I am training a female Merlin for a local rehab center. She was found as a downy chick and seems healthy. I have never trained a Merlin but have worked with other falcons. So far she seems like a quick learner. I would like to train her to bring the lure and the prey back to the glove. The benefit I see in this is that it teaches her to take her prey to a perch instead of the eating on the ground. I am having trouble envisioning the steps to train this behavior. Any advice would be appreciated. I have not introduced the lure yet, at this point she is just flying to the glove. I do a lot of tidbitting with my free hand and that seems to work well. When I offer a larger piece of food in the glove her tendency is to want to fly off with it. At this point she will perch on the glove all day for tidbits but when the peice of food is large she want to take it and go. This desire to carry doesn't seem like it fits very well with bringing her prey back to me.
Thanks for your help.