FEATURE
The workshop I attended was the third in a progressive series for companion parrot owners, so everyone had done at least two workshops previously. Each participant was allocated two birds, a task bird which you had to train with given tasks and a challenge bird with which you could choose which behaviours to train.
Tasks and challenges Palmer the Palm cockatoo was my challenge bird and Betsey a Green- winged macaw was my task bird. Twice a day we were given tasks to work on with the task bird. Sometimes behaviours the bird already knew sometimes not. For their challenge birds some participants chose elaborate behaviours and mostly succeeded. Wendy taught Ike, a kea, a chain of behaviours; station on a perch, run through a tunnel, climb a rope and fly to another perch. Margo taught Julio, the Galah to weave through for bending poles, open a trap door, pick up a washer, fly with it to a perch and drop it in a bowl. These behaviours were all taught using the principles of positive reinforcement. With my challenge bird I was less ambitious. I simply wanted to handle the palm cockatoo with ease and get him to fly to me and from me in a large space. (I have problems of handling
Perdy, my lesser sulphur crested cockatoo at home and my 2 Greys have an extremely flaky recall.) Palmer the Palm cockatoo has lived at NEI for 9 years since he was bought in from a private facility where he was bred. He’s taken part in free flying bird shows and also been used in more than 20 workshops. Palmer was lodged in one of a row of small flights in one of the aviary buildings. The large aviary in which I wished to work him was some yards away on the opposite side of the corridor. I would have to walk with him willingly on my hand to get there. One of the cardinal points of working at NEI is that there a bird must never be coerced in training. The restraint of a thumb over the bird’s claws is not allowed.
Early mistakes
The first session was not too satisfactory. When I entered Palmer’s flight, my movements were too jerky. Approaching him too fast and too close, he lunged. This happened twice. His wide open beak scared me. Does he bite? I asked Rob. Rob laughed, ‘He has never broken skin as far as I know of. He has swiped at a few people because he is intolerant of people being insensitive.’ I asked to hold a stick for stepping up. However, once I followed trainer Rob
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