Scaring your parrot on purpose

[Mona]

Hi Michael:

This whole scenario sounds a little odd to me. The reason is that I don't think I would work to de-sensitive Babylon in the manner you describe because my presence is usually "desensitizing" enough. Basically, she allows me to handle her, pick her up, etc. because she has such a strong trust in me. In other words, if she is frightened or spooked her immediate reflex is to get as close to me as possible. She also tends to be even more compliant than normal. She rarely flies away from me and if she is in a "stressful" situation, she is extremely unlikely to fly away from me. In other words, she anchors herself to my presence and she uses me - my nonverbal and verbal communication - as an aide to understand the risk she would associate in new locations. I never chase her. I don't chase any of my birds.

In a new environment, Babylon has taken off for what looks to me to be a "mapping" flight. She doesn't land on any object. She just flies big circles around the area, and then she finds me and she flies back to me. I think she feels secure in the air but I also think she feels insecure if I am out of sight....so, she's pretty quick to turn back around and land on me. You can see her doing this sort of thing on my youtube videos:



If Babylon flies away from me, it is seldom because she is insecure but instead, it is when she is extremely comfortable in the environment. She anchors to me and when she feels safe, then she goes off and explores the environment. Both of my hens watch me very carefully for any "cues" from me that something is not "safe" and they fly back to me immediately. You can actually see them approach a new object, look to the side and look at me, approach the object a little closer, look at me....and if I say "ah....ah..." they will fly away from the object and fly to me. I really think this is what you want to train for.

In terms of "spooking"...I want my birds to spook if something frightens them. I want the birds to understand risk or danger and fly away from it. If we are in an unfamiliar situation, the trick is to train the bird to fly BACK to you immediately. I never want the bird to associate my person with "risk". Babylon has always offered boomerang flights but I had to train Phinney (TAG). I felt that this was the most important thing I could train Phinney for her safety because I do take her to unfamiliar locations and if a dog or cat approaches, I want her to know that she can fly away from that animal but she should also center on me, look for me and fly back to me. This is a very healthy response.

I am curious about Kili's flight response. When she startles, does she fly away from you? If so, I think this is where you should be focusing your training. You should be focusing on having her return to you when she startles. This part is about more than operant conditioning. It is really about the "setting conditions" for the training. It is making sure that the bird has established absolute trust in you and in your training. I do think that the best thing for the bird is for the bird to understand that they have some autonomy and that they can act for their own safety.

Just my two cents on this.....I think it's good to have a parrot that flies away when they are nervous. That's what they evolved to do. Our challenge is two-fold: First, make sure that they are less nervous in unfamiliar environments because they have established trust in us to watch for them and to protect them and Two, to work hard to make sure that once they do fly, that they come back to us.

Thanks

[Michael]

Actually Kili does return to me when she is spooked by something else. I think you're right that it is the "chase" that scares them away from us and I am desensitizing her a little to let me "chase" her if I have to get her in a rush. At home if Kili gets spooked she usually flies back to her cage or to me. If we are some place else, she comes straight to me. However, the things she gets afraid of often do not coincide with what she should be afraid of. She is terrified of balloons and boxes and yet flies right up to little children. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd walk right into a dog's mouth. That's the thing. Her sense of danger isn't well tuned to our environment so there are times when I try to desensitize her to things she really shouldn't be scared of.

Strengthening the spook recall response is virtually impossible as it would require really scaring the bird on purpose. It can only be done in practice but that takes a lot of time and we don't have much control over that. I'm just trying to get her to be as tame and fearless of me as possible.

[Mona]

Hi Michael:

I'm not sure why you want to "desensitize" the chase. If any thing chases Kili, she SHOULD fly away.

Personally, I really do not chase my birds. I have three strategies up my sleeve (as you have)

A) Step up the bird
B) Recall the bird
C) Target fly the bird

If a bird runs away from me, I just walk away. I don't even go there....

Anything chasing a bird should be a "danger signal" to them. It is aversive. If something is aversive, the bird should know that they can avoid it. I think just the action of "chasing" is inherently "aversive" to a prey animal.

Entrancedbymycc (What is your name?) has some great horse sense. That horse sense really applies to parrots. I've ridden through a couple of "spooked horses" a few times in my life. It really does help you develop a sense of how to work with that delicate challenge of controlling the momentum and learning how to reassure the animal.

Strengthening the "spook-recall response" does not have to require scaring the bird on purpose. I don't think it's a good idea to ever scare a parrot on purpose. It's okay for them to be confronted with an aversive on occassion as long as they know they have the power to act away form the perceived aversive. If they know they can avoid the problem, they usually won't scare and that's really what you want. You want an animal that keeps its head in the face of danger. You don't want an animal that doesn't know how to properly react in the face of danger. You also don't want an animal that panics in the face of danger.

You train the animal by knowing this is something that you want to train FIRST and working with it at every opportunity presented. Every time the bird flies to you because they are insecure...reinforce. The reinforcement is not going to be food because an insecure parrot is usually not interested in food. The reinforcement is increasing the bird's sense of security.

The way that you strengthen it is by taking the bird into unfamiliar environments that are SAFE. We do this with our fly group. Older birds will probably fly away from you the first few times they spook so you have to use other strategies designed to make the bird see you as the first perch to fly to. Flying the bird between two people is one strategy to help accomplish this. Birds will also learn this from modelling. We often fly with a lot of different birds.

I do think that it is an advanced skill to teach. I haven't worked on it very hard with Kiri, Jack or Bailey.....Babylon almost came with it preprogrammed but Phinney really did take work and time.

You have to set up the right conditions. Recognize what your bird finds comforting and what gives them security. Find a slightly chaotic but safe environment and practice, practice, practice. You are always reinforcing that YOU are safe and secure so that flying to you is almost a reflex for the parrot. I think it also helps if you have inherently shy birds.....Africans often fit the bill.

Thanks for the interesting discussion. I gotta go though...

Chat later.

Mona

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Entrancedbymygcc (What is your name?)

Hi Mona, I'm Deborah. Sometimes known as Scootersmom or even Smintmom (Smint being my horse).

Now, back to the topic!