A WEEK AT NATURAL ENCOUNTERS
by Jenny Drummey
Natur al Encounter s, Inc, hosts a ser ies of
wor kshops open to anyone who wants to better
under stand bir d behavior and employ the
techniques of positive r einfor cement. The
wor kshop is held at the Ranch, a 34 acr e tr aining
and br eeding facility that over 200 bir ds, a tr io
of donkeys, a pig, goats, dogs, and other animals
call home. Natur al Encounter s tr ains animals to
appear in shows all over the countr y, fr om
Disney’s Animal Kingdom in near by Or lando, to
the Texas State Fair and the National Aviar y.
Steve Mar tin and his team of incr edible tr ainer s
have wor ked all over the wor ld, and dur ing the
class, Steve r elated stor ies of tr aining all kinds of
Jenny with her trainer, Wouter, and Ricky the hyacinth macaw.
Jenny is the VA Adoption Coordinator for Phoenix Landing.
cr eatur es, fr om or angutans to elephants, and an incr edibly diver se selection of bir ds, including
r aptor s, toucans, vultur es, cr anes, doves, par r ots, r avens and cr ows.
The class I attended was the fir st in a ser ies of wor kshops. It pr ovided an intr oduction to basic
concepts of behavior , and then gave students the chance to wor k hands on with the bir ds at the
r anch.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Students ar r ive at near by Or lando air por t, and a van fr om the r anch picks us up. It’s dr iven by
Wouter , who tur ns out to be my team lead dur ing the wor kshop. He’s an exceptionally skilled
tr ainer , a compassionate teacher , and a ver y funny guy. As we dr ive thr ough a downpour , I only
begin to feel the humidity that mid-Januar y in Flor ida br ings. Even stainless steel r usts her e. They
must tr eat all the concr ete floor s in the flights at the Ranch with a special solution to stem the tide of
blooming algae that is always thr eatening to take over . Though it’s mostly in the 60s all week long, the
air feels dense. I imagine the heat is oppr essive later in the year , and am glad this session is held in
the winter .
In the evening, we meet at a local r estaur ant, one of the few non-chain offer ings in the ar ea. It’s
char ming and unique, and the food is excellent, though it’s dar k as a cave in our banquet r oom,
(ther e is nothing mor e confusing than biting into something and, only then, discover ing it’s a
mar shmallow.)
At this ice br eaker , we pick the bir ds we’ll wor k with this week fr om an impr essive list. Each
student gets a bir d. Each student is also on a team, and the team picks a bir d as well. So, each of us
gets to watch or be dir ectly involved with tr aining 4-5 bir ds, depending on the number of people on
the team. The bir ds that wer e available for our class included: macaws (blue-thr oated, blue and
gold, gr eenwing, hyacinth, scar let, r ed-fr onted), cockatoos (r ose-br easted (galah), palm, and
umbr ella), Keas, blue-fr onted Amazons, Toucans (channel-billed, keel-billed, and Toco), and
tr umpeter hor nbills. When the decisions wer e made, my bir d was a blue-fr ont Amazon named Baby.
Our team bir ds wer e macaws (Ben the gr eenwing, Ricky the hyacinth, and Beaker the scar let, as
well as a pair of blue and golds named Cyan and Leo). We would also end up wor king br iefly with the
tr umpeter hor nbill, Rosie.
Our wor kshop had 18 par ticipants. On my team: Jer r y fr om Ir eland; Lour r aine fr om South Afr ica;
and Jennifer fr om Nor th Car olina, who volunteer s for Phoenix Landing (as I do).
For mor e infor mation about Natur al Encounter s, go to: http://www.natur alencounter s.com
Pag e 15, Spr ing 2008
Monday, January 14
The wor kshop begins with a whir lwind (15 minutes!) tour of the facility. We ar e led thr ough the
main buildings and r ows and r ows of flights. Each flight usually contains a pair of bir ds, though a
few ar e housed singly. Each flight is spacious and clean and the bir ds have food, water , and lar ge
leafy br anches to play with, for age in and destr oy. We pass cage after cage of incr edible bir ds –
a cage full of Lor ies (their wonder ful scent wafting out in clouds), pied cr ows, Afr ican collar ed
r avens, an Abyssinian gr ound-hor nbill, Toucans, a Tur aco, and r ows upon r ows of jessed r aptor s
in a lar ge mew. My head is swimming. How can I possible concentr ate on lear ning behavior stuff
when ther e ar e pied cr ows just behind me, saying, matter of factly, “caw” like it’s a wor d? I
have to str uggle not to call back to the white collar ed r avens as they call out: “I know! I know!” We
pass a kookabur r a, with whom Wouter has a love-hate r elationship (while Wouter loves the bir d,
the kookabur r a r aises his head, vibr ates his body, and lets loose with his r ising whooping call.
Wouter explains the bir d is ter r itor ial. He sees Wouter as a thr eat.) We pass the magnificent
flights containing har py eagles. These r aptor s stand at almost 3 feet tall and weigh 17 pounds.
Their flight is next to a walkway, acr oss fr om cages filled with par r ots. When asked if the eagles
fr ighten these macaws, we’r e told that the macaws get used to them, but I’m not so sur e. With
only a few wing flaps, the har py eagle cr osses their long flight and lands – BAM- r ight next to their
feeding station. Their calls ar e unr emar kable, a bland bleat, I guess they don’t need to waste
ener gy on ver bal intimidation when they ar e alr eady so imposing. They gobble down a dead dayold r ooster chick. It’s pr etty disgusting.
A clownish kea, a stocky and mischievous par r ot that’s a native of New Zealand, r uns about on the
floor of his flight, tilting his head to one side, a r elic of a pr eviously tr ained behavior , I’m told.
We pass cage after cage of magnificent bir ds, and it’s almost tor tur e not to be able to stop and
look at each one, but ther e is a str ict schedule her e, and lots to lear n, so we r etur n to the
classr oom and begin the fir st mor ning’s lectur e.
Steve Mar tin is our wor kshop leader . He’s a wonder ful teacher . Suppor tive and positive, he
pr actices his positive r einfor cement in ever ything he does. Ther e wasn’t a question he didn’t
answer patiently, and he encour ages discussion of the concepts. Ther e ar e no secr ets at NEI, and
he was happy to answer any and all quer ies about how the r anch is r un, tr aining techniques, his
opinion on fr ee flight for par r ots (he’s not for it, but mor e on that later ), and so much mor e.
Steve was a r eal r ole model, being patient, kind, encour aging and enthusiastic long after I would
have been!
Neesie with Mikey the Toucan. Neesie is our
Charlotte, North Carolina area coordinator.
Mary with Rosie the hornbill. Mary is our Western North
Carolina area coordinator.
Pag e 16, Spr ing 2008
Today’s lectur es pr ovided some backgr ound on NEI, and began immediately to give students the
basics for a good tr aining session: It’s a Zen appr oach: Be in the now. The past does not equal the
futur e, and mistakes ar e how we lear n. All that we know about the bir d and her behavior is what
we can obser ve. The whole appr oach to tr aining (bir ds and humans) is based on positive
r einfor cement. When you use this method, you r einfor ce only those behavior s that you want to see
incr ease. All other s ar e ignor ed.
The animals at NEI all wor k for food, and, while humans will do the same, they wor k best for
r ecognition. Fr om the star t of class until its end, the focus is on this encour agement and
r ecognition. Steve encour aged us not to wor r y about mistakes, or to hide them, but to see them as
a lear ning oppor tunity. And, because we ar e wor king with behavior , the only infor mation you have
about each tr aining session is what you can see (behavior is anything an animal does that can be
obser ved). The goal being to lose the misconceptions and labels that we tend to attach to bir ds we
wor k with (that bir d is hor monal, that bir d is aggr essive) and to simply take each inter action as an
obser vable nugget of behavior that should either be r einfor ced, or should not. The appr oach is
simple, but makes so much sense. And, though ther e’s a lot of science to back it up, the concepts
ar e easy to under stand and implement almost immediately.
All of the tr aining sessions take place in an envir onment wher e the animals desir e to wor k. Each
session depends on the bir d’s choice to par ticipate. We always gave the bir ds the power to
escape. As pr ey animals, bir ds need to be able to escape a situation if they feel pushed. This
incr eases their comfor t level. Tr aining always takes place in an open ar ea, or a cage wher e the
bir d is comfor table.
If a bir d flies away (most bir ds ar e flighted at NEI), or walks away fr om a tr ainer , she is not
pur sued or for ced to inter act. (Steve mentioned that par r ots that ar e not flighted might actually
bite mor e fr equently because they cannot escape). As we lear n to under stand the bir d’s body
language, we can tell if the bir d is a willing par ticipant or not, and we can come to anticipate when
their attention span star ts to lag and the tr aining session is over . Some sessions bar ely last 5
minutes, other s can go on for 15 to 20 minutes. By the end of the week, all of the bir ds came to
know their assigned tr ainer , and eager ly went to the station on the per ch when the session began.
Pag e 17, Spr ing 2008
Jenny teaches Baby the Amazon to have her nails filed willingly,
shaping the behavior in small steps using rewards.
Another guideline befor e tr aining could begin: r especting an animal’s per sonal space, and only
appr oaching when the bir d invites you to do so. It was cr ucial to lear n, r ight fr om the outset, to
watch for ner vousness, fear , anxiety, or aggr ession in any animal you ar e wor king with. We quickly
came to r ecognize it in our bir ds.
Team feedback, pr ovided after each tr aining session, was essential to lear ning. Steve continued the
positive r einfor cement her e too: we wer e to spend time telling that sessions’ tr ainer what we liked
about what tr ainer and the bir d accomplished together . I found as a tr ainer that I was too focused on
my own postur e, how I appr oached the bir d, wher e my r einfor cer s wer e, r eading the bir d’s body
language . . . so much going on it was impossible to have a complete pictur e of the session. My team
member s’ insights wer e valuable and appr eciated.
I chose to tr ain Baby, the
blue-fr ont Amazon, to allow
me to file his nails. I wanted
to lear n how to do this to
use with my own flock at
home. Befor e each tr aining
session,
Wouter
always
asked, “What’s the plan?” It
helped me to focus on the
task, to under stand wher e
we’d left off in the last
session, to quickly evaluate
what I needed to r emember
fr om last time. When
making a tr aining plan,
envision the final behavior ,
then br eak it down into
small appr oximations. When
the bir d accomplishes an
appr oximation, you br idge
(“Good!”) and r einfor ce
(give him a sunflower seed).
To tr ain this behavior , I would tr ain the following appr oximations fr om outside the cage, as the
nail file placed on the bar s became the tar get for Baby’s foot.
1. Appr oach the cage with nail file clear ly visible to Baby.
2. Place nail file on cage bar in fr ont of per ch, at Baby’s chest height when he’s sitting on
the per ch.
3. Reinfor ce when bir d touches nail file with any foot.
4. Extend dur ation of time Baby holds his foot on the file.
5. M ove one finger slowly towar ds one toe on nail file and touch toe.
6. Extend time touching toe.
7. Touch toe next to nail file with two finger s.
8. Hold toe with two finger s.
9. Touch nail file to toe while holding with two finger s.
10. Extend time nail file is touching toe while holding with two finger s.
11. M ove nail file once on the tip of Baby’s nail.
12. M ove nail file multiple times on nail tip.
13. Gener alize behavior to other toes on same foot.
14. Gener alize behavior to other foot.
This is a lot of behavior s to tr ain in 6 days!
Pag e 18, Spr ing 2008
Dur ing my fir st session, I lear ned a lot: Move slowly when wor king with the bir d, make sur e he can see
ever ything you ar e doing. Watch wher e you place your hands, and always obser ve his body language. In
my fir st session, I desensitized Baby to the nail file. When Baby appr oached the file, I waited until he
lifted a foot and moved it close to the file, then br idged and r einfor ced him for this behavior (in this
way, I let Baby choose to inter act with the object, instead of chasing him ar ound the cage with it).
The br idge is an indication to the animal that they have done something that you wanted them to do.
While some folks use clicker s or whistles with animals, we just used a simple “good.” The r einfor cer was
sunflower seeds for Baby. She ate her weight in them. While she had food in her bowl the entir e time
she was in tr aining, she was always willing to wor k for seeds, and sometimes finished 20-30 a tr aining
session.
Differ ent bir ds wor ked for differ ent r einfor cer s: Gr apes wor ked for Rosie the hor nbill, while Ricky
the hyacinth pr efer r ed peanuts and Br azil nuts.
That after noon, we wor ked with Ricky, the hyacinth macaw. Hyacinths ar e the lar gest macaws,
weighing over 3 pounds, with beaks designed to open nuts as tough as a Br azil nut. I had never been
ar ound such a huge bir d befor e, and I was so over whelmed when he stepped up for me that I could not
stop cr ying. It was simply over whelming to have such a huge, magnificent cr eatur e tr ust me enough,
and for me to tr ust him enough, for us to shar e in that exper ience. It was pur e and r aw and, oddly, I
wasn’t self-conscious about it.
One thing you lear n quickly her e is how to be suppor tive and involved in ever yone’s tr aining pr oject.
It’s thr illing to watch each lear ner take a little bit fr om each session, bir d and per son. The bir ds lear n
much mor e quickly than we do!
My team mate Jennifer wor ked with Ben, a gr eenwing macaw, to step up for her . She was confident
and quick and lear ned to wor k with him in no time. However , the behavior she wanted to tr ain,
becoming comfor table with a towel, would not come easily. Today, and the next day, and even the day
after that, she was unable to make pr ogr ess. Ben was not used to the tr aining flight we wer e wor king
in, and he spent most of each session flying ner vously, looking for his mate, and watching the sky above.
Lour r aine began wor king with hyacinth macaw Ricky to lear n to do a somer sault on a per ch. Jer r y
wanted to wor k with bir ds who wer e not socialized, so he could lear n methods of tr aining his own
br eeding bir ds at home. He began to desensitize a pair of blue and gold macaws to his pr esence near
their cage. He also began the same wor k with a ver y ner vous scar let macaw. This bir d wanted nothing
to do with him and flew to the back of the cage. Jer r y is one of the steadiest people I have ever seen
wor k with bir ds. His slow movements, and his patience, got him the nickname among our team of “the
Ir ish r ock.” I lear ned a lot fr om watching him.
Pag e 19, Spr ing 2008
Mary teaches a blue throat macaw to go into a carrier willingly, using positive
reinforcement and motivating rewards.
Each day at the wor kshop consisted of a two hour s of lectur e, two hour s or tr aining, then r epeat. At day’s
end, we spent an hour or so talking about successes, r aising questions, winding down. After r oughly 12
hour s of wor kshop time, given meals and discussion, our days wer e ver y, ver y full!
Tuesday, January 15
What’s in it for me? In other wor ds, what is the animal’s motivation for per for ming a behavior ?
Discover ing what is motivating an animal in a given situation is cr ucial when for mulating a tr aining plan.
Dur ing today’s lectur e, we explor ed this topic, as well as the concept of the tr ust account.
The goal is to have a lot of deposits into your tr ust account when you inter act with a bir d. Dur ing each
tr aining session, and ever y inter action for that matter , the bir d is always lear ning. Each inter action is an
oppor tunity to be a deposit into the tr ust account (a positive exper ience) or a withdr awal fr om that
account (an inter action that involves an aver sive). While it is impossible to entir ely r emove aver sives fr om
our inter actions with our bir ds, the goal is to minimize them, and to build such a str ong tr ust account that
you do not become over dr awn and the animal r efuses to deal with you.
My tr aining session that day involved a tiny bit of pr ogr ess with Baby blue-fr ont. He put his foot on the
cage bar s, but did not always move towar d the nail file. By the after noon tr aining session, however , he
was placing his foot next to the file, and also allowed me to slowly move my finger towar ds, and then
touch, a toe.
Dur ing the sessions, Baby was eager to find out what I was looking for , as he tr ied all kinds of things to get
that r einfor cer . He would tur n ar ound on his per ch, cir cle down to his food bowl, put his foot on the bar s
far away fr om the file, beak the nail file. This is called “thr owing out a lot of behavior s” and when a
tr aining session star ts it’s what you want to see. It shows that the bir d is engaged and inter ested in what
you ar e doing together , and wor king to figur e out how to get the pay out.
To get a bir d to per for m the behavior , you tr ain her with a cue, a wor d or action that tells the bir d what
you want her to do. As you wor k to r efine a behavior , you fade the cue. For example, as I star ted wor king
with Baby, I showed him the sunflower seed between two finger s towar ds the top of the cage, so that he
would have to lean for war d and up, and balance himself by placing his foot on the bar s. I faded this initial
cue, which was r eally a for m of lur ing, until I no longer showed Baby the sunflower seed. I showed him a
closed fist, then, by the end of the week, simply r aised a finger for him to know that I was asking him for
a behavior .
My team mate Jennifer ’s goals had been to wor k with a lar ge bir d, and to become mor e comfor table
ar ound those big beaks. She dove r ight in with her gr eenwing macaw, Ben, and I watched her pr actice
stepping-up with him and r efining her technique over the fir st few days. While wor king on a step-up, her
left hand, upon which the bir d steps, comes in fr om the fr ont, so that Ben could see it, and moves slowly
and steadily. It is held palm up and flat. This hand should always be pr etty far fr om you, cer tainly a good
distance fr om your body and face. When Ben r aised his r ight foot and stepped up, she held her hand
steady for 2 counts, then tur ned it slightly counter clockwise and lower s it so that Ben could step up on to
the per ch. (Bir ds pr efer to step up onto something r ather than step down.) She held Ben’s motivator ,
sunflower seeds, on the side of the per ch that indicated the dir ection she wanted him to go.
Jennifer, our Raleigh Durham Adoption Coordinator, teaching Ben the greenwing macaw
to grow accustomed to a towel.
Pag e 20, Spr ing 2008
Today, we flew Rosie, the tr umpeter hor nbill, fr om Wouter to each of the team member s. She was
so quick, and knew this behavior so well. She had confidence and poise, and she took her gr ape half
and was gone befor e I could complete the thought “I have a hor nbill on my hand!” Rosie wor ked
eager ly for gr apes, even though she r eceived them with her dinner . This is an example of contr afr eeloading: when animals pr efer to wor k eager ly for food r ather than eat what was alr eady have
offer ed to them. Flying Rosie back and for th game me another chance to pr actice slow and steady
movements when wor king with a bir d. She lands on your left hand. Your palm is flat and up and your
finger s ar e pointed to the r ight. To have her fly for m you, called a r elease, r otate your left wr ist
slowly and slightly outwar ds to the left, and Rosie flies to the next per son offer ing a gr ape.
Lour r aine wor ked with Ricky the hyacinth macaw today, and he is so eager to lear n. He is an
excellent flyer as well, and went fr om team member to team member without hesitation. To teach
the somer sault, Lour r aine’s plan was to br eak the behavior down into small steps: She held out a
peanut in fr ont of the per ch, and, with each r epetition, moved it lower and lower until Ricky would
have to hang ver tically fr om the per ch to get the nut. However , we still wer en’t’ able to
communicate what we wanted him to do, and he seemed stuck. It would take a suggestion fr om Steve
Mar tin a few days later to clear up the pr oblem.
Jer r y’s began wor king with his pair of blue and gold macaws to per ch in fr ont of him, and then go to
opposite ends of the same per ch. He wanted to teach this behavior because he found that his
br eeder bir ds tended to mob him if he came in to the cage, and he wanted to be able to wor k in the
cage with them easier . The fir st day of tr aining, the bir ds hung fr om the back of the cage, as far
fr om us as they could get, but by today, they appr oached the fr ont of the cage when they saw Jer r y
coming. He was able to r einfor ce them for coming to him and he was able to tr ain one of the bir ds to
r aise his foot when given a cue.
Jer r y also continued to wor k with Beaker , a scar let macaw, but made little pr ogr ess. The bir d would
not take seeds fr om him, and flew away fr om him, steady as he was. Should he take off his jacket, he
wonder ed? Take off his r ings? Was the bir d spooked by something else? Wouter r eminded us that we
have no way of knowing what it is that is keeping Beaker fr om tr usting Jer r y, and that we shouldn’t
make accommodations based on guesswor k. Instead, we should continue to be patient, not push
Beaker , and r emain steady, consistent, and r espectful of his per sonal space. But would Beaker
actually choose to come to Jer r y? It just didn’t seem likely.
A wor d about diet: Steve told as that all the bir ds who wer e being tr ained wer e pr ovided a full bowl
of food, and they wor ked for tr eats. They ar e not denied food, or star ved so that they might
become mor e motivated. All the bir ds that we wor ked with, and all of the bir ds we passed in the
flights, had food at all times, but wer e still eager to lear n, to wor k for tr eats.
Sometimes those tr eats
wer e the ver y pellets that
sat in a bowl inches away.
Putting a bir d on a diet
by giving them small
quantities
of
food
doesn’t
wor k:
it’s
actually the best way to
put weight on a bir d.
Offer ed a small amount
of
food,
the
bir d
wonder s wher e her next
meal is coming fr om, and
consumes ever ything in
her bowl and fast! It
actually incr eases the
amount of food the bir d
eats.
Kevin, our Bristol/Abingdon Area Coordinator, teaches Tyler the hyacinth macaw to fly
through a ring.
Pag e 21, Spr ing 2008
Neesie learns to send and receive a bird in flight. This is
Palmer, a Palm cockatoo.
While we didn’t wor k with the r aptor s at NEI,
students did have lots of questions about them.
Ther e was a gr oup of a dozen or so r aptor s in a
long tent, with jesses (leather str aps) on their
legs. They sat low on the gr ound on per ches.
Raptor s don’t do well in cages, which can
damage their tails, and without the jesses, the
bir ds would have been aggr essive towar ds each
other . A r aptor’s main goal is conser ving
ener gy, and their happiness is dependent on
having a good view. They don’t play with toys,
they don’t climb ar ound. I know little about
r aptor s, but they wer e magnificent to behold.
They per for m fr ee flight behavior s in many of
the NEI shows. One r ed shoulder ed hawk flies
fr om the top of a Fer r is wheel at the Texas
State fair , all the way down to Steve on stage.
It’s quite a sight.
So much of behavior is instinctual and har d wir ed. When consider ing a tr aining oppor tunity, Steve
also encour aged us to ask: how does this behavior apply to the behavior of the species in the wild?
Consider , for example, biting.
Biting is not a natur al par r ot behavior . Steve has spoken with scientists who spend their lives
obser ving par r ots in the wild, and, in over 100 year s of combined exper ience obser ving these bir ds in
their natur al habitats, the scientists r epor ted a handful of instances of a par r ot biting another par r ot
to the point of dr awing blood. This was almost always in the case of ter r itor y or nest defense. Steve’s
goal is for no one at the wor kshop to get bitten – and no one was. To avoid bites with bir ds at home,
Steve encour aged us to be mindful of body language, to r espect a bir d’s per sonal space, and, if we
see aggr ession, to stop doing whatever it is that is causing it. Instead of r epeating the behavior that is
causing the par r ot to act aggr essively, concentr ate on positive inter actions and building the tr ust
account. Dur ing class, someone asked: if a par r ot is aggr essive towar ds you and you stop whatever it
is that you ar e doing that is causing the aggr ession, ar en’t you in some way r einfor cing the aggr ession?
Steve answer ed that it is ver y difficult to r einfor ce an emotion like aggr ession. We can r einfor ce a
behavior , like biting, but not the aggr ession associated with it. The only way to know if you ar e
r einfor cing a behavior is if it happens a second time.
Dur ing many of our lectur e sessions, Steve showed us this in action. A double yellow head Amazon
named Happy Jack was notor ious for his hatr ed of Steve. Ever y time Steve passed his cage, the bir d
would be on the attack. For most of the lectur es, Happy Jack was in the r oom with us, and Steve
would appr oach the cage slowly ever y once in a while and give Jack a sunflower seed. While Jack’s
aggr ession diminished gr eatly while in the cage, and he did take seeds fr om Steve, it would have taken
a lot mor e one-on-one wor k to decr ease the aggr ession to an acceptable level. When Happy Jack’s
tr ainer , Car i, came anywher e close to the cage, the change in his behavior was immediate. He called
to her flir tatiously, “Hey Pr etty! Hey pr etty pr etty bir d!”
NEI tr ains and shows natur al behavior s, such as flying, for aging, and wing flapping . They don’t tr ain
bir ds to r ide little bicycles or wear funny hats. Their shows ar e enter taining, but they also ser ve an
educational pur pose. NEI tr ainer s spr ead the wor d about conser vation, and let audiences know that
par r ots ar e pr obably the most challenging pets you can br ing into your home. While Steve has wor ked
on TV and films in the past, he no longer does, because he believes that these venues simply str ess the
animals and do not ser ve the pur pose of education. If he or his tr ainer is not given a few moments to
explain how har d these animals ar e to car e for , then they simply do not par ticipate in an event or
show. Car i, a tr ainer fr om NEI was on the Tonight Show the week after I r etur ned fr om NEI, and she
emphasized how messy, loud and difficult par r ots ar e. She had to compete with the singing par r ots
and Jay Leno to get the message out, but she did it. The staff at NEI should be commended for
br inging these issues to the attention of so many people thr ough their pr ogr ams.
Pag e 22, Spr ing 2008
W ednesday, January 16
We lear n all the time, as, of cour se, do our bir ds. Ever y inter action is a lear ning oppor tunity.
Today’s lectur es discussed Oper ant Conditioning, a style of lear ning in which behavior is influenced
by consequences, and the lear ning subject oper ates on her envir onment. The subject has the power
to choose to par ticipate. The most basic unit of oper ant behavior is ABC: Antecedent-Behavior Consequence. We had alr eady been wor king with these concepts with our hands on tr aining
thr oughout the week. For mor e infor mation about the ABCs, see Steve Mar tin’s ar ticle “The
Anatomy of Par r ot Behavior ” http://www.natur alencounter s.com/pr essRoom.html. Ther e ar e a
number of gr eat ar ticles her e about many of the topics I’ve talked about.
Tr aining is all about two-way communication, and we continued that conver sation with our bir ds as
we r efined our tr aining skills. Today, Baby blue-fr ont placed his r ight foot up and held it on the
nail file. I wor ked to extend the dur ation of time he held his foot on the file. He also allowed me to
touch his toe with two finger s. This fr om a bir d who has gone though about an hour’s total wor th
of tr aining over the past few days, and who had no histor y with me at all. By the end of the day, I
was able to move the nail file multiple times while holding his toe. He looked behind him while we
wer e wor king to watch people on the path as they cr ossed behind his cage. This indicated his
comfor t with me.
I wonder ed if the size of the r einfor cer matter ed in tr aining. I always had hear d that the tr ainer
should pr ovide the smallest amount of r einfor cer that the animal will wor k for . I asked Wouter if I
should br eak the sunflower seeds into smaller pieces to extend Baby’s tr aining session even longer .
Wouter said that the bir d was motivated and lear ning, and that if I now offer ed a smaller piece, he
might not wor k for it.
The bir ds at NEI ar e wor king bir ds. They lear n to lear n, how differ ent their lives ar e fr om our
companion bir ds. I was talking to another par ticipant fr om Phoenix Landing, Neesie, about this the
size of a r einfor cer . She said that we should use what we can fr om the class, and not take
ever ything as law. Just because tr ainer s at NEI don’t br eak their tr eats into tiny pieces doesn’t
mean I should do that too. The test that a r einfor cer is effective is whether or not the r einfor ced
behavior incr eases in fr equency or dur ation. I found when I r etur ned home and began to wor k with
my bir ds. I was giving my quaker , Munchie, a r einfor cer that was too lar ge. He was filling-up too
quickly and wasn’t able to r epeat the behavior enough times to lear n it befor e filling-up. Once I
made the r einfor cer small enough, he was able to per for m enough r epetitions to build confidence in
the behavior we wer e wor king on.
By the way, Repetition Builds Confidence is another big NEI slogan. Tr aining a behavior involves
r epetitions of that behavior , until it is per for med without hesitation and you can tr ain the next
step towar ds the tar get behavior .
While I continued to make slow but
steady pr ogr ess with Baby, my
teammates had var ying successes.
Jer r y’s blue and gold macaws wer e
lear ning to come to the per ch at the
fr ont of the cage and go to opposite
ends fr om each other . He taught this
by star ting with a lur e, pointing each
bir d in a differ ent dir ection and
br idging and r einfor cing for the
slightest separ ation, then gr adually
building the space between the two of
them until they wer e moving apar t
fr om each other on cue. Beaker , the
scar let macaw, was still skittish and
would only bar ely take food fr om Jer r y
while he was inside the cage. She would
not come close to stepping-up.
Pag e 23, Spr ing 2008
Kevin learns to send and receive a bird in flight.
Jennifer ’s gr eenwing macaw Ben, spent the fir st thr ee days of tr aining flying fear fully ar ound the
tr aining enclosur e. He wasn’t making any pr ogr ess getting used to a towel. Wouter and Jennifer
discussed the tr aining plan:
1. Ben steps on to the table with the towel lying flat acr oss the middle of the table.
2. Ben becomes desensitized to the towel by being r einfor ced for walking over it. Jennifer would
lean him acr oss the towel over and over using sunflower seeds.
3. Once Ben cr ossed over the towel and got his r einfor cer , Jennifer would move to the other end of
the table, and r einfor ce Ben then heading towar ds her on the opposite side.
4. M ove the towel to the end of the table, and Lour r aine and I each appr oach one side of the towel
and touch it. Jennifer continues to r einfor ce Ben for staying on the table.
5. Lour r aine and I slowly r aise the towel an inch at a time at Jennifer ’s instr uctions while she
r einfor ced Ben for staying on the table, watching his body language, attentive to any signs of
anxiety, and only telling us to r aise the towel another inch when he indicated he was comfor table with
the situation..
6. When the towel was high enough off of the table to leave about 3 inches of space, Jennifer would
have Ben walk under the towel so he could get used to the feel of it on him.
7. Lour r aine and I would then lower the towel so that Ben had to walk under it to get the
r einfor cer , getting used to coming into contact with the towel.
This plan seemed especially ambitious,
and damn near impossible, as we
hadn’t even been able to get Ben to
land anywher e near the table for thr ee
days. He was spooked ever y time ther e
was a sound fr om his mate, or a call
went up fr om the other bir ds in the
flights, or a tr uck dr ove by making a
deliver y to the r anch. Though Ben was
inter ested in what was going on, he
seemed far too anxious to par ticipate
in tr aining. Wouter decided that we
needed to give him time to become
desensitized to the flight itself, and
pr omised that the next mor ning, he
would come in ear ly and put Ben in the
flight, so he could spend a number of
hour s in it befor e we had the mor ning
tr aining session. Even if Ben did
become mor e comfor table wor king in
the flight, I could tell Jennifer was a
little discour aged: How could she tr ain
all of the behavior s in her plan in just
thr ee days?
Thursday, January 17
Thr oughout tr aining we saw many examples of
super stitious behavior , tr ained when we had
accidentally communicated that we wanted a bir d to lear n something that was not r elated to the behavior
at all. Baby had lear ned to beak the bar s and step back on the per ch at some point in the tr aining,
r ather than leaving his foot next to the nail file and allowing me to touch and hold his toe to file it. It took
a few sessions to extinguish the super stitious behavior , but by not r einfor cing it, we extinguished it.
Another appr oach would be to back up one step in the tr aining plan to befor e the super stitious behavior
occur s and teaching the cor r ect appr oximation again.
Pag e 24, Spr ing 2008
Today’s lectur e gave us names for lots of what we’d seen in action all week. A positive r einfor cer is a
stimulus that immediately follows a behavior that ser ves to incr ease or maintain the behavior . While
we’ve been using peanuts, sunflower seeds, and gr apes, a positive r einfor cer could be a scr atch or
pet or pr aise. Each bir d is unique and what is a positive r einfor cer to one may not be so for
another . The food we’ve been offer ing the bir ds all week is a good example. A negative r einfor cer is
a stimulus that an animal wants to avoid that, when offer ed after the behavior , incr eases the
fr equency of the behavior . A negative r einfor cer could be a loud sound or aggr ession. In some cases,
what is a positive r einfor cer for one bir d, such as petting, might be a negative r einfor cer for
another .
The differ ence between these types
of r einfor cer s is impor tant, because
an animal pr esented with a negative
r einfor cer only wor ks to the level
necessar y to avoid the negative
r einfor cer . We lear ned that using
aver sives such as negative r einfor cer s
in tr aining can have detr imental
r esults for the bir d: incr eased
aggr ession; escape and avoidance
behavior , gener alized anxiety about
the tr aining sur r oundings, and and
apathy. An animal tr ained with a
positive
r einfor cer
will
wor k
cr eatively, attentively, and str ive to
exceed expectations to continue
tr aining. We would see mor e evidence
of positive r einfor cer s at wor k with
our tr aining that day.
Steve Martin shows the class the techniques for sending and
receiving a bird in flight.
Ricky the hyacinth was eager to lear n thr oughout the week. He had become r eally good at hanging
upside down ver tically fr om the per ch. Lour r aine stood in fr ont of the per ch, which stood about 7 feet
off the gr ound. She offer ed nuts, and Ricky continued to r espond to the cue. However , he couldn’t
seem to continue the movement about the per ch, the somer sault that she was tr ying to tr ain. While
Wouter offer ed suggestions, Steve came in which his camer a. (Steve spent a lot of time while we
wor ked in our gr oups taking the incr edible photos included her e.) When Steve watched Ricky str uggle
to lear n the behavior , he suggested that Lour r aine move behind the per ch to tr ain, so that when Ricky
extended his wings as he completed the cir cle on the per ch, he wouldn’t hit her with his wings. He also
suggested that she lead him with the nut ar ound the per ch just to the point wher e his feet and ankles
began to tip him to the only logical r esolution of the movement – to complete the cir cle and end up on
top of the per ch. As Steve said, “Show him what to do, and then just get out of his way.” When
Lour r aine tr ied this new appr oach, it wor ked almost immediately Ricky did his fir st complete per ch
somer sault and was r einfor ced with a Br azil nut and wild applause fr om our team.
We also made pr ogr ess with Ben. After spending the mor ning in his tr aining flight, he was much calmer
and par ticipated in the tr aining. He lear ned in one day to step on the table with the towel on it, then to
walk acr oss the towel with Jennifer passing quickly fr om one end of the table to the other . In effect,
she became his tar get and he lear ned that if he followed her , he would be r einfor ced. He was able to be
motivated by the sunflower seeds because he was no longer afr aid of the flight. But that wasn’t all!
By the end of the day, we had pr ogr essed to the point wher e Ben was on the table and Lour r aine and I
could appr oach the towel fr om either side, then touch the towel, then lift the towel up an inch, then
another . With each appr oximation, Jennifer watched Ben’s body language and r einfor ced him for
continuing to par ticipate. We wer e able to r aise the towel a few inches off of the table at one end of
the table while Ben stood on the other end. Incr edibly quick success for that bir d in such a shor t time.
The question is, how much mor e could Ben lear n?
Pag e 25, Spr ing 2008
Jer r y’s pair of blue and gold macaws
continued to make pr ogr ess. They now
eager ly moved to the per ch when he
appr oached the cage. He could move
into the cage and stand in the
door way, cue them by pointing in
differ ent dir ections. This fr om bir ds
who, just a few days ago, had clung
with ter r or to the bar s at the back of
their cage. They each took seeds
eager ly fr om Jer r y’s steady hands. I
can’t imagine how difficult it must
have been for him to watch two bir ds
at once and tr y to r einfor ce each of
them at the cor r ect time.
Tr aining is a gr eat way to extinguish unwanted behavior s. Dur ing today’s lectur e, we lear ned you can
tr ain an incompatible behavior to decr ease and eventually eliminate most pr oblem behavior s, and
r eplace the unwanted behavior with a mor e desir able one. For example, many of the bir ds ar e tr ained
to go to a per ch on command, so that if someone needs to come in to r etr ieve bowls of food or clean the
cage, the bir d is not clinging on the door when it’s opened, and is not flying at the per son. The
incompatible behavior to clinging on the door is sitting on a per ch. (Since r etur ning, I have been
wor king with a quaker who dive-bombs my head to station on his cage instead. The incompatible
behavior to flying at my head is stationing on his cage, pr etty similar to the per ch tr aining. That one is
still a wor k in pr ogr ess).
Tr aining an incompatible behavior is so much mor e effective than using aver sives because it tells the
bir d what to do. It’s difficult, if not impossible to tell a bir d what not to do. If you r emove the wor d
“don’t” fr om your vocabular y for a day, you’ll see how much clear er your communication can become.
For example telling someone “Don’t put that bag of plutonium on the kitchen table!” only gives them one
tiny bit of infor mation about what you want them to do with the bag. It is much clear er to say, “Put
that bag of plutonium in the lead lined Ziploc Fr eezer bag.” It is the same with our bir ds. When my
quaker flies at my head, waving my hands wildly at him is an aver sive, but it doesn’t tell him what to do
to eliminate the behavior .
Friday January 18
When planning to tr ain a complicated behavior , star t at the end and wor k backwar ds in small steps.
Shape the behavior in small appr oximations, and continue to r einfor ce each slight step towar ds the
tar get behavior . Lear n to shape at the bir d’s pace, r einfor cing for each slight pr ogr ession, but moving
for war d enough to keep the bir d challenged. Once the step is per for med without hesitation, move on.
As I wor ked with Baby to r efine the nail file behavior , we wor ked thr ough super stitious behavior s, and
began to gener alize the filing to other toes on his r ight foot. By the end of this final day of tr aining, I
was able to hold and file thr ee of the four toes on his r ight foot. I had taught him to extend the dur ation
of time that he kept his foot on the nail file by delaying my br idge (“Good!”) for a second mor e each
time he placed his foot in the cor r ect place. He would now leave his foot on the file and allow me to file
his nails. If I had another few days to wor k with him, I would have gener alized the nail file behavior to
his other foot, and fade my cue for him to put his foot on the file. I may not have needed to cue him at
all, as the nail file on the cage was pr obably the cue he came to expect.
Ricky the hyacinth per for med a few mor e somer saults today, and Lour r aine wor ked har d to fade her
cue with him as well. He was a bit flighty on this last day of tr aining, but he gave us some good
r esponses.
Ben continued to r ocket for war d in his tr aining pr ogr ess. In his final sessions, he lear ned to walk below
the towel while it was r aised a few inches about the table, then to push thr ough the towel as we lower ed
it to touch the table. It was not all smooth though. A few times, he flew ar ound Lour r aine’s back - clever
bir d! - to get to Jennifer r ather than walk under the towel. While Jennifer had star ted
the wor kshop looking to get some exper ience with big bir ds and those big beaks, she now had Ben fly to
her with utter confidence. If he chose to stop tr aining for a few minutes and flew off, she only had to
hold her hands up and call him, and he flew r ight to her . It was as though they had known each other for
year s. The most amazing change though, was yet to come.
Jer r y had been patient and steady and made such pr ogr ess with the blue and gold macaws Cyan and
Leo. They moved to opposite ends of the per ch with a slight cue, and had obviously lear ned the
behavior . But the scar let Beaker was still hesitant to take seeds fr om Jer r y’s hand. His patience and
steadiness paid off though, for on this last tr aining day, something happened between the two of them.
Fir st, Beaker placed a foot on his hand to r each over to take the seeds. Then it was two feet. Then,
with Wouter guiding him, he stepped back, slightly, fr om the per ch and held out his hands. Beaker flew
to Jer r y to get the seeds. It was amazing. Then she did it again.
Then he stepped back even fur ther and she did it again. Wouter called Steve on the walkie-talkie and
got him to come to the cage wher e Jer r y and Beaker wer e wor king, wher e Steve got some excellent
shots of this tr aining br eak though. Ever yone was amazed at the pr ogr ess Beaker had made in such a
shor t time, and the amount of tr ust she was able to develop in Jer r y. While some might advise that a
par r ot must step-up on the hand to be tame, and this is the fir st behavior you should tr ain, Steve
pointed out in lectur e that stepping on the hand depends on a huge amount of tr ust, and r eally
shouldn’t be attempted until you’ve made a lot of deposits into your tr ust account.
Saturday January 19
The last day of the wor kshop consisted of demos.
All the behavior s that the 18 par ticipants and their
teams taught would be demonstr ated for
ever yone. This was difficult for many of the bir ds,
because they wer e suddenly being asked to
per for m in fr ont of many mor e people, with
camer as r ecor ding the whole thing. But ever y bir d
per for med at least par t of the behavior . Some of
the behavior s that wer e tr ained wer e: Flying
ar ound a pole; climbing down a r ope; going into a
cage and pulling the door shut, flying thr ough a
hoop; putting r ings on a peg; and dr opping
objects into a bucket.
As we walked ar ound the r anch fr om tent to flights
to watch the demos, we went to see a pair of
souther n gr ound hor nbills, Sebastian and Squir t,
Pag e 27, Spr ing 2008
who live in a lar ge r ound flight. They ar e
extr emely social bir ds, with beautiful eyes
lidded with long lashes. They pushed their beaks
thr ough their netting on their cage for contact
with all of us, they seemed to thr ive on the
attention. They have patches of pink skin on
their thr oats and faces, and str iking feather
color ation: Black feather s with white wing tips
that blaze dr amatically in flight.
My team’s demos went r eally well. Ricky the
hyacinth somer saulted ar ound his per ch on cue
for Lour r aine. The blue and gold macaws, Cyan
and Leo, went to opposite ends of the per ch
when Jer r y cued them too. And Ben, the
gr eenwing macaw that was so r eluctant ear lier
in the week, passed under the towel with little
pr oblems. Baby blue fr ont put his foot up on the
nail file r eliable and did leave it ther e, though
with the lar ge cr owd of on-looker s, he did not
allow me to file his nails. I was impr essed with
ever yone’s pr ogr ess, and lear ned so much.
Notes on Becoming a Better Trainer
Becoming a better tr ainer by var ying your r einfor cer . Don’t always give the same r einfor cer or the
same size r einfor cer . If a behavior br eaks down, r elax your cr iter ia. Give the bir d some
infor mation about tiny things it has doing r ight, and build behavior al momentum by per for ming a
few r epetitions of a well-under stood behavior . Wor k to tighten your br idge, the wor d or action you
use to tell the bir d that he did the r ight thing. If you say “Good!” at just the r ight time, you can
r einfor ce a few seconds later and the bir d will still know what he did that you wanted him to do.
Don’t r ely on the jackpot. Dur ing class we talked about the jackpot concept, also called Magnitude
Reinfor cement. The idea is that is the animal makes a huge leap for war d that you give them a
jackpot – a bunch of r einfor cer s, or a much lar ger amount of pr aise than you would nor mally. Steve
and the tr ainer s emphasized that ther e is no scientific evidence that the jackpot wor ks, and that it
is mor e effective to wor k in mor e r epetitions of a behavior then to pr ovide a jackpot. Repetitions
ar e what teach the animal a behavior .
Steve addr essed one piece of advice that I have given to many par r ot car etaker s: “if you ignor e the
behavior it will go away.” While this may wor k with many behavior s, Steve explained that you can’t
count on this with scr eaming. While you can gr eatly decr ease the fr equency of scr eaming by not
r einfor cing it, it is impossible to completely extinguish scr eaming. You can r eplace it with an
incompatible behavior , like whistling. It’s so har d to contr ol scr eaming because you can’t contr ol
what is r einfor cing about the scr eaming. Per haps the bir d just likes the sound of her own voice.
Join the Wor ld Par r ot Tr ust. Steve r ecommends
that all who car e about bir ds suppor t their effor ts
to educate and conser ve par r ot habitats.
Our silent auction on May 10th will suppor t the
conser vation and r esear ch effor ts of the Wor ld Par r ot
Tr ust. Let us know if you have items to donate!
Cas s ie an d Cari, two other s uperb NEI train ers
Many thanks to Kathr yne and Rich Thor pe who so
gener ously sponsor ed my tr aining oppor tunity at NEI.
~ Jenny Drummey
Pag e 28, Spr ing 2008