtful journey filled with raptor behavior tidbits, the evolution of operant conditioning in bird behavior management, raptor rehabilitation, imprinting and so much more.

We talk about how working with rehabilitated birds of prey provides such a unique tapestry that has informed our progression as trainers to humane methods of choice based training, and Gail's owl mentors in her work with small owls. We go into depth about how providing these crucial contingencies gives our birds a language that they learn to rely on.

For information about AvOCET, of which Gail is a speaker, check out our events page.

The University of Minnesota Raptor Center Raptor Academy Care and Management Workshop registration is here.

The How to Raise and Owl Ambassador Masterclass is here.

Join the Avian Behavior Lab for a free 14 day trial with the code AVIAN to try out all of the features essential for your growth as an avian care provider.

We are going to talk about an old school term in weight management of free flying and ambassador birds, and that is ad lib weight. Another term might be trap weight or base weight. Reason why this is old school is that for some people implies your bird has this same reference weight throughout their lives, regardless of muscle tone, seasonality, and age and it can be downright dangerous. There are many issues with ad lib weights, such as how we figure it out without coercion or restraint, the assumption that all birds can achieve steady state, and that some birds come from a place of food trauma. Not to mention that use prescriptive numbers to assess health can be problematic. Let's level up!

We look at many different metrics that help us cross reference a dynamic set of reference weights across the seasons that help us identify healthy birds and high welfare.

If you know us, we are going to discuss with you actionable, practical science based training tips that help you level up your training program that you can put into place right away. This podcast is from our bonus class from our Avian Behavior Lab Masterclass on Progressive Weight Management that we did on a YouTube livestream. Be your best with birds, and join us for lively discussion on deep topics.

You can attend all of the masterclasses with a free 14 day trial of the Lab with the coupon code AVIAN.

Check out this entire class on Youtube

What did we learn about birds in 2023? What was the big bird news of the year? (or, Simone and Hillary talk about owls)

Hillary sits down with fellow falconer, bird lover, and owl enthusiast Simone Lupson-Cook to talk about our favorite facts about bird behavior, ethology, conservation, and more that we learned about birds this year. From birds in the news, our visit to the Raptor Research Foundation Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and reading books together, we share our favorite facts that we have come across, from snowy owl talons, barn owl math, Succession, and the many many threats that face birds globally past and present.

For links to relevant books and works cited, visit our full show notes page. To see how this work fits our behavior and training work, try out the Avian Behavior Lab for free for 14 days with the code AVIAN

Lead poisoning is a really big deal for wildlife, and Southern Ground Hornbills appear to be particularly sensitive to lead levels in the blood. In August, Avian Behavior International visited the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project in South Africa to identify some key behavior objectives to enhance the reintroduction strategy for the Southern ground hornbill. This bird has one complicated life strategy, punctuated by a long life and intricate social structure.

If you are interested in how ethology impacts your work with conservation ambassadors, check out the Avian Behavior Lab, where we discuss the science of behavior and how it impacts our reinforcement strategies. Use the code AVIAN for a free 14 day trial.

Notes and references for the just a small portion of Dr. Kemp's extensive hornbill work that also went into Hillary's report on the show's page

Dr. Kemp spoke at the first annual Avian Online Conference for Education and Training, AvOCET, hosted by Avian Behaivor International. The second conference is being held April 26-27, 2024 with amazing speakers as well!

We sat down with Paige Sutherland, Director of Wildlife Programs at Shavers Creek Environmental Center in Pennsylvania for a powerful discussion on wildlife training programs. This far ranging conversation stretched from challenges of family life in the animal care field to how to organize your time as a program leader. We have the pleasure of working with Paige more deeply through our Owl Ambassador programs and exclusive mentorship this past spring and our Advanced Animal Training and Behavior Workshop this November 2023. For more information on our programs for 2024, you can check out the 2024 workshops 

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Our How to Raise an Owl Ambassador Masterclass is extremely popular.