Styles of Flying
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Flying Styles Defined and Discussed. Written by Chris Biro. All rights reserved.
Note: Some content of this original post from the freeflight list has been removed here due to references to another show person. I removed those elements when posting this here because I believe those references distracted from the material of this article. Anyone interested can find the original post in the archives of the freeflight list. Chris Biro
I see two styles of show flying: Point to Point (A to B) and Freestyle.
I see three styles of flying for most pet owners: Point to Point,
Freestyle, and At Liberty.
I don't care too much what the names are but I think we should be
able to identify which style of flying is going on when discussing
our training.
Point to Point: A to B flights, A to A flights or A to B B to C, etc.
These would be very directed flights with little or no tolerance for
variation from the intended flight plan. Typically these are shorter
flights. These are often used for shows where time and space is
limited. This kind of flying is often a first stage learned before
advancing to other styles of flying.
Freestyle: The handler sends the bird out to go fly where ever it
wants to fly and for however long it wishes to fly but it must return
to a designated landing perch (and not land any other place) -
typically the landing is on the handler. Some shows are doing this
kind of flying and some pet owners are also doing this kind of
flying. This style of flying can also be a stage of learning achieved
before advancing to At Liberty flying.
At Liberty: The bird is turned loose and is free to go whereever it
wants and do what it wants until the handler calls the bird back to a
specific location. This gives the bird the most control of its
activities. Usually these are well trained advanced birds but in some
cases these will be birds that are mostly untrained but controlled
only by the location and timing of their feeding.
I did not use the term "sessional" because it seems to me that a
session of flying is more about the duration than the style.
I did not use the term "unstructured" or "structured" because both At
Liberty and Freestyle could be called "unstructured".
I mention the untrained food controlled birds here because I have
personally seen Chris Shank let untamed cockatoos loose and then get
them back into their cages for feeding later that evening. She may
want to tell us a bit more about this flying.
Jim Dawson Wrote: "IMO. most bird shows
follow a formula that is based on moving birds quickly through the
arena, lest you exceed the extremely short attention span of the
audience. There is no time for complicated behaviors, unless its
something that mimics human behavior -- like talking or playing
basketball. A to B's are about all of the flight that can be
squeezed in before time is up. I hate to say it but that's all a
lot of show trainers know. I've worked with a lot of them and many
have never tried to do anything more complex."
I have seen several shows that were only Point to Point (A to B)
flying. But lately I have seen a couple that have had much more
freestyle flying included. I see this as a welcome change. Though
that means people will not be as impressed with my 9-10 freestyle and
At Liberty birds all loose flying at the same time during our shows
if everyone else starts flying this way in their shows also <grin>.
I think the audience LOVES to see these guys flying loose and under
their own control. My guys delay my show all the time because they do
more flying than I intended but it only seems to cause the audience
to be just that much more impressed. It simply blows people's minds
that they can be loose to do their own thing thoughout our day and
during our shows and still they come back when we call them down. And
if Ariel (Scarlet) and Gleam and Dretti (Blue Throats) or Boomer or
Grace (Calicos) do several large laps instead of the two they are
normally supposed to do, then the audience patiently watches and
waits and then applauds just that much louder when they do return. I
have no doubt that people will sit through more flying because it
offers just so much more value to them than do the simple and short
point to point flights. Plus people only get to see them "jinking"
with the longer flights and never with point to point flights.
And yes Point to Point flights can be trained with higher weight
birds. I do not weigh any of my birds and each of them get all the
food they want in the evening. And I get good responses doing the
Dollar Bill trick where the birds fly out into the audience to
retrieve dollars and bring them back to our stage. Last year the
three were doing this about 300 times per day and no one was
underweight - each trip earned them a sunflower seed and they
continued to work until they were visibly bulging and just too full
to fly any more <grin>. These are point to point flights though one
of the points is variable and identified by an audience member
waiving money in the air. We really love this trick. We try to give
everyone a chance to do it at least three or four times <grin>.
I think I am seeing more of this freestyle flying at zoos and
theme parks. When ever we get a chance we like to visit the zoos in
the areas we do our shows in. And their bird shows are always of
great interest to us.
Parrots: More Than Pets, Friends For Life
Chris Biro
(206) 618-2610, www.wingingitadventures.com
