Free Flight Training -- more info

[carlylu]

Just a bit more info for anyone reading about flight training.

There have been advocates recently of training parrots for freeflight by relying on the “baby bond” rather than a solid foundation of positive reinforcement training at an appropriate age. This style encourages novices with little to no parrot care experience to purchase unweaned babies to feed and start flying before the weaning period is finished. The May 2008 World Parrot Trust newsletter features this column by Jim McKendry of the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia, where he works with free-flighted birds and parrot behavior (Experts & Answers). In this section he is responding to a question about a newly adopted 17-week old Congo African Grey parrot who was not fully weaned:

"I noticed that Dr. Brian Speer has responded to another question you submitted concerning an appropriate diet for an unweaned African Grey. It is important that we continue to reinforce to the parrot owning community just how completely inappropriate it is to purchase a parrot as young as this. This is perhaps the most critical stage of development in a parrot’s life. A time where it needs to be socialised with other parrots, provided opportunities to forage, explore its environment, develop its flight skills, muscle tone and coordination, and given time to properly develop its independence. Breeders need to be challenged to ensure that each of these absolutely essential experiences have been catered for prior to being sold. "

The sale of unweaned baby birds by stores and bird marts is also illegal in the state of California, with strict guidelines for ensuring a proper age and weight before adoption. A good breeder can provide the social environment needed with other birds, the space to develop and practice flight, as well as the feeding care required for a healthy transition to independence. If a breeder you select will not allow a bird to fledge naturally, keep looking!

Most well-trained free-flighted parrots have started well past the weaning age, or even as older adults. For some examples, see the Wyoming Fly Week gallery. All of the birds at this event started training no younger than 6 months, with the exception of one cockatoo who was weaned by her trainer, an experienced hand feeder, when she could not be kept with the breeder. Training is the key, not the false security of the temporary baby bond.

For more info & links to some excellent training resources, see also: Carly Lu’s Flight Blog

[MicahEspudo]

Some more info:

Free Flight Training

Congo African Grey Freeflight


The second link contradicts Carly's info about un-weaned babies, but it is still interesting :)

[Courtzrocks]

Yes it it illegal to sell a unweaned bird here. My uncle bought his Quaker unweaned and I told him that as he didnt know until after.

[carlylu]

Originally Posted by MicahEspudo

The second link contradicts Carly's info about un-weaned babies, but it is still interesting :)

Yes, it certainly does contradict it. That trainer is extremely inexperienced with flight training, and learned from someone who is pretty much on the fringes in terms of methodology. There is an article with more info about Carly's flight training in the current issue of Barbara Heidenreich's magazine Good Bird.

One of the Birdtricks brothers contacted me when he prematurely flew the very inexperienced grey in the videos at the beach, where a big seagull chase occurred. I told him I used a much different method and did not advocate the "throw them in and see if they can swim" approach. The method described in the videos progresses so fast and so recklessly -- even for a young bird -- that no one in the professional bird training world will endorse it. If someone has such a shallow understanding of the training process to not even know that forcing a bird into situations against their will is not an accepted method, then it's my opinion they should be on the learning end of training education, not the teaching end.

I'm not trying to interfere with anyone's personal endeavors, but when it's marketed or put before the public at the expense of birds (not just stress, but very likely losses or accidents when the "baby-bond" wears off) I think it's important to make sure there is also information out there about what professional trainers actually do. I'm not claiming to be one of them, but I only follow methods that are in line with very reputable trainers like Barbara Heidenreich and Sid Price (who are a past president and the president-elect of an international trainers' association, among other credentials).

For clicker training there is an excellent yahoo group called Bird-click; the group owner is the author of an equally good and inexpensive book called Clicker Training for Birds. Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog is another really excellent book that many people I know who free-fly have read several times over. (It's not just about dogs.) These resources are how most of us who free-fly got started.

These training methods are not new, nor secret. Trainers for zoos and shows have been doing this for decades, and scientists have been studying the principles behind it, operant conditioning, for even longer. And that makes it even more obvious when someone professing to be an expert doesn't really get it.

Here are another couple of interesting links when considering training methods:
Barbara Heidenreich's Training Talk Blog
Sid Price's Training Blog

Happy training!

[SDavid]

Thanks for the great links. The last two are interesting indeed....but sad really.

[bullibirdshow]

Those two links are awesome!

The problems that people face when inexperienced handraisers and buying a unweaned bird. :(((((((((

Cheers,

Bulli