LITTLE FLO PROVES SHE CAN FLY Why do we listen to others instead of trusting evidence
in front of our eyes?When I let her take a shower under the dripping bath tap, Little Flo flew out of the bath and landed on the rim. She was quite wet; I took her on my shoulder, as I’d done several times before, into the sun- shine to dry off. No wind. No sudden noise. Into a cloud- less blue sky, Little Flo soared off and landed at the top of a mature oak. It took ten minutes to spot a tiny green shape in thick green foliage. An hour later she flew out and vanished into a dark screen of a twenty five meter high Leylandii. By nine PMno more sounds or sights, so we went to bed, where I lay awake listening to the thun- derstorm and worrying about owls.
Next morning, at 6.30 AM, after two hours of search-
ing,we found a drenched baby bird standing onwet grass outside the aviary. Where’d she spent the night? Who knows?
TRAINING BEGINS My fervent desire was to train Little Flo as a responsive
pet bird. She couldn’t staywithmy pet parrots; Casper had attacked her once and even gentle greyArtha had grabbed her tail through the cage bars.
From my notes: Tuesday July 7th. Indoors now for
four days since the overnighter. Very active and can fly nicely. I take her out of the cage three to five times a day. She knows step up but not recall. She has taken a couple of flights towards me and landed on my head. Ditto friends’ heads. Her feathers are nearly all re- grown. She never stops eating. She has seed mix, flow- ers, bread and corn. Crazy about flower heads. Treats are peanuts and Farley’s Rusk.
I started to train Little Flo according to my under-
standing of the principles of positive reinforcement. She now spent the day in the conservatory alone. The pet birds were in the aviary. After training and breakfast, food bowls were removed, although she had flowers, grass, leaves and branches for playing and chewing. In the evening, when the four pet birds came indoors, she was put into the sitting room cage, covered with a thin cloth to prevent the other birds landing on it. Her fa- vorite food so far seemed to be scrambled egg – not the easiest for training.
Frommy notes: Sunday July 19 Firstmini breakthrough.
Little Flo is sleeping in her cage under a light cover; she chirps to be let out. She steps up. Walks to my shoulder and then flies to kitchen divider. She steps up for a crumb of Farley’s Rusk. I move my hand ten centimeters away. Holdmy palmflat. Shemakes a short flap tomy hand. Lit- tle Flo makes six short flaps to my hand. Her reward, crumbs of rusk. After six flaps she walks away.
That same evening……the breakthrough. From my notes: Little Flo perches high in the aviary
canopy. I wait a minute. She crawls lower down so that she can step up. Put her on the top of cage and walk one step back. Hold open palm with treat hidden in other hand. She flies to me over one meter for a sliver of nut. She repeats the behavior five times. I try for repetition. (I want to generalize this behavior so I place her on other perches in the conservatory. She accepts the new spot each time.) Put her on play stand. She flies to me three times. Put her on the other play stand. Her concentration is lessening. After fifteen repetitions, she doesn’t fly to me but finishes with a step up. She is also repeating a two-tone whistle.
Once she had learned that a recall to the hand brought
I started to train Little Flo using positive reinforcement. Photo credit: Dorothy Schwarz
42 Good Bird Magazine
a sliver of nut, she’d instigate sessions herself by flying onto your hand. It was so exciting!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52