News From The Mews

With Winter Storm Warnings on the horizon, I did some emergency planning. The birds needed to be okay in the extreme event that staff could not get to the Museum during the storm. On Sunday morning, weighing each bird was a priority. I was happy to see that they were all in the upper end of their healthy weight range, giving them an extra buffer against the cold. I also prepared extra food for Aldo, Carson, and Otto to provide additional fuel. While not ideal, I was confident they would make it through the storm if I couldn't get to them on Monday. Luckily I was able to dig my car out of the driveway around noon the next day, after the worst of the storm, and safely reached Cable to serve a late breakfast to the birds. 

Digger the hognose snake was doing a great job following the target across her habitat for a tasty mouse reward. I figured we would move on to the next level of difficulty: following the target outside of her habitat. With a short table set up by her door, Digger eagerly followed the target to the threshold. But when I moved the target just a bit further onto the table, she stopped with her head hanging over the edge. Was she scared? I also wondered if she just didn't feel stable with the 5-inch drop to the table. I took a large branch and propped it up like a ramp. I tried leading Digger with the target again, this time over the new branch. She rushed after the target and I presented her mouse. It worked!  I figured I could do the same targeting behavior in reverse to move her back in her habitat. I slid the blue target up the branch, but now Digger had no interest in following it. I gave her some time to explore the table and tried again. Still no luck. I ended up picking her up...

Since our vet visit two weeks ago, Carson the Red-tailed Hawk has been hesitant to step on my glove. Understandably, she's weighing the risks. If I step on glove, what are the chances something scary will happen?  Every time she steps up, she takes that gamble. My job as her trainer is to build more positive associations than negative ones so she is more likely to go for it. It's all about trust. This morning I felt the warm, spring-like sun and knew Carson would enjoy sitting outside to bask. But would she be willing to come out with me? I brought the glove up to her feet. She didn't budge. I took a step back, then tried again. She looked at the glove, then lightly hopped away to the other side of the perch. That was a definite, "no thanks, I'm not willing to risk it." Carson was not interested in stepping on glove. I decided to try again in the afternoon. This time, I held out the glove and one foot lifted, hovering above the perch. I waited. She carefully s...