I just recently got back from New Haven, Florida. From December 3rd to December 9th I spent a week at Natural Encounters, Inc. (NEI) ranch doing their Contemporary Animal Training and Management Workshop for Professionals. The NEI ranch is a 34 acre facility that provides permanent housing for their collection of over 200 birds representing more than 50 species. NEI produces incredible interpretive free flighted bird shows including the year long “Flights of Wonder” bird show at Disney Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida and the annual “Birds of The World” show at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Texas. NEI also consults with zoos around the world from the art and science of animal training and animal behaviour management, to enrichment and enclosure design assistance, to staff training and interpretive programs.
The workshop began with an icebreaker event on the evening of the day that all of the participants arrived there. There were 15 participants with a wide range of backgrounds from Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. Along with these students a few of the newer NEI staff were participants in the workshop, and other NEI staff shadowed students in the workshop on their days off. At the icebreaker everyone began to get to know each other, and then our teams that we would be broken down into for the week were revealed. There were four groups, and each group was led by a team leader, one of NEI’s senior staff. My group’s team leader was Chris Jenkins, Supervisor at the Disney Animal Kingdom bird show that is run by NEI. Chris is a skilled trainer and he was an excellent instructor. My team included Shannon and Kate, and Liz, a full time NEI trainer.
Once we were in our teams, an impressive list of animals that were available for the workshop was revealed. There were 32 species of animals available for the workshop! The birds included hornbills, toucans, seriemas, african crowned cranes, gulls, ibises, ravens, crows, a vulture, owls, hawks, amazon parrots, an african grey parrot, cockatoos, macaws, and keas. There were also donkeys and goats available to train. Each group discussed with their team leaders which species of animals they were interested in, what behaviours they might want to teach, and what they wanted to gain experience with throughout the week. Then we were assigned animals. Each person had there own “personal animal” that they would train and work on their own projects with throughout the week, and each person would also be able to watch and participate in the training of each of their group member’s personal birds. Also, each group was assigned a “challenge bird”, a bird in which the group would train behaviours together as a team that Steve Martin would assign daily.
My personal bird was Sophia the Kea. I was training her to a retrieve behaviour in which she had to distinguish between two different objects, pick up the right object with the right cue, then place it in my hand. Shannon was training Bunson the Scarlet Macaw to fly in loops, Kate was teaching Harmony the Trumpeter Hornbill to fly though a hoop, and Liz was teaching Dennis the Galah Cockatoo to do a retrieve where he would place an object in a bowl. My team also worked with Green Wing Macaws, a Yellow Naped Amazon, a White Collared Raven, and Donkeys. Every group’s challenge birds was a Red Fronted Macaw.
Training Sophia the Kea object discrimination with Chris Jenkins.
Shannon training Bunson the Scarlet Macaw to fly in loops. Here Bunson flies around a pole that is used as an antecedent arrangement and reference point.
Working with Kate and her Personal bird, Harmony the Trumpeter Hornbill, on Trainer to Trainer flighted recalls. This was a pre-requisite behaviour to flying through a hoop in her training plan.
Liz training Dennis the Galah Cockatoo to do an object retrieve. This photo was taken in the beginning stages of the training plan.
Training a Red Fronted Macaw to do a behaviour on cue in one training session. The behaviour was to turn around in a circle.
Doing trainer to trainer flighted recalls with a young Green Wing Macaw.
The workshop was a great balance of classroom learning and time in the field gaining hands on experience training the animals. Our busy days began at 8 am and after breakfast we had our first 2 hour lecture of the day followed by a training demonstration by Steve Martin. Then we spent 2 hours in our teams training our assigned animals. After lunch came another 2 hour lecture, followed by another training demonstration and another 2 hour time block of animal training. At the end of the each day there was a debriefing when everyone would discuss their highlights of the day. On three of the mornings we had quizzes on the information we had learned. During one of the days the students played a game known as the "shaping game" and trainers shaped the behaviour of other trainers using bridges and positive reinforcement. It was a lot of fun and it was also another good learning experience. On two of the evenings there were guest presentations. One was a presentation by Wouter Stellaard, the vice president of NEI, and the other presentation was by Cassie Malina, the director of staff development at NEI. Cassie brought Pogo the Sulpher Crested Cockatoo from Disney Animal Kingdom in Orlando to do their routine for us. On those two days between the lectures, training demonstrations, training time, and evening presentations we were learning at NEI for 12 hours.
Dr. Susan Friedman and Steve Martin presented the daily lectures. There was overlap, but generally speaking Susan presented on the science of training and Steve presented on the art of training. Dr. Susan Friedman was brilliant as usual. The information she teaches, and the way she teaches it with her presentations including her quotes and examples is invaluable. Every time that I hear Susan speak I learn something new, even if a lot of the material is review for me. This was the first time that I heard Steve Martin present, and his presentations were fabulous as well. Steve shared a number of his experiences working with animals at Zoos worldwide including a wide variety of species of birds at his shows, and animals such as Elephants, Giraffes, Lions, and Orangutans. All of the lectures at the workshop were engaging and created a lot of laughter and brought a lot of “light bulb” moments to all of the students. During the week each student had the opportunity to have one on one time with both Susan and Steve and speak to them privately about whatever they wanted to.
On the last day of the workshop, each participant demonstrated the behaviours they taught their personal animals during the week. Some of the students worked with the same bird throughout the week while others worked with more than one bird. Similarly, some students worked on a single behaviour throughout the week while others worked on more than one behaviour. A few of the behaviours that were taught by students included a Blue Throated Macaw flying in a loop through two hoops, a Collared Raven taking a plastic hoop and sliding it onto a large peg, a Pied Crow on a perch lifting a string with his feet and beak to get foot hanging at the end of it, a Harris Hawk doing a flighted recall though two people holding their arms in a semi circle, among others. Some animals learned behaviour chains. A Kea learned to twist his head to the right then run over to a plastic chain and hang from it by his beak with his feet in the air. A Palm Cockatoo learned to place a wooden block into a dish on the bottom of his enclosure, fly to a branch and pull up the container by pulling up a plastic chain it was attached to, take the block out of the contain, then place it over a peg. Most animals performed well in front of a large crowd of people and most behaviours were finished that day.
The workshop ended with a wonderful banquet dinner on the last evening to celebrate our week together and to say goodbye to new friends. A slideshow played with some of the many photos that Steve Martin and his staff took throughout the week, and everyone shared their highlights of the week and what they loved about the workshop. It was very touching hearing everyone speak about the workshop and many of us, including myself, teared up. All of the participants got certificates for completing the workshop which topped off the evening. Everyone who participated in the workshop helped to make it a great experience for each other. There was a lot of team work throughout the week and everyone was respectful to one another and supportive of one another. My team members went out of their way to help one another, we all contributed sharing our ideas and suggestions, and we were all open to listening to everyone else’s ideas and suggestions. At NEI we all trained animals artfully with a very high ethical standard and it was refreshing to be in such a positive environment where everyone was enthusiastic about learning and working with the animals in that manner. I have nothing but good memories from my week at NEI.
My certificate of excellence for completing the workshop at Natural Encounters.
Participating in the Contemporary Animal Training and Management Workshop for Professionals at Natural Encounters was one of the best experiences in my life. All of the workshop leaders and staff worked very hard to make the workshop an enjoyable experience and to meet the goals of the students. I found it to be highly reinforcing and enriching experience. I learned a lot throughout the week, gained the experience that I wanted to, and I accomplished the goals that I wanted to. Natural Encounters hosts workshops for both professionals and companion parrot caregivers and I highly recommend them. Steve Martin and his team of trainers are truly world class professional animal trainers. For more information please visit Natural Encounter’s website at www.naturalencounters.com.
Dr. Susan Friedman offers two courses: Living and Learning with Animals (LLA) for professionals, and Living and Learning with Parrots (LLP) for companion parrot caregivers. I highly recommend them. They are excellent. Even if the animals you live with or work with aren't parrots, I still recommend her courses because the information that Susan teaches applies to all species of animals. Also, if you simply have an interest in animal behaviour and haven’t heard Susan speak yet, I recommend you attend any event where she is a speaker. She blew me away the first time I heard her speak and I’ve heard the same from many other people. For more information please visit Dr. Susan Friedman’s website at www.behaviorworks.org.
