News From The Mews

While cleaning Aldo's mew, I noticed a stalk of green along the wall. A pale milkweed had poked out of the gravel and was trying to get established! I pulled the stalk and tossed it into the garden. The following week, I felt a sense of déjà vu while cleaning. The same pale green stalk was growing in the same place. I pulled it again, picturing the plant's rhizomes spreading underground and wondering if it would try to shoot up here again. Sure enough, for the third week in a row I had to do some weeding in Aldo's mew.

As a young animal trainer, I learned that "ABC" is all you need to know. The environment, or Antecedent , leads to a Behavior to get a certain Consequence . Simply by changing the antecedent or consequence, you can change behavior. That was always in my mind as I worked on glove training with Otto the Great Horned Owl. But I kept getting frustrated. It was like we were not speaking the same language. It felt more like I was coercing him to do something rather than teaching him to do it. I knew Otto was frustrated, too. I started thinking there must be another way to approach this, so I put out my feelers into the world of pet animal training. I learned about pattern games from a cat behavior consultant a few months ago. I was intrigued and ordered the book that started the pattern game trend. Control Unleashed: Creating a Focused and Confident Dog  by Leslie McDevitt arrived in my mailbox and I cracked it open to the first chapter, wondering if there would be anything useful

All the ingredients for a metaphorical heart attack were there: something unexpected that made me jump; so close it was just underfoot; worry that I might have done some harm; concern that something was seriously wrong. I had just swung open Carson's door. I started to step inside when I saw Carson lying on the ground directly in front of the door. Once I got over the shock, I got concerned. Was she injured? Sick? Her bright eyes turned to look at me curiously. I knelt down to get a closer look. She stood up and inspected me, then hopped over to a perch. She seemed okay and I had to laugh. I had just interrupted her while basking in the afternoon sun! 

We don't speak the same language, but the birds and I have gotten pretty good at reading each other's body language. When Aldo is on my glove, I am always aware of his body posture, level of fluff in his feathers, wing position, and head movements.  Aldo's body language indicates comfort. When Aldo is relaxed, his body is at a comfortable angle, his feathers are fluffed, and his head might even be hidden under his wing as he preens. That's what we love to see! If he is scared by something, his feathers will slick down and his attention darts in different directions and his head quickly turns. Then his body will lean forward as he crouches with wings slightly out, ready to fly away from whatever threat he perceives. When I see these body language cues, I know it's time for us to move somewhere Aldo will feel safe.  Last week I stood in the backyard with Aldo and evaluated his body language. How do you think he's feeling here? I noted that he held his wings out fr

Carson loves taking baths in the summertime. Sometimes she just likes to quietly soak her feet, while other days she really gets into it. Wednesday was a splashy day and I noticed the feathers on her face were soaked and matted. When I looked closer, I could even see her ear. The hole behind her eye is usually covered by fluffy feathers, so this was a rare sighting!