Originally Posted by
accipitterpatter
What are some ways to get a hawk comfortable with you nearby while it's feeding on a kill? I just thought I'd ask.
Repetition of a pleasant experience, over and over and over again, will do the trick. The variations are infinite as long as your intervention isn't an aversive to the bird and it is done often enough to be generalized in the hawk's mind, you are on your way. Personally I love practicing on a frozen prey item before doing it with a live catch, if the only novelty is the "liveliness" of the prey and all the rest of the intervention, namely the approach, dispatching and transferring, are routine, chances of success are quite good.
Audrey Marquis, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
