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
While I am abroad traveling through Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, my parrots are being cared for back at home. I am posting this blog from Terhan, Iran! Sorry for not being on top of my facebook and other pages lately, the dictatorial regime in Iran blocks much of the web because they are afraid of their people experiencing freedom and good things.
It has only been 2 months since I brought Santina home from the rescue but I already had a scheduled trip. No problem. I worked extensively during the time I had to prepare her as best as possible for my eventual absence. But not only that, I prepared her to receive care from someone other than me.
Kili & Truman are so used to the routine that they don't blink an eye so I won't be discussing them. Santina on the other hand is less accustomed to being cared for by different people. From what I know, she was accustomed to being cared for by a single person until she ended up at the rescue. Even at the rescue it was the same people all the time. Santina had little experience being cared for by different people. Bonding with her in such a short span of time was a major achievement but unbonding her so that she would tolerate someone else was an even bigger one.
In the weeks prior to my departure, I began the process of preparing Santina for the fact that nobody will be around for most of the day. I jumbled her schedule with me or didn't come entirely (except minimum food/water care) to prepare her for this change. I tried to socialize her toward people but at this stage this is complicated because she doesn't want others to handle her.
A week prior to my departure, I began having my brother come over during evenings to begin the transition process. The first time was so that he could watch what I do with her and subsequent times were to take on more and more of the process. Although it would conceivably be possible to change her food/water and wash the floor without ever handling her, this would be difficult. If she were so aggressive that her caretaker could not remove her from the room, then it would be awkward to impossible to get her dishes. Thus we set the goal of two step ups per session. One to come out of the cage room and one to go back in.
During my trip, Santina would be on pellet freefeed. She would not be provided with alternate foods because they are not essential and it would make more difficulty and mess for my brother to take care. The feeding is simple and a non-factor. What was more of a concern was how to get Santina to be good about stepping up for my brother without much motivation for food. If this were Kili or Truman, this would not be a problem as they are used to stepping up for anyone. But Santina is not.
So we decided to leverage Santina's favorite thing to get her to step up, nuts. She would not get any nuts the entire time I was gone except when stepping up. No foraging toys, no training, no freebies. The only way she could have her fill of nuts would be to by stepping up for my brother when needed. We practiced this before I left. Between my brother's confidence in handling her and her desire to get to have a nut, there was no problem teaching her to step up for him. Thus the routine became step up for a nut, eat it outside cage room and watch the clean up, and then step up for another nut to go back inside.
Just to play it safe we also did some practice of having my brother put Santina on a scale and in the carrier so that he would be able to take care of those things if necessary. It was much the same as the other step up exercises and proved to be no problem.
I showed my brother how to clean and take care of all other bird specific business and let him practice a few times before I left. This was both good for him to learn, for me to gain confidence that things will be alright, and to introduce Santina to the way things would be for a few weeks. Here is a video we recorded of the final practice session before I left that shows how my brother would be taking care of Santina while I was away.
This is a special edition of the Trained Parrot blog coming to you from Baghdad, Iraq. Kili & Truman are at my old place, Santina still in quarantine in my new place, and I'm in Iraq. Yet everyone is doing just fine. The reason is that all of my birds have been accustomed to my absence beforehand, including Santina who I got just 2 months ago. I am also fine, knowing that they are handling things with ease.
Obviously Kili & Truman have been used to me going away at times since I've had them as babies. But Santina is different. She's a 14 year old rescue macaw that has known a single home, a rescue, and my home just recently. I did not want to chance coming home to a plucked bald bird. Although I have had this Green-Winged macaw just briefly, she has already bonded to me. So without preparation, my absence could be traumatizing.
Since shortly after acquiring Santina, her preparation for my eventual absence had begun. For the first week or so, I was careful to build schedule, routine, and trust. But once she took to me, the importance of preparing for my absence was even more essential than further taming and bonding. Having a parrot melt down in your absence is even worse than having insufficient bonding. Over-bonding is something best avoided because the psychological ramifications on the parrot in your absence would be devastating.
I talk about absence rather than vacations because there can be many different reasons why your parrot doesn't see you when it may expect to. It could be coming home late, meeting a friend, having a situation to deal with, getting injured/hospitalized, or just having something else that needs to be taken care of. So as much as this article is about preparing a parrot for being absent on vacation, it is also about preparing your parrot for you being gone for any reason.
The first steps in preparing Santina for my eventual absence was to break routine schedule from time to time. Most days I would play with, train, and take care of her at around the same time. Well some days I would do this an hour earlier or later than usual so that she would not absolutely expect me at a certain time. As I removed my own constraints on the timing of her care, I would even go so far as to skip occasional sessions entirely or come at a completely unexpected hour.
When my friend Ginger was in town, that really turned things upside down. Some days we spent a lot more time with Santina and other days I did not do anything with her at all. Ginger and I were busy running around town so this was a healthy introduction to my absence for Santina at the same time.
Usually I don't intentionally skip sessions with my birds. Life happens and I just let it. I try to be routine and there for them 6 out of 7 days a week. Normally I avoid making plans that make me miss my normal parrot sessions but once in a while I allow this to happen full knowing that it is the best thing for my birds in the long run. If I didn't occasionally have reasons to miss my bird sessions, then I would intentionally do so from time to time because it is so important for their long term well-being. But since there are naturally occurrences for this from time to time, I just allow them to happen and don't have to go out of my way to skip bird time.
In this way, little by little, Santina became accustomed to the fact that I usually come to spend time with her at certain times but not always. In the week prior to my departure, I was very busy catching up on work and preparing to leave. This again caused me to miss or delay bird sessions and helped make the transition from being there with her for extensive periods twice a day, to being gone much smoother. Of course I have someone taking care of her while I'm gone but obviously it's not the same. So I began skipping single sessions and at times even both sessions in a day so that she would not be surprised when I was not there at all. On the other hand I also started transitioning in my brother who would be taking care of her while I would be away. Kili & Truman have been through the routine countless times so I did not bother doing anything at all to prepare them this time. I'm sure they had it all figured out from the moment they saw me crack out the suitcase and they were just eagerly awaiting party time the moment I'd be out the door. With Santina, I took stronger precautions as this would be the first time I left her since coming home from the rescue.
Here are some tips for preparing your parrot for your absence: -Practice throughout the year by occasionally not showing up at normal parrot times -Keep routines but sometimes mix them up -Take your parrot places because this prepares it for greater changes -Socialize your parrot to other people so they can be cared for by others -Put lots of favorite toys in the cage a week or two before you go -Ease the transition prior to your departure (if planned) by having the care taker fill a greater role
The most important thing is to start this process NOW! Don't wait until the day or even week before you need to be away to start preparing your parrot. Begin now. Whether or not you have trips or events planned down the line, it is imperative that you begin preparing your parrot for your absence now because it will eventually happen and quite likely unpredictably. To prevent agony to your bird and for your own peace of mind during that inevitable time when you cannot be with them, make these preparations now. And take a break from your birds from time to time. It will do everyone some good and provide for a healthy long lasting relationship.
Stress is necessary for your parrot's well-being. "Whoa, did he really just say that!?" Let me talk about stress and why it's important to expose our parrots to it rather than to shelter them.
I talk to many parrot owners and get to experience stressed parrots. In most cases, the parrots that are overwhelmed with stress (which may manifest itself as plucking, pacing, biting, freaking out, etc) are the ones who were not sufficiently exposed to it in the past. To contrast, my parrots have a good dose of stress and strain in their lives. So when something scary happens, they can keep a head on their shoulders and deal with it rather than becoming overwhelmed.
As you challenge your parrot with more stressful situations (that are absurdly rare and unlikely to recur), you will actually ensure that your parrot lives with much less stress in its day to day life! Think of it as watching enough scary movies that nothing in ordinary ones can scare you. This concept prepares your parrot to deal with rare difficult situations and also makes it immune to excess fear during all normal routines.
Now I'm not saying to suddenly take a sheltered parrot and to start doing all sorts of scary things to it at once. Stress tolerance needs to be built up gradually. You can do this by constantly challenging your bird a little more than before. If you maintain this as part of your lifestyle, within a few years the bird will become much more hardy. Let me get into examples of good ways to stress your parrot to save it from being harmed by stress in the future.
A degree of stress in a parrot's life is perfectly natural. In the wild, parrots will have to deal with stressful situations from time to time. So if anything, the annihilation of stress in a captive parrot's life is the less natural lifestyle. The parrot that lives in a sheltered cage, with a bowl full of food, and no changes in its life is at highest risk of stress related problems. Likewise, boredom (and related problems like screaming or plucking) is a byproduct of insufficient stress in a parrot's life.
Instead, prepare your parrot to deal with stress in its life through a controlled and continued exposure to stress inducing situations. Providing challenges through foraging and training, socialization, travel, and outings, are great ways to apply modest amounts of stress on a parrot that will prepare it for more.
Folks marvel at how my parrots could venture all over New York City without being scared. I've received many comments of amazement how a fire truck went by and my parrots were not even phased. This is because they have been exposed to similar situations in the past. Even if they haven't seen a fire truck before, they have been to carnivals and other bustling situations in the past. This deliberate exposure to stress has ensured that they do not become overwhelmed in unforeseen circumstances. Not only that, but it has equipped them to enjoy and have fun in all the travel and things we do. Since these things are no longer frightening, they counteract boredom and improve the parrots' quality of life.
I also physically stress my parrots and improve their endurance through extensive flight training. At home, the two trained parrots regularly end up flying dozens of flight recalls. This is tough on their cardio-respiratory systems as much as on their muscles. But this keeps them fit and healthy.
I extend this concept even further. I don't worry much about my parrots. I don't tiptoe around their cages or fiddle with temperature controls too much. While at first, these may have been greater concerns, with time I've allowed them to get used to more variation. They have learned to deal with it and not be bothered. If food or water isn't available while we're traveling a bit longer than usual, they have no trouble dealing with it. Or if the food I have for them is not what they are used to, they are adaptive and can try the new food on the spot. Whether an emergency, or a planned life change, a parrot that is accustomed to dealing with stress in the long term, will be best prepared and least affected.
Kili, Truman, and I had an awesome time traveling around Texas for our recent book signing tour. It all started with an 11 hour non-stop flight from Linden, NJ to San Marcos, TX. The flight was initially supposed to take 10 hours but due to headwinds and barely sufficient fuel, I had to slow down to stretch things a little. The reason for going to San Marcos was to take advantage of a special $1/gallon fuel promotion they were running that month.
While in San Marcos, the birds and I took advantage of the time and car rental to go see downtown San Antonio. The parrots remembered the Alamo and strolled down canal ways of San Antonio.
We met the Vintage Mooney Pilots group at San Marcos airport for lunch. The birds showed off some tricks and flying. The more fascinating aspect of this encounter was that I had the birds flying around a conference room enclosed by glass windows on all sides. Despite the amount of potentially crashable surfaces, the birds never hit anything and new exactly what they were doing. I wish I had a picture to share because for a bird that does not grasp the concept of glass, this room could have been a death trap. Kili & Truman understand perfectly.
After gassing up for $88 in San Marcos, we flew onward to Phoenix. We went on a Sunday morning group parrot outing at Joe's and then visited the Arizona Exotic Bird Rescue for a book signing event. I stayed the week with Ginger and worked on a secret project (that you'll have to wait a bit to find out about) and helped out at the rescue. I took care of the morning routine with the parrots by changing food, water, and papers. It's not hard but when there are that many birds, it can take quite a while. Luckily, there's always a bird around who's willing to come along and help out.
Learning that Ginger never gets out for a vacation, I dragged her out and made her forget about the birds for a day. I took her up to Las Vegas which was just a two hour flight in my plane. We walked around the strip and joked about how many parrot themed things we could spot. After gambling away the rescue's veterinary fund (just kidding), we flew back to Phoenix.
As close as Ginger has ever been to New York, New York. But in Las Vegas.
When the week ended I bid Ginger goodbye and returned to Texas with the trained parrot duo for some more weekend book signings. We did a performance for the Tree Top Bird Center in Dallas and then another event for the Fort Worth Bird Club the following day. The birds performed very well and in fact I had to fly them for more treats after each to satisfy their desire to show off, exercise, and get treats. Many books were sold and signed and the events were not only a success but a pleasure as well. Kili & Truman are big showoffs and love a crowd.
Between events, the birds went all over Dallas and Fort Worth with me. They visited Downtown Dallas and paid homage to JFK (this is the place where Kennedy was assassinated), they paid a lot of attention to frequently passing trains, they saw fish at an aquarium, and they showed off to restaurant patrons at the west end. In Fort Worth, they visited the downtown area and the Stock Yards. The birds had lunch with me outside and watched the famous cow drive. Truman was really intrigued and said he wanted to be a cowbird or at least a cowparrot.
Truman playing dead by the book repository building
Here's the trip summary video with Kili & Truman touring San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth:
The Aviator Harness is awesome. It has played a pivotal role in helping me achieve the awesomely well-behaved parrots that Kili & Truman are. Their beautiful plumage, outstanding social skills, flight capabilities, and showmanship would not be what they are if I didn't take my parrots outside regularly. With the Aviator Harness, I have the peace of mind that I will not lose my parrots to the mayhem that is New York City.
It has been over 3 years since I started using an Aviator Harness for my parrots. Looking back, we've made leaps and bounds in progress going outdoors as such. I'd like to look back at some highlights and offer tips and tricks that I have learned about using a harness.
First there's putting the harness on the parrot. This is where most people start and end. The majority of people that I have come across that purchased a harness gave up because they could not get past this point. But of course without this critical step, all other harness procedures are useless. Why are parrots so unwilling to wear a harness? Part of it is that it is uncomfortable but a bigger part is that they don't like the process of having it put on. The first part can only be solved by time as the parrot gets used to it but the second one gets solved by training. Without solving the second problem, you can't get the duration and practice to solve the first one.
Basically the process of sticking the harness on is a bigger deterrent from the parrot than the discomfort of actually wearing it. I know this, because my parrots can wear it all day long if need be. Even with a tame parrot that let the owner stick the harness on the first few times quickly learns to resist having it put on. After all, why should the parrot let you stick that uncomfortable thing on it? It really gets no direct benefit from it. The parrot doesn't realize that going outside is the result of putting the harness on. But even then, going outside for a house body of a parrot isn't necessarily a good thing! Until the parrot is accustomed to going outsides, it may be scary and unpleasant in itself.
The secret to teaching a parrot to wear a harness is to make it WANT to wear it. Forcing the harness on only makes the parrot want to wear it less and avoid it. But if you can convince the parrot that it is to its advantage to be wearing the harness, you're in business and the rest is just technical! Now how do you convince a parrot to voluntarily commit the equivalent of putting on a straight jacket? Well it's simple. On one hand you bribe it, but on the other hand you make a solid promise to take it off really soon.
So let's take the straight jacket example further. If I wanted to get you to put on a straight jacket, you'd tell me I'm nuts. If I said I'll give you a hundred bucks, you still wouldn't do it because you'd be afraid I'd just leave you tied up like that. But if you had a solid promise from me that all you had to do was wear it for a minute and then have it removed and get a hundred bucks, that's not so bad is it? So how can we demonstrate the promise of removal to the parrot? A verbal promise is useless because the parrot does not understand. Well, we can demonstrate the promise behaviorally.
If you briefly touch the parrot with the harness material, and then take it away and give a treat, you are demonstrating what will become the promise of removal. Continue in baby steps where the parrot is briefly enveloped in the harness but then it is removed. Progress with putting more on and for longer, but always going back to removal. Since you build up the duration, prior removals act as negative reinforcement for future ones, thus you develop the promise of removal. Yet the reward is still mandatory because that is what the parrot is working for!
Another aspect, and going back to the straight jacket example, is force vs volunteering. Think about the difference of being physically forced into that straight jacket (despite being paid and promised of removal). Someone grabs your hands and holds you down while the jacket is applied... That is painful, frightening, and uncomfortable. Now on the flipside, what if someone holds that straight jacket and you can walk over and put your arms into it yourself at your own pace? That is far more painless. Still, someone will have to do up the straps in the back, but you weren't stressed while putting it on so the hundred bucks makes it worthwhile. Don't you see how putting a harness on a parrot is like putting on that straight jacket!? This is why it is so important to let the parrot volunteer to put on the neck collar, promise imminent removal, and give good rewards for the process. With time and practice, the duration can increase, the rewards can diminish, and the entire process will become easier.
However, the Aviator Harness is no straight jacket. It is very unintrusive and allows the parrot full flight capability while wearing it. But at first, to an animal, putting anything on may be analogous to my example.
I'm not going to elaborate on the process further here but I strongly urge you to watch my Harness Training DVD on how I taught an adult rescue Green-Winged Macaw to wear an Aviator Harness voluntarily.
I always clip my parrot's harnesses to my belt loops before even putting the harness on them. I never trust just the wrist strap alone, plus it gets in the way. By clipping the harness to my belt using a 99 cent keychain carabiner, I have the peace of mind that the parrot is secure.
I keep my parrots on the short leash of the harness at all times except when I intentionally want to fly them. At that point, I take out the special yellow kite string that I measured out and prepared for this. I made loops at both ends of the string and secured them so they can't untie. The way I make the swap from harness only to harness plus extension leash is a neat trick. I pass one end of my string through the harness wrist strap. Then I run the other end of the string through the end loop in the string, thus tightening one end of the string around the harness wrist strap. Then I add the other loop end of the string to my carabiner hook. Finally I take the wrist strap out of the carabiner hook and the parrot is now on the long leash. This special exchange ensures that my parrot is never disattached. At this point I'm not particularly worried about the bird flying off in this short exchange but it is still a good practice to maintain.
I never "freefly" my parrots outdoors wearing a harness. That is I don't let them fly at will. I encourage them to always stay on me, a perch, or to only fly to me on command. I don't want them to think it is acceptable to fly at will because there is too much they can get the harness tangled in if they were to just fly. To keep things more controllable and limited to my judgement, I always set things up to allow only controlled recall flight. At first I flew the birds only to the length the short harness leash would allow. Then I proceeded to use longer and longer leash extensions. Virtually every time the parrots flew off "at will" they ended up hitting the end of the line and realized that it's a bad idea. Thus the harness automatically punishes flying behavior. By rewarding only requested flights, the parrots eventually learn to stay put except when called. This works out well in the end because the parrots stay put when they are me wearing a harness. At home they fly off at will but outdoors they stay which gives me confidence to take them places.
Don't forget that hawks and other predators (including cats/dogs) pose a huge threat to your parrot outside even if it wears a harness. I live in a busy city where there are few birds of prey but I do occasionally spot them so it's a point I am aware of. I keep my eyes open and am ready to protect my bird as best as I can. I do avoid taking them to large open rural fields where birds of prey may be more abundant.
I keep challenging my parrots to wear their harnesses for longer. Whether it's taking them to an event (even indoors if things are hectic), camping, on trips, or just about, it helps make them more accustomed to wearing harnesses.
Not only is it fun to take the parrots places but it is also one of the best things for them. Besides the health benefits of receiving natural sunlight, the socialization experiences make them far better pets. As they experience more people and places, they are far more prepared to cope with anything that life may throw at them. It makes them better behaved and less likely to bite.
Finally here is a video that shows how quickly and easily I can put harnesses on my parrots. It's not a race but I want to show how quickly we can do it. By wasting no time, it gives the parrot less time to play around with it or resist. Since we have done this so many times, they cooperate and assist in putting it on by moving their body and wings to go with the flow. When a parrot resists, it is far more difficult to get all the straps on in any reasonable span of time.
My upcoming book is just days away from shipping out for printing! It includes information about harness training parrots but more importantly it presents an approach to attain the relationship that prepares you and your parrot to make use of that harness and beyond. So please stay tuned for more announcements about the book.
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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Truman playing dead by the book repository building
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