(upbeat music)
- My name is Dave Womach,
I'm a professional magician
(dubstep music)
and a professional parrot trainer.
(rock music)
And most recently a wing suit pilot.
(dubstep music)
See ya.
(dubstep music)
Which comes into play with this guy.
This is Sunny.
We first heard about him from a hoarding situation.
You see, every year we combine our bird training passion
with our magic shows
and we travel around the country with our show
to help raise money for all sorts of non-profits.
This fall we were down near Salt Lake City, Utah
doing a fundraiser for Ronies For the Love of Birds.
And during October, they encountered a hoarding situation.
Now I believe it was something to the tune of 20 birds
but every day for a month
they had to enter with hazmat suits
just to care for the birds
until legally they had the ability
to get them out of that horrible situation.
When we heard of this we offered to help
along with our Bird Tricks community.
We did a fundraiser on top of a fundraiser show
and we were able to send check after check
until finally I said you know what?
I wanna do more than that.
So I called Denise up just to check in
and see how things were going
'cause unfortunately right after the hoarding situation
COVID hit.
So all the birds were stuck there
and they couldn't make their typical money
from the boarding that they do
to be able to help people out.
So I asked how are things going?
And she filled me in and basically said,
here you go Dave, this is my worst case.
So I drove down once the boarders were open,
I picked up Sunny
and decided that since I'm learning how to fly
on my own new set of wings,
it's my dream to make it
so he can also learn to fly his set of wings.
I love working with Denise
from Ronies For the Love of Birds
because she runs a tight ship.
She keeps everything spotless
and you walk in there
and it doesn't smell like a bird store.
It's clean and even though these birds are all there
because they need to be re-homed,
sure they might be plucked,
they might have an issue,
but the thing is, when you walk in there,
you just, you simply feel how much she cares.
And her entire place is immaculate.
I feel an intense amount of pressure
to be able to get Sunny from where he was
to where I want him to be
because I want him to have the best life that he can.
And I want him to have the best life,
you wanting to step up?
Oh.
Thinking about it?
(intense piano music)
Hi.
I know that doesn't seem like very much
but that's from working with him for over a month
and the fact that he communicated with me
that he wanted to step up is huge.
I don't have treats,
that was just him saying that he wanted to hang out with me.
So the pressure for me right now
is definitely quite intense.
I'm handling him at his pace.
We don't know his background.
We know he's roughly 20 years old.
And when I first brought him home,
I couldn't even get him out of the cage.
He didn't want anything to do with me.
And although he hasn't necessary been aggressive,
he's been fearful.
I've worked with fearful birds,
but never as a project bird.
He's gonna go at his own slow pace,
but it's just absolutely amazing
to see these little itty bitty wins every single day.
(curious music)
- [Jamie] Are you ready to learn?
- [Dave] I'm sorry you're so scared.
(bird calls)
Oh, that's the first sound that you made.
(curious piano music)
There you go.
(curious piano music)
(bird calls)
Oh Sunny.
(bird calls)
(intense piano music)
(bird calls)
(intense piano music)
(bird calls)
(intense piano music)
(bird calls)
(intense piano music)
They said you're not handlable.
To get him out of his travel cage
I had to take the entire cage apart.
There was no way he was coming out of the cage
for any reason.
So I took the travel cage apart
and I was able to get him out.
And I was shocked that once I had him out of the cage
he was actually willing to accept my pets on the head.
He was afraid but he was like well this feels good.
Well this will make an interesting story.
We're gonna take this wild, crazy, out-of-control bird
and make him a pet.
(Siri sounds)
FaceTime Jamie Womach mobile.
- [Siri] Making a FaceTime call to Jamie Womach.
- Oh, I got it right.
- [Jamie] Is he on you?
Oh my gosh.
- So an interesting observation,
he's fluffed up a couple times on me,
but he's
more fearful than he is aggressive.
- [Jamie] Did they know that
or did they just think that he was really mean?
- They said he was unhandlable.
- [Jamie] Awesome, I can't wait to meet him.
- All right, well yeah, I'll talk to you in a bit.
- [Jamie] All right, see ya.
- See ya.
Oh my goodness.
(Dave speaking indistinctly)
(intense orchestral music)
Okay, we don't have to.
Well, I'm curious what everybody says
makes you so aggressive.
So you're probably thinking
why the heck would I want to pet this bird
after a 12-hour drive.
He's super stressed out,
he doesn't wanna come out of his cage for anything
and here I am wanting to force my petting on him.
Well it's very interesting,
if you've followed us for any amount of time,
you hear me refer to the five languages of love.
And my personal love language is physical touch.
It's how I express as well as how I receive love.
And there's five different ways.
There's physical touch, acts of service, quality time,
gifts and words of affirmation.
And I found that through doing this parrot training
for years now,
that people will use their own love language
to try to force their love onto their bird
and so it might be like, hey I buy my bird toys
because I want him to love me.
Or in my case, I just want to pet him
because that's how I show that I care.
And to my surprise, he was receptive to it.
Now, because day one is so important to us,
we want him to understand what his new normal is.
And what that meant for Sunny is that his normal
wasn't being stuck in a cage like it used to be.
It's not the same crappy diet that he used to be on.
It's now the seasonal feeding system from our cookbook.
And what I decided to do
was keep him in my office.
He's not a very loud bird, except for today during consults,
but overall he's not that loud.
But I'm able to spend a lot more of my own time with him
and between different phone calls
or emails or video editing,
I'm able to just turn around in my chair
and go over to the tree
and do a quick target training session.
And since most of our progress starts
with these guys just doing target training,
that's really what I focused on the first week or two.
And as you saw from his little slow motion step up there,
he's not a very agile bird yet.
He didn't have perches in his cage,
he was stuck clinging to the side
for God knows how long.
And so whether it's muscles that are atrophied
or tendons that are tight, I don't really know,
but you have to see his progression
as he learns slowly how to target train,
(laughing)
and as well as climb around the tree
and just build his own confidence.
And that's really what the first week or two
was about for me.
It's letting him know
that hey you're safe in this environment.
Here's some good, healthy food.
Let's make you feel a little better.
Let me help you build your confidence
so you can be a good bird,
you can live the life that you're supposed to live.
Good morning day number two.
About to go check on Sunny,
he got a little bit of sleep last night.
A good solid 12 hours in my office.
Good morning.
Good morning Sunny.
Oh, how'd you sleep?
How'd you sleep?
- [Child] Can I turn the light on?
- Sure.
Good morning.
I think I'm gonna get some natural light in here for him.
And then, oh yeah that's way better,
then we're gonna do a little training session.
Oh, all right bud.
- [Child] Dad, can we get some (indistinct)
- All right, here's some good news.
Lost a feather last night.
And it's one that was pretty damaged.
There's a horrible cut job
and I'm not sure if it was mutilated
from the other bird
but the good news is, doesn't look like he plucked it.
Looks like that fell out on its own.
And it's a flight feather.
You can come in if you want.
This is actually just his regular pellets.
Do you want one of these?
Hm?
Yeah that's fine.
Is that better?
Not so sure about that one either?
How about that eye pin.
You are so gentle, good job.
(upbeat music)
(clicking) I'm gonna give you that.
(inspirational music)
I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise.
Oh you still have some.
You're hiding it.
You're a food hider.
(inspirational music)
Finished?
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
Good job.
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
(inspirational music)
(bird calls)
(clicking)
(inspirational music)
Well he wants it, just touch it.
(birds chirping)
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
(birds chirping)
Good job.
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
(inspirational music)
(clicking)
(inspirational music)
Recognizing how badly butchered his wing clip is
and how slow motion he is on everything,
he's not gonna be the normal three to six month turnaround.
He's definitely gonna be a long term investment
of my time and my energy,
but the reality is he has so much potential
and so much love to share,
it's just gonna be a long term project.
Might be a year, might be a little less,
but either way I wanna see this through to the end
because the reality is
as humans, we owe that to him.
(inspiring orchestral music)
You're definitely gonna wanna stick around
for the next episode.
Because of my lifestyle,
Sunny's gonna be going on two road trips with me.
I'm going to implement some techniques and training
that we have never implemented
with any other pet birds
and quite frankly, it's probably gonna make you question
everything we've ever said and done.
So stick around.
You ready buddy?
(upbeat music)