In lamenting the loss of the riverside habitat on campus where the geese used to gather, I think I was wrong about the type of behavioral modification I’ve observed in Whitey and the Honkers. I identified it as operant conditioning, but I think it’s better explained as classical, or Pavlovian, conditioning. They’ve simply learned to associate one neutral thing—pudgy white guy with backpack—with another, desirable thing: getting corn tossed at them. As evidenced by the behavior in the video, they associate the neutral stimulus with the good stimulus even when the good stimulus isn’t present.

Operant conditioning, by contrast, occurs when the animal operates on something in its environment with expectation of producing good consequences or avoiding bad ones. Training a dog or a sea lion to jump through a hoop by providing positive reinforcement, such as a treat, after a successful performance is an example. For the record, though, birds are capable of this type of training. See this parrot riding a scooter or this pigeon in one of B.F. Skinner’s behavioral experiments.

Tags: Birds, Ethology, Wildlife