Julie,

There ARE NOT a lot of raptor rehabilitators like you in this world,
and I truly wish there were. The one thing I keep trying to instill
in my public audience is that hand-raising a raptorial bird is not
natural, and we suffer from it when we do so. Contrary to public
belief, it is the juvenile raptors who chase the adults away from the
nest site as they become more and more agressive toward the adults
for free food offerings; not the adults who chase the young away. In
captivity, when we hand raise raptors, we do not go away, and the
agression toward us never ends, nor does the food-begging. There are
counter-measures used by experienced falconers to discourage food-
begging and agression by hand-raised raptors, but most rehabilitators
do not use these methods and end up with more than their share of
negative-reverse contact with the bird they raised. Still they love
their birds, of course ... it's only human to do so ... but thinking
that such a bird loves you is simply being Anthropomorphic!

Douglas E. Trapp, Owner
Raptors International

--- In raptorsinternational@yahoogroups.com, Julie Hale <julhale@...>
wrote:
>
> The only time my educator bird (barn owl) acts like she loves me is
when she sees me and thinks "that's the human that gives me food"....
at which point, she food begs and chirps to me. She only exhibits
that behavior with me, which I could easily apply human emotions to
and thing "aw, she knows I'm mom".... but that is w-r-o-n-g wrong!
>
> Having raised her from a baby, its easy to think of her as one of
my feathered kids.
>
> But from her end of the spectrum, she would just as easily snap
my fingers as she would snap a mouse from my hand. She only comes
when I have something to offer her. Its totally food-based wild
behavior on her part. Her lack of fear and agression in my presence
is simply conditioned behavior.
>
> But gosh I love that bird :)
> :)julie
>
> "Douglas E. Trapp" <falconryguy@...> wrote:
> As I stated in my paper, there is no real social instinct
among most
> raptorial birds. Even to claim a "Alpha Male" type behavior to a
> Harris' Hawk is not really an accepted aspect in raptor biology. We
> know that they do associate together in the wild, but we do not
know
> of any friendly behavior among them in a wild situation, or only a
> few limited observances of such, or only of what of we suspect to
be
> social. Raptors, no matter how social they may appear to us, are
not
> social animals in comparison to those animals of which we have
> learned to manage. We have learned to manage certain animals based
on
> their social behavior, but we have not learned to do so with the
> Harris' Hawk or any other semi-social raptor. Sometimes our
> perception of socialization is totally wrong.
>
> I deal with both social and non-social animals daily, to give you
> some advise. My horse is social with me, but only if I praise him
and
> excersize him as needed; and the falcon cares about none of this,
no
> matter what I do to praise her. I have had Harris' Hawks in the
past
> of whome I thought were social until they ripped into my hand
without
> notice. The point here is that falconers deal with wild animals,
and
> thinking they are social is probably the worse possible thing to
do.
> They never like or love you, they never really appreciate you, and
if
> there is any love at all it is on your end only. Any other thought
> process is truly anthropomorphic.
>
> Douglas E. Trapp, Owner
> R.I.
>
> --- In raptorsinternational@yahoogroups.com, M P <mehiel@> wrote:
> >
> > I don't know much about Sea Eagles but we have a
> > captive Harris' Hawk, definitely social and raptor.
> > She shows no preference for whom she attacks (she is
> > most certainly an alpha bird) and readily flies to
> > glove for anyone with food. However, in answer to the
> > original question about Sea Eagles, Harris' Hawks do
> > hunt and raise their young communally, although I
> > would not tend attribute this to "affection" or
> > altruism as the survival of the individual depends
> > upon the survival of the flock.
> >
> > --- crhughes3 <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Falconry Guy:
> > >
> > > A very good and interesting essay! It's funny to
> > > think that a
> > > raptor only has a pea-sized brain, and that a brain
> > > so small imbue so
> > > many keen instincts and abilities.
> > >
> > > Parrots, being social, definitely act as though they
> > > exhibit love.
> > > Tame ones will initiate affectionate behavior
> > > towards people and
> > > spend hours, if encouraged, interacting physically
> > > and mentally.
> > >
> > > I wonder if sea eagles are considered social because
> > > they gather in
> > > groups, and whether they display altruism or
> > > affection to non-mates.
> > >
> > > Chuck Hughes
> > > Monroe, Louisiana
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In raptorsinternational@yahoogroups.com,
> > > "Douglas E. Trapp"
> > > <falconryguy@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Introduction:
> > > >
> > > > Anthropomorphism
> > >
> > > <cut>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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