Manning Tiki, the Red-shouldered Hawk

Not the perfect example of strobe/dimmer lamp manning, but enough to give the general idea of what it's like. Tiki was a little higher in weight than usual this night and I may have increased the light increments a little too quickly, but overall it went pretty well. This is my first time trying this method with a bird so I'm still learning and figuring it the kinks.
The first half of the video is very dark because I begin with no light except the strobe, which doesn't show up in the video. Tiki has absolutely no fear of me whatsoever in the strobe light, so the strobe is like our "safe zone". Then I slowly start adding ambient light with a dimmer switch that I control with my foot. If Tiki seems too nervous, I lower the light. If she's taking tidbits well, I gradually increase it. I tolerate a bate or two as long as it doesn't seem directed solely at me and as long as she takes tidbits again quickly after the bate. Towards the end of this session, the bating became too frequent, so I turned off the lights and hooded her back up.
The goal of this manning technique is to manipulate light in such a way that during the manning process, the bird experiences little to no fear related to you.

[@markmoore4088]

That looks very familiar! How fast was your strobe flashing? I usually set mine at maybe two flashes per second max. Just guessing, since I've never timed it. If it flashes too fast, then it seems that there's too much light and the hawk sees too much of my scary mug for its comfort level. I've had good luck manning numerous rt's and a couple of Coopers with a strobe but with kestrels and now my red-shoulder, it didn't seem to be worth the trouble and may have prolonged the manning process considerably. I doubt I will ever use a strobe again on a red-shoulder, should I ever have the desire to work with another one. I've also found that using a small flashlight and carefully controlling the amount and direction of the beam works much the same as a flashing strobe. I used the flashlight out of necessity becsuse my cheap strobes kept malfunctioning on me. I'm beginning to wonder if a strobe and the no fear manning approach is really any better than traditional manning. With a red-shoulder, I'm beginning to think that a 72-hour waking marathon might be justified. 😕

[@oldschoolhawking8191]

I never heard of that method of manning. In all my years in falconry, feeding with the hood on was a NO-NO. It lead to birds eating their perches while hooded. Is this a new tiercel red shouldered hawk? You did say you were thinking of getting another one.

[@Nadira320]

This is a new bird but I'm pretty positive she's a female. The strobe training is a fairly new method that only a handful of people are using at the moment. I like experimenting in new techniques though. I've fed many of my birds through the hood and haven't had a problem with eating perches. Since the food only comes after they hear the CR (in this case a whistle) they typically don't search for food while hooded unless they hear the whistle. The only time they bite at the glove looking for tidbits is right after the training session ends but before they realize that the session is over. But it rarely lasts more than a minute at most and then they settle down.

[@oldschoolhawking8191]

+CrazyCritterLife Yeah, she looks bigger in the last video. New falconry techniques been stumping me. I've seen a snare trap made out of a bicycle tire. I've seen a guy use telemetry when his bird was only 100 yards away in plain sight. Some guy counted a bagged pheasant as game caught at the CHC Field Meet. Some woman caught a lizard and it was counted as game caught. Falconer's use Tupperware bowls with screw lids, to keep their birds reward food in after catching game. One guy was so excited his tiercel goshawk chased a song bird, he rewarded it with a full crop.

[@Nadira320]

Times are changing! I use tupperware containers to keep tidbits in but that's it for me off that list lol

[@oldschoolhawking8191]

CrazyCritterLife I know I must sound like a critical idiot here, I'm just puzzled on these new techniques. What was wrong with traditional falconry methods? They seem to work well during the past four thousand years. I'm in favor of KISS, keep it simple stupid approach. Quit trying to reinvent the wheel. Case in point. The kid who straps a snare trap to a bicycle tire. Can you imagine carrying that on your lap as your driving around looking for passage red tails? Just the 14"x10"x4" trap works well. And carrying Tupperware bowls in your bag or vest, instead of a rabbit leg, to call your bird off game? I guess I named my KZbin channel OLD SCHOOL HAWKING, because I'm just old! :-( Keep up the great videos, CCL :-)