Recall Landing - Where, How, Why?

charmedbyekkie

New member
May 24, 2018
1,148
82
US/SG
Parrots
Cairo the Ekkie!
Summary: I think Cairo has trained us, and I need to check how much I should push back on doing it 'the human way'.


Since Cairo was free-flight trained, he was accustomed to landing directly on an outstretched hand. I quickly noticed he didn't like the (in)stability of a hand and preferred landing on our forearms. It was to the point of he would consistently recall to the forearm, but less than half of the time recall to the hand. So we switched our recall training to landing on our arms. And he's quite good about it at home - all I have to do is gesture, and he goes immediately for my arm. But..... when he's flying on his harness in the park, he's a head lander. And for my partner at home, it's really a coin toss between heads or arms.

For me, I've been viewing recall training as retrieval if he gets into a dangerous situation, gets lost, etc. So at this point, I've been thinking that head landing is ok because the whole point is returning to us. And for Cairo, it's really more of a comfort thing - we chill out together with him preening and sleeping on my head since shoulders tend to move up and down and side to side when walking. And whenever he gets nervous about strangers, he flees from my shoulder to my head. I'm cool with it because it's him getting braver, from initially just flying off to now just going to my head.

That being said, it is a bit strange for many people to see him consistently landing on our heads. And for my partner, as any guy in his 30s, he's getting a bit concerned about hair loss :p And I think he does compare us to the free flyers (I know he would love it if I gave the green light for Cairo to free fly again).

So he's been asking me to not give treats to Cairo if he lands on our heads during recall training. But I'm really not sure how to go about this. Any thoughts or advice?
 

LaManuka

Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Aug 29, 2018
25,564
Media
26
Albums
1
33,208
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Fang ({ab}normal grey cockatiel), Valentino (budgie), Jem (cinnamon cockatiel), Lovejoy(varied lorikeet), Peach (princess parrot)
Has your partner not heard of the restorative benefits of a good scalp massage? My hubby gets them all the time, but heā€™s as bald as a badger (probably not a good example!) Mind you all his male ancestors went bald anyway so I doubt it was the birdā€™s fault.
 
OP
charmedbyekkie

charmedbyekkie

New member
May 24, 2018
1,148
82
US/SG
Parrots
Cairo the Ekkie!
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Has your partner not heard of the restorative benefits of a good scalp massage? My hubby gets them all the time, but heā€™s as bald as a badger (probably not a good example!) Mind you all his male ancestors went bald anyway so I doubt it was the birdā€™s fault.

Oh dear, I always hear how beneficial scalp massages are for him! I've got to hide this thread from him now, or I'll never hear the end of it :p It doesn't help that Cairo likes to sit on his chair and preen the poor guy's hair - he's convinced Cairo is giving him a haircut each time :D
 

LaManuka

Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Aug 29, 2018
25,564
Media
26
Albums
1
33,208
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Fang ({ab}normal grey cockatiel), Valentino (budgie), Jem (cinnamon cockatiel), Lovejoy(varied lorikeet), Peach (princess parrot)
Cairo is likely providing valuable follicular stimulation!

My hubby always knew heā€™d go bald and he has embraced it, unlike his father who spent the 1980ā€™s sporting a series of not-very-convincing hair pieces, way worse than being bald if you ask me!
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Bald men are sexy!
(the higher the testosteronelevel the less hair on the head-- no idea why, must be evolution or something ;) )


Appie spontaniously decided to fly to me out of the blue (a couple of weeks ago) and has been doing it ever since; I was playing around recalltraining Japie, never tried it on her. She perfers landing on my head as well (usually when my back is turned) no idea why!




As long as your bird always flies to you when he/she is scared, I consider that a win :)
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top