60 World Renown Aviculturist Dick Schroeder on Ground Hornbills

06/24/23 • 37 min

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We sit down with good friend and well known aviculturist Dick Schroeder to talk about what we can learn about working with the Southern ground hornbill in a variety of different ways. Dick is a celebrated member of the avicultural community, he has raised numerous hornbill species, including over a dozen Southern Ground Hornbills (baby Kipling was his eighth!). He has boards seats, first time breeding awards, speakerships, and other accolades all over the world in aviculture. We talk about community and the importance of working together.

This conversation kicks off our fundraising campaign for our efforts to work with the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project this coming August. Help us reach our $4000 goal and enhance the release and monitoring program.

The website is https://avian-behavior.org/hornbill/

Our Patreon is https://Patreon.com/avianbehavior.

The website is https://avian-behavior.org/hornbill/

Our Patreon is https://Patreon.com/avianbehavior.

Previous Episode

Raising a Well-Socialized Owl

Our two favorite subjects, owls and raising ambassadors. Owls are considered flagship species, which means that while they may not necessarily be directly endangered, they are species chosen to raise support for biodiversity conservation in a given place or social context. This means that due to their widespread appeal, they have the capacity to draw in an audience to more complex issues related to their ecosystems and less charismatic components. What this also means is that they can act as flagship individuals for education programs. We often say people come for the owls and stay for the vultures.

But raising an owl for life as ambassador is challenging, even to be a glove bird. We want the bird's presence to reflect the care and expertise that the organization requires. In this episode we discuss what this looks like in the beginning stages and how the many mistakes we made led us to our mission of raising ambassadors over ten species of native and non-native owls.

You can sign up for the Masterclass of How to Raise an Ambassador Owl

and you can also find our exclusive, limited seats only 4 week live mentorship, Train with Me - Owl Ambassador Training and learn the ins and outs of this intricate and incredibly important process.

Join us with a free 14 day trial in the Avian Behavior Lab with the code AVIAN

Next Episode

61 Answering Questions About Relationships with Birds of Prey

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Hillary answers questions from a workshop regarding do's and don'ts on building relationships with birds of prey, what to do about a kestrel that attacks the bait bag, weight managing owls, and more. For more information on our upcoming Advanced Workshop in November 2023, check out this page for registration and details

Welcome to the Avian Behavior Podcast, where we bring innovative approaches to progressive animal training and behavior, wildlife conservation, bird nutrition, and all things avian. We appreciate all of the supporters who have helped us fund our collaboration in South Africa with the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project coming up in August.

You can still get your trouble-making hornbill merch and much more! You can make the most impact with a small donation to GoFundMe You can get your Hornbill swag here Caracara shirts are one of the most popular The full page is here.