Trying to film flying

So I charged my camera and took Manzi, Maui and Hercules outside, all excited about making a new flying video. Manzi did a small flight to me, while being filmed. I gave him a treat and sent him to his stand. He decided he didn't want to land on his stand and instead did a couple of circles (at the end of his leg leash) and landed on the grass. He no longer wanted any treats either. He was not very happy. I'm not sure if it was because I had someone else filming or what. The other person was present two days before when Manzi did an excellent job flying, so it is not like that was new.

Anyway, we still have a ways to go before he is ready for free flights.

Maui did much better outside than the previous two times. She is getting less and less nervous and this last time she ate treats and walked a bit. The first time she wouldn't really move and the second time she moved slightly, but never took a full step. This time she was more relaxed. Hopefully she gets more and more comfortable outside.

Hercules is loving the outdoors. He is munching away on fresh grass, enjoying the sun.

Flying again

Today I finally took Manzi outside flying. It was awfully windy, although I couldn't tell until I went outside with him. Manzi didn't seem to mind the wind. He has been going crazy for peanuts, so I used those as treats. I kept Manzi on a leg leash, but he was so happy to be outside that he didn't pay it any attention. I had Manzi do some short flights (only up to 20'). When the wind picked up, Manzi wobbled more than I've ever seen before, but he still landed every single flight.

I had him flying to me into the wind. Manzi did all his flights from the ground. That is not ideal, but I forgot about my speaker stand.

I am really excited about his flying. Manzi just had a meal too, but he did fantastic. I will increase the flight distance over the next few weeks and then start letting him free fly. I have seen bald eagles in the area, but no hawks, not even red-tail hawks (the most common hawks here). If a bald eagle picked up Manzi, there wouldn't be much I could do. On the other hand, it seems highly unlikely that I would miss a bald eagle (they don't perch in any nearby trees and only twice have I ever spotted them in the area) and I think Manzi would definitely be much more agile and be able to outmaneuver one.

Maui scolding Manzi

This evening, after getting into too much trouble, I scolded Manzi and put him in his cage. For the next 15 minutes Maui continued to scold Manzi using her regular, "Manzi, stop it!" This is in addition to two new ones: "Get out of there!" and "Go home!"

Words on Voice Command

Maui is now saying, "Work, work, work" on voice command.

She learned by watching me trying to teach Manzi. I heard him saying, "work, work, work," so I began to congratulate him after each time and give him a treat along with the voice command. After two days of this, Maui began catching on. Manzi still wasn't saying the phrase on voice command, but he was saying it enough to realize that him saying it earned him a treat. On the second day, I asked Manzi to say, "work, work, work." After a pause of about 10 seconds, Maui chimed in with the phrase. I was waiting for Manzi, so Maui repeated it. Within two days she was saying the phrase within a couple seconds of the voice command. I'll get a video of it later this week. Now we need to start on a new phrase.

In order to keep Manzi from being left out of earning treats, I have been doing blind flights with him, where I go into another room and do recalls. Manzi is getting really good at this. I always go to a different spot in the room, or even into the closet and he is quick about turning the corner, looking for me and changing directions. I need to get Manzi prepared as I plan to fly him this summer.

Hercules has been keeping under the bird's cages more clean. He eats all of their scraps without objection. It has been a couple of times that Manzi will try to take back some dropped food from Hercules. Manzi knows that he can intimidate Hercules to hide in his shell, whereas Maui keeps her distance from Hercules.

Maui's loose!

I forgot to close Maui’s cage this morning. I was able to see on the camera. I have been locking them away from the food, so they are more encouraged to eat together. This morning neither of the birds was interested in their food, so I left the dishes in front of their cages with them locked up (or so I thought). A few minutes ago I checked their cages and saw that Maui’s was open. I am sure she will go down and eat her food to her crop’s content, and she will probably antagonize Manzi, as she has been doing whenever he is in his cage. Poor Manzi. Maybe he’ll have a bad day today.
Since taking away the eggs, Maui has stopped being overly aggressive, which is Manzi’s cue to try and re-assert dominance. Yesterday he did two fly-by, dive bombs at Maui. She is always ready for him and isn’t caught off guard. I’m not sure the food technique is working. It took a couple days to get them hungry enough to eat together, then over the weekend since I was gone quite a bit I fed them in their cages, so I have not been very effective in implementing this strategy. I am losing my discipline.

Please send me an email if you're interested in access to the online camera. Also, remember not to leave it open all day (as was done by my sister: see previous post's comments).