Where's Waldo/Amigo?

[Mare Miller]

Can you find him?

He was such a busy boy this day! He usually will not hang out on top of trees like this. His Norm is to be tucked inside them.

 

[lene1949]

Love the picture... Amigo would have to be the luckiest bird alive, having the best of both worlds...

 

[MaraWentz]

Erin is getting great at flying and turning but winter land on strange objects like trees or railings, not even the couch. How'd you get Amigo to trust landing o n it all?

 

[Mare Miller]

Hi Mara, I think the way you've trained Erin is why she always comes back to you, which in my opinion, is a good thing! I am no way trained TO train a bird but my method was to let Amigo decide when he wanted to leave me and also decide where he wanted to go. When this happened, I would follow him and call to him just so that he would know where I was. Just so happened, that he was also bonded to me, liked me and trusted me enough that he would come back to me when I wanted him to. I've learned that this is what recall is!

You've done an amazing job with her! I don't really think you would want her to be THAT free, would you?

 

[MaraWentz]

Well, we've trained her to fly on command, but she only flies on command to her training stand, regualr stand, or to us. But she does not trust anything- couches, beds, railings, trees,etc, which we'd like her to because she flies all over to avoid furniture in the house and we love to go hiking and camping and I'd love for her to enjoy it too.

 

[wenz2712]

Wow! What a great shot It took me a while to spot him lol

 

[Mare Miller]

Looks like she is still very young, a bit over a year, correct? Give her time, she needs to feel more secure with herself, you and her surroundings. Amigo was 9yrs. when we started him with this and was very full of himself, I'm sure he thought he could take on the world! It takes a very secure bird to investigate their surroundings.

 

[MaraWentz]

Thanks she is actually 2 now. Noontime will tell. Her sister is huge into flying (untrained) but always flies and lands anywhere so once we reunite them maybe it will be a monkey see monkey do

 

[Mare Miller]

Mara, I would recommend, letting her experience surroundings while on your shoulder. She knows where you are and she is obviously comfortable being with you. You are her comfort zone. I, personally, would be scared to take Amigo anywhere but where he has learned to fly. That is my feeling on this, only because he is not "trained" for command. I know you have a busy street and lots of distractions where Erin flys. Do the shoulder thing, first, and do it in a quiet park. Don't ask anything of her, just let her be.

 

[parrot14]

awesome Mare.... all of amigo, the picture and how you brought him up to this point.

 

[MaraWentz]

We take her everywhere on my shoulder- flea markets, camping, stores, relatives houses, parks, hours of car rides, etc. I don't think it's distractions- she wont even fly to anything other than the floor or her stand in our house

 

[Mare Miller]

She may just be a more timid bird than what I have to deal with, be thankful! Take her camping with you and just allow her to be herself. I would love to be able to take Amigo everywhere and know he would be safe WITH me and not off doing his own thing!