Happy New Year! An even better bird year!

Bobby, the hyper nervous Timneh Boy!

He has been improving, Bobby, that is!  When I started the training, he was too afraid to step up and could hardly accomplish his old tricks of waving and meowing on command.  He had been absolutely too afraid to walk toward me to get a kiss.  He panicked whenever I introduced the "target" stick and was too scared to "turn around" or "flap your wings" on command.

Guess what?  He is still "always shaky-nervous,"  but now I've got him approaching the target-stick (nervously!) and walking the 6-10 inches towards it to target for a treat!!!   I started asking him to "flap your wings" when I had him out for his 10-count-step-up and after a few frightening failures, he actually did it!  He also realized, by himself, that it was too stressful to try to do training when he was on top of his cage and now... when he sees that treat bag come out... he makes a beeline for the inside favorite perch.

Baby steps, but steps in the right direction.

We have been practicing the same-old-stuff with all of the birds, but stretching them a little bit by targeting a little farther away and asking for 2-times on tricks now and then... instead of once... to get the treat.  The bird should realize that it has to do stuff to get stuff, but it also has to understand that "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you win a really big prize!"  So, occasionally, I hide the treat in my hand and they don't know what they'll get for the "trick."  Lucy was startled when she got a big old pistachio for simply waving and then later, got just a sunflower seed for saying "hello" on command.  It is a gambling thing.  People play the lottery, hoping for a win and sometimes a big win.  They keep coming back for more unless they lose too often.  I'm hoping that I can interest the birds in gambling a little bit so that they will do stuff on command, not knowing if they will be treated (or not) or if they'll get a really big treat.  <%  I NEVER let them become frustrated with the game.

More later.  Happy New Year!