Re: [Freeflight] 'No' and other useful behaviors

["Kathleen Skeels" <skeels@r...>]

Hello Pamela,

I'm wondering if you've observered the same patterned response to flying and
the environment in your Greys?
In other words do you have Greys who were fledged capable flyers, but who
did not fully return to flight after a wing trim because they had'nt ever
experienced flying in your home?

Like the rest, I enjoy your writings very much.

Thanks,
Kathleen Skeels
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pamela Clark" <clark.exotics@t...>
To: <Freeflight@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Freeflight] 'No' and other useful behaviors

> Hello List,
>
> I've been interested to read the current discussion about flight and
> teaching "no." As some of you know, I have recently moved from California
> (where I free flew outdoors two of my Greys) to Oregon (where I am not
> presently free flying any of them). However they all continue to fly
> indoors, and I have both made some interesting observations since the move
> and gained some further insight as well.
>
> I'm sure the question many of you may ask is "Don't the two who used to
fly
> outdoors miss that - aren't they chaffing at the bit, so to speak, to get
> outdoors?" I have, in all honestly, to say that I don't observe that. I
> don't feel guilty or conflicted inside that I'm not currently providing
them
> with that experience, so I don't think that my observations about their
> reactions are biased. They seem perfectly content to remain indoors for
the
> moment. I do think, however, that what remains critically important to
them
> is that they remain flighted.
>
> The interesting observations I've made relate to some of the species I
have
> that are not Greys. For instance, my DYH Amazon has had a full set of
> flight feathers for years. However, he did not choose to fly often. The
> flying he did was always in response to my training efforts with him. He
> rarely initiated flight on his own throughout the day. In this new house,
> however, he flies everywhere. His flight skills have improved three-fold
as
> a result. This house is less conducive to flight overall, as well. It is
> smaller, and he must fly in a tight circle, making his path from living
room
> through the kitchen into the dining area and back into the living room.
> This leads me to believe that flight also is a patterned behavior that
gets
> somehow psychologically "coupled" with environment. Once in a new
> environment, Harpo was suddenly free from self-imposed patterns to develop
> new ones.
>
> The observations I've made most recently that truly excite me boil down to
> one truth - birds use their wings and flight to communicate. Thus, when
we
> clip their wings, we not only take away their sense of safety, their
ability
> to exercise, their ability to exercise choice and volition, but their
> ability to communicate with each other and with us. I watch Rollo and
> Marko, two of my Greys, and I wonder at the way they use their wings with
> each other. Both will be perched on top of my 3-tiered California Cage
> stack, and Marko will extend her wings, regally move them through the air
a
> few times, and then fly at Rollo in an attempt to push him from his
perching
> spot. I'm not sure exactly what is being commuinicated here, and I don't
> care. What I feel is profound is the realization that they are
> communicating with each other through wing movement and flight. Thus,
their
> relationship is more fullfilling and complex as a result of their ability
to
> interact this way. As it with with me....
>
> If we look at parrots in their natural environment, no parrot is teaching
> "no" to another parrot. Instead, they are taking care of busniness with
> each other "on the fly" so to speak. When we live with flighted parrots,
we
> too can do so. Teaching "no" is not even an issue. Tonight, when I was
> feeding the birds, I was both tired and impatient. Marko and Savannah
both
> (Greys, of course) kept landing on the mixing bowl, getting in my way,
being
> generally obnoxious. I didn't hesitate to shove each of them right off,
> rather harshly. They of course took no offense and were not dissuaded in
> the least from trying the same thing again. If we are to understand
> parrots, we must realize that they are opportunists. We may think we have
> succeeded in teaching them "no" on a particular point, but this is mere
> illusion. Any parrot in his right mind, with enough "moxy" from being in
a
> flighted state, will try to get away with what she can get away with.
This
> is frustrating for us...still deeply entrenched in the mind-set we
developed
> from those early dog obedience programs.
>
> However, we will be much more effective with our parrots when we get out
of
> that whole mindset. Yes...I'm sure we can teach parrot companions "no."
I
> would assert, however, that this is an assinine goal. All we really need
to
> do is to interact with them as they interact with each other - on the fly
> with authenticity. In the moment. They do, over time, learn their
> boundaries in this manner.
>
> Pam
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