Rudy at Brandywine Park Wilmington DE

[DiscoDuck]

Marshall Radio Telemetry - Premium Transmitters

They have set ups both GPS and transmitter. ANYONE INTERESTED AT ALL IN TRYING THIS PLEASE LET ME KNOW> LETS DO IT!!

Hey,
This is CalistosMom.. I have been reading so.e of your and Rudy's adventures. I think Rudy is beautiful by the way. I wanted to touch base about your harness experience with Rudy. Calisto is free flight also and while he was younger I made his harnesses and he was comfortable with that, however now I want move to a regular bird harness. This will be his first for the spring and summer here. We have several shops but none carry a bird. So I will have to order. What do you recommend?

Hi! I have a solid method that I have not seen before. For me it is unequivocally easy.. I finally got a new phone that does videos. The video will be key to words. I presume that is a macaw you have. what is the weight of Calisto? Rudy is at 1500 grams. The extra large Aviator Harness is a wee bit too small, the extra extra large is a little too big. He wears either just fine.

Stay tuned it will probably take me till the weekend plus to post the video. I need to do it as close to professional quality for many reasons.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Im going to try something a little different. I sincerely appreciate the time you took to write you hit on all of the uh... behaviors..
Okay Bolding my responses after editing your reply.

Here we go.. The largest factor is the approaching conversion from adolescence to adult. I have not experience any substantial hormonal changes. Periodically/rarely/comparitively he will try to feed my finger, however he has been doing that consistently since he was 6 months old

Any ideas on how to help either distract or keep him from continuing to taste test my ears?.

The fact that this behavior has been thus reinforced means it will be somewhat difficult to break the association. Difficult, but not impossible.

that either the trips might be too long in duration for his comfort,

Agreed, I have told myself to change up the routine. Our walks are often long. While we stop and talk to many, its hard to find places just to sit, hang out and do nothing except watch the world go by. So I a diligently scoping out areas.

the sudden shift in temperature when you take him out between the interior of your house and the cold of outside might be causing him some discomfort

Nope, his high energy seemed higher consistent as the weather temps slowly dropped. I consistently take him out every day, since August last year. There are exceptions however if the sun was out and the wind wasn't blowing, temps went from 95 to 45. Temps in our area are now closing in at 70 now. he does seem to be more relaxed. Could be he cant get rid of the winter coat he is wearing now.

A shift greater than ten degrees at once can be uncomfortable and stressful for them.

Sure there is minor shivering. however its easy for me to feel the heat through his feet and his beak. If he was starting to cool down, I took him in. Funny thing is that I noticed he was shivering slightly today.

there might be aspects of those trips that he's not as thrilled about. So duration-wise, you might want to try either making the trips significantly shorter or finding a way to break up the trip into shorter segments.

Agreed, see above. Mostly what I am trying to do is break up the long walk more, find places to just sit and chill. This year we are adding the concrete jungle.. Downtown Wilmington.

At least, you could try breaking up the socialization aspects. Basically giving him time in between meeting people to "catch his breath", so to speak.

That naturally occurs in that, while I am in a very urban area. I have found very few people en masse. Everyone is in their corners glued to those silly little brain rotter than they think make them oh so_______ Over 8 hours today, each of the est. 10 interactions were 10m long each



As for the cold, thankfully it's getting warmer now. Guess we can tackle the cold issue in another post

Not necessary. He and I both are very comfortable with his acclimation to climate change

To properly pull this off, you need to remain close enough to home that you can give a proper timeout. (There are too many distractions to do a good timeout outside.)

This is a new idea. The interesting thing about that is that now that I think about it. He is spending most of his time awake outside. I dont like the word correction however he does get certain uhh. vocal and physical responses from me. That lasts five minutes.
__
This will likely take time, and you'll need to be consistent. Reward proper behavior enthusiastically. Jolly wound up replacing the ear nibble with rubbing his beak against my cheek. Definitely an acceptable compromise.

Awww. Interesting fact with Rudy. While he talks, his vocabulary is growing, he doesn't talk on command. The only consistent trigger is when the sun drops below the horizon 10-20 minutes total. the funny thing is he seemingly wants or needs to bury his beak right against my ear against temple. A favorite response of mine is to tell him." Rudy! I can hear you fine! quit yelling in my ear!"

The hormonal changes I haven;t really seen yet, however the dominance thing is subtly occurring. I kept him out longer till 9 tonight, he went to his favorite perch in front of the TV and went thru his preening ritual.

I am changing the routine of the last year. Big Picture, I need to quit, literally walking around so much.

 

[Anansi]

Just to specify, I agree that Rudy has acclimated to the cooler temps. In that sense you did things the right way, taking him out every day as the seasonal temperature shifted. It allowed his body time to adjust and develop a thicker coating of down in anticipation of the winter months.

This acclimation should not, however, be confused with the source of my concern. I'm not saying he isn't equipped for the cooler temps. I'm saying that you are taking him from within the warm confines of your home, which is probably somewhere in the region of 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit, to temps that range as low as 37 degrees F. (I believe that was the temp you mentioned.) So we're talking a temperature shift of 23-38 degrees F.

So while he may indeed have developed the necessary down to handle such cold temps, the problem is that he has his feathers configured for your house temps when he is suddenly thrust outside into significantly cooler temps. This is an issue because they don't just automatically adjust. They have to readjust the configuration of their feathers and down so that they capture more air to be warmed and held against their skin. This takes time. And during this time, the transition will be uncomfortable and stressful for them.

This is not a situation with which we are entirely unfamiliar. We may not use down feathering to trap warm air, but we do take some time to adjust to shifts in temperature. Pools can be cool and refreshing in the heat of summer, but if the water is downright cold, the initial shock upon jumping in can be unpleasant. And for some people, the experience is more unpleasant than others. That transition is less of a shock the closer that pool temp is to the ambient temperature of the air around us, however.

Apply that consideration to Rudy and you will begin to get an idea of what I mean. Think about it. Why else would he only run from you when it's time to go outside? At the very least, there is something about the experience that gives him some apprehension. You know it's not you, as you are both bonded. And from what you've said, he seems to enjoy the experience after you've been out for a while. So there has to be something in the very beginning that makes him pull away... much as some people might resist being tossed into a cold pool. See what I mean?

 

[DiscoDuck]

Yep, the ending sentence nails it down for me. I now "get it".


THANK YOU! I am going to try and paraphrase so that I completely understand everything you wrote. Your analogies really helped. I may end up being hard on myself, however, it is what is, today.

Not that I created a monster.. I have subjected Rudy to things, that while he appeared to tolerate everything, what has happened is that he has been conditioned to an unnecessary environment.

I understand or have read that flock birds will hide their illness or injury. So while he hasn't expressed or changed substantially, walking him around in the cold, there was an ever so slight shiver. He expresses his dissatisfaction the day after, about the time I get him ready to go out. Hence the rebellion.

Ok with that understood, where do I go from here?

It struck me as strange to see light shivering today and yesterday, the shivering seemed a little more pronounced than days 20F cooler. I also noticed several days ago with the sun shining and afternoon temps in the mid 70's, he indeed seemed to be more docile, not as active the past 6 months. This is the second winter he has been exposed to. This year much more frequent than last year. He was a "house" bird his first winter 15/16. Last year 16/17 I rarely took him outside at temps less than 55F. This year 17/18 we did temps down to 42F as long as the sun was shining and the wind wasn't blowing. The 37F night was the night he got stuck in a tree, it was 55F that day.


Okay with the past time line and temps, that brings me to thoughts on what I should or not do with our future. LOL I wonder now.. "Dad, I don't want to go outside, its too hot! But hey, capture me, put the harness on, and I will be just fine. Cause I am going to run from you tomorrow!" I understand conditioning, however even with my recognition of his nuanced personalities, how can I know that water is cold if he never complains about it? Okay... I think i understand that if he is shivering, he shouldn't be out, period?

The problem with that is that I noticed at the end of last September, at an event, his first shivers occurred at a cloudy 70F.. Now at 70F a couple days ago, no shivering, it seemed he was ready to nap. So, is what I am seeing is an adaptation to temperature change? So if I understand, now that he has a winter coat, when the temps warm.. Keep him near the river in the shade, and just let him sit around and watch the world go by?...

I cant think of much more, other than what i have already been guessing at doing. This year's resolution is:

No Long Walks just segments.
Lots of sitting around on benches.
Hang out by the Zoo and the river.
New varied environments including..
The downtown concrete jungle.
Rockford and Alapocos Parks
40' Flight line excursions.
Simply more variety..

I know I have been changing his treats, he is now a huge fan of the Raw Pine Nuts. I carry a small squirt bottle. I might be able to get the yard perch down to the park

I want to head over to acquiring the transmitter/GPS & gizmos. No more harness, yay!

Enter into educating the staff within the VA companion pet program.

Figure out whether Rudy and I can ride on a bike together.

Find someone who wants to Canoe or Kayak the Brandywine.


Thanks Anansi!!

 

[Anansi]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

And no need to be overly hard on yourself on this score. We all make mistakes. It's what we do once we realize we've erred that counts.

As for where you go from here, I personally never take my bird out if it's below 60F. Maybe I would consider 55F on a sunny day with no wind. Anything lower and the abrupt transition becomes stressful. A gradual decrease in temps while outside isn't as big a deal, as they have time to adjust.

"So if I understand, now that he has a winter coat, when the temps warm.. Keep him near the river in the shade, and just let him sit around and watch the world go by?..." No. As the weather gets warmer, he'll molt out the thicker downy layers. Not to mention that birds regulate their body temperatures the other way around as well. That said, however, you do have to be careful once the weather gets up into the 90 degree F range. Shade is always good in that scenario, as well as a ready source of water. Like whenever I have Jolly and Maya out in the yard with me in hot temps, I cool them off with frequent showers and let them dry in the warm air.

And as for showers, depends on the bird. (We're assuming room temp or warmer, here.) Jolly prefers cooler water for his shower, though he's also okay with warmer. Goes crazy for both. Maya, on the other hand, will quietly tolerate cooler water, but loses her mind for warmer water. It's a matter of preferences, and they tend to show via body language their likes and dislikes in this area.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Thanks for the tip, funny thing is e got a cold shower after an epic day in the park

I ran into a guy with a High end Nikon w/ telephoto @ 10 per sec shot rate. He does a lot of Nature shots, His name is ANT who took these shots. I mentioned that Rudy has had 10k+ pics taken and I never ask for them. Until now after seeing his LCD...

 

[Anansi]

Wow! Those shots are brilliant! Breathtaking, even!

 

[DiscoDuck]

Wow! Those shots are brilliant! Breathtaking, even!

I have been very fortunate or lucky. Every part of where Rudy is at now has been easy, a lot easier than raising children however I feel strongly that having my own children, the success has been made every aspect dirt simple. Right onto running into random people who can take those beautiful shots.

Even the little nuances of the shots are amazing whether it be the wing tip curls or what looks like a grin! He looks so happy flying!

So what do you think? he has a bit of scarlet in him is what my guess is.

 

[Scott]

Rudy is an incredibly beautiful bird! Look at that face!!

 

[DiscoDuck]

So what do you think? he has a bit of scarlet in him is what my guess is.

JUST found this surfing around . THis is from san diego zoo pics they say this is a GWM/SCARLETT Hybrid Rudy appears to me bigger. It could be the scarlet is removed a generation or two ago. any idea of whether any one does dna on macaw heredity yet? just a little bit curious

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[DiscoDuck]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

And as for showers, depends on the bird. (We're assuming room temp or warmer, here.) Jolly prefers cooler water for his shower, though he's also okay with warmer. Goes crazy for both. Maya, on the other hand, will quietly tolerate cooler water, but loses her mind for warmer water. It's a matter of preferences, and they tend to show via body language their likes and dislikes in this area.

Rudy has grown accustomed to tossing his water one to two weeks apart. averages 10 days..Literally he seems to use his water bowl as a bird bath. He is fairly consistent. Next shower time is me! He has a suction cup perch, Ive got a new phone, its pretty cute how he lifts up one wing then the other and seems to really enjoy the hand held. I drop the temp to my body temp or little bit lower after his 10 minute sauna with me. Its sorta funny cause I don't get naked with uh..boys?. oh! don't be politically incorrect with genders or TV stations . Ok i get it... sorry.

Oh BTW i did a duh the other day, when I was approached by someone who asked, "isn't he cold?" I told them, that yesterday he was shivering in the 70 degree weather and today, while 50, cloudy and breezy he wasn't shivering...

Turns out that person responded, that yesterday their knees hurt, but today they were fine.. CLICK! a bell went off.. Barometric pressure change is what seemingly tied it all together. Those Saturday warm weather flight photos were the shivering Day, Today the cloudy, windy cool day is the relaxed day. So ah yep .. So I just pulled up the weather data. a minor coincidental difference??

Day hr wind gust clouds temp dew hum baro mb Rudy
29 13:51 NW18 G28 Overcast 51 34 52% 30.04 1017.1 - Calm
28 13:51 S 15 Fair 69 58 68% 29.79 1008.7 - light shivering

 

[SailBoat]

"CLICK! a bell went off.. Barometric pressure change is what seemingly tied it all together."

Sorry, But No! Barometric Pressure is the weight of the column of air above a specific location. It is commonly used to define the separation between Fronts and finding their center and direction of movement. The trio of the Amount of Sunshine, the Amount of Wind and the Relative Humidity would be better indicators.

 

[Anansi]

It's the transition triggering much of the shivering. Even on a day when the transition is rocky, because he's already developed a thicker down he would eventually adjust. So yes, he is perfectly capable of feeling comfortable on a chilly day. The greatest source of discomfort and stress would be the transition period between the warmth of your home and the cold of outside before he manages to trap and heat up the necessary pockets of air that would keep him warm.

As Steven pointed out, sunshine, wind and humidity would be better things to watch out for, environmentally speaking.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I'm curious. All the discussion seems to be that the feet and body don't seem cold. Humans get cold extremities because we've evolved to shut down blood vessels there to keep the core temperature up. Maybe macaws, having evolved in a tropical environment where they don't have the evolutionary pressure of cold, don't do that, and their feet would stay warm even if the core was cold?

Also I wonder about the effect of freezing air on the airways inside the parrot. How tender are they? Is there any chance that tissue lining an air sac or lung space could be damaged by cold? I know for humans, it's inadvisable to run outdoors if the temp drops below a certain point, and we're pretty tough compared to the little birdies.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Dangit, should have googled before posting. Seems that birds have almost an OPPOSITE reaction: they send MORE warm blood to the legs when it's cold. So warm feet on a parrot might actually mean it's too cold, not that it's warm.

Why don't birds' legs freeze in extreme cold weather? - Research Matters




Frostbite - Bird

 

[Anansi]

Dangit, should have googled before posting. Seems that birds have almost an OPPOSITE reaction: they send MORE warm blood to the legs when it's cold. So warm feet on a parrot might actually mean it's too cold, not that it's warm.

Why don't birds' legs freeze in extreme cold weather? - Research Matters




Frostbite - Bird

Thank you for the link to that 1st article! VERY interesting! I didn't know about the blood counter-flow at all.

 

[DiscoDuck]

I'll write more later. Im getting ready to take Rudy out for his walk. 68F right now. I can pull the hourly stats later. This will be interesting as the seasons change.

 

[DiscoDuck]

I'll write more later. Im getting ready to take Rudy out for his walk. 68F right now. I can pull the hourly stats later. This will be interesting as the seasons change.

No shivering, I have been toning things waaaay down with walking him around so much. As he is getting older, I think even after a year of him balancing himself on me, he is tired of it. The indications are have been so minute, i hardly notice any frustration on his part.. anyways....

 

[DiscoDuck]

Seems that birds have almost an OPPOSITE reaction: they send MORE warm blood to the legs when it's cold. So warm feet on a parrot might actually mean it's too cold, not that it's warm.

Research Matters

I didn't know about the blood counter-flow at all.

Tides change. Blood flow changes things. Fluidity and stimulus is key.

IN this day and age, its easy to get exacting numbers. Be careful with how conclusions are drawn in various written pieces.

Here is a real life result. Today, the warmest day Rudy has been around in 200 days caused his feet to be the warmest I have felt since I don't know when. I have felt his feet and beak cooler to touch on cold days.

Now if I wanted to, I could take an infrared thermometer readings every day, at exactly the time, document outside temps, document his activity, take wind and humidity measurements. I wont.

If Rudy is very active yet snuggling close to me, he is cold.

If Rudy is calm and wanting to move away and to the ground (as he did today) he is warm.

Not sure if the above makes sense to those who read my real life experiences with a GWM. If anyone wants to counter my results, please do so!. Thanks!


I love this comment on one of the articles. Rudy seems to have made friends with the local geese. It also seems like he sometimes imitates them, Honk HonK Honk..

Many birds simply fly south to get away from the cold. Our Canada geese, however, did not get this memo, and so will have to make use of their altered blood flow to keep their toes from freezing.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Seems that birds have almost an OPPOSITE reaction: they send MORE warm blood to the legs when it's cold. So warm feet on a parrot might actually mean it's too cold, not that it's warm.

Research Matters

I didn't know about the blood counter-flow at all.

Tides change. Blood flow changes things. Fluidity and stimulus is key.

IN this day and age, its easy to get exacting numbers. Be careful with how conclusions are drawn in various written pieces.

Here is a real life result. Today, the warmest day Rudy has been around in 200 days caused his feet to be the warmest I have felt since I don't know when. I have felt his feet and beak cooler to touch on cold days.

Now if I wanted to, I could take an infrared thermometer readings every day, at exactly the time, document outside temps, document his activity, take wind and humidity measurements. I wont.

If Rudy is very active yet snuggling close to me, he is cold.

If Rudy is calm and wanting to move away and to the ground (as he did today) he is warm.

Not sure if the above makes sense to those who read my real life experiences with a GWM. If anyone wants to counter my results, please do so!. Thanks!


I love this comment on one of the articles. Rudy seems to have made friends with the local geese. It also seems like he sometimes imitates them, Honk HonK Honk..

Many birds simply fly south to get away from the cold. Our Canada geese, however, did not get this memo, and so will have to make use of their altered blood flow to keep their toes from freezing.

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