Barn Owl Blind Recalls

[caniste]

hi everybody!
I have one problem with my young barn owl, 8 months old.
he is really very nice, obedient, with very good recalling training.
sometimes we do recalls inside at home and I try to recall him when he can't see me, I call him, but he doesn'n move!
instead, if he can see me, no matter how far, he comes quickly.:roll:
I don't know if it's possible to recall him this way,
anybody can help me?
thanks!
stefania

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

try calling him and as soon as he moves to you, hide behind something and continue calling him. give him a big food reward for finding you. then once he has the hang of it, call him out of sight and see what happens...

[Goshawk]

hi everybody!
I have one problem with my young barn owl, 8 months old.
he is really very nice, obedient, with very good recalling training.
sometimes we do recalls inside at home and I try to recall him when he can't see me, I call him, but he doesn'n move!
instead, if he can see me, no matter how far, he comes quickly.:roll:
I don't know if it's possible to recall him this way,
anybody can help me?
thanks!
stefania
Just out of curiosity, is there any specific reason you are trying to get your owl to find you? Good luck in your endeavor, the results should be interesting please keep us posted...Gavin

[Gozzhawk]

Are you worried that the owl may have a hearing problem??

maybe a vet can look at this.

If good maybe just more flying training. Maybe try 'clicker' training?????

Owls ......... Good luck buona fortuna

[caniste]

thanks for answers!
the reason for calling him 'blind' is to get him able to come to me everytime, in wild flights it can happen that he get lost, and if he's able to come to me without seeing me I feel safer:oops: (sorry for my English:roll:)
I don't think he has earing problems, but I'm the vet:oops:, my colleague can see him eventually
a friend suggested me to call him under a coat, just to get rid of wall sound interferences, it can be useful?I don't know!!!I never tried it
I use clickertraining with dogs but I found only 2 articles about it in falconry, if someone knows something or some useful resources I'll be happy to read it:grin:
bye!

[Gozzhawk]

agree about sound interference , owls are VERY sound orientated .
I have in the past flown owls for public demonstration when wearing a microphone , and when calling the owl I would have to switch off microphone as the sound from speakers would confuse the bird...............
Not the most intelligent of birds, but ......... with silent flight and such good hearing they do not need to think very much!! They are supremely adapted to night hunting.

Good Luck

[SSFalconry]

Today I lost my four year old barn owl for a whole day while I was doing a demonstration to public and I found her before dark .She was trying to explore the area as she normally do and she was blown off by the strong wind.She did not managed to come back at that time.After I find her some body told me that she was a far away in the direction where the wind can take her.What amazed me is that she came back in the place where I blowed the whistle most on the way after her.I think she remembered the place where she heard the whistle.

I use dog silent whistle and I find it works really well.By this whistle she can come even from blind spots if she will be on her flying weight which is 280g.

I was very happy when she came back at least she is going to sleep in her comfortable place.I had this barn owl from day one in fact I hached her in an incubator.I hope this will help.

[caniste]

thank you for informations! I'll try to recall him without sound interference,at the right weight (he weights 380 gr now!he come really slowly!!)
soon I'll tell you about imporvements in blind recalls!

[BlueBoy]

Try recalling him while you are on a corner/bend as the bird takes off move so the bird loses sight of you, he'll soon get the hang of it. Its the method i used to get my old Bengal to come to me when out of sight. Hope this makes sense.

[Hawking]

When you say dog whistle do you meen the silent type?....oooooo interesting thought..........

[CoyoteOutlaw]

We had a barn owl that for demos, to show their amazing hearing, we had her find a recorder that played cricket sounds. we would hide it anywhere and she would find it, I think perhaps if you paired a bonus with a very specific noise (whistle?) and then his cue would be to find the noise it would work the same way..... I mean we had this barn owl going under tables covered with table clothes and into different rooms and in plants, it was actually really fun trying to find new places to hide the recorder :) Good luck!

[SSFalconry]

REGARD THE WHISTLE, IT IS A SILENT TYPE AND I FIND ALL BARN OWLS RESPOND TO IT REALLY WELL IF YOU TRAIN THEM TO AND IF THERE WILL NOT BE A STRONG WIND INTERFEIRANCE.

IN MY OPINION 380G IS A BIT HIGH IN WEIGHT ESPECIALLY IF HE IS A MALE,IS HE A MALE OR A FEMALE?

[Little Joe]

hi everybody!
I have one problem with my young barn owl, 8 months old.
he is really very nice, obedient, with very good recalling training.
sometimes we do recalls inside at home and I try to recall him when he can't see me, I call him, but he doesn'n move!
instead, if he can see me, no matter how far, he comes quickly.:roll:
I don't know if it's possible to recall him this way,
anybody can help me?
thanks!
stefania

Of all owls a barn owl should be definately trainable to respond to sound alone. You want to first establish a very solid association between a certain sound and food reward. Clicker training as suggested would work forsure.

[FalconGriff]

As said on an earlier post or owls and particularly Barn owls are very sound responsive. I have trained many owls for film and TV wildlife work. This often involves complicated flying sequences with the bird having to fly from A to B. to C without my presence. It doesn't look good on a wildlife film sequence to have a falconer waving a glove! I have always used electrically controlled buzzers which can be placed where you wish the Bird to land. Initially a food reward is placed on the buzor. Once the third is locked on to the sound, for the film sequence the food reward can be done away with so that the birdd is not constantly picking up bits of food. I would think that you calling the bird within a house, is I am guessing, disorientated it sound wise, and it just can't work out where it is supposed to fly to!