From Avian Behavior Conservancy
A big part of our birds’ jobs is going to programs confidently and being able to handle unpredictable conditions. Training for this starts at home, helping them work through different puzzles and challenges that aren’t straightforward, like crating voluntarily.
Aldo is demonstrating how “motivation” to get into the crate works. I use the same sized bit of food and change the conditions for entry. So it’s not that he wasn’t hungry or motivated enough, he just didn’t have the skills for what I was asking him to do.
Crating him and working through simple behaviors in programs won’t always be straightforward. It will have unforeseen distractions. Teaching him to handle imperfect conditions builds up his confidence!
It looked to me like she was trying to get him to go straight from the rock to the crate, but he kinda shrugged and was like, I don’t know how to get in there. Then she set up the log, and he understood the log, then he looked in the crate, saw the snacky bit inside, and decided he knew how to get from the log to the crate.
Different birds perch in different ways. If you think of bird houses or bird feeders, you’ve likely seen some have little stick perches coming straight out while others are T shaped. Also with a large wingspan, perhaps he didn’t think he’d be able to fly right into the crate entrance or if he’d be able to grip that surface. But with the different perspective, now he sees he can get in there, so hopefully with continued practice it will become quicker and easier to get him in the crate in more scenarios.
I watched a lady training a Barred Owl like this before. They take them from the flight pens to the exam room for regular checkups like this, so getting them in quickly and painlessly helps both parties out immensely, and especially should an emergency ever happen, it could save the bird’s life.
That made sense, thank you for teaching me a thing! :)
Certainly!
I’ve been thinking about this scenario myself recently. I got asked to come up with a shelter idea for our educational birds to stay warm in the winter, but I’ve been trying to think of how wide to design the openings and the shelters themselves to keep in the most heat but still allow them easy access.