Written by Doug Cook, all rights reserved.
Hi Chris and Listers !
In our show we perform mainly indoors, often in "low-ceiling"
venues...this can limit what is practical flight-wise. A big macaw, flying point
A to point B can never really demonstrate a lot of dramatic flight skills in
such places. Thus flight has not been much a part of what we do. I have flown
corvids and a grey in large outdoor settings in past shows...so I know that
dramatic flights do get huge responses from spectators. In an attempt to add
some "action" to our small venue appearances ( and do get
"something flying" quickly) I recently obtained a baby peach-faced
love bird, and have been amazed at how quickly this little bird has progressed.
I began hand-feeding at two weeks with the idea of teaching this bird to
strongly "identify" with me (note I do not use the term
"bond", as I think this term is more accurately used in breeding, not
pet or human/bird relationship contexts). I had discussed this approach with
Chris Biro via phone some time ago, but thought I might discuss it here to see
what the general comments might be...
I went for strong conditioning right from the start- immediately prior to every
syringe of food touching her beak, I called her name ("Cricket"). and
sounded a clicker. This built a strong association 1) with the name/click
and her feedings (man, these little guys are gluttons !), and 2) hopefully
both as a future recall.
As soon as she began crawling/walking about, I started having her
"come" to the clicker / name at each feeding. First from a few inches,
and as she became stronger, from across the table. Now, this is not proper
"clicker training" or operant conditioning....it is simple
conditioning. I should mention that a lot of attention and affection was also
lavished on Cricket every time she responded to the call. My goal was for
her to fully associate a recall with both food and pleasure-strong reinforcers.
She had not yet taken even her first. short flight hen , on a whim, I decided to
stand back about 2-3 feet, held-out a finger and gave the call.....she flew
directly to, and landed on my finger. The VERY FIRST time she had even tried to
fly. I was amazed at how instinctive and controlled it all was. Practicing
several times over the next few days, she was now immediately responding to the
call at over 10 feet ( barely 5 weeks old) . She even had a few outdoor flights
just to show her the "bigger world" for future reference. While I have
no real intention of using her in outdoor shows, it is not out of the question.
With continued practice, she now flies back and forth between Linda and I at a
range of 40 feet (all the distance that I can provide in the house) with
100% reliability, nearly always at a single call. She makes her way around
(mostly) uncaged adult birds (Patagonian conure, goffin , and moustache parakeet)
and all obstacles effortlessly. I showed her all the windows (lots of them )
early-on and she has had no bad experiences with them, or anything else. She has
always "been in control", and shown no awkwardness at all. Maybe these
little rockets are just more skilled right from the start. This bird can almost
hover like a humming bird to pick landing spots. She is not "following
mindlessly", but will come when called , even away from other activities
while at liberty around the house. It is an almost "dog-like" patter
of behavior, and I wonder if this is how birds that were raised less ridgidly
behave and respond. Anyhow, This has been a lot of fun, and a different
experience for someone who has spent most of his time with big macaws and
parrots.
One of my future projects for a new park is the development of a large show, in
which I plan to fly some large flocks (ranging from budgies to conures) within a
building. I plan to take the same approach, but do it enmasse, hand-feeding/raising
all from babies on a "tree" on stage, then backing them all farther
and farther away (to multiple points in the huge amphitheatre) for a mass
"fly-in". This is an attempt to build a whole flock at once, from
scratch...which kind of conflicts with Mr. Biro's approach of building flock
cohesion one or two birds at a time. Does anybody see in possible flaw in
this plan, or even anything that suggest that a more rigid conditioning early in
life may have any long-term positive or negative ramifications ? ( Due to
scheduling/time restrictions in this production, I need fast and reliable
flight and recall.....but I won't comprise any birds mental stability or
contentment. Chris, you have a pretty flexible format - do you think the more
rigid timing will be possible to "hold together", especially with
multiple birds ?)
Doug C