Yesterday was talent show day at the local exotic bird club. My birds and I did not enter - I am a new member and I didn't feel like my re-homed birds and I were ready for prime time. Here's what we saw:
- One little Caique hopped up and down to music.
- A conure put a little ball in a basketball hoop, put a tiny letter in a mailbox and raised the flag on the box, layed on his back in a wine glass, and lifted one foot (when told to roll over).
- A cockatoo danced to music.
- One bird let their handler hang them upside down.
- A macaw played catch, tossing the ball back to the owner.
- A whole lot of birds refused to take part in any public speaking.
It was a hoot - mostly watching the people trying to get the birds to do something...anything...please! One owner stood on stage saying, "He will do a trick in a minute - come on, do a trick. Do one of your tricks, You can do it."
Getting an animal to perform in public is a lot different than getting them to perform in your living room with just you there. I was impressed that any of the birds were comfortable enough to do anything at all - and many weren't.
And, here's what I noticed: only one person out of the 10 (+ or -) participants had done any deliberate training. All of the rest had just demonstrated "natural" behaviors that they had found a way to cue. The cues included jumping up and down in front of the bird wildly waving a big feather duster. They hadn't exactly put the behavior on cue - they had figured out what stimulus would result in the behavior.
I think it was a blast. Everybody laughed a lot and everyone had a great time. It was a good event for guests to come to. The judges were 3 people who had no experience with birds or training at all. They had a blast too.
But, you know what?, none of the handlers offered any kind of positive reinforcement to the birds during the performances that I could detect. Some of the birds were receiving reinforcement (from the audience reaction or te fun they were having), but none of it appeared to be deliberate on the part of the handler. This was even true of the "professional animal behaviorist" who had done some deliberate training of her birds (and who won the top prizes).
The parrot training world needs a revolution like what has taken place with dogs - it is building, but it is slower than I would have expected. I am looking forward to next year - and the years to come. I think the parrot world will look much different ten years from now. Hopefully, I will be part of the solution.
