We had our first outdoor recall session today....

[Stevo]

Thank you all for your well wishes

Luck plays a small part John, I agree. Only a small part though.

I have felt the heatbreak with prior birds being spooked (always recovered though) and could not wish that distress and pain on anyone.

It is not something I would have considered in Darwin with the large number of hawks but here in Townsville though it is a lot quieter and much more manageable.

If I choose to continue with the training I will try and get a video of him flying

[The Cozy Nestbox]

I have for some time now been much intrigued by folks who free-fly their birds and followed reports of their work. Stevo, are you by chance familiar with Chris Shanks of Cockatoo Downs or Chris Biro? While luck is certainly always at play with anything we do with our birds, I know that solid training skills are at the heart of their overall success.

[Big.Green.Chicken]

How fabulous for both of you!! Go Danny!

[Stevo]

Originally Posted by The Cozy Nestbox

I have for some time now been much intrigued by folks who free-fly their birds and followed reports of their work. Stevo, are you by chance familiar with Chris Shanks of Cockatoo Downs or Chris Biro? While luck is certainly always at play with anything we do with our birds, I know that solid training skills are at the heart of their overall success.

Hi Kelly,

I've seen Chris Biro's work but not Chris Shanks. We covered some free-flight discussion when I did the Natural Encounters Inc workshop with Steve Martin (and crew) last year. My 'curiosity' with free flight stems from a firm belief that parrots are much more recoverable if they are familiar with their surrounds and confident in their behaviours. I rarely food treat reward the recall behaviour - he chooses to come to me because he wants to be with me. I don't (yet) do target flying (flying away from me to a position) because I'm more interested in a well focused and positive recall to me in the event of something going wrong outside, rather than him being comfortable flying away from me.

Thanks Anna! Tonight was only a couple of quick flights, a 6foot warm up and a 12foot recall.

[waterfaller1]

That is awesome Steve. I am still jealous of you being able to go to natural encounters Can you share some training tips I could start with? Or a link to where you learned something about it perhaps?

[Stevo]

Originally Posted by waterfaller1

That is awesome Steve. I am still jealous of you being able to go to natural encounters Can you share some training tips I could start with? Or a link to where you learned something about it perhaps?

Steve's ranch is just down the road from you Carole!

For a couple of broad 'motherhood' statements on training, from my experiences -

. Observation
. Choice
. Positive Reinforcement
. Planning
. Trust

Observation is us watching our birds and being able to use what we have seen to shape the behaviours we're chasing. With it, and tied together with Positive Reinforcement, is Timing - the ability to bridge and reward, through keen observation, an approximation of the end behaviour we're after. Most importantly is recognition of the fact that we have no way of knowing what our birds are thinking - only through observation of what is actually taking place, through displayed behaviour, can we get some sense of whether our activities are positive or not. We can, in a practical sense, only influence the physical behaviours - we cant control the birds thinking as, once again, we have no way of actually knowing what they're thinking. Some people don't agree with this and I recognise that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Choice is empowering our birds to do what they want to do. An example of this is bedtime with Danny - simply, he doesn't usually want to go to bed when I want him to go to bed. Instead of turning it into a negative experience I simply walk away and try again in a couple of minutes - when he's ready. It is recognised that sometimes giving the bird the choice is not practical (for safety, etc) but I'll come to that later with Trust.
A bird that is given the choice to display/perform behaviours, or not, will be more confident and therefore more likely to do the desired behaviour. This is opposed to a bird that is flooded, or forced, to perform - they will become more reticent in doing the behaviour and may resort to biting, etc, to avoid the actions or get away from something it doesn't want to do. If a bird knows that it can return to it's playgym, or cage (or wherever it feels most secure), whenever it wants then it will be less likely to actually need to go there.

Positive Reinforcement. Need I say anymore on this? lol. It works. It, as a practice, also recognises that there are 4 kinds of Reinforcement (I cant remember the correct terms, soz...) - there are 2 x Positive and 2 x Negative forms of reinforcement. There are suitable times when any one, or a combination of, these reinforcements may be used. Negative reinforcement is not always evil, but needs to be balanced and used with recognition and appreciation of all the other techniques and terms that I've been using (more on Trust... lol). Food is not the only form of Positive Reinforcement - also consider favourite toys, a scritch/cuddle, being with you, comfort areas (perch/cage/etc) as treats to reward the behaviours you're after.

Planning. Most behaviours need shaping - ie, building up from nothing to the final product through many different approximations. An example of this is the step-up; Firstly the bird needs to be comfortable in your presence, then the presence of your hand, then be able to offer it's foot to your hand, transfer weight, step on your hand and finally, stay in position. Try and come up with as many of the approximations that you think you'll be able to see and influence and use them as markers to confirm progress (or otherwise.. hehe). Know what it is that you wish to achieve before you start otherwise you wont be able to adapt along the way (it never, ever, goes to plan..).

Trust. Build a 'trust account' with your bird - everything that the 2 of you do that has a positive outcome adds to the account. Everything negative withdrawals from it - a bankrupt trust account will leave you with a nervous, untrusting and potentially dangerous bird. Having a large trust account gives you the buffer for those occasions when you may have to restrict the birds choice or when you decide that negative reinforcement is the only option left to achieve a desired behaviour.

Repetition builds trust and confidence. Train at your birds pace (all are different, same as humans). Be consistent and patient, have a clear goal for you both to work towards and make all training sessions enjoyable

Not sure if this is in any way what you were after Carole.... Let me know if you want anything more specific otherwise I'm likely to continue dribbling.... This has been an approximation of what I think you want from me; shape my behaviour to get the end result you're after

[Sharpie]

That's wonderful! I'm still waiting on Jasper's feathers (sigh) but I'm glad that you're working with him on training and recall, what a great experience builder for you both.

[Mercedez]

Stevo, I didnt know you had plans of doing Recall with Danny. THATS AWESOME!

[daria]

Congradulations to you both.

[Robin]

Wow that is awesome, but way too scary for me.