Maui flies!

I have been training these guys every day. I'm just doing recalls with Manzi. With Maui, I was trying to get her to "turn around," but that hasn't caught on yet. It is funny because when I'm asking Maui to turn around, I see Manzi out of the corner of my eye doing turns over and over again to get the treat that I'm offering Maui. So far, Maui still needs the target aid and does not seem to be understanding my voice command.

Despite that, Maui has been flying a lot more. And for the first time, Maui is actually landing on my hand. Before, she just flew back to her cage. She is flying so much now that she can do a loop around the room, then land on my hand. She is doing recalls, but not really of her own accord. She still isn't quite making the jump to fly all on her own. If I call her, she will put her wings out and look like she's going to fly, but she won't actually fly until Manzi or something else around her startles her, then she'll fly to me.

On the downside, she is flying an awful lot. Having perches in the house works well for Manzi because he knows where he can land and he is fine with that. It doesn't work for Maui. She takes off every 5 minutes, then cannot get back to her perch. She either lands on me, or somewhere else around the house wanting to be rescued. If she lands on the ground, then she'll use the opportunity to go explore, and by explore I mean destroy my house.

Here is a video of Maui flying:

Here is another video clip of the water bottle. Both Manzi and Maui are drinking from it just fine. This is how Maui drinks from it:

Our new life

Manzi and Maui are loving their new outdoor cage. I put in a parrot door so they can come and go when they want (as long as I am home). They usually prefer to stay outside though and will only come in periodically or when it starts to get dark at night. I also set up perches around the house so when they do come in, they have places to stand without getting into trouble. I only have two perches, but I'm contracting my younger brother to build me some more (having younger brothers is an awesome thing).





Manzi was only scared of the hanging piece of screen at first, but he quickly realized it is harmless. Maui, usually the brave one, still finds it mildly terrifying and the first few times through left marks in my hand from her toes (even though I keep them trimmed) as I carried her through the birdy door. I leave the flap to take care of the flies. Hercules is outside and his droppings seem to be quite popular with the flies.

The garden we planted is coming along nicely. It is not ready for Hercules quite yet, but he seems to think it is fair game. The other day, I came outside and found him trying his best to get to the green grass.


As I was working on my computer a few days ago, I heard the bird's cage keep rattling. After 30 minutes of it, I decided to investigate. Hercules can be quite determined about where he wants to go. It took me quite a bit of strength to convince him to give up. He's getting stronger every day and isn't easy to pry out of tight quarters.