<em>By Stephanie Smith, Animal Keeper
Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, FL</em>

<strong>Background </strong>
African spoonbills (<em>Platalea alba</em>) and Roseate Spoonbills (<em>Ajaia ajaja</em>) are medium-sized wading birds equipped with a uniquely shaped bill that lends to their name.  [Fig.1 and Fig.2]  The African spoonbill is found over most of southern Africa.  The Roseate spoonbill is the only New World spoonbill species and can be found along the Gulf coast of the United States, down into Central and South America.  Both species feed on small fish and crustaceans by sweeping their slightly open bill back and forth in the shallow water as they walk along.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom houses a mixed colony of both African and Roseate spoonbills in an outdoor, uncovered exhibit.  The setting consists of a shallow-water area with beaches and islands that facilitate the natural wading lifestyle of the spoonbill.   Our original population of 3.3 African spoonbills and 3.3 Roseates was made up of parent-reared, captive-bred and wild-caught, non-releasable birds.  Our housing arrangement presented us with some significant husbandry challenges that were addressed by implementing a training program.

<img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1720" title="af_spoonbill1" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/af_spoonbill1-300x287.jpg" alt="af_spoonbill1" width="300" height="287" /> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1721" title="spoonbill1" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/spoonbill1-241x300.jpg" alt="spoonbill1" width="241" height="300" />

The Challenge
A common challenge with managing open exhibits is the influx of “freeloaders” or native species into the habitat.   Over the last few years, we observed a gradual increase in the number of native White ibis (Eudocimus albus) calling our spoonbill exhibit “home”.  The population increase resulted in interspecific competition for food and space.   The ibis’
aggression towards spoonbills during feeds forced us to alter our feeding strategy several times.  Originally, our collection birds were fed in bowls located throughout the exhibit.  As the native ibis population grew, this method of feeding became ineffective.  Collection birds were outnumbered and outcompeted by the visiting ibis.  In response, we attempted hand tossing food, directly to the spoonbills.  This resulted in only limited and short term success.   The feral birds quickly overcame their apprehension of keepers and showed their talent for intercepting any tossed food item.   The aggressive and persistent behavior of the ibis and the impracticality of a species-specific feeder (given the competing species) required us to take a different approach.  A new feeding strategy was needed.

The Plan
Our new strategy was to develop a training program that would facilitate successful feeding of our spoonbills, despite the presence of native birds.  The first step was acclimation of our birds to hand feeding.  While the African spoonbills were somewhat accustomed to taking fish by hand, when nesting, the new Roseates were reluctant to be in such close proximity to the keeper.  Based on informal observations on consumption during feeds, we were able to set goals for food intake.  This information allowed us to gradually move through the necessary approximations to achieve our goal.  Incrementally, the birds were asked to come to closer and closer to the keepers before the food was presented and fed out.  Spoonbills were initially tossed food if they came within five feet of the keeper.  The accepted distance was gradually reduced as the spoonbill became more comfortable, until finally, they were required to take food from an outstretched hand.  Occasionally, baiting was used to entice an animal to make another step.  After approximately five months, our spoonbill colony was consistently accepting being fed by hand.  This acclimation process was just the first step.  We also had to change how we managed this feeding/training program.

The Players
Due to the size of the spoonbill group, it became clear that more than one keeper would be needed at each feed, to successfully maintain the hand feeding behavior.   Adding keepers to the process would also offset any intra-specific aggression during feed sessions.   Getting more help would entail introducing and training the entire 16-person keeper team fairly quickly.  To facilitate keeper engagement in the new program and maintain clear communication on training progress, we tasked the team to come up with, what was for us, a different, primary identification system.  While our birds were banded, we needed all the keepers to use their observational skills to note markers beyond the bands. Recognizing individual bird’s “habits” and behavior within the social dynamics of the group would be a critical step in progressing with our training plan.     Involving the keeper staff in a “naming” process created the starting point for team investment in the project.  Through group discussion, voting, etc. the whole team arrived at some themes for “naming” the individuals in our colony.  Our 3.3 Roseate spoonbills were named for characters in the movie The Fifth Element: Corbin, Dallas, Cornelius, Ruby, Lilu, and Laguna.  The African spoonbills were named for ‘things that are white’, potato products, and a couple of unique submissions: Cotton, Snow, Pearl, Tater, Pringles, Sunny, and Platypus (keepers’ favorite spoonbill misidentification by guests at the park).

The Game
Obviously, identification of individual birds within a colony is critical for monitoring training progress.  In order to motivate our team towards this end and to maintain their involvement in the project, we implemented………..
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