- [Jamieleigh] Hey guys in this video
I wanna show you how Tango, the blue-and-gold macaw
is actually fearful of flying around other macaws.
So we had a dual purpose here
and the first thing that I did was
I actually set David and Ashlynn
and their macaw, Tango up to fail.
Now I know that Tango doesn't like flying
around other macaws.
He does do it outdoors.
If you see Tango's playlist on my channel,
you will see that he is an outdoor free flyer
and he does come on our flight trips.
However, he usually does take a different approach
or a different path when flying to avoid the other macaws.
So here we are about to release Tango for a simple A to B,
which he is capable of in a new environment
and I release my camelot macaw, Tusa.
As you can see it immediately startles Tango
and he's up on top.
Now though you may be wondering
why did I set them up to fail in the first place?
Well honestly I wanted to show there was actually a problem.
If we had started from the very beginning
it never would have never looked
like Tango's actually fearful
of flying around another macaw.
So as you can see he's up at the top.
We try to coax him down.
One of the problems, one of the issues and reasons why he's
not coming down is because Tusa is flying back and forth.
Now the other dual reason that I am doing this session
is for Marvin the green wing macaw.
As you can see Marvin is just hangin' out chillin
on a T stand over there.
He' completely calm just watching what's going on
And this is kind of a way to desensitize him
and get him used to other macaws flying.
And kinda show him what's in store for him in the future
when his wings fully molt out
and grow back in and he can fly.
Now Tango hangs out for awhile, we eventually stop flying
Tusa to encourage Tango to come on down.
Which, of course he does.
And I only pushed him to this extent
because I knew what he was capable of.
(people chatter)
- [Jamieleigh] Hey, what's up?
You need to come in or out.
You can be firm.
- Tango.
- [Jamieleigh] What? Okay.
Can you shut that door please?
Shut that door please.
- Whoo!
(child speaking)
- Tango, wow!
Good boy.
Is that you?
- [Jamieleigh] So now that Tango's back down
we decide to start from a very easy place.
And that is some simple and close proximity A to Bs.
The key to really getting these awesome flights from Tango
is that we are not flying any of the other birds.
So Tusa we are keeping completely still on our hands,
we're not letting him fly
and Marvin of course is not trying to fly.
So although Tango is still doing these great A to Bs
he doesn't have to worry about
another bird being in the air.
The next step is adding Tusa.
We let Tango fly then I send Tusa to Dave.
So they are on opposite sides
and as you can see Tango already has it in him
that he is going to land on his person.
And so sending Tusa after Tango has already taken flight
helps in getting Tango to still stick
to his flight pattern while getting used
to flying with another bird in the air.
And understanding that, that bird is not going to hurt him.
From there we slowly increase when we send Tusa
and eventually build up to being able to send Tusa
at the exact same time that Tango decides to fly.
So I've sped up this footage for you guys
to see how many recalls and repetitions
that we are able to do.
And we're actually even sending Tusa
from a further distance.
And as you can see Dave is working his way closer.
He's also again doing that dual purpose,
he's getting Marvin accustomed to two birds flying.
And actually flying our macaw Tusa over Marvin's head
every now and then.
And Marvin just continues to preen himself and not care.
He is getting very desensitized at a young age
at only four months old.
The next progression that we do is
we start changing up the flight pattern.
So we start releasing Tusa at different times
and different directions.
(birds flying)
(Dave W. talking)
- [Ashlynn] Good boy.
- [Jamieligh] Tango's doing really well thus far
with the progression that I actually switched sides.
And so now we're trying to get a diagonal flight from Tusa
but it really scares Tango to have a bird
flying from behind and in that close proximity.
Tango is convinced that Tusa
is going to either bump him out of the air
or do something undesirable.
So we call Tango back after we stop flying Tusa
to entice him down and we go back to what was working.
- So he knows coming back he'll get a treat right now.
He's figured out that I have treats.
(birds flying back and forth)
(Dave W. talking)
- [Ashlynn] What's up guys.
(all talking)
- No it's definitely a--
- [Dave W.] Actually what would you have done.
What'd you do right and wrong in hindsight?
- I didn't think about the fact that it's a good place.
Because to me it wasn't that much different.
Cause it's like , oh we're still just flying back and forth
A to B.
But it's a totally different environment.
He's never been enclosed like that.
I probably would have wanted to do it on a day
that I had higher motivation to start off with.
Because we'd already done the flight session
and a training session and he had breakfast this morning.
So that wasn't really set up for success there.
We started at the goal of doing A to B
across the whole way with Tusa flying.
And that sent it bad.
So I think when we saw that realized that had gone bad,
I think going back and doing shorter A to Bs expanding it.
I think we did that right, we just did it too late.
- [Dave W.] I agree 100%.
Does that resonate with you?
- Yes.
- [Dave W.] I put the bird pyrch as far off as I could,
I can't see you.
- Dave and I have gotten, I feel pretty good
about positioning ourselves
to where even if one of us isn't set up for him to land,
it's motivated him to go to the other.
- [Jamieleigh] I agree.
- [Dave W.] Yeah, I agree 100% with what she's saying.
And these are things
that we work on individually as people as well.
What you're hearing is, what would worst case have been?
Worse case is bird goes to top and sits there
and we have no way of getting up there to get it.
So how do we prepare ourselves to not have that happen?
The key was starting as if it's a new trick.
Short A to Bs gradually getting to where we want.
It's gonna help him build his confidence
and help him get to that area where he's like I got this.
And even towards the end he was still a little bit
things would spook him.
So he's definitely heightened in there.
But if you were going to take your bird in a batting cage
I would say same thing.
When you think you're fine because it's in an enclosed net,
what if there's a hole in the net?
Right?
- [Jamieleigh] And batting nets are even worse
because when they get up there onto the net
they can't push off.
Because there's too much give.
And they can get to a spot where you can't reach.
And now they can just go to town on the net.
They can just chew through the net.
So I knew going into there looking at it earlier
like that's not gonna happen here.
He can push off, it's just gonna take a bit.
It's gonna take a bit of motivation to come down
and do that descend.
But I've seen Tango's training
I knew he was capable of actually doing it.
For him it's more overcoming the fear
to do the skill that he already has.
- And in that location
Jamie also mentioned she knows his skill levels.
So coming off of that for him no problem.
I know Tusa's not gonna go up there.
But if Marvin went up, he doesn't have the skills yet
to let go from that drop descend, hit the.
So as you're developing skills,
just kind of reflect on today
and say okay what's the worst that could happen?
If he goes up there, can I get him back?
If it can go wrong it typically does.
- [Dave W.] Up to treating him.
(bird's wings flapping)
(clicker).
- [Dave W.] There you go.
(woman softly speaking)
(bird caws)
(clicker)