- For backstory, can you tell me how you got this bird,
what you know about this bird and that kind of thing?
- Yeah so, we've had him for a little over a year,
maybe a year and a half.
His old owners were really old
and he decided he hated the guy
and so the wife was the only one that could handle him
but her, she was so frail and old,
that when she would pick him up,
and they would pick him up on their arms
'cause they couldn't hold him on their hand,
he would rip their skin.
So, he actually broke her finger, her pinkie finger.
- [Instructor 1] Through biting or?
- Through biting.
And that was kind of the last straw for them.
(upbeat techno music)
So they were looking for a new owner
and a friend of mine worked at the vet clinic
and I had just lost my African Gray not too long ago.
And I was like, "Okay, maybe I'll kind of,
go over and see what he is like."
And so kind of got to know him
and he was really good with me at first and,
but no he's not.
They would feed him whatever they were eating.
So lasagna, slices of pizza.
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Yeah. Chicken wings, things like that.
And he's got a lot of hormonal issues.
- [Instructor 1] As far as the, kinda the aggressions
and the hormonal side of things.
On a scale of one to ten,
ten is like, "We've had it, we can't take anymore."
One is like, "Oh man, he's perfect."
Where do you think he falls on the scale?
And you can answer each for your individual experience.
- I would say six or seven for me.
- Yeah. - [Instructor 1] Okay.
- 'Cause I can't even handle him anymore.
Like, I can't get him out of the cage,
I can't walk by his cage without him trying to attack me.
- And then on the flip side of that,
I can't spend more than a minute or two with him
before he starts trying to regurgitate for me,
trying to crawl on my back.
- He like, sits low, puts his butt on him.
- If you only could pick two things to fix,
we can't get you anywhere
without diet and sleep being correct.
The first thing that I see,
between the pellets that you're feeding,
the value of the treat is pretty low.
- [Instructor 2] So we immediately dial-in
on the foundations being completely off
for this Green-Winged Macau.
Although these guys have made amazing improvements for him
by just the transition from his old home to them,
including the diet, it's still not where it needs to be.
And the sleep, especially, is completely off.
So, although they say that the bird is covered
for a certain amount of hours, their house is not quiet,
the space is not quiet, it's not uninterrupted.
And so that's why they're getting so hormonal,
so many hormonally-triggered behaviors,
is because of the environment.
- Step up.
- [Instructor 2] Holy crap. (bird squawks)
- No, (indiscernible).
Step up. (bird squawks)
- [Instructor 1] I'm gonna have you step back.
- [Instructor 2] Yeah. Step back.
- [Instructor 1] All that body language
is him very politely telling you "no."
- Really? Okay.
- [Instructor 1] If you force it,
you were gonna be bitten.
- Okay.
- [Instructor 1] A hundred percent.
So let's try it again,
this time when you get a "no," say why not?
Well, probably because you don't know that I have treats.
Try showing him the treats.
- Okay.
- So, is it that, like the head shaking?
- [Instructor 1] He was heightened.
- [Instructor 2] It was kind of all of it.
So, he immediately fluffed first,
so all the feathers came up
around his head and got super fluffy.
Then his pupils started dilating.
They basically started pinning his eyes.
He got twitchy with his head and he started talking.
- [Instructor 1] Are you familiar with the FU feathers?
- [Student with glasses] Yeah, I watched your video, yeah.
- Okay, yeah.
So the FU feathers are a few feathers on the back
of the head and neck, usually depending on the species.
And that's usually a pretty accurate representation
of how they're feeling.
They communicate to each other
through physical body language more so,
or more frequently than vocalizations.
So, your body language they're usually interpreting
rather than a voice command of "step up," or "fly,"
like they're really looking at you
and your intention through your body language.
And they're communicating back through theirs.
- Okay, okay.
- [Instructor 1] So this time, you may need
to show him the treat and bribe him to step up.
- Pistachio?
(bird squawks)
- [Instructor 1] Still less heightened.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Yeah, it's better, right?
- [Instructor 1] So yeah, maybe if he comes
to the front of the cage, he's more likely to do it.
Do you think he'll just climb on top
and then we're in a whole different-
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Yeah,
I think that's what he wants to do.
He wants to get on top of it.
Now he's- now he just wants to ignore me. (laughs)
- [Instructor 1] Okay, let's try to hold the pistachio,
And see if that looks different.
(bird vocalizing)
- Step up. (bird vocalizing)
(bird vocalizing)
You'll get a pistachio if you step up.
- [Instructor 1] Does he target train?
- She tried it with him and he,
she said he was very afraid of the stick,
but it could have been her.
I haven't tried with him yet.
- [Instructor 1] Okay.
We'll wait for his body language to change.
And then I want to have you keep watching the bird,
I'll have Jamie slowly approach
and I want you to see,
tell me when you see him basically saying like,
"I will kill you."
- Okay.
- [Instructor 1] So, watch him.
- Yeah, right there.
- [Instructor 1] That was it, yep.
So that's a clear warning.
So, Jaime, walk back.
That's him saying-
that's him communicating prior to bites, prior to screams.
He's like, "Too close, back off."
- Okay. (bird vocalizing)
- [Instructor 1] The more we can show that we,
I hate to even say the word respect,
but we acknowledge that he's like-
- [Instructor 2] Recognize even, is a good term.
- [Instructor 1] Then we step back from that,
we're communicating with him a clear communication,
even though, that's not really what we want.
I want that more than I want him biting
or screaming or lunging or flying out-
- Right.
- What do you think?
- [Instructor 2] He's actually nervous about you.
- [Instructor 1] See all that body language?
No way.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Okay.
- So, there's a couple things we can do.
We can put his cage on the ground
where he's naturally gonna feel more vulnerable.
One risk that comes with that,
is if he's the type of species
that likes to chase feet on the ground,
like some Cockatoos, Amazons,
then that would be a really bad decision.
Do you know if he has history of like, biting feet?
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Not as far as I know.
Wanna step up?
(bird squawking)
Good boy, Sammy.
Ah, ah.
You can't climb on my arm.
- [Instructor 1] I want you to start getting the treat.
- [Instructor 2] Just go ahead and pull him out.
- [Instructor 1] And pull him out,
pull him out and simultaneously give the treat,
and then set him on the chair behind you.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] That's fascinating,
off the ground.
- So, huge lesson here.
If you go back 2019, what were the headlines in the news?
It was black, white, gay, straight.
And all those individually significant issues
were not life threatening issues.
They were glorified or made to (indiscernible).
So then you fast forward to March of 2020, Covid hits,
the number one thing everybody was concerned about
was toilet paper. (laughter)
But then realistically,
what happened is people all of a sudden
lost their sense of security.
We didn't know if there was going to be jobs.
So our shelter was at risk.
Our homes, we didn't know how we're gonna pay for our homes.
Where our food and water was gonna come from,
if we can afford it, if you're going to die.
So now the headlines went to like, survival mode,
rather than anything else.
Once we started all getting free checks, to celebrate,
we've not burned down our favorite cities.
Right?
So what does that all mean?
I think that birds have a hierarchy of needs,
or you could look at like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs,
if you're familiar with that,
as how to reach ultimate enlightenment as a human being.
And it's kind of our list of needs.
Well, with parrots, they seem to have this pyramid,
and the bottom half is food, water, and shelter.
Once food, water, and shelter feel guaranteed to the birds,
then what happens is they move into the top half,
which is unwanted behavior.
So it's biting, screaming, feather plucking,
not stepping up, breeding,
you know, all the unwanted behaviors.
And if you really think about it,
in the wild, once a bird is fat and happy,
then they can start to breed
and they can start to have babies.
But if they're on survival mode,
there's no way that they're-
if they don't have a secure place to make the nest,
they're not gonna be even trying.
They're gonna keep going
until they find that secure shelter.
So the reason that,
this is all just kind of my hypothesis at this point,
but the reason that going from moving the cage to the ground
is his shelter was all of a sudden questioned.
He's like, "This does not feel safe.
So how do I improve my shelter?"
So really, any behavior problem
can start to be figured out when you say,
"Okay, how can I disrupt food, water, shelter?"
Obviously, we don't want to intentionally
withhold water, ever.
Sometimes an accident happens
but that's never the primary go-to.
You don't wanna withhold food
but you could modify how that's delivered and at what point,
so it's uncertain.
So he's wanting to work for it to secure that.
Same with the shelter, when we have,
we have, you know, 10 different birds at home
and we rotate which one goes in each apiary frequently.
So they never, like, "This is mine," right?
So we start to, just we constantly
are screwing with food, water, shelter.
So they don't have that guaranteed security
of knowing that's there.
And because of that we help avoid
coming outta that, you know,
burn down your favorite city type mentality with the birds.
So, that's kind of like a long answer for that explanation.
But it also will help you start to see things at home, like,
"Man, you know, if he thinks that that cage is his nest,
maybe we put him in a different cage?"
Or we feed him in a different spot, or we, you know,
you start to think how do we disrupt the shelter?
And, on the surface it's easiest to say,
"How can he make his life a little harder?"
That sounds horrible, but then again,
you go back to how are they hardwired in the wild?
They're flying all day, they're foraging all day,
in the hopes of maybe getting some food, but probably not.
Or maybe not, I guess, it's not a guarantee.
And we want to try to mimic that as close as possible.
Be interesting, do you want do some targeting while I've-
I'm gonna start with the big treat.
Your treat should be a third of that,
but I don't know this bird
and I want to go home with all my fingers.
So I'm getting no attention.
So I'm gonna try to show the treats,
(bird vocalizes) still no attention.
So I'm gonna go with what's working.
He really is looking to you guys
'cause he's like, "Dude, who's this stranger?"
I'm gonna come to your side
and I'll just try to be in the way.
So I'm gonna move this way so I have a more likely chance
of keeping his attention.
See this?
When's the last time he ate?
- [Student In Blue Shirt] This morning?
- [Student With Glasses] Eight o'clock this morning,
we just gave him little bit.
- [Instructor 1] Okay.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] We tried to give him like,
barely as much as we usually give him.
So that he'd be a little more food motivated.
- [Instructor 2] (laughs) No.
(laughter)
- [Instructor 1] Because they didn't know better yet.
(Instructor 2 laughs)
(device clicks)
- [Instructor 2] Nice! (group praises bird)
(device clicks)
- [Instructor 1] So you saw how he got a little too low
and his lower mandible was able to touch it.
It was not ideal.
(device clicks) Got it.
See how he could only touch the upper.
And same thing with the treat,
because I don't know this bird.
Same thing, He couldn't reach his lower mandible to bite me.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Okay, okay.
- I'll click for you.
But if you want to do that.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Sure.
These are maybe usable, maybe not.
But I'll watch for the right time and I'll click for it.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Okay.
(bird squawking)
- Hold it there.
He's like, "Um, why am I surrounded?"
(device clicks)
See how you almost went too low with it?
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Right. Oh, sorry Sammy.
(device clicks)
So was that the (indiscernible) that you were talking about?
- It is and I'll explain why it happened.
So, and I almost corrected you before it got to that point,
but you can see him engage.
What I don't want is he's engaged and you pull it away.
So, like hold this.
Here, just hold that.
- [Student In Blue Shirt] Oh yeah.
(laughter)
- That'd be really obnoxious.
You were right at that point, I didn't want to correct you.
So what happened is, with the target stick-
I totally thought you were going to pull it
away from me there. (laughter)
Touche. (laughter)
With the target stick, he held it like this
and he has this whole surface.
He's gonna get to here and grab whatever part he can.
But if he's has this whole surface, you could move to,
okay, let's say this is the perch,
you could have it here.
So he could only reach from the edge
of the perch and go so far.
- Oh, okay. I was too close to his bubble, I guess.
- Partially, but because this isn't a traditional t stand,
we don't wanna risk him falling off the edges.
So, instead of being here,
like that, he can only touch the tip of it.
- Oh, I see. (bird squawks)
- Little closer.
Pause there.
Bring it down slightly.
There.
- [Instructor 2] Too many distractions.
- Gotta rest soon.
Gotta rest.
So in that case, yeah, too many distractions.
(bird flapping wings)
(device clicking)
Go ahead and treat for that.
(laughter)
So, does anybody know why I clicked for that?
- [Student With Glasses] 'Cause he didn't react.
- It's a good thought. Any other guesses?
You have a guess?
- [Student In Blue Shirt] So, was the ruffle like, a reset?
- You guys are all getting towards it.
Do you have a guess?
So it is an incompatible behavior.
He is not going to be fluffy if he is pissed off.
And I want to encourage more of those behaviors
that are like, relaxed and calm and not aggressive.
But remember, if they learn something,
they're pairing into the emotion.
The fact that he ruffled and fixed his feathers
meant he was content enough to do so.
Keep going, keep going. Right there.
(device clicks)
Nice. And even how you were like,
"Your beak's open, I'm gonna touch it to you."
Totally fine.
In the beginning we just want him to know
that he touches it and gets a treat.
Cool, so we're gonna pause the session there.
That looks, that looks really good.
You can have a seat.
We'll kinda of check off some of the things that we saw.
(upbeat music)