Trained Parrot Blog

Trained Parrot Blog

Kili

Type: Senegal Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species: Senegalus
Subspecies: Mesotypus
Sex: Female
Weight: 120 grams
Height: 9 inches
Age: 16 years, 5 months

Truman

Type: Cape Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species:Robustus
Subspecies: Fuscicollis
Sex: Male
Weight: 330 grams
Height: 13 inches
Age: 14 years, 8 months

Rachel

Type: Blue & Gold Macaw
Genus: Ara
Species:ararauna
Sex: Female
Weight: 850 grams
Height: 26 inches
Age: 12 years, 5 months

Trick Training Guides

Taming & Training Guide
Flight Recall
Target
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Wings
Go through Tube
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Slide
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Play Dead
Piggy Bank
Nod
Bowling
Darts
Climb Rope
Ring Toss
Flip
Puzzle

Additional Top Articles

Stop Parrot Biting
Getting Your First Parrot
Treat Selection
Evolution of Flight
Clipping Wings
How to Put Parrot In Cage
Kili's Stroller Trick
Camping Parrots
Socialization
Truman's Tree
Parrot Wizard Seminar
Kili on David Letterman
Cape Parrot Review
Roudybush Pellets

List of Common Parrots:

Parakeets:
Budgerigar (Budgie)
Alexandrine Parakeet
African Ringneck
Indian Ringneck
Monk Parakeet (Quaker Parrot)

Parrotlets:
Mexican Parrotlet
Green Rumped Parrotlet
Blue Winged Parrotlet
Spectacled Parrotlet
Dusky Billed Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Yellow Faced Parrotlet

Lovebirds:
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Lilian's (Nyasa) Lovebird
Black Cheeked Lovebird
Madagascar Lovebird
Abyssinian Lovebird
Red Faced Lovebird
Swindern's Lovebird

Lories and Lorikeets:
Rainbow Lorikeet

Conures:
Sun Conure
Jenday Conure
Cherry Headed Conure
Blue Crowned Conure
Mitred Conure
Patagonian Conure
Green Cheeked Conure
Nanday Conure

Caiques:
Black Headed Caique
White Bellied Caique

Poicephalus Parrots:
Senegal Parrot
Meyer's Parrot
Red Bellied Parrot
Brown Headed Parrot
Jardine's Parrot
Cape Parrot
Ruppell's Parrot

Eclectus:
Eclectus Parrot

African Greys:
Congo African Grey (CAG)
Timneh African Grey (TAG)

Amazons:
Blue Fronted Amazon
Yellow Naped Amazon
Yellow Headed Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
Yellow Crowned Amazon

Cockatoos:
Cockatiel
Galah (Rose Breasted) Cockatoo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo
Moluccan Cockatoo
Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Goffin's Cockatoo

Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw

Glossary of Common Parrot Terms

More Flight Recalls With Truman the Cape Parrot

Comments (0)

By Michael Sazhin

Friday July 9th, 2010

I had previously written about teaching Truman how to make small flights by luring him from training stand to training stand. Since then, I had about three more days of training flight recall to Truman. He is catching on very quickly so I am not using a target stick or clicker to teach him recall. Why bother if he's learning what I want from him? I will of course apply the clicker for more advanced tricks but when it comes to recall I want to do it with him so much that it becomes automatic and he does it just because. I want flight recall to be the most practiced trick in his repertoire so that is why I am teaching it before anything else.

First I lured Truman from perch to perch. Then I began hiding the treat and just tapping on the perch I wanted him to fly to. I extended the cue to my arm instead of a perch by tapping on my arm. Then I stopped showing the tapping cue and made the cue just extending my arm and calling his name. Thus I developed the basis of a flight recall in less than a week. It certainly does help that Truman loves human attention and is practically begging to be on me, but even without it is still very manageable.

In the meantime, Truman is not very treats oriented so for some recalls I give him a toy rather than food. I almost have to force him to take the food sometimes because he seems to want to fly to me just for the hell of it rather than to get the treat. Of course his recall is nowhere near reliable and he won't come from a long distance, but this is certainly good progress considering how recently we began practicing this. I'm sure I could push him to learn quicker but I don't feel the need as we are bonding in the process and just having fun. Eventually I'll pick up the pace with training but right now he is learning much more about living and the environment than just the trick training.

This same process can be used to train any species of parrot to recall to you. This works especially well with baby parrots that were never clipped. However, it can be used to train a refledged parrot who's wing feathers grew back out. I am certain a Budgerigar, Cockatiel, Sun Conure, Ring Neck Parakeet, Amazon, Eclectus, African Grey, Cockatoo, or Macaw could learn flight recall based on the same techniques. I have experience recall training a Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, and Budgerigar and I can tell you that the process was essentially the same with all the parrots because it is based on operant conditioning which all parrots (and even other birds) are capable of. Here is a video from a few recent sessions of flight recall training Truman the Brown-Necked Cape Parrot:

At the end of the video you may have noticed that I gave a treat to both Truman and then Kili following the long recall. The reason is because I had Truman fly close into Kili's territory so I wanted to not only reward Truman for recalling to me, but also Kili for not getting aggressive in her cage. I have been making extensive efforts to maintain peace between the parrots and tomorrow I will post an update about how I am introducing them to each other.

Part of: Flight Recall, Cape Parrots
Truman Cape Parrot Flight Recall Training

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Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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