(upbeat music)
- My name is Shanice Aaron,
and this is my Red-fronted macaw, Kona.
(upbeat music continues)
So the reason why I chose the Red-fronted,
because after doing a lot of research,
they are one of the best flyers.
And it was also Dave's recommendation
because he taught another Red-fronted macaw
through his clients.
So that's how we knew that, okay, this is what we want.
And we were specifically looking
for a baby macaw who is not clipped.
That was the most important thing.
- [Woman off Screen] Yay!
(electronic music)
(bird squawking)
- Yay.
Good job.
Kona's coming.
- [Shanice] Kona.
Come on pretty bird.
Kona.
Kona come.
(squawking)
- [Woman off Camera] So cute. (laughter)
Yay.
(laughing)
- So this is our first baby macaw.
And we were, I am kind of scared of getting bit
but actually I think cockatoos
having a Galah might be a little bit worse
of the bites and macaws are more chill like a T-Rex.
And they're kind of more, maybe macaws are good
at training, but macaws are more chill.
So, but maybe after this flight
I want a huge, Hyacinth macaw, maybe.
I don't know. (giggles)
So the reason why I wanted to do two flight trainings
because Momo, after seeing Momo fly
I really wanted Kona to fly
and having a bigger flock is always better.
Birds are flock mates
and Kona never wants to really fly alone.
So whenever he sees Rico fly he wants to fly.
And definitely characteristics of training
a bird from a macaw compared to a cockatoo is different.
And it was really an amazing learning experience
of being able to see different types of species.
So the struggles between my mom
and what I had, and yes, Kona, he's not fully weaned.
So he had troubles in there
but it was much easier because he is not clipped.
That is so important.
Momo is an adopted clip bird.
And that's why he was struggling.
After he was fully feathered we had to retrain him.
But Kona, he was from the moment he was born to now,
he was able to fly.
And that looked so natural and it was so fun
so that's why I'm really against clipping.
Cause it looks like he's having so much fun.
So if you want a macaw, why do you want to
why do you want it to clip a bird like
don't you want a macaw that can fly?
So it definitely, yes,
so Dave really dialed in a good training method for Kona.
And it was different
because my family has a history of over-training.
So I was overtraining Kona, and he started to not come
and I'm like, wait, this was so easy.
But then what happened?
So Dave was really able to dial in a good training method.
Not too much reps and not too much hard reps for Kona.
But he was able to fly and he's not clipped,
so that's what it made
this training process so much easy and fun for Kona and me.
So Momo is really attached to my mom.
First it was me, but now I want my own primary bird.
I want the responsibilities of training.
I wanted to take Dave's course
cause that's why I got a baby macaw.
And that baby bond is so, is so enjoyable.
So I really wanted to enjoy that experience.
And I'm really happy I got Kona. (giggles)
So the struggles of Kona, since he's not fully weaned,
I was still experiencing, he so he's around seven months.
So I was still experiencing what foods he likes,
what treats he likes.
So Dave was like, hey, we really need to set the foundation
because we have two months.
And I want to thank Dave so much for training Kona
in two month period, because he was able to dial
in treats ready, you know, not sugar.
The BirdTricks Natural Feeding System
has helped him so much.
Not over gain or not lose any weight.
So I always bring the weight scale, but this
BirdTricks Natural Feeding System has helped
because he's been coming at the weight he has now.
And that's the biggest thing.
So Dave he's, so he's honest, if you're not ready
you're not ready, but if you're ready, you're ready.
So I was really nervous.
But you know, Dave prepares your bird really well
and you should really listen to what he says.
Because day two, something unexpected happened.
And when you're flight training,
when you're flight flying your bird
you should really expect the unexpected because Kona
he flew away, right.
And he had his harness on
so I was so nervous because the clip part broke.
But after calling him once he came.
So Dave was like you really need to practice
only calling once for recall and that really helps.
So thank you so much, Dave. (giggles)
- [Woman off Camera] The comment the other day-
(squawking)
Who is that?
(squawking)
Oh it's Kona with the leash.
(cheering)
- So the difference between telemetry
and GPS and what I like about them both
is telemetry is three grams,
GPS is 10 grams
and depends on your bird size, but they're both light.
They're both convenient and my birds have no problem.
And especially for the GPS
not only you can locate where your bird is at
but you can record their flight pattern.
That's what I really love.
And there's also, you can preserve your battery
there's echo and HD mode, and it's very light.
And I really recommended it, I don't
I wouldn't fly my bird without it, it's very safe.
(upbeat music)
(squawking)
Come on Kona.
(beeping)
Kona.
(laughter)
My ultimate goal, this is not the end.
This is just the start of the journey.
And Kona, this is his first flight
and after I see him I really want to keep him
continuing his flight training.
And definitely next year, I'm really excited to fly Kona
with BirdTricks and hopefully he can become better.
And it's nice to fly with the bigger flock
and I think Kona is really happy about that too.
So thank you so much for planning this small bird event
because I only have small birds and this is so
perfect to meet so many different kinds of birds too.
So thank you.
- [Man off Camera] Aww, that's awesome.
- Thank you so much for today.
(laughter)
- [Man off camera] And that's who you heard the whole time.
- You guys were a little noisy. (laughter)
- Thank you so much you guys.
- [Man off Camera] Yeah, thank you.