Comments on: What's Up?

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:46:54 +0000

Could you give me the names of some of them please?

By: rebecca

rebecca — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:12:20 +0000

Yes, there are still duck clubs at the north end of the Salton Sea.

By: Ken

Ken — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:49:34 +0000

Are there still duck clubs at the north end of the sea?

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:26:10 +0000

I know little about falconry but would like to learn. I have a duck club near Los Banos. It shoots Wednesday, Sat, Sun.
Do you have an interest in doing a Monday or Thursday hunt?

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:11:58 +0000

Yeah, Steve’s a great guy and the reason that I started that group. Also on there are Jim Nelson, Aplo breeder and hood maker, who uses OP extensively with his falconry birds and I saw that another CA falconer with lots of OP experience, Keith….can’t think of his last name, recently joined. There have been some really good threads with lots of innovative thinking.

Paul

By: rebecca

rebecca — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:17:28 +0000

Ken,

This is a great question. I’m not sure I would call myself a behaviorist in so much as I don’t have a degree in behavior, just a lot of hands on. (which means I sometimes screw up my science and terminology) However, I would say all great falconers use operant conditioning and read body language whether they realize it or not. The challenge is that we tend to be such a superstitious lot. We often attribute our successes to odd things instead of breaking down behavior into an antecendent, a behavior and a consequence.

Paul — I see Layman is active in that group, so it definitely has my seal of approval!

That said, I’ll be talking about this a bit in the coming weeks I’m sure. I’ve got to write a paper about it for an August presentation at the Association of Avian Veterinarians conference. So it’s something I’m going to be thinking a lot about.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:58:52 +0000

Hi Ken,
I’m not an animal behavioralist, but I am a falconer and there are a large group of falconers who actively use operant conditioning methods in training/reinforcing various behaviors in our birds. You might consider posing your question here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OPC_Falconry/
It’s a yahoo group that deals expressly with the application of OP in falconry and raptor rehab/education situations. There are some very well versed folks on there who I’m sure would have some insights.

Paul

By: Ken

Ken — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:06:50 +0000

Hi Rebecca, I wanted to ask you a questin but didn’t know where to put it so I’ll just stick here and you can move it if you like.

As an animal behaiviorist, what insite can you provide regarding the training of falconry birds that you think the average falconer might miss? I’m sure you are great at observing body language, perhaps something in that regard. Or anything you’d like to talk about. Just curious,

Ken

By: rebecca

rebecca — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:42:30 +0000

Oh…now you have to read all of the archives to find out.

I lived in Winter Haven for four years, but I don’t whose flying down your way any more. You can check out the Florida Hawking Fraternity.

http://www.f-h-f.org/

By: JOJO

JOJO — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:52:15 +0000

wow. fascinating i’ve never realized people hunt with falcons. Are they actually doing the hunting or your eyes only and then you shoot. and retrieve. are they the retrievers? or you bring one too? very cool. Do you know of any down in S. Florida? i would LOVE to see them in action…