Hooding your bird

[Mandragen]

So are you asking why hood your bird if the bird is not being stressed by the current situation? The answer is there is no reason, but are you sure what the situation will be in five minutes?

There are many reasons to hood a bird, in my mind the top reason is for the bird's own safety and well being. Raptors are visual animals, so being able to control what they see helps the falconer eliminate any possible negative experiences. Since our ability to understand how a bird interprets what it sees is limited it is better to use caution in new or stressful situations. In any given situation it may not be possible to desensitize a bird, using any of a number of training methods, so the hood is a tool that eliminates the possibility of a negative outcome. Take driving in a vehicle for example, your bird might be fine sitting on perch as you drive down the road, but then what happens if a big truck roars by? Or you get stuck in a traffic jam and suddenly the leisurely drive becomes something else?

The hood is a tool that all birds should be trained to, and used more than people think is necessary.

Correct you are unsure what the situation will be in five minutes, but it's our job to be aware as much as possible to try and anticipate what might happen an deal with that. I mean you can't predict the future, but that's not a reason to be scared of it. We are visual animals, most animals are visual animals, although not to the extent that a bird might be. When working with other birds, they do tend to notice things that we do not, but it is possible to learn to shape your behavior to be more aware of these things and to adjust your training to help overcome it. I had one bird that just freaked over planes that were unnoticable most of the time to me, but we got over it eventually, which to me seems much more productive than to put a hood on that particular birds because I couldn't control when a plane might fly over head.

I agree that there are things that just can't seem to be desensitized. Sometimes you just run into things you can't get around with certain individuals, and yes this is a great time for a hood. I think that having any animal free in a vehicle is a hazard that isn't worth the risk.

[Saluqi]

Correct you are unsure what the situation will be in five minutes, but it's our job to be aware as much as possible to try and anticipate what might happen an deal with that. I mean you can't predict the future, but that's not a reason to be scared of it. We are visual animals, most animals are visual animals, although not to the extent that a bird might be. When working with other birds, they do tend to notice things that we do not, but it is possible to learn to shape your behavior to be more aware of these things and to adjust your training to help overcome it. I had one bird that just freaked over planes that were unnoticable most of the time to me, but we got over it eventually, which to me seems much more productive than to put a hood on that particular birds because I couldn't control when a plane might fly over head.

I agree that there are things that just can't seem to be desensitized. Sometimes you just run into things you can't get around with certain individuals, and yes this is a great time for a hood. I think that having any animal free in a vehicle is a hazard that isn't worth the risk.

Hi Oliver,

You asked why hood a bird, Pete and I gave you some reasons why hooding is used and you think it would be better to train the bird not to react to these stimuli. I contend that it's a better use of my time and resources to have a bird that is solid to the hood, rather then attempt to prepare the bird not to react to an almost infinite number of circumstances that might arise at home, in transit, and in the field. As a falconer, and not an animal trainer, I like to focus all of my training on activities that lead to the taking of wild game with my bird, and the hood is a tool allows me to do so - I simply do not have the time or desire to train for every eventuality, it's that simple I'm lazy.

[Mandragen]

Hi Oliver,

You asked why hood a bird, Pete and I gave you some reasons why hooding is used and you think it would be better to train the bird not to react to these stimuli. I contend that it's a better use of my time and resources to have a bird that is solid to the hood, rather then attempt to prepare the bird not to react to an almost infinite number of circumstances that might arise at home, in transit, and in the field. As a falconer, and not an animal trainer, I like to focus all of my training on activities that lead to the taking of wild game with my bird, and the hood is a tool allows me to do so - I simply do not have the time or desire to train for every eventuality, it's that simple I'm lazy.

I'm sorry Paul, I hope I didn't offend you in anyway. I appreciate all your guys' feed back and the reason I started the thread/debate was to learn from those of you that know more about this than I do. I am running into all sorts of things within this hobby/sport/lifestyle, which I respect deeply, that just contridict what I have been taught.

I am one of the laziest people that I know, there isn't anyway anyone can be worse, lol. I just think training these things can be done rather easily and it's all about balance of reinforcement. Training is really to make life easier and not more difficult. We had birds that would present wings for inspection, or feet for coping the feet. Our dolphins would turn upside down and hold their breath, presenting their tail flukes, as long as it took to draw blood. I've seen a dolphin slide up on a stretcher and allow 10+ people to pick it up and walk it around. One of our dolphins needed extra water each day, and in the middle of the show she would allow me to stick a tube all the way down to her stomach and funnel water (they don't do the drinking thing). Sometimes these behaviors don't come easy, sometimes they do, but you never know until you try. It really only takes a bit of reinforcement for doing them.

[FredFogg]

Hi Oliver,

You asked why hood a bird, Pete and I gave you some reasons why hooding is used and you think it would be better to train the bird not to react to these stimuli. I contend that it's a better use of my time and resources to have a bird that is solid to the hood, rather then attempt to prepare the bird not to react to an almost infinite number of circumstances that might arise at home, in transit, and in the field. As a falconer, and not an animal trainer, I like to focus all of my training on activities that lead to the taking of wild game with my bird, and the hood is a tool allows me to do so - I simply do not have the time or desire to train for every eventuality, it's that simple I'm lazy.

Paul, you are not lazy, you are just using common sense. Oliver is looking at this from an animal trainers perspective. He is used to training animals. In reality, we aren't training our raptors to do what we want, we are training them to adapt to us and what will be happening when we take them to the field and what will happen in the field and to allow us to participate with them. Sure, there are some that train their raptors to turn in a circle for a tidbit and to follow a laser beam, but is that for falconry or for their amusement. I am like you, I just want to have a relationship with my birds that allows me to participate with them in the field while they catch game. Give Oliver a couple years of actually doing falconry and it will be much more clearer to him.

Oh yeah, Oliver, I never hooded my birds the first 3 years I was a falconer. I never had any problems, things worked just fine for me. But the reason I didn't was I was told you didn't need to hood a red-tail or kestrel. I decided I wanted to learn how to hood a bird and the next red-tail I got I hooded. I will never have another bird that I won't hood. You say you are lazy, well, hooding a bird just makes it that much easier for the falconer.

[Mandragen]

Paul, you are not lazy, you are just using common sense. Oliver is looking at this from an animal trainers perspective. He is used to training animals. In reality, we aren't training our raptors to do what we want, we are training them to adapt to us and what will be happening when we take them to the field and what will happen in the field and to allow us to participate with them. Sure, there are some that train their raptors to turn in a circle for a tidbit and to follow a laser beam, but is that for falconry or for their amusement. I am like you, I just want to have a relationship with my birds that allows me to participate with them in the field while they catch game. Give Oliver a couple years of actually doing falconry and it will be much more clearer to him.

Thanks Fred, you guys do have more experience than I, and that does not go ignored. I can't help but see the world through animal training eyes, it's what I know and it's my passion. I do my best to try and remember that that might not be the correct way all that time. It's why I asked here to get a different side and opinion. It is quite possible that after a few years I will have a much different point of view, much like your own.

[Nighthawk]

Excellant thread for a new guy like me, Thanks

[Chris Proctor]

There are certain people here that never hood their birds with anything other than putting them inside a giant hood. The actual hood with a bird trained right and exposed to the hood each day "correctly" is one of the best tools a falconer has with him in the field (or anywhere). Looking through the birds eyes (like you mentioned), they see things that they accept and things they don't. They don't see what's in the middle very often. If the bird doesn't accept it, it wants to fly away from it. If you are out in the field, in the garage, in the backyard or weighing your bird in your room and something comes into their field of view that they don't accept, you get to make things worse by not letting them escape the situation (excessive baiting). The hood lets them escape and calms them down. If you don't hood them in these situations, all you are doing is re-enforcing that you are a bad guy in "their eyes" by keeping them in a mode of panic.

Your bird scratching at the hood constantly is most likely an issue caused by you not providing a quality hood for the bird. This could be due to rubbing on the lips and cere, too close to the eyes, pressure, feather pinching and a number of other issues. When you teach a bird to accept the hood, you must provide a quality hood, otherwise you are suffering the bird through something possibly painful.

If you are all thumbs when it comes to hooding, then you need someone who knows how to hood a bird correctly to show you.

[outhawkn]

Excellent points Fred,Paul,Pete, and Chris......
I agree that I'm there to hunt, not spend countless hours teaching my bird to accept every situation.

[Jason123]

Say your in the field with your red-tail and you keep working downwind. You end up a lot further from your truck then you antisipated. Now you call the bird down to end the day because no game is out today, but you have a 20 min walk back to the car into 25 mph winds that came out of nowwhere. You can struggle to hold your bird that is tryng to fly everywhere, walk backwards and use your body the shield from the wind, or with a 20min walk ahead slip on the hood and get back with an arm that doesn't feel like its been attatched to a kite in a hurricane. Just one example of many and thats with a red-tail now try it with a longwing which could be a walk a whole lot further then that.