[twinmoorview]

I have very often read that owls are stupid
although nearly always specifically by falconers (not owl keepers) I profoundly disagree with this.

I have watched my Eurasian Eagle owl very closely as she spends almost every

evening sat on a perch in my lounge watching TV with the Cat & Dog
which has given me such a great insight into her behavior. It is widely known
owls are harder to train than other raptors but I do not accept this is because
of their intelligence more I think to do with their very nature.

The easiest way to convey what I mean is it’s like the difference between
teaching a dog to fetch & teaching a cat to do the same, a cat is no less
intelligent than a dog probably more but by its very nature a cat is so much
harder to train, because of its independence, they are naturally aloof,
patient & fiercely independent. I believe the difference between cats & dogs
is like the difference between other raptors & owls I am not suggesting a
cat is like an owl I am just using them as a Comparison.

I think most impartial freethinking people would agree it would be
much harder training the Cat & if the trainer failed it’s easier to blame
the cats inability to learn by blaming its lack of intelligence than to admit to the
trainers inability to convey their will on the cat? I don’t speak as a cat
training expert as I am sure it would be really difficult although by no means
impossible.

My Owl Sage is clearly not stupid by any measure
(where as my Peafowl are the Opposite they are mind-numbingly stupid), Sage
however is stubborn, she is also aloof, she will only do what she wants & also
at her pace & fiercely independent all adding to the Difficulty of
training. I am not pretentious enough to set myself up as the
expert preaching to others however I am knowledgably & intelligent enough to observe an
animal’s intelligence & ability from my extensive observations. It is my view that owls are a
long way from being stupid. There are also other contributing factors which make
training an Owl more difficult but I don’t personally believe stupidity is one of them.

I think the claim that owls are stupid probably says more
about the authors intelligence than it does about the Owls!

The purpose of this is not to have a go at falconers but in the hope that falconers might consider both the bad press they give to owls by their assertion re owls being stupid & help focus their mind on taking a more relaxed approach when training given the difference between them.

sage can be seen at http://www.twinmoorview.com along with some unusual pictures of eagle owls.

Sage the Eurasian Eagle Owl

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[Hawk_Eye]

Firstly welcome to the forum.
Intelligence is a hard thing to measure especially in non-human species and there are varying degrees of it as well. Plus animals have their own characteristics so training an animal will depend on effectively how willing they are to learn. Take dogs some owners spend a lot of time getting their dog to heel and sit etc but some will do it in a couple of sessions.

I don't think all falconers think this. I've been to many bird of prey centres and have watched displays involving all manner of BoP including owls. On several occassions the falconer has had a falcon out which they say has been very hard to train while the owls that have been flown have been very easy to train.

It's probably a combination of the animals character and the way its trained. There's a saying "a bad workman always blames their tools".

[twinmoorview]

I do take on board your points & agree with many if not most however on 1 thing we disagree I know many falconers personally but I don’t know any who don’t talk in terms of the owls being stupid because of the difficulty to train which they place squarely on the owl, that said many still use them in displays & successfully all credit to them for that however often at the beginning of the owl flight you will hear rhetoric about the owls possibly not doing as required.
Thanks for your feedback appreciate it