Discussion:
Redtail problem
(too old to reply)
Rob
2003-10-29 15:55:31 UTC
Permalink
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn. Screaming
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the moment
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.

Any advice or explanation is very welcome.

Greetings, Rob
Steven
2003-10-30 19:20:47 UTC
Permalink
"Rob" <***@home.nl> wrote ;

Welcome to the crazy world of the RT hawk. They are aggressive, early
management WAS your only hope.

Steve.
Post by Rob
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn. Screaming
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the moment
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.
Andrea Chen
2003-10-30 21:06:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Rob
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn. Screaming
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the moment
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.
Any advice or explanation is very welcome.
Greetings, Rob
If you say it happens just in the fall... I recall that birds
sometimes get possessive of the mews when they have had food thrown at
them all summer. In other words, for the past couple months a human
walks up, tosses the bird a chunk of meat, and goes away. Bird says
"human=food" and starts to display eyas behavior - screaming &
aggression. Do you think that could be it, Rob? Perhaps more human
interaction during the moult that is *not* associated with food will
help?

-andrea-
JCattoor
2003-11-04 01:11:06 UTC
Permalink
Rob,

Was he an eyas bird or a brancher when you got him? It sure sounds like it.

Steve Layman has had a lot of success dealing with screamers and aggressive
birds through operant conditioning techniques. You might want to drop him a
line on the hawk-***@falconry.org list and ask him..

If he can't help you maybe consider hacking him out and trapping a new
passage bird.

To the more experienced falconers on this list, can you hack an RT like this
back to the wild w/out having him attack someone in the future? It sounds
like his fear quotient is very low..

Jeff
Post by Rob
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn. Screaming
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the moment
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.
Any advice or explanation is very welcome.
Greetings, Rob
Rob
2003-11-10 09:55:16 UTC
Permalink
Hi Jeff,

Bit of late response from me. We live in The Netherlands, Europe. Trapping
wild animals is considered worse than dealing drugs in our parts. The RT
was captive born and we think partial imprint. We now use fencing masks to
fly the bird and with positive reinforcement hope we can train him out of
this behaviour.

Gr. Rob

Nina could win a scuba holiday. Vote for Nina Markx at
http://www.diverscafe.nl/stemwin2003/stemoverzicht.asp , leave
your first- and lastname and email address. You then will receive a
confirmation request > by email. Confirm and maybe she'll go.......
Post by JCattoor
Rob,
Was he an eyas bird or a brancher when you got him? It sure sounds like it.
Steve Layman has had a lot of success dealing with screamers and aggressive
birds through operant conditioning techniques. You might want to drop him a
If he can't help you maybe consider hacking him out and trapping a new
passage bird.
To the more experienced falconers on this list, can you hack an RT like this
back to the wild w/out having him attack someone in the future? It sounds
like his fear quotient is very low..
Jeff
Post by Rob
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn.
Screaming
Post by Rob
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the
moment
Post by Rob
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.
Any advice or explanation is very welcome.
Greetings, Rob
JCattoor
2003-11-11 04:36:56 UTC
Permalink
Rob,

I've heard about imprint RTs being very aggressive. I didn't realize you
were in The Netherlands. I was in Amsterdam myself back in July for work,
it's very beautiful there. I saw a common buzzard and either a Kestrel or
some type of Merlin while I was there too.

There is a book out by Karen Pryor (I think that spelling is correct) for
training exotic birds like parrots (but mentions raptors as well) by using a
clicker for positive reenforcement of desired behavior. One chapter is on
how to train the bird not to bite by using this clicker method. Something
like this might help to reenforce freindly behavior in your RT. I don't
think it is very expensive.

Good Luck to you!

Jeff
Post by Rob
Hi Jeff,
Bit of late response from me. We live in The Netherlands, Europe. Trapping
wild animals is considered worse than dealing drugs in our parts. The RT
was captive born and we think partial imprint. We now use fencing masks to
fly the bird and with positive reinforcement hope we can train him out of
this behaviour.
Gr. Rob
Nina could win a scuba holiday. Vote for Nina Markx at
http://www.diverscafe.nl/stemwin2003/stemoverzicht.asp , leave
your first- and lastname and email address. You then will receive a
confirmation request > by email. Confirm and maybe she'll go.......
Post by JCattoor
Rob,
Was he an eyas bird or a brancher when you got him? It sure sounds like
it.
Post by JCattoor
Steve Layman has had a lot of success dealing with screamers and
aggressive
Post by JCattoor
birds through operant conditioning techniques. You might want to drop
him
Post by Rob
a
Post by JCattoor
If he can't help you maybe consider hacking him out and trapping a new
passage bird.
To the more experienced falconers on this list, can you hack an RT like
this
Post by JCattoor
back to the wild w/out having him attack someone in the future? It sounds
like his fear quotient is very low..
Jeff
Post by Rob
My Redtail flown at 1300 gr. becomes a pain in the ass in autumn.
Screaming
Post by Rob
all day long even after feeding and when flown it goes well until the
moment
Post by Rob
he goes for the upper arm or as he did yesterday for my face.
We get along very well normally but now he's not to be trusted.
I look like a Klingon with a red eye.
Any advice or explanation is very welcome.
Greetings, Rob
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