 Archimedes on the Road
Melissa
and Jean introduced CRC to some participants who had not yet visited
the center, and then talked about what was involved in training our
birds - operant conditioning ("positive reinforcement" training) - and
some of the rewards and frustrations of working with species who have
little invested in keeping us happy (unlike, say, dogs). Owls in
particular can be a challenge, unless they come in as non-releasable
while very young, as did Lorax. Even though Archimedes is a human
imprint, having been captive bred, he had not been handled much in his
two previous homes - where he’d been placed for breeding - and Melissa
has worked with him almost daily for over a year. Melissa also talked
about the paper on Archimedes’ training process she presented in
Amsterdam earlier this year at the 2008 conference of the International
Association of Avian Trainers and Educators. Archimedes did very
well for his first time away from home, except for refusing to sit on
his perch - Melissa developed a few more muscles in her left arm by
holding him on her glove for the full two hours! Lorax was her usual
endearingly imperturable self. |
