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Getting to Know the "New Girl"
Our own Forrest Wentzel undertook a huge challenge last winter: he trained a completely wild bald eagle to tolerate people, respond to requests, and become one of our teaching birds who provide educational programs for school kids and summer visitors. This process requires a great deal of patience, a good understanding of animal behavior, a gentle spirit and courage. Congratulations and thanks go to Forrest, who worked all winter long with Sitka (known for a long while simply as "New Girl"). She now works with small groups and has several handlers. This is Forrest's account of getting to know "New Girl."
Training "New Girl"
by Forrest Wentzel, Avian Program Coordinator
In July 2002 we received a bald eagle from Anchorage, Alaska whom we have named "Sitka," for her new home. (For quite a while, she was known as "New Girl.") She had collided with an automobile, badly damaging the rearmost toe on her right foot. This digit is called the hallux. Its role is similar to that of a human thumb, allowing a bird to grasp objects, such as prey and branches. Unfortunately, Sitka's hallux had to be removed because the damage was too severe to be corrected. It was determined that without that hallux Sitka's chances of survival in the wild would be slim. Just imagine trying to grasp a flopping, wet, slippery salmon without a thumb!
Sitka is a large juvenile female. At 12 pounds she is our largest resident eagle. I am currently in the process of training her to be an educational bird. She is a beautiful, strong and extremely intelligent bird, which makes manning her to the glove a huge undertaking. "Manning" is the process in which a wild bird becomes accustomed to people and to being on the glove. Once manned, we will train her to do educational programs, which should take approximately one year to train an eagle.
We use positive reinforcement training at the Center. This technique involves using something that is rewarding to the subject, to reinforce a desired behavior. In the case of Sitka, food is the motivation. When she does something I want, she receives the positive reinforcement of food. What does she eat? She is fed salmon, herring, bear, deer, chicken and rat. Her food of choice is rat, making it an excellent reinforcement tool.
Sessions last approximately one hour and are repeated two to three times each day. They follow a carefully planned progression of steps which is determined prior to the training session. The end goal of the entire training process is a well-trained bird that will perch on my glove, allow me to walk around with her, and allow me to take her in front of audiences. The first step in that process is convincing her to trust me. Once she trusts me sufficiently to step onto my glove we can work on moving around her enclosure, then walking outside, and finally, slowly introducing her to other people. Let me give you a peek into a recent training session…
Every day I join Sitka in her mew. She vocalizes as I enter and I settle down beside her perch. We sit like this until I am sure she is comfortable. Only then do I reach out my hand (inside the many layered, black-leather eagle gauntlet), and signal her with a whistle. She looks away, unsure as to whether or not to trust me today, and jumps away.
I wait, pretending to study the wall, while I observe her through my peripheral vision. (Observation is a critical component of bird training. When I observe Sitka I am reading her body language to assess her mood and her intentions. Correct interpretation of her behavior will allow me to effectively interact with her.) She looks at her perch and is soon standing on it again. When she shows signs of comfort I reach out to her again, asking her to step onto my gloved hand. One foot comes up… and the next.
"Good" I say, quickly giving her a tidbit. (The word "good" is associated with the food, thus becoming reinforcement in and of itself. Eventually, I will be able to say "good" without giving her food and she will feel properly rewarded.) I wait a bit and bridge her again, saying "good" as I give her another morsel of rat. I am giving her a reason (positive reinforcement) to stay on my glove.
We have been doing this for some time and she has got it down for the most part. I begin to slide her closer to me and she continues to perch on my glove. I reinforce her cooperation with more food and the bridge. I have already trained her to allow me to touch her jesses (leather straps connected to her ankles) so I tuck them into my gloved hand. This secures her. At this point I am ready to stand up. She stays on the glove as I rise.
"Good," I say, and reward her with a bit of rat. Again I wait. Still on the glove, Sitka is attentive and calm as I take the first slow steps around the room. "Good!" I exclaim. She gulps down another tidbit. I continue to feed her every few steps until we have circled her enclosure. This is an excellent ending point. She has accomplished a lot. I bring her back to her perch, signal her on, and give her a big piece of rat - her reward for a hard day's work.
Each year, volunteers from around the world donate their time - from a couple of days to a couple of months - to the Alaska Raptor Center. In 2003, 65 volunteers contributed more than 3,500 hours, doing everything from feeding the birds and cleaning the mews to helping out in the business office and maintaining the Center's facilities.
Call 1-800-643-9425 to volunteer now!
If you would like more information on volunteering at the Alaska Raptor Center, contact us by email at volunteers.alaskaraptor@alaska.com or call 1-800-643-9425. Thank you!
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