NBGE Training Updates
Buddy in training
A Helpful Guide to Raptor Training Terminology
November 29 Update – Darcie Huntress
Rather than jump right in with talking about Buddy’s training in the specific, I think this is a good time to give some background on the training approach we are using. Ray Norton, a master falconer here in Virginia, is mentoring me and some of the other WCV staff in how to train Buddy using operant conditioning – also known as clicker training. The principles of clicker training were established by behavioral researcher B.F. Skinner; Karen Pryor brought it to the masses when she learned to apply it to training dolphins and a variety of other animals. Ray says if it has a brain and it eats, it can be trained this way.
Operant conditioning reinforces desired behavior with a reward. The clicker (or whistle, in this case) is a way to mark the desired behavior; it becomes a communication tool between trainer and animal. When the principles are applied cleanly and consistently, the click signals it is reward time. Buddy’s prior training laid a good foundation for our future work. For example, Buddy would sit on his perch and have his evening meal thrown in to him – a fun game of catch, but one which reinforced him for sitting in one place and returning there after each item was eaten. Now we are changing the game. His meal – cut up into bite-size pieces – becomes his reward for working. It is already clear that Buddy is bright and entirely capable of learning all the things we want to teach him.
So the question for many people will be, how will we shape his behavior? We start by reinforcing behaviors that he already offers, and in fact this is already occurring. One behavior he already offers is sitting on his A-frame perch. This behavior has already been reinforced as described above. He also already knows to fly to a handler’s gloved hand when it is raised, and we are working with him to sit there calmly without clenching with his talons.
The point where his training will really take off will come once he makes the connection that a blow of the whistle means he has done something for which he will be rewarded. Once this recognition occurs, we will start reinforcing new behaviors. As he begins to offer these behaviors consistently we can begin to put some of them on cue and then use them to build chains of behavior. We have many training goals for Buddy, including having him go into and out of his travel crate of his own volition and stepping onto the scales so he can be weighed.
It is already very rewarding to see the wheels turning and his comprehension of how the game changes. In the wild, eagles constantly change their tactics to get the sustenance they need, so we are engaging that part of Buddy’s natural history in this process and making life here at the Wildlife Center that much more interesting and engaging for him.
November 22 update
After a break in training for a couple of months and moving into his new enclosure, Buddy is ready to get back to work! The Wildlife Center staff will be working with an experienced falconer to train Buddy. The goal is not only to train Buddy to sit calmly on a handler’s gloved hand – but also to get Buddy to enjoy sitting on the glove. This way, he can travel to programs and presentations off-site.
Falconer Ray came to the Wildlife Center on the afternoon of November 18 to get to know Buddy, to meet with Center staff, and get a sense of where Buddy is with his training. Buddy did quite well and hopped up on Ray’s glove several times. Ray repeated a Buddy session on November 19, and then on the afternoon of November 20, Ray worked with both Buddy and outreach coordinator Darcie. Since Ray won’t be able to travel to the Wildlife Center every day to train Buddy, he will be “training the trainers” too — and getting various staff members involved.
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