Carly Lu’s Flight Blog

NEI’s new show at the San Diego Zoo, SOAR: A Symphony in Flight, is in the last few days of training before the opening Saturday night.

I’m glad I watched the training last Saturday as well (blog post About to SOAR). There were far fewer opportunities to learn from birds who were giving them training challenges with new behaviors, in a new environment, at night. Everyone’s getting their part down. The teamwork of the trainers and staff is equally impressive. There are a lot of birds in this show, and almost all are cued off stage for behaviors they perform on the set or in the amphitheater. Right now there are no mechanized release cages, so all the entries and exits involve trainers as well.

One thing that struck me, which may seem trivial on its face, is how readily the birds enter their carriers. They are never shooed in, never forced in; it’s always a choice to walk in on their own. Clearly lots and lots of positive reinforcement there on a regular basis. Cool to see with such a tightly orchestrated show.

The other thing that’s very noticeable is how little voracity the birds show for their food rewards. With everything synced to music, video, sound and lighting effects, there isn’t much leeway for birds being reluctant to perform or wandering off script. Their diets are carefully designed to keep their weight in a good range for health and training, but when you see the birds working they don’t go after the food rewards all that rapidly when they’re offered, and their attention is definitely not focused on looking for it from the trainers. Many of them seem almost nonchalant about it. Also very cool to see in a show that demands such precise timing and which is on such a tight schedule for the opening. (Some of these birds only arrived from NEI’s Florida base two weeks ago.) It’s a wonderful demonstration of how weight is just one factor, and hunger doesn’t need to be very strong when there is a trusting relationship based on choice and not force.

The Green Winged Macaw at one of his stations on the set:


Pair of macaw butts stretching for treats:


Worker bees swarming the set:


Pair of very tired trainers waiting for Eurasian Eagle Owl to get set up.
[Hillary (standing) and Cari (collapsing).]

Many more photos in the Facebook album.

UPDATE: Show performance

I finally got over to see the show a week after its opening. It went very well and the audience loved it. They are combining parts of the planned night show (SOAR) and using parts of the day show in sections where the birds are still in training for the full SOAR program. It works seamlessly though, and if you didn’t know before hand which was which it would be very hard to tell.

After the show they let people stay if they want to watch them train, which is good for them (birds get more practice doing their routine in front of an audience) and pretty educational for the audience too. He explains what they’re doing as they train, and really stresses that they never make a bird do anything it doesn’t want to do, all R+. I wish more parrot owners could see that in action!

Sometime last year, I was concerned about times when Carly would fly so fast down the beach that she’d be out of hearing distance before I could call her back. Barbara Heidenreich suggested training an emergency recall. Zoos use this with some animals in case there is an incident with a trainer or an animal has to be moved quickly to another location. The idea is that the cue is different than a normal recall, and the reward is a huge jackpot, so there is a much higher probability of a response, even in the face of external distractions or competing reinforcers. It’s also a very useful behavior to have trained in case of an accidental escape outdoors.

I practice this once daily at home with both Carly and Piper to keep it fresh, using a referee’s whistle as the cue and usually a whole almond in the shell as their jackpot (highly, highly desired by my guys, as both toys and food). I use it at the beach when Carly is getting too far away, but not every time we go. Typically her flights are large loops, but within visual and hearing range. I am careful not to overuse it, otherwise the jackpot isn’t a jackpot any longer, and the emergency recall loses its extra incentive.

Jackpot!

Today I had the first opportunity to test it with Piper. He is about 15 months old, and has never been especially keen on going outdoors. He simply hasn’t shown the curiosity or ease with things and events outdoors that Carly did, even when very young. When he’s outside I try to take it very easy, going to familiar places routinely, doing a little training there, providing lots of opportunity for calm behavior and lots of reinforcement. We use a harness outside because I want to see far fewer startle responses before free-flying. Today he surprised me by flying out to me as I walked out the front door, then landing on the roof next to the entry. He sat there and looked around, and I wondered how this would play out. I called him a couple times and he stayed where he was, looking at the trees around us. Then I remembered the whistle on my key chain. Gave the double-toot that’s our cue and he looked back at me for a second, then flew right down. I took him inside and got an almond pronto! (Carly got one too, for not flying out the door. )

To get started training the emergency recall I shortened our daily recall training sessions a bit, and switched to the ref’s whistle at the end. At first they had no idea what I was asking for (and were a little startled by the loud sound) so I followed the whistle with our usual recall cue. When they came they got the big jackpot. I did this at the end of every recall session for a few days. Next I moved to different positions in the house, while still in sight, before giving the cue, and then out of sight in a different room. When that was working well, I stopped doing it at the end of our usual training sessions and started those steps over (whistle cue close by, then further away, then from another room) at random times. This is how I keep it in practice now. It’s quite funny to see them come racing in from wherever they are to get their jackpot.

The first time I tested it outside with Carly at the beach, I did it when she was not too far away. I had no idea if she’d respond out there. She turned around so quickly it was as if she skidded and made a u-turn in mid air.

It is not a 100% solution by itself. I still have to keep up all the regular training and practice routines or both kinds of recall get unreliable. In environments where there are a multitude of competing reinforcers (seagulls, people, trees, etc) the regular practice is especially important, so that the whistle works even when other reinforcers are present.

I was very pleased with the response from Piper today on his first escape outside ever. And also pleased that he was eager to go outside to begin with. We took a nice walk outside later so he could explore more, and did our usual training out by the pool.

Next up: competing reinforcers!

For more information, Barbara Heidenreich describes training an emergency recall in Good Bird Magazine

Carly Lu’s Flight Blog

http://likambo.com/flyblog

Sheira is 1 year old today (give or take a few days — her previous owner, who she is named after, did not know the exact day).

She was clipped from wingtip to “armpit” when I brought her home, and yet she was a fearless skydiver. She is all grown in now and flies around the house like a flutterbee (butterfly x bumblebee!)

Steve Martin’s Natural Encounters Inc (NEI) is creating a beautiful new nighttime bird show for the San Diego Zoo, with an environmental theme set to music and visuals. The set with full sound and lighting is spectacular (got a brief view during some testing). Here’s a peak at some of the birds being trained for the night show.

Me and my friend-in-forgetfulness Hillary (aka Tex, and NEI’s newest full-time trainer) both managed to forget our good cameras, so only the bigger birds and the ones trained before my iPhone ran out of juice made it in here. Over a very long evening, they also worked with several Eurasian Eagle Owls, two Keas, Blue Headed Macaws, a troop of rats, a pot-bellied pig, a 40-year-old American Fish Eagle, African White-necked Ravens, a flock of chickens, a rooster, and a pair of gorgeous Toucans. These show Steve training the Andean Condor (above) and the Maribou Stork with Wouter Stellard.

Steve and the senior trainers — Cari Clements, Dillon Holger, Lindsey Morse, Wouter — plus the other staff, certainly had their hands full. Some birds worked better than others, and usually the trainers were aware of potential problems before they happened. The level of difficulty and length of the training session appeared to be monitored very, very carefully, and no one was pushed even remotely near the danger zone. (Remember, this is training in a brand new environment, outdoors, at night, in the middle of a large city.) One of the important lessons I’ve learned for flying Carly in an urban area has been to be careful to never, ever knowingly push the safety zone. Knowing when NOT to go flying, or when to call it a day, is a crucial part of good training. So I found watching the training of the more challenging birds of the evening especially interesting. Not recognizing the limits essentially trains the bird for bad behavior by allowing an opportunity for competing reinforcers. (Once a bird settles in a nice tree there are no “do-overs.”)

Observing good trainers can be an education in itself: the ideas for solving problems, teamwork, different personal styles. But what I find most interesting is the clarity of the human-bird interaction when trainers are very focused and experienced in applying scientific training principles. Great opportunity to learn by example. Especially impressive when the trainers still have that focus after the fatigue of an already long day’s work and several intense weeks of preparation.

More fun pictures here. Hopefully some soon with a proper camera!

For more information about the show, see the San Diego Zoo site. There are also two daytime shows, at 2pm and 4pm. Opening is next weekend, June 27th (26th for zoo members).

For more information about NEI, see Natural Encounters, Inc. The “Press Room” area has some excellent articles on training and behavior, by the NEI staff and others. NEI also does week-long intensive training workshops for companion parrot owners once or twice per year.

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Carly Lu’s Flight Blog
http://likambo.com/flyblog

I just addressed a question about training the Aviator harness on a forum.

I forget all the details of how the Aviator recommends training, but I know they don’t emphasize how slowly you need to go and don’t break it down into small enough steps. I think if they were honest about that it would probably decrease their sales because people would perceive it as “too difficult”, or at least too time consuming.

Here are some tips for those very first steps.

If you’re seeing visible avoidance reactions, you’re going too fast. Too many of those and it will become a serious aversive and instead of training to wear a harness, you will have trained to hate harnesses.

At each step go only as far as your bird is comfortable with. A big problem with the Aviator is doing the loop over the head in baby steps. Starting with treats through the loop is good, but when it comes to actual contact that’s a huge step. When you approach that part don’t even try to put it all the way on. Just put it over his beak or head as far as he will allow without backing off, then immediately remove it. BIG treat. Repeat it at that level as long as it takes until he’ll allow a little bit more. It may seem like you’re not making any progress, but you’re actually setting up a big history of reinforcement. Repetition is good!

When you get to the point where he’ll allow it all the way over his head, be prepared to remove it immediately at first. You don’t want him to feel trapped. Just over the head and off, then treat. When that’s going well, you can do over the head, treat — BIG treat — then off. Then leave it on a little longer before the treat. Always be prepared to take it off immediately if he wants it off.

Lots of praise and treat at the end of session!

Repetition good!
Repetition good!
Repetition good!

Complete Harness Training Series.

And all are fine. When I start getting mail of the postal kind from people wondering if the the birds and I are OK, I know it’s time to update! May was a very busy month at work and at home so I haven’t been able to write blog posts, which I usually spend a bit of time with.

However, I do have a Facebook account now that I update regularly with tidbits and photos that are often about the birds.

You can find us by clicking on the Facebook profile on the right sidebar —>

Here are a few highlights from the last month.

Hanging out on roof racks (our new wheels!)

hangin on the patio:

hangin at the pub with Henry & Hill:

hangin at the pool, checkin out guys’ butts:

meetin’n'greetin at Starbucks:

helping:

and just being pretty: