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(Mail Tribune / Jim Craven) Bird trainer entertains at Expo Menagerie includes everything from cranes to macaws By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — On cue, an African crown crane perched on one corner of the exhibit hall swoops over the antler displays and a fishing boat to reach Joe Krathwohl, just like he's trained to. It's not because the crane loves performing four shows a day with Krathwohl, aka "The Birdman of Vegas." His motivation lies more in what's in Krathwohl's pocket: Dog food. "In reality, why would a crane fly over all these people ... to get to me?" Krathwohl says. "The only reason is, I'm the guy with cool food." And it's beef heart that motivates the Tanzanian Battler eagle to complete its routine, while parrots prefer nuts and seeds. Advertisement This will-work-for-food mentality is the cornerstone of Krathwohl's act — rare birds trained to do free-flying tricks over the heads of hawk-gawking audiences bedazzled that these amazing creatures don't simply fly away. "When they're flying, there's very little to keep them from flying to the next county," Krathwohl says. "The hope is the food is enough to motivate the bird to stay in the game. But they need to understand the game, and that's the training." The so-called "chaos set to music" is headlining this year's Jackson County Sportsmen's and Outdoor Recreation Show, which runs through Sunday at the Jackson County Expo. Krathwohl's performance is complete with a menagerie of macaws, hawks, owls, eagles and even an extremely rare Andean condor, and is included in the price of admission to the seventh annual show. Krathwohl's show runs at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. today and 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday. And don't bother bringing a wide-brimmed hat. Land birds often poop just before takeoff, but never when flying. Each show is loaded with aerial maneuvers that get immediately rewarded with just enough chow to keep the birds going. "Otherwise, they have no interest in standing in front of a bunch of people — predators — staring at them," Krathwohl says. "They don't necessarily see the applause the same way I do." Krathwohl's path to the Expo is a long one. At 10 living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he bought a parrot, intent upon training it to do tricks. He did his first show for classmates at 14, and a year later he was training parrots for a pet wholesaler. At 16, Krathwohl got a regular gig entertaining car-wash customers while their vehicles were in suds and was a parrot-whisperer of sorts, going to people's homes and teaching them how to train their own parrots. But five shows a day with someone else's birds didn't pull down enough cash. So Krathwohl bought and trained five birds of his own, launching his own act Oct. 10, 1983. He worked Marriott's Great America while earning a psychology degree at San Jose State University. He then headed to Las Vegas in 1989 to work hotels and casinos like the Tropicana, eventually morphing into The Bird Man of Las Vegas who knocks out 1,000 shows a year while accumulating more than 1,100 birds, a few tigers and other exotic pets — some of which get rented out. But performing the free-flying act remains his favorite. It creates an adrenaline rush knowing, in the back of his head, that the birds could wing away. "I remember the first time I released a bird off the top of the Tropicana," he says. "What a rush. It was so cool." But even indoor shows present their own risk. Krathwohl points to hot lights, ceiling fans, sprinklers and scaffolding. "Everything on this ceiling can kill a bird," he says while Sheba, the Battler eagle, perches on his left hand. "You got to keep them low, keep them under control — especially when you have an irreplaceable $80,000 eagle." Most of his birds were shipped into the country before a 1993 federal ban. The condors, he said, came to him in a roundabout way from the government's condor breeding tests, which were precursors to the California condor captive breeding program. The condors, he said, are generally good for two shows a day before they're bellies tell them they're done and no extra paychecks from Krathwohl's pocket will entice them into working a little overtime. "I love the birds," he says, "and they're well paid." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] . Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. Advertisement Copyright © 1997-2007 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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