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
In order to bring Kili and Truman to the high school for flight training sessions and to be able to take them places during the winter in general, I had to come up with a warm winter carrier solution. I decided to use an electric blanket but it would require a heavy car battery to power. Thus I needed to have a cart to be able to haul the weight of the heavy system. Furthermore, two carriers would be impractical and the blanket not large enough to cover both. So I set out to make a single carrier to transport both parrots.
I bought a larger version of Truman's carrier. I liked the top door feature which cannot be found on most carriers. Of course there is no way I could keep the parrots in the same chamber, so I modified the carrier to separate the two birds. I cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the contours of the carrier and divide the two parrots. I gave Truman the larger part of the carrier and just a small space for Kili. Truman doesn't do well in a confined space but Kili doesn't seem to mind it. I installed a perch for each parrot (similar to the first carrier I made for Truman but perpendicular to the side door instead).
So now I load Kili in first through the top door and then Truman through the side door. Then I wrap the carrier in the electric blanket, place the battery on top, and then tie the entire assembly down to my cart. I have found that the electric blanket helps sustain heat but does not create much on its own. So I learned to put the carrier on top of a radiator for 30 minutes prior to loading the birds inside to make it nice and toasty. Then the electric blanket helps the carrier retain that heat longer while I have to move it outside and to the car. This is by no means the most convenient solution and turns out to be quite heavy, however, on frigid winter days, this is the only way to transport the parrots.
I will continue to use the double carrier year round for very short outings/trips with my parrots but will opt for two separate carriers for longer travels. Here is a video that shows some of the features of my double parrot travel carrier.
So finally the day has come when all of Kili & Truman's theater flight training would be put to the test. For two months I had been training them in the high school theater to get them not only accustomed to being on stage, but also to learn advanced indoor flight recalls.
Throughout the dozen or so training sessions we had both our ups and downs. There were fantastic training sessions in which both birds recalled eagerly. But there were also training sessions where the parrots would not budge a feather and would be nearly impossible to get them to fly. There were sessions when Truman spent the majority of the time up in some high place refusing to come down. However, each session yielded progress over the last by making the parrots more and more accustomed to being on stage. We trained with the stage lights on and eventually with music playing to test the parrots' resistance to distraction.
Nearing the show, I left for two weeks to travel around West Africa (yes, this happened before the performance but I have a lot of footage to edit so unfortunately you won't get to see this until later). During that time my brother came to take care of my birds but little training was done. When I returned, I had just a week to get the parrots ready for the big show. Normally I trained on Tuesday's and Thursday's, but this time I did not want to have a training session immediately prior to the Friday morning performance. So instead I did flight training two days in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I gave the parrots a break on Thursday. Then Friday morning we had to get up very early to get to the school, set up, and do some flight recalls to warm up prior to the audience entering.
Originally I had a five minute speech planned about motivation and the basics of behavioral psychology but I had to bag that since I was pressed for time. I decided to show the 20 Tricks in 2 Minutes and Kili is the Word videos after the live performance because I realized that the props and birds are too small for people in the back to see. So in order to have time for the videos, I had to drop the talk. Mostly I was relieved to skip the talk because I had inadequate time to prepare it. It's a topic I have given much thought about and can have a good conversation about, but I would not be as good giving a speech about it. Before I learned about the time constraint, I felt obligated to make an educational moral to my performance by discussing psychology, learning, and motivation (all things I've learned from my parrots). So after the head of the upper school announced me, I just went straight to my parrot show by recalling Kili down from the balcony.
My brother was assisting me by releasing the birds to me. He had both parrots in a carrier and was ready to move quickly. As soon as he released Kili on the balcony, I bought him time to move downstairs while I introduced Kili. Then he released Truman from the back of the theater when I called his name. The students were shocked to find the birds swooping across and coming flawlessly to my hand. Audience members sitting up front later commented being able to feel the air rush over them as the parrots passed across on their route to my hand.
I had been debating with myself whether or not to fly Truman at all. In earlier training sessions we had major reliability problems. If he would miss the landing or just not feel like it, he would start flying around the theater and always land high. Unlike Kili, Truman would never replan his flight and come back down to me. At best he would land somewhere high and fly down but many times we had to get him ourselves. However, he did pretty well during the two training sessions prior to the performance so I decided to take a chance with him. During the training sessions immediately leading up to the show, I practiced the flight from the back of the theater to my hand many times with Truman instead of just random flights as I had been doing earlier. So with the extensive practice I felt that Truman knew what to do but still risked that if he missed my hand, he would fly off. I did some more practice the morning of the show and he did not fly off once, so I decided to go for it during the show.
I had Truman perform his tricks first to let Kili headline the show afterward. Truman was a bit hesitant at first. You see he had never been in front of such a large crowd and we basically tricked him by keeping him in a dark carrier and then releasing him straight on a flight he was accustomed to. So his first chance to see the crowd really wasn't until he had landed on my hand. It took a few seconds to get him to focus but eventually he did his tricks. By no means his best but he did fine. No matter how much motivation he may have had from hunger and social pressure, the novelty of the situation was still quite overwhelming for him.
Kili only had about ten seconds of stage fright, then she just blossomed. Kili just adored the attention performing her tricks and did better and better as the crowd reacted. I still fed her occasional treats so that in the future she would not distrust me not to give her treats during a performance, however, she was motivated to perform just as well without them. I could tell that she was doing it all for the attention and not the treats. This way I was able to give her tiny treats between just a few of the tricks to make the performance appear seamless. I forgot to have Kili do ring on peg but no one noticed because I went straight to play dead. When Kili dropped over and lay on her back, amazement beheld the crowd. None the less, I think the absolute favorite trick among a high school full of athletic students, was the basketball trick. I think the varsity team may be calling Kili back for try outs next season.
Not only did the performance go very well, but it was a very pleasing culmination of all the previous theater training efforts at the school. The birds learned advanced flight skills and expanded their performance capabilities. Now the performing parrot duo is ready to tackle virtually any indoor on stage performance.
After the failures of the second and third flight training sessions in the wrestling room, I decided to adjust my approach by trying a stronger case of food management. It's not even that I decided to go extreme with the food reduction but more so that I had been too generous with the feedings during prior training sessions. The generous food helpings I was feeding in the cage prior to training did not repay with better flight attempts from the parrots so a more strict food regiment was in order. Prior to the fourth flight training session I reduced the pellet meals for both parrots not only the morning of the training but also the night prior to clear out their crops in time for flight training in the evening.
Originally the goal was to test how well I could get the parrots flying in the wrestling room with more hunger motivation and after a successful day, move up to the theater. However, my number of flight training days were getting used up and practicing in the theater was most important. So my brother and I decided to make use of the high hunger motivation by jumping straight into the theater. I unloaded the parrots and put them on their Training Perches on the theater stage. We didn't know how to turn on the stage lights so we had to make do with just some work lights controlled by ordinary light switches. Nonetheless, the stage was the best lit part of the entire theater.
There is no doubt that Kili and Truman were a bit nervous and awkward about their new surroundings. However, within minutes of letting them out, I was already able to cue them tricks. First I had Truman do the few tricks that he knows. Then Kili ran through her routine and even played dead on the stage floor. Tricks are a good indicator of motivation level and help me guess what kind of flight performance I can expect. I had two main goals for theater training. The first and most important one was for the parrots to learn to stay on their perches on the stage. I don't want them flying off or going anywhere during a performance. The second purpose of this training is to teach them that if they do fly, to fly back to the stage. All of the recalls would be on or toward the stage and never away. I wanted the birds to get super used to being on stage and to recognize their perches as the best place to land if not on me. Then all of the thrill of flight training and practicing recalls was a secondary goal but more personal than practical.
I began by recalling Kili across the stage and she came eagerly. Truman took a lot more time and coaxing but eventually he was making short recalls across the stage as well. Kili was so successful and so motivated that I decided to progress further with her. I took her training perch and put it about 20 feet off stage and put her on it. I recalled Kili to me on stage and she came eagerly. I continued putting the perch further and further back in the theater aisle and she was coming consistently. This training session was going far beyond my expectations. All I expected to do was to desensitize the parrots to the stage and maybe get just some short on stage recalls going.
Kili was really clingy and generally flew to me rather than anywhere else. Sometimes I would send Kili to her perch but she would return to me instead. One time, Kili missed her perch and flew laps around the theater instead. She made several circles before returning back to land on my hand. The fact that she is afraid to go anywhere she hasn't been works in my favor in terms of her returning to me rather than going anywhere else. This demonstration of return reliability makes me confident to fly Kili in any indoor environment because I know that she will either fly back to me on her own or at least come when I recall her.
With so much success on Kili's part and high motivation on Truman's, I decided to give him a shot with the aisle to stage flight recalls. I brought the training perch back closer and put Truman on it. He did not make an effort to come right away. He sat there stunned and looking around his new surroundings. I worked hard on making him jealous of how much more fun Kili and I were having on stage and eventually he flew the recall. I always made sure to give a lot of attention and time to relax on stage as a reward to flying to the stage. I was teaching Truman that being off stage is boring but that good things happen when he comes back to the stage.
However, not everything ran so smoothly. Truman missed my hand on one of his recalls because he flew too fast. Instead of turning back to me as Kili does, Truman flew laps of the theater getting progressively higher and faster. Finally he landed up in the rafters and recovery was only possible with a stick because he was too high and close to make a flying descent. I will unveil my special "Parrot Recovery Perch" in coming weeks and make it available for purchase so stay tuned. After getting Truman down from the rafters, I rewarded him and put him back in his carrier to take a break. I focused on Kili for a bit and then took him back out. I thought he would be too nervous to fly any more but after a bit of coaxing I had him flying short recalls again. I let the parrots enjoy some almonds on stage as super treats for their final recalls.
This forth advanced flight training session was a major breakthrough from any flight training I had previously done with my parrots. Now they were flying in a significantly large open space with very high ceilings. The distances required for recalls were further than ever before and there were endless new things to look at. Nonetheless, the parrots were super motivated and did an outstanding job performing their flight recalls. Finally, Kili demonstrated an eagerness to return to me in the event of a fly off. Truman would not fly back to me, but at least I know I can recover him with a Parrot Recovery Perch. The two hour flight session was tremendous exercise for the parrots and a phenomenal learning experience for both them and myself. Here is a video of this training session. The video is quite long but a worthwhile watch for all parrot owners interested in flight training. Even if you're not flying your parrot in such a large space, the advice contained herein is helpful for flight training anywhere.
You can purchase a similar set of Parrot Training Perches for flight training your parrots at gym, theater, or at home. Please visit http://ParrotWizard.com and check out the various products I am offering for parrots. Many more coming soon so check back often.
During the 2nd and 3rd flight training sessions, little progress has been made. Of course the additional flight recalls and environmental experience were valuable.
On the second day, there happened to be a basketball game going on in the gym above. Every bounce of the ball along with endless stomping was heard. The birds did not do well during this, however, they did get partially desensitized and they did very well once the noises ended.
Truman had a few successful flights down from the beams but then again he was going up there an awful lot as well. Also, on one of his reckless flights he hit the mirror. He did not hit it all that hard and bounced off. He was more surprised about what happened than hurt. That was the first and last time he hit a mirror during these training sessions. Kili had the same thing happen to her during the first flight session.
Not every session will bring new progress. However, if you don't keep trying, you won't know which sessions are going to be the breakthroughs.
I have begun advanced flight training with my parrots Kili and Truman to prepare for some upcoming performances we are giving. They are generally good birds and I don't expect them to fly off their stands on stage, however, if something frightens them or they slip, they wouldn't know what to do. So the best way to make it safe to have them in a large open space is to flight train them in one so they would know what to do. In coming weeks I am going to share with you the details of our indoor flight training so that it may help you with your parrot whether you're flying it in a large building or at home.
I made an arrangement with the high school I used to go to - and which my brother currently attends - to come twice a week to fly the parrots after hours. In return I am going to give a performance in front of the students in March. Not only is this a good justification for all the training practice, but the performance itself will be a test of their capabilities in preparation for the big show coming up (can't tell you about it yet so don't even ask).
On the first day of training, my brother and I brought Kili and Truman to the school after it had already turned dark and the bustling classrooms and hallways had long been vacated. Though the night was cold, there was little more comfort from the cold that we could provide the parrots beyond a towel covering their carriers. We brought two carriers, two training perches, a box full of toys and treats, and a roll of paper towels. We set up in the wrestling room, essentially a small gym about 60ft x 30ft x 18ft. The space was not that much larger than my apartment which the parrots are accustomed to flying around at will. However, there were two notable differences aside from the novelty of the room. The ceiling was significantly higher and one wall was entirely lined with mirrors making the room appear twice as big.
I let the parrots sit on their Training Perches for a few minutes just to become accustomed to the new room but soon proceeded to cue tricks from Kili and Truman to get them focused on training. If they refuse to do tricks, then there is little hope for flight recall. However, Kili was performing tricks quite eagerly so flight recalls were in order. I started with shorter recalls and after just a few calls, she did fly to me willingly from her perch. Truman on the other hand did not want to budge and was pretty much stunned by the novelty of the room.
I continued expanding my recalls with Kili until I was able to recall her from the far end of the room. She adapted quickly to the mirrors and did not fly toward them. Truman on the other hand would refuse to do anything besides staying still and staring. In order to break the trend, I began doing forced return to perch flights with Truman. However, I gave him treats every time he went to the perch. This way he at least did some flapping in the room, learned that flying there is safe, and had a way to earn treats. Furthermore it was teaching him that if he needs a place to go, the Training Perch is the best place to return to.
However, things did not run so smoothly with Truman. On one slightly longer return flight to his perch, Truman took off. He flew laps around the room getting faster and higher. He was not showing any inclination of flying back down to me. After a few exhausting laps he landed on a high beam and stayed there for a while. There was no use calling him down because he just wouldn't do it. He did make a few attempts to fly but they would just result in doing a lap and coming back to where he started off. Although I knew he knew how to fly down, it appeared as though Truman did not know how to descend. At home, I've seen him fly down 10ft lots of times, but here the ceiling was higher and the angle required to descend was much steeper.
After a while of not being able to get him to fly back to me, I resorted to plan B. I held Truman's Training Perch as high as I could first trying to get him to fly to it but then just to step up. As I approached him with his Training Perch, he finally took a leap and flew a few feet to land on it. I slowly brought him down and rewarded him generously for allowing for his recovery. It wasn't because Truman did not want to be with me but because he was unaware of how to return.
It didn't seem that I could motivate Truman to fly to me for bits of food, so I broke out the toys and tried to get him to fly for those. It still was not working so I let Kili show him the way by flying to me for a chance to bite off a piece of wood. Finally Truman began doing recalls to me. He did several recalls of increasing length and although they weren't instantaneous, they were finally leading to him flying on his own.
Toward the end I got out almonds to give to the parrots for some good recalls. Kili was stuffed from all the nuts she earned before and did not recall for it. Truman on the other hand did - his longest recall for the day. However, instead of landing on his perch when I sent him back, he ended up flying onto the high beam again. Luckily he dropped his nut on the way up. Otherwise he would have sat up there enjoying his nut and feeling reinforced for going there. Then there wouldn't be any hope of him coming down. I picked up the nut he dropped and walked to the far end of the room with it. He had a keen eye on that nut and the moment I recalled him, he flew right down to me. This was a highly valuable lesson learned for Truman that day was that coming down to me is a very good thing. I let the parrots relax on their perches and play with toys for the remaining bit of time I had prior to packing up and taking them home. And so concluded my first advanced flight training session with Kili & Truman in an unfamiliar place.
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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