(laughs)
- Okay, I'm Santiago, I'm from Northern Virginia
and I'm 16 years old.
I started training Jersey for free flying around June,
so it took me about three months.
(lively upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music continues)
Well, first I basically, I got a African Grey parrot
and he was severely clipped so I didn't like seeing that.
So ever since I got a macaw,
I just didn't wanna keep her in a cage locked up
the whole day.
I was interested in free flying from the beginning.
So basically I found "Bird Tricks" on YouTube
'cause you guys are really popular.
So yeah, I was just going through free flight videos
and I found that you guys were kind of the more closer
and local free flight trainers in my area.
I started training Jersey for free flying around June.
So it took me about three months.
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
Jersey!
(clicker clicking)
Jersey!
(upbeat music)
She's scared (indistinct).
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey!
(clicker clicking)
Jersey!
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey!
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Jersey.
(upbeat music)
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
(clicker clicking)
(upbeat music)
Yeah the biggest struggle
would probably be desensitizing her to outside.
'Cause when I took, when I first took Jersey outside
she was kind of scared of everything.
She wouldn't stand on the perch if I'm not near her,
she would fly to my shoulder and rush to my shoulder.
So it was definitely desensitizing her to the outdoors.
I haven't told many of my friends,
but I've told my family, they kind of thought I was crazy.
(Santiago laughs)
They said they were going to fly away
or they weren't gonna come back
but I knew it wasn't gonna happen, so yeah.
She has escaped before
and she just flew really high and far.
So the first time that she took an exploratory flight,
it was kind of nerve wracking.
(lively upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music continues)
So I definitely could have not learned this
from a book or from the internet, you know.
I definitely had to learn this from Dave
because every bird is kind of different from one another.
So training is kind of specific to your bird.
The highlight was seeing Jersey fly, yeah.
Going to a level four and progressing really fast,
so that was the highlight of the trip,
just seeing her progress really fast.
The GPS was never really there to be in place of training.
It was more kind of just like a backup thing
in case she did fly off or something,
but it was never really meant to depend on,
I was never really depended on the GPS the whole time.
I was depending more on what Dave taught me in the training.
- [Jamieleigh] One, two, three, go!
Whoo!
(parrots squawking)
Those 2 look great together.
(parrots squawking)
Oh my gosh, look at Jersey!
She was jinking all over the place.
(man exclaiming)
Whoo!
(group chatter)
- [Woman] What is that?
- [Jamieleigh] Look at those two.
Good boy Jinxy.
- [Woman] Call her.
- [Santiago] Jersey.
- [Jamieleigh] They just going together.
- [Woman] Yes.
- [Jamieleigh] Whoo!
Good boy, good boy.
- [Woman] Now call her.
- [Jamieleigh] He's just trying to keep up with her now.
- [Dave] She's doing great.
- [Jamieleigh] Jinxy, you're done?
You getting tired?
- [Santiago] Jersey.
- Yes!
- I did not see her, that was like.
(all three laughing)
That's probably on my camera, for sure.
- [Dave] Nice!
- [Jamieleigh] That was amazing!
Oh my gosh.
- [Woman] Wow, Jersey.
- Yeah, so the GPS was convenient to have.
Wish I was recording that whole flight, was really cool.
Oh, one, one landed, two landed, Mercury's in the air.
(laughing)
Because it told me all the data
about how fast she was flying and how far she was going.
So this last flight that she took
was about 35 miles per hour.
That's how fast she was going,
and she did about three miles.
- [Interviewer] What's next?
- Next is Pahrump, that's what's next, yeah.
That's gonna be next and taking her home
and desensitizing her to larger trees
and be different area,
so I'm gonna have to definitely work at home harder.
Yeah, the training has just kind of begun.
(lively upbeat music)
It was never really like an insurance plan
to something to depend on hardly.
- [Interviewer] That didn't really make sense.
- Yeah, it didn't.
(people laughing)
You want me to do it again?
Let me do it again.
- [Interviewer] Alright.