- Today we're going to Ronie's to work with rescue birds
and I'm super excited.
Let's go!
(upbeat music)
(background noise drowns out other sound)
(upbeat music)
(birds chirp)
- I think I've made up my mind, Mommy,
which one I want.
- [Mother] Which one do you wanna work with?
(background noise drowns out other sound)
- This little one.
(upbeat music)
I wanna do this one, Mom.
This one, this one, this one.
(birds chirp)
No? (laughs)
I don't know.
- [Father] Might need to show the food again.
Now put your hand there.
- I let her put a foot on.
- [Father] And next we'll (murmurs) a little further.
(birds chirp)
- She just wants, I don't think she wants to do it.
- [Father] Just give her a little break.
- 'Cause she started to bite me?
(birds chirp)
Here's the treat.
- Let's see, 'cause it doesn't wanna step up this easily,
maybe we could try a test training.
(background noise drowns out other sound)
So I think we should try a test training,
'cause it seems a little nervous.
Wanna grab a target stick and a clicker?
(birds chirp)
- Hello, look.
You dropped that.
- [Mother] Did it not like it?
- I gave him the same treat.
I gave him a pine nut.
- No, he doesn't like it.
So we need to find a good treat.
- But I've been giving him pine nut,
and he liked it.
- [Mother] Well, he doesn't like it.
- Mm.
This is the sunflower seed.
It's pretty tiny.
- [Father] Hold still.
- [Mother] She is still.
- [Father] How come you're trying that?
- 'Cause I think he'll like it,
and it's like a seed that they like, I think.
- [Mother] So just.
(background noise drowns out other sound)
- [Capri] It's going in.
- [Mother] There you go.
- Hey, where are you going?
(birds chirp)
- [Mother] So Snipey, this little green cheek conure,
started going away from Capri,
and showing a lot less interest
in the target training with her,
so I decided to step in and see
if I could slowly get Snipey to come back over
to a place into that little rope perch
where we could interact with her,
so in small approximations, I kinda see
how far she's willing to go with the target training,
and for whatever reason she's really receptive
to me target training her,
unlike how she was treating Capri.
The interesting thing about it is
once I get her to the spot we want her at,
I hand the target over to Capri,
and again Snipey walks away,
and really doesn't want to target train for Capri.
Now we aren't quite sure why.
All we know is that it's just not working well,
and she's not receptive to Capri doing it,
so we allow that failure, and decide to move on
to the step up training again,
to see if she's more receptive to that,
which she is, which was great.
And so Capri proceeds to do the training with the step up.
(birds chirp)
Good job.
(birds chirp)
Perfect.
Let him go back, let him go back.
- I thought you were going to let me be with him?
- No, so any time a bird gets a real fear
of stepping up for the very first time,
you don't wanna just take 'em out and move 'em.
It'll scare them.
You wanna let them go right back,
so that they know that they're safe, okay?
- [Capri] Okay.
- [Father] He's doing great with you,
or she's doing great with you.
- [Mother] And try to get both feet.
And give it and let it go back.
Good.
So Capri, Capri, I wanna make sure
that your hand motion isn't so jerky
when it steps up.
Keep your hand right where it is when it steps up, okay?
That way if it wants to go right off it can.
I don't want you to kind of turn your hand for it, okay?
(birds chirp)
Good.
Perfect, just like that, kiddo.
That was awesome.
That was super good.
Do you wanna keep going, or should we give her a break?
- [Capri] Um, I wanna keep going.
- [Mother] Keep going?
Okay.
(birds chirp)
- Do you want me to try?
- [Capri] Go ahead.
(birds chirp)
- [Mother] It's almost like (murmurs) or something.
- Should I try?
- [Mother] I don't know.
- [Capri] I don't think it wants to.
- [Mother] Maybe not.
I don't know.
We don't know this bird well enough.
Do you wanna try another step up, or are you done?
- [Capri] I want you to try it.
- [Mother] You want me to do it?
I haven't done this (murmurs) with you.
Change it up a little bit?
It's okay.
Good job.
Good, that was perfect.
- [Capri] (laughs) He actually stayed on.
I was trying to brig him down,
but I don't think he wanted to do that.
- That was perfect.
I love that you did that.
And now he'll trust you more.
Because working with Snipey is a brand new thing to Capri
and it's very exciting and she's made a lot of progress,
she wants to continue to train,
and needs to learn to give Snipey breaks,
and learn to read body language of when she needs
to accept a no for an answer,
and kind of walk away and respect that.
And the more that she respects that,
the more likely Snipey is to interact with her
in the future, because she knows
that Capri will be receptive to how she is feeling,
what she is wanting or what she is not wanting,
and she knows that she can trust her that way,
but if Capri always forces her interactions on her,
then Snipey will learn to be
more and more aggressive with her responses.
- We're back,
and we're ready to work with the green cheek conure.
And now we're gonna go to every other bird (laughs).
But we're gonna try to go to that one,
these Pepper and Malen,
and then we're gonna go to that one (laughs).
There's a lot of birds.
Okay, Dad, almost ready?
Okay, let's get started.
(birds chirp)
- [Father] Just step back a sec.
Do you know what you did differently?
- [Capri] No.
- [Father] Your treat was in the other hand last time.
- [Capri] Oh.
- [Father] So come to that side.
- [Capri] Okay.
(birds chirp)
Doesn't want pets?
- [Father] Show him the treat.
(birds chirp)
That's right.
- [Capri] I don't know.
- [Father] That's okay, we'll let her have a little fail.
So wait a sec.
- [Capri] I'll probably need to grab more treats.
- [Father] Well, let's try it again.
- [Capri] Three, two, one.
- [Father] I don't think he wants pets.
Capri, she doesn't want that.
Show her the treat.
Got a little foot up, right?
- [Capri] I let him put a foot up.
- [Father] Yeah.
- [Capri] I let him have more treats.
- [Father] Okay.
- So I've been working with the green cheek conure,
and I got it to step up.
I raised it up and down,
and then I gave it the treat, and it will step back.
Mom, wanna see what I've been doing?
- [Mother] Yeah.
So good!
- Or, do you want me to try the other one?
That I did it?
- [Mother] Sure.
Hey.
Want a treat?
If you step up.
- [Mother] Good job, Capri!
That's so good.
(birds chirp)
Good.
- [Father] Now (murmurs).
- [Mother] Can you get another treat?
Oh, give it a treat.
(background noise drowns out other sound)
Let it go back on the perch.
Now try to give a treat.
- [Capri] I've always wanted to do that.
- [Mother] Good job, good job.
- I can't believe we got you out.
Yeah.
(upbeat music)
(birds chirp)
- [Capri] You do it.
- [Mother] You want me to do it?
- [Capri] I want you to do it.
- [Mother] Hey, do you remember this?
Good job.
You're doing awesome.
- [Father] She sees hand,
and then she's like, go with another one.
- Mom, mom, mom.
- [Father] She's close enough that she's like.
- [Mother] Cool.
- You didn't see her.
- [Mother] Did she do it right?
- [Capri] Yeah.
- [Mother] Good.
- [Father] I'm gonna air drop that to you real quick.
Oops.
- [Capri] Sorry, I keep dropping them.
Can you hand me one when I need 'em?
- [Mother] Good job.
- That was good.
- [Mother] Good job.
- Good job there baby.
- [Father] Oh your film (murmurs).
- I wanna keep her.
- [Mother] She's pretty.
- I wish I could keep her.
(birds chirp)
- [Mother] Good job.
Yeah, I think I could train her.
- [Father] Really?
- Good, yeah.
But I can't click.
Can you click for me?
Ready?
No, no, no (laughs).
This way.
Oh, good, you're right, this way.
Good job.
So I struggled through trying to train
this conure to turn around by using my hand underneath
instead of above, because I wanted to use
a method that Capri could use more easily,
and above would be a little hard for her.
So I struggled through this until finally I realized
that just using my left hand was the way to do it,
and it was so much easier to do.
(birds chirp)
Oh, got it.
You were still recording, right?
- [Father] Yeah, it's just shakey 'cause (murmurs).
- Good job.
(background noise drowns out other sound)
(upbeat music)
- [Mother] What makes you enjoy working with birds?
Like what made you wanna come out today
and work with rescue birds?
- Well, I think,
I don't know if a lot of people think this,
but I think it's really fun,
and it's kind of like a challenge,
because like they don't always get along with you,
and so like you can make them get
better relationships with you,
and then you can finally keep working
and it will make them better, so.
Where's the switch?
Wee! (laughs) (murmurs)