FEATURE


successful session was in high wind. Laverne seemed to enjoy battling across the enclosure between us. Cassie, reading her body language, decided that she was not steady enough for flight outside yet. White, one of three identikit young blue- headed macaws, had been learning the dollar bill trick in a previous workshop. As the best of the three at the task, he was chosen by Cassie for Karen’s training. We started in his flight his two brothers were placed outside in a crate. The behaviour was taught as a chain. By the end session one, White had mastered the steps necessary. In his flight he flew a few paces to me, took a dollar bill from my hand. Flew back to Karen, who put it in her pocket. Then when she gave it back to him, he flew back to me with it. Who can tell what


a bird thinks but the young macaw seemed to enjoy learning this trick? The behaviour was then generalised in a different environment and the clever little bird repeated the manoeuvre three times. It had taken ten days with two sets of trainers to teach him this trick which I believe is now being shown at Disneyland. Samson, the Hyacinth, an ex-pet of sixteen years of age, had only been at NEI for a few weeks when I started to work with him. I wanted to teach him the retrieve. He started work in a flight erected in the seminar room. We had steel washers in a stainless steel bowl and a store of peanuts for treats. At first Samson would take the washer drop it in the bowl and startle at the sharp sound. However at the end of a couple of sessions, he had understood what to do and would take a washer


BIRD SCENE 39


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