January 2021 POTM Contest!!!

WhiteFlight

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Parrot of the Month 🏆
Aug 20, 2020
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Dallas, Texas
Parrots
Meisha: Umbrella Cockatoo | Female | 03/09/1989 Hatch Date
Rose Flight Training

A focus in training Meisha to fly with a rose was to expand her opportunity to become comfortable with unfamiliar people, both individuals and large groups. With that, opportunities to experience unfamiliar locations was stepped up from the established platform of traveling to work with me regularly, to stores and out of town trips.

The first frame in the attached gif was taken in an inactive corridor at the Addison Conference & Theatre Centre. We started in a busy section with excessive foot traffic, separated by crowd control stanchions, making flight passes in both directions. Access was arranged by the management team, whom Meisha met moments before the pose, reflected in the second image. She performed practice flights during a waterski club meeting at the Irving Recreation Center, no image, where she flew over a large group of attendants sitting in rows. She used her default gravity brake to slow before landing, dropping in altitude before arching up to land, and wing clipped a guy.

In the third, Meisha flew from the back at the entrance of the sanctuary to deliver a rose which I presented to my bride before we exited as a married couple. The pews restricted vertical clearance. She adapted by maintaining her flight level and applied an air brake maneuver to land.

The forth reflects on a previously mentioned presentation performed at a skilled nursing facility, flying white roses for guests.

Number five in the sequence is a shot from an advertisement plug ran the day before we participated in a live interview with the Dallas television station WFAA channel 8. We went in the day before to familiarize Meisha with the set, staff and equipment. The cameras were quite large.

The two final frames in the loop is of Meisha flying to WFAA’s anchor of Daybreak, Cynthia Izaquirre.

Note some of the photos are cropped screen shots of video frames resulting in the low quality.

Rose-Flight-Training-v2.gif


Entry Classification: Official
 

SailBoat

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Okay, clearly you have defined over the top training to a whole new level with the use of roses and a wedding and a care facility... ""WOW""

Great photos!
 

saxguy64

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Rose Flight Training

A focus in training Meisha to fly with a rose was to expand her opportunity to become comfortable with unfamiliar people, both individuals and large groups. With that, opportunities to experience unfamiliar locations was stepped up from the established platform of traveling to work with me regularly, to stores and out of town trips.

The first frame in the attached gif was taken in an inactive corridor at the Addison Conference & Theatre Centre. We started in a busy section with excessive foot traffic, separated by crowd control stanchions, making flight passes in both directions. Access was arranged by the management team, whom Meisha met moments before the pose, reflected in the second image. She performed practice flights during a waterski club meeting at the Irving Recreation Center, no image, where she flew over a large group of attendants sitting in rows. She used her default gravity brake to slow before landing, dropping in altitude before arching up to land, and wing clipped a guy.

In the third, Meisha flew from the back at the entrance of the sanctuary to deliver a rose which I presented to my bride before we exited as a married couple. The pews restricted vertical clearance. She adapted by maintaining her flight level and applied an air brake maneuver to land.

The forth reflects on a previously mentioned presentation performed at a skilled nursing facility, flying white roses for guests.

Number five in the sequence is a shot from an advertisement plug ran the day before we participated in a live interview with the Dallas television station WFAA channel 8. We went in the day before to familiarize Meisha with the set, staff and equipment. The cameras were quite large.

The two final frames in the loop is of Meisha flying to WFAA’s anchor of Daybreak, Cynthia Izaquirre.

Note some of the photos are cropped screen shots of video frames resulting in the low quality.

Rose-Flight-Training-v2.gif


Entry Classification: Official

Brilliant! Meisha is amazing, and you have done such beautiful things with her. Thank you for the official entry!
 
OP
Anansi

Anansi

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Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
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  • #65
JFF - Maya revealing who exactly is in charge of these training sessions.
Tricky Maya - YouTube

Lovely pirouette by Maya! Ah, the treat was just a prelude to the shoulder!

Hahahahaha! Absolutely! And thanks, Scott! Training Maya is so different from training Jolly. Both are highly intelligent, but while Jolly is VERY food-motivated, Maya tends to be more me-motivated. Lol! Which makes training her a little more challenging. (Imagine target training a bird who prefers being on your arm to eating her favorite treat. Lol! It wasn't impossible, but definitely required a more creative approach.)

The training video where Jolly mastered color-coded fetch:
Red and Blue Rings - YouTube

Impressive talent. Our feathered companions are limited in someways to what we, are able to teach them.

Thanks! And that is so true. Their capacity to learn, I suspect, often far exceeds our ability to teach. They're just so intelligent! But it's the journey that really matters. The bond that forms as a result of the communication necessary for training. I love it!
 
OP
Anansi

Anansi

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Rose Flight Training

A focus in training Meisha to fly with a rose was to expand her opportunity to become comfortable with unfamiliar people, both individuals and large groups. With that, opportunities to experience unfamiliar locations was stepped up from the established platform of traveling to work with me regularly, to stores and out of town trips.

The first frame in the attached gif was taken in an inactive corridor at the Addison Conference & Theatre Centre. We started in a busy section with excessive foot traffic, separated by crowd control stanchions, making flight passes in both directions. Access was arranged by the management team, whom Meisha met moments before the pose, reflected in the second image. She performed practice flights during a waterski club meeting at the Irving Recreation Center, no image, where she flew over a large group of attendants sitting in rows. She used her default gravity brake to slow before landing, dropping in altitude before arching up to land, and wing clipped a guy.

In the third, Meisha flew from the back at the entrance of the sanctuary to deliver a rose which I presented to my bride before we exited as a married couple. The pews restricted vertical clearance. She adapted by maintaining her flight level and applied an air brake maneuver to land.

The forth reflects on a previously mentioned presentation performed at a skilled nursing facility, flying white roses for guests.

Number five in the sequence is a shot from an advertisement plug ran the day before we participated in a live interview with the Dallas television station WFAA channel 8. We went in the day before to familiarize Meisha with the set, staff and equipment. The cameras were quite large.

The two final frames in the loop is of Meisha flying to WFAA’s anchor of Daybreak, Cynthia Izaquirre.

Note some of the photos are cropped screen shots of video frames resulting in the low quality.

Rose-Flight-Training-v2.gif


Entry Classification: Official

I.
Am.
Floored.

Everything Meisha did in that montage was absolutely amazing, but delivering the rose for your bride? Most impressive and absolutely priceless! That one just about bowled me over! Wow! Was that one a surprise to your wife? Or did she know it was coming?

And also, any chance you have a YouTube link to that Dallas interview? I'd love to see it.


Hey, Al. This link leads to a Dropbox account. Apparently it can only be opened if you have a Dropbox account, yourself. Any chance you could post the link through YouTube? Definitely looking forward to seeing the harness training video.
 

wrench13

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Oh sorry! It's now on my Youtube channel. from 2016, when Salty was just learning to put his harness on. Just For Fun.

[ame="https://youtu.be/5Fie_9X--wA"]https://youtu.be/5Fie_9X--wA[/ame]
5Fie_9X--wA
 

WhiteFlight

Member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
Aug 20, 2020
237
28
Dallas, Texas
Parrots
Meisha: Umbrella Cockatoo | Female | 03/09/1989 Hatch Date
Okay, clearly you have defined over the top training to a whole new level with the use of roses and a wedding and a care facility... ""WOW""

Great photos!
Brilliant! Meisha is amazing, and you have done such beautiful things with her. Thank you for the official entry!

Thank you both for the comments!

I.
Am.
Floored.

Everything Meisha did in that montage was absolutely amazing, but delivering the rose for your bride? Most impressive and absolutely priceless! That one just about bowled me over! Wow! Was that one a surprise to your wife? Or did she know it was coming?

And also, any chance you have a YouTube link to that Dallas interview? I'd love to see it.
With multi-directional jealousy issues, disclosure seemed to be the safest avenue. I recall something said about another female wearing white.

Unfortunately, not.

When the studio originally contacted me, I reflected my schedule was rather full. However, they were persistent.

Their direction was toward glamorizing owning a parrot which I disagreed with. I did not want to inspire people to rush out to buy a bird off the shelf and expect to get a well behaved free-flighted hookbill.

I provided a brief list of considerations:
Birds-of-Feather-Important-Facts-Source-72.png


After the interview ran I found it a bit curious that strangers, plural, greeted me as Bird Man. At face value it made sense, but found it odd as my triggered thought was Birdman of Alcatraz.

I later viewed a plug advertising the interview:
Bird-Man-v3.png


And thank you for the comments.
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
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Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Rose Flight Training

A focus in training Meisha to fly with a rose was to expand her opportunity to become comfortable with unfamiliar people, both individuals and large groups. With that, opportunities to experience unfamiliar locations was stepped up from the established platform of traveling to work with me regularly, to stores and out of town trips.

The first frame in the attached gif was taken in an inactive corridor at the Addison Conference & Theatre Centre. We started in a busy section with excessive foot traffic, separated by crowd control stanchions, making flight passes in both directions. Access was arranged by the management team, whom Meisha met moments before the pose, reflected in the second image. She performed practice flights during a waterski club meeting at the Irving Recreation Center, no image, where she flew over a large group of attendants sitting in rows. She used her default gravity brake to slow before landing, dropping in altitude before arching up to land, and wing clipped a guy.

In the third, Meisha flew from the back at the entrance of the sanctuary to deliver a rose which I presented to my bride before we exited as a married couple. The pews restricted vertical clearance. She adapted by maintaining her flight level and applied an air brake maneuver to land.

The forth reflects on a previously mentioned presentation performed at a skilled nursing facility, flying white roses for guests.

Number five in the sequence is a shot from an advertisement plug ran the day before we participated in a live interview with the Dallas television station WFAA channel 8. We went in the day before to familiarize Meisha with the set, staff and equipment. The cameras were quite large.

The two final frames in the loop is of Meisha flying to WFAA’s anchor of Daybreak, Cynthia Izaquirre.

Note some of the photos are cropped screen shots of video frames resulting in the low quality.

Rose-Flight-Training-v2.gif


Entry Classification: Official

Spellbinding sequence of images! Meisha brings so much joy to the world, kudos for your dedication with training.
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
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Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Oh sorry! It's now on my Youtube channel. from 2016, when Salty was just learning to put his harness on. Just For Fun.

https://youtu.be/5Fie_9X--wA
5Fie_9X--wA

Amazing Al, Salty almost charges the harness to wear. You've done an awesome job conditioning, and he's quite the willing partner.
 
OP
Anansi

Anansi

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  • #71
Oh sorry! It's now on my Youtube channel. from 2016, when Salty was just learning to put his harness on. Just For Fun.

https://youtu.be/5Fie_9X--wA
5Fie_9X--wA

Sweet! Exceptional training technique, Al! The encouragement, and getting him excited about putting his head through the harness, is exactly how to go about it. I've always felt the key to training is to focus on getting the bird to want what you want, rather than getting them to do what you want. Seems like splitting hairs, but it really isn't on a philosophical level.

I.
Am.
Floored.

Everything Meisha did in that montage was absolutely amazing, but delivering the rose for your bride? Most impressive and absolutely priceless! That one just about bowled me over! Wow! Was that one a surprise to your wife? Or did she know it was coming?

And also, any chance you have a YouTube link to that Dallas interview? I'd love to see it.
With multi-directional jealousy issues, disclosure seemed to be the safest avenue. I recall something said about another female wearing white.

Hahahahaha! Hilarity! And yes, full disclosure was likely for the best.

WhiteFlight said:
...Their direction was toward glamorizing owning a parrot which I disagreed with. I did not want to inspire people to rush out to buy a bird off the shelf and expect to get a well behaved free-flighted hookbill.

I provided a brief list of considerations:
Birds-of-Feather-Important-Facts-Source-72.png

I love that you kept this in mind and remained cognizant of how often people see a well-trained parrot and jump into getting one without a full understanding of what it takes to raise one. Parrots really aren't for everyone, and it's good you emphasized taking one in is not something to go into lightly.
 
OP
Anansi

Anansi

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  • #72

chris-md

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Feb 6, 2010
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Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Al, parker and I need to come intern with you :) I'm really comfortable with behavior modification and flight training, but haven't the foggiest how to begin such trick trainings! Perhaps because we can't even get past the grab-and-hold step. Parker just wants to target/touch or attack!
 

wrench13

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LOL, Yeah, spring semester sign ups starting soon.

I think thats the problem with target/ touch training, how do you go from "Move here" which target training does very well, to more advanced things. Salty and I have evolved to the point where I can show him what I would like him to do, to assisting him in doing it, and then he doing it on his own. The block stacking was a perfect example. We started with 2 blocks, and I showed him that one was to go on top of the other. Then we did it together and then he tried it on his own. Target training wouldn't be useful in this. The parrot would just touch the block and think "Well I did what I am supposed to do, what more do you want??". Salty knows coming to a training session that its time to learn new things. I am always trying to repurpose props and tricks he knows, to keep him from being bored. Next up - I found a mini Jenga toy that we will give a try. That might be fun!
 

cneuhauser

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Oh sorry! It's now on my Youtube channel. from 2016, when Salty was just learning to put his harness on. Just For Fun.

https://youtu.be/5Fie_9X--wA
5Fie_9X--wA

Sweet! Exceptional training technique, Al! The encouragement, and getting him excited about putting his head through the harness, is exactly how to go about it. I've always felt the key to training is to focus on getting the bird to want what you want, rather than getting them to do what you want. Seems like splitting hairs, but it really isn't on a philosophical level.

With multi-directional jealousy issues, disclosure seemed to be the safest avenue. I recall something said about another female wearing white.

Hahahahaha! Hilarity! And yes, full disclosure was likely for the best.

WhiteFlight said:
...Their direction was toward glamorizing owning a parrot which I disagreed with. I did not want to inspire people to rush out to buy a bird off the shelf and expect to get a well behaved free-flighted hookbill.

I provided a brief list of considerations:
Birds-of-Feather-Important-Facts-Source-72.png

I love that you kept this in mind and remained cognizant of how often people see a well-trained parrot and jump into getting one without a full understanding of what it takes to raise one. Parrots really aren't for everyone, and it's good you emphasized taking one in is not something to go into lightly.

You FORGOT one major point... POOP EVERYWHERE!
 

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