3/20/2023 0 Comments Rescue birds oregon![]() Ellie now goes out in the aviary each morning with a treat. Changes to the Daily ScheduleĪt the same time, I changed her daily schedule. I also replaced her feed bowl with a foraging wheel full of pellets so Ellie didn’t have any “nesty” type bowl to display in and protect. I took down the rope so that she didn’t have her launch pad available. Using the least intrusive, most effective method, I chose the latter. Or, I could change the environment that would make her dragon flying less likely to occur. I could let her land on me and bite me and not react showing her that this behavior is pointless (yes, this is advice given by some parrot behavior consultants!). I could just put up with it and dodge her attacks. The next thing on the list was to alter Ellie’s dragon flying routine. On future training encounters, Ellie started participating and it wasn’t long before she was an expert at targeting. However, she soon learned that the food goodies left with me. If she didn’t want to participate, then I would leave. With the real Ellie showing me these not-so-compatible behavior traits, I made up a training plan using the science-based training techniques of environmental change and R+.Īllowing a student control is a very powerful reinforcer. If I walked near the bowl at this time, she would often strike at me. ![]() Hiding her head in the bowl is often a nesting behavior for a cockatoo, as the bowl can represent a nest cavity. Ellie liked to bury her head in the bowl. Unfortunately, she seemed bent on controlling me as well and, she wasn’t using positive reinforcement (R+) methods to do so, that’s for sure.įor example, from her rope perch she would occasionally fly at me showing obvious aggression with her beak wide open, breathing fire like a flying dragon. I was delighted with her having control of her environment. Ellie had become comfortable flying to the rope and hanging out. ![]() Our second troublesome interaction occurred in the family room. I knew what Ellie was saying: “Stay away from my sink!” I asked her to step up, which was met with fluffed up head feathers and a cold stare. She immediately went into the sink showing excitement. One day, while in the bathroom, she flew from my hand to the sink. One of her favorite rooms was the bathroom. Signs of Troubleįor example, in the beginning I would walk Ellie around the house on my hand, which she seemed to enjoy. Unfortunately, some of Ellie’s old behaviors poked a few holes in our honeymoon period. The science of learning tells us that a reinforced behavior will occur again. Those behaviors may not be conducive to a happy relationship between caregiver and parrot.īehavior is a function of its consequences and, like all of us, Ellie has her own repertoire of behaviors that were reinforced successfully time and again during her life before she came to me. As the parrot becomes more comfortable and confident in his new environment, he will start to exhibit behaviors that may have been repressed in the beginning. We can be duped into believing that these are the permanent, unchanging qualities of our new friend. The new parrot may be quiet, calm, and friendly to everyone so all is right with the world. Some people call the first two weeks or so, when a mature parrot comes to live in their home, the honeymoon period. OK, it wasn’t that bad, but this new Ellie certainly caught my attention. Consequently, I too, had to slow myself down and not expect her to jump (or fly) for joy at my jungle gym set-up or explore the house and aviary on her own.Įllie eventually became comfortable with her new home, and that’s when the “real” Ellie emerged-sort of like the movie, Alien, where the monster claws its way out of the human’s chest. She was more of an observer than an action figure. When she first arrived, she explored and considered each new situation with great thought and care. I’m so used to my lifelong ‘toos being active, exploratory, playful (especially young Bare-eyeds), and confident that I assumed Ellie would be the same way.Įven though she seemed to be a confident cockatoo, she did everything in slow motion. My first lesson from my teacher, Miss Ellie, was to lower my expectations and alter the above mental images.
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