RE: [Freeflight] zilla /Kim's response--poll/recall

["Kimberly Knox" <knox@...>]

Hi Mandy

"...nobody has 
ever tried to compile anything of this sort."

Kim: Hehehe! Try to guess why!

Mandy: "...so far, no scientific conclusion to draw from the macaws
tho..."

Kim: No, at least not yet, but it's interesting that there's almost an
all-or-nothing kind of scene going on with the three fields I looked at.
Gotta be something else, eh? I also didn't look at any of the other
fields, such as, of those who were fledged, what were the recall scores?
Or re-fledged as adults... 

Mandy: Maybe a good question might be -
A. For those who don't do recall training at all with any of your birds 
(the Moser variety) - did you end up with a bird that has astounded 
you with its high recall percentage anyway?

Kim: Good question, but I am guessing that the Moser variety of Macaw
has little or nothing to do with the bird. It's the Dean-Man himself.
At least with the outdoor fliers I've seen, there's something different.
I don't actually know if we can quantify it, but it's at least worth
looking at. Hey, I thought cuddlers or Velcro birds would make the best
outdoor fliers! WRONG. 

B. For those who do recall training, did you have a bird that responded 
the first time you trained, and continued to respond every time you set 
up a training session? (and everyone else gets to judge whether it was 
your skill or the bird's nature to begin with.)

Kim: Good start to an interesting question (I think you got some
excellent feedback on this already). Anything we ask that we can't get
from the questions that were polled, we'll have to re-ask of everyone. 

Mandy: Now, this is tricky because you might be in the first category,
yet 
think you are in the second if you have a very in-tune responsive bird. 

Kim: Hummmmmm....I don't know whether it matters whether you have a bird
that "naturally" comes to you or that you have "trained" to come to you
except from a point of curiosity. From a group perspective, I think we
should keep training via positive reinforcement in the forefront,
because relying on a bird's breeding or temperament or any other
serendipitous characteristic over training is asking for trouble. I
completely agree with Mona in that it is WE who need the training. Once
WE "get it", the birds are more than happy to have someone to play
with--you're playing WITH the bird's nature, as you said, to begin
with). 

One thing to add to that though, the "Moser" variety (and from personal
experience, I'd also say the Tex and Darren variety), even though they
don't train formally (i.e., back and forth from a perch, breaking
behaviors down into baby steps, etc), don't think for one minute that
there isn't a TON of positive reinforcement. If you ask any of them
what they do, they'll be the first to shrug, look around, and say "do
what?" 

Interesting, eh?

Kim Knox