If you are into animal behavior and positive reinforcement training, you're in the right spot. World renown animal behavior consultant, falconer, and educator Hillary Hankey dives deep with conversations and case studies on parrots, birds of prey as well as horses, dogs and all kinds of animals on topics of behavior as well as nutrition, ethology, and problem solving.
68 Why I don’t use ad lib weights or base weights: falconry and free flight birds
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
2/17/2024 • 55 minutes, 52 seconds
67 What we learned about birds in 2023
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
1/5/2024 • 1 hour, 11 minutes, 1 second
66 Dr. Lucy Kemp on Lead Poisoning in Ground Hornbills
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!
