It’s funny how we “know†from practice what this body language means, but none of us can articulate it. No wonder it’s so hard to be an apprentice. No one explains things. We’re expected to learn the hard way. But how fair is that to the bird? Almost unethical, really. Especially when you consider that the inability to read a bird may mean an unnecessary weight drop.
I didn’t think anyone was going to take me up on the “describe the body language†challenge, but now I think I should jump in with my own thoughts to be fair. Some simple things I think I feel comfortable articulating:
Bowing the head, fluffing the feathers out while hunching the back and holding the wings out to the side is a sign of pending aggression. Bowing in itself may not lead to aggression (food begging, courting etc) but I would have to see the two versions side by side to really break out what the differences are – and there are surely differences.
Wing stretching, rousing and feaking are all signs of the bird being at ease, not nervous or aggressive.
Sister never takes her eyes off of Anakin while she’s doing these things that demonstrate comfort. Note that she looks at his feet a couple of times. She leans toward him, but doesn’t bow initially. Do you think maybe she’s wondering if he has food he might share? She’s not too old to beg… I’m not really certain, but based on her comfort level, I think it might be a good possibility.
When Anakin rouses, it startles her (you can see her jump and suddenly stand erect) and she drops into an aggressive bow, which Anakin mirrors. And then they continue to mirror each other. Although, Sister stretches her wings so she probably isn’t serious about there being any aggression.
Anakin primarily sits erect, feathers tight to his body and continues to keep his head turned toward her. He’s a poster boy for an uneasy falcon. He isn’t very comfortable with the whole situation. (Who can blame him!)
That’s my take on it, anyway.
I swear I made sure there wasn’t going to be any bloodshed before I picked up the camera!
If you get a chance at the NAFA meet, corner Jennifer Coulson (I’ll interoduce you if you don’t know her) and ask about her observations of CB HH interactions in the pen. She and Tom looked at it systematically (daily obs. periods, X number of hours, standardized terms, etc) over a number of seasons in preparation for a charter in the HH book they’re working on. They learned a lot of neat stuff about how young HHs are “schooled” by their parents; mainly by Dad, who is the grouchy disciplinarian. …That sounds about right to me.
My take on your video below is that Sister and Anakin will work things out. Sister is bigger, which she might learn to use to her advanatage as a bully, except that Anakin (older and wiser) won’t let her. He sets the parameters of her behavior by demonstrating that there is a balance of power and that he is watching her.
Once she begins to bahave correctly in his view, he rouses. That startles her, which snaps him back to attention to make sure he still has things under control. Once he communicates that, she turns away and spreads her tail and seems to stretch, which is about the same as rousing in terms of indicating comfort.
All that said, never take anything for granted. Tethered falcons will eat each other—even ones that hunt together every day. Ask me how I know….