At home, to make their A-B training more interesting, we had introduced a hoop that we were training them to fly through. We got the opportunity to fly inside a big gym, but flying inside a large, unfamiliar space is a challenge for an indoor bird (and 1-2 hours of just point-to-point flying can be boring). As part of getting the birds used to the gym while flying in there, we brought the hoop as a fun distraction.
This was our birds' third training session with the hoop. First, we had to desensitize them to the hoop, itself. A great big plastic thing, which moves strangely (in their opinion), is a very scary thing. We used the same method we showed in our 'Dealing with Fear' video to get them used to it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqcIJPtq0uA
Then, we had to convince them it was okay to fly THROUGH the hoop. It appears that for these birds, who are familiar with windows and glass, they acted as if they thought this could be a window. We didn't know for sure, so we debated whether it was wise to override that instinct to get them through it. But we reasoned that we don't anticipate a real window or mirror to look very much like a hoop on a stand. The way we did it was to pass the birds through the hoop while sitting on our hand. We went back-and-forth...sometimes being handed off person-to-person, but without having to fly through it at first -- so they felt safe while getting a look at going through.
The hardest part of all was to help the two birds who had been formerly clipped to gain enough confidence to flap through the hoop. Interestingly, in all other exercises, we didn't observe major differences between the flight skills of these three birds. However, in this case, the never-clipped Jenday had no trouble negotiating the hoop, while the two formerly-clipped birds were much more wary of flying through it. The Nanday would move from one side of the perch to the other in order to find the straightest shot through the hoop. The Grey, in particular, would sit on the perch and twist and "aim" her body before attempting to go through. At the end of the video, we show how hard it really is for the Grey, as her wings are precisely the span of the widest part of the hoop, so she really does have to time her wing strokes well or she could end up clipping her wingtip on the hoop.
Brave babies!
So, they did really great with the hoop. However, they didn't do so well with the "getting used to the gym" part. There were kids running in and out at times (you can hear the footsteps) and other noises that distracted them. We may have to step back and just let them get more used to the environment. But we thought everyone would like to see these parrots having fun with the hoop.
Please keep in mind that we are NOT professional trainers. We rely strictly on the intelligence of our birds when we teach them tricks, which doesn't work in all situations. We recommend that if you are interested in training your parrots, that you visit the site of a professional trainer to learn proper training techniques.
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How To Teach Your Parrot Recall Trainingby quakersparrots5,385 views
AAAWWW my budgie's name is Bubble =]
Shaloobee01 2 months ago
Awesome! You're really doing amazing things with all three of them. I particularly liked the stills of Bobo at the end, which are an excellent study of how a bird flies. I hadn't realized how far and how often they tuck their wings in while still in flight! They really are very smart, and you're doing some great training (all positive reinforcement, with no clicker...YES!). Just don't go doing anything too crazy, like making it a ring of fire, or anything! :-)
AnneTheWriter 1 year ago
Nice job! :D
TheIngwulf 1 year ago