Originally Posted by
melissasparrots
I was more concerned about the bird generalizing the knowledge that food comes from the free hand, and then starting to watch for it and do a quick grab in situations that allow enough freedom. Such as seeing me reach into my pocket for a tidbit to have the bird jump up from the lure in the field and deciding to jump to the free hand. Would make for a little more of a tricky maneuver trying to get a tidbit into the gloved hand if the bird knows that first it passes to the free hand from that pocket. Or even if I reach behind my back to get a tidbit, anticipating that move and jumping for the free hand if I do a similar movement.
If you are flying a redtail and this happens, in my experience it is because you over trained the bird. If you are spending a good deal of time training and keep the bird sharp you can be in for a world of hurt. If you keep the training limited to, don't fear me, come when I call, pay attention to me in the field you shouldn't have this problem. I have fed a number of redtails by hand, from head level and never had one grab at me. But I don't keep my birds hot and I don't train more than I have to to get by. If you do keep your bird hot and over train it, you won't be able to avoid it figuring out where the food is coming from.
Jacob L'Etoile
Western MA