(birds chirping)
- [Jaime] Ah.
(wings whizzing) (stand clattering)
- Good girl.
Cassie.
- [Jaime] So is there a reason you ask her to fly
to your arm versus your hand?
- Just 'cause that's what her previous owner did,
to be honest.
- So try it again, but try getting her to land on your hand.
Yeah.
Did she? - A little.
All right.
- [Woman] Good job.
(birds chirping)
(wings whizzing)
(Jaime laughing)
Too slow.
(bright mellow music)
- So this is interesting
because she brings the target to her,
but yet she doesn't bring her hand to her.
I thought she would have naturally,
which is why I wanted her to try that.
- [Owner] So how do I get her to fly to my hands, then?
- Okay, so it was really interesting.
I didn't say anything
'cause I thought that you would do it naturally,
because with the target you bring it to her beak,
so I thought, okay, she'll bring her hands to her body,
but it's basically, with flight training,
it's a game of catch.
Did you ever see my series on Morgan,
- No, I didn't. - the Camelot Macaw?
Okay.
So what happened was Morgan would only fly to me
when my back was turned.
So when I, like, couldn't see her.
So I set up my phone as, like, a reverse so I could see her.
And then anytime she took flight,
I would turn around
and put my hand up and catch her.
And the reason I had to do that
is 'cause she thought that, like, the best space
was gonna be my shoulder or my back,
because previous owners
weren't able to hold her steady on their hand.
- [Owner] Yeah.
- So with birds, they'll pretty much
choose to go to where they can control and they can hold on.
So it's like, your shoulder, or your back, or your arm,
and the best way to do it
is to simply just catch them on your hand.
- [Owner] Okay.
- So when she's coming and you'd normally
like, do it on your arm, it's switching to here.
But if you don't, if you're, like,
feeling uncomfortable about it,
we don't have to work on it.
- No, it's (indistinct). - Okay, okay.
(wings whizzing)
- Yay. (laughing) - Good girl.
- [Dave] Yeah.
- Very good.
(birds chirping)
- So then, the reason that she's gonna be inclined from here
to walk up your arm into your shoulder
is because you're holding her like this.
- Okay.
- You wanna be holding her like this.
Yes.
- I think I worry, like, I know it's ridiculous,
but I worry about dropping her.
- [Jaime] Dropping her?
- Yeah. (laughing)
- [Dave] If she falls,
guess what? - She can fly.
(all laughing)
Yeah, and that's one of the things a lot of people do,
is they compensate.
'Cause they're like,
"Oh no, you're gonna fall." - She's gonna fall, yep.
- [Jaime] It's worse when you try compensating for them.
Like, just-
- Yeah, and 'cause she's got more to grip
here in the shower, anyway.
Whereas here, I usually end up with, like, scratches.
- Yeah.
You'll notice this is a lot more comfortable.
And then, earlier, you had her kinda here
and you weren't sure, like, how to get her down.
It's 'cause, like, manipulating that part of your body
is really awkward.
But Dave had her on his hand
and was able to just tell her where he wanted to go.
So you'll be able to communicate more clearly to her
step off, step on.
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
- Versus on the arm.
It's an awkward, like, I'm putting you off balance
and she's kinda like, "Why?
That's frustrating."
- [Owner] Yeah.
- Versus a clear communication of, I want you to go here.
- [Owner] And so then when you put her down,
what do you do?
Just, like, tilt your hand down?
- Yeah, so, if it were me
and I was putting her onto this surface,
I would come here so that she could step up
onto the surface.
'cause that's easier than stepping down onto the surface.
So I would go here,
and all my momentum and intention would go,
I want to set you here.
- [Owner] Okay.
- Do you wanna try it?
- Yeah.
(birds chirping)
I did it wrong. (laughing)
- Yeah.
And you can tell, because what you communicated was,
it made it more comfortable for her to go up, up, up
- Mm hmm.
- versus going down to the lowest part.
- [Dave] Do you wanna try it?
- With her?
I don't know if she'll come to me.
Can I hold you?
Her eyes are kind of flashing at me.
Can I hold you?
Good girl. - Good girl.
- [Dave] See how Jamie's holding her feet?
- [Jaime] Does that make sense?
You can give her a little treat if you want
'cause she was really good about that.
- Good girl.
(birds chirping)
- [Dave] 'Kay, do you wanna stop that recording?
I'm gonna have you do the same thing,
how you would normally do it.
(birds chirping)
- [Owner] Good girl.
I should give her the treat for that.
- [Dave] Yeah, and go ahead and set her back down.
Go and put her down.
- [Owner] I will put her down?
- [Jaime] Yep, put her down.
- I feel like I almost threw her off then. (laughing)
(all laughing) - You did.
- She was like, "I gotta get her down from here,
I gotta get her down," flop. (laughing)
- This is all shot in 240 frames per second,
so it's super slow motion.
So you see every little nuance as it happens.
Look at how clear my intention is
and how accepting she is of it.
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
- Steps up, my thumb grabs her foot
and assists with her stepping up.
- [Owner] Uh huh.
- [Dave] She feels stable the whole time.
I reinforce it.
Now watch how easy it is for me to tell her to go down.
I just, I'm still holding her foot,
I'm telling her to go there, and then I let go.
- [Owner] So you're not giving her the option
to climb up the arm.
- [Dave] I'm just making it really clear, my intentions.
- [Jaime] It's more comfortable for her
to do the intended behavior than it would be
for her to, like, try to fight it and go up the arm.
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
- [Jaime] Whereas in the reverse thing,
it's more comfortable for her to run up the arm,
'cause that seems a more secure area.
- [Dave] And also by feeling her toes,
I'm gonna feel her wanting to bite me
long before I actually get bit.
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
- [Dave] And so it gives me a chance
to change that situation before it becomes an issue.
- Yep.
- [Dave] Let's watch yours.
Okay, so your hand's below, she's unsure.
(birds chirping)
- [Owner] Whereas your hand almost came in next to her,
didn't it?
- [Dave] Mm hmm.
- [Owner] Yep.
- [Dave] I don't usually approach straight on,
but, okay, so she's going.
Look at her re-grip.
(bird squawks)
She goes for it, but now look.
She's not totally comfortable.
Now she's trying to get stable.
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
- [Dave] I kept her stable.
- Yep. - Okay.
And there she would have,
if your arm wasn't kinked at your wrist,
she would go up to your arm or into your shoulder.
And now try to tell her you want her to go down.
(birds chirping)
See how she's like, "Uhh,
but this is more stable."
- [Owner] Mm hmm.
(birds chirping)
- [Dave] Still more stable, still more,
and then you, then you chuck her.
(all laughing)
Right?
So look, she's sliding, and then she bails, there.
(women laughing)
So can you see the difference?
Like, it's really subtle,
that's why we shoot it in slow motion.
- Yep.
- But it just highlights kinda why it's important
to get in the habit of just grabbing her toes.
You can feel her intention
and more importantly, she can feel your intention.
- Yep.
- So you can just tell her what you want
without having to risk like,
"Hey, I feel like I'm throwing you off.
Or you might go to my shoulder,
and you might step on my ears," and...
- Yep.
- But you know, to be able to take
a bird I've never met before, and handle it,
that's one of the main reasons we're able to.
- Yep.
- Is because we can feel their intention
and they can feel our intention behind their feet.
Yeah, see if you can get her to fly over if she wants.
(wings whizzing)
- [Owner] I turned too late.
- [Jaime] She's ready. (laughing)
- All right, so I'll try to get her to step up again.
- [Jaime] Is that a clicker?
- [Dave] Yeah, I just moved the target
so she wouldn't eat it.
(birds chirping)
(clicker clicking)
- Oh.
- [Dave] Good, go ahead and give her a treat.
- Good girl.
- [Dave] And set her down.
- Oh, I let go of her thumb, I mean, her foot with my thumb.
- [Dave] See if you can set her down.
- Okay.
Hold on, let me get a treat.
- [Dave] There you go.
Don't feel like you have to treat that,
she's still got it.
- [Owner] Okay.
All right, so I need to hold onto her foot.
- [Dave] Cool.
That was already a lot better, though.
- [Owner] Yeah.
- [Dave] One thing that you can start to do
is start to pair the moment that your thumb goes on her toe-
- [Owner] With the treat?
- [Dave] Food.
At the same time.
Thanks.
(birds chirping)
(clicker clicking)
Good, and right back down.
- [Owner] (chuckling) She didn't seem to like it.
- [Dave] Yeah, so we'll work on,
at first you'll hold it, let go.
Next one, you'll hold a little longer, let go.
And we'll work on getting that
holding of her foot just slightly longer every time.
- [Owner] Okay.
- [Man] Home come she lets you hold her?
- Because he's probably - Let's me do it?
- [Owner] more confident, yeah.
- [Dave] It's just how I'm doing it.
- [Owner] Yeah.
- [Jaime] It's brand new for her, so she's used to
- Me doing it. - climbing up.
- [Dave] Hand.
(wings whizzing)
(clicker clicking)
- Good girl. - Good.
- [Jaime] Good job.
- I keep forgetting the thumb thing.
- [Dave] Okay, feel free to set her on the table.
(birds chirping)
See how delicately you had to move?
You're walking like this with her.
- I don't need to. (laughing)
- Well, it's only because you don't have her feet.
- Yeah.
- Once you have her feet, you can move more confidently.
- Yep.
Step up.
(clicker clicking)
- [Dave] Good, and back down.
Excellent.
- [Owner] Okay.
- [Dave] Does that feel a little bit
more comfortable for you?
- Yes.
And she didn't resist it as much at that time, either.
(birds chirping)
Penny.
(wings whizzing)
(clicker clicking)
She's landing too high up on my hand.
But that's okay.
- You need to move to catch her.
- I need to move to catch her.
It's not her fault, it's me,
it's me, it's me. (laughing) - [Dave] It's like,
if I threw a tennis ball,
you're not gonna catch it with your wrist.
(all laughing)
- [Jaime] That was so easy.
- I need to move to catch her.
- There you go. - Yeah.
- All right.
(happy upbeat music)