Why You Should Flock Call, Recall, and Mobility Train Now

[charmedbyekkie]

We just shifted houses, and last night we were still unpacking and moving things in and out of the house. Cairo tried to land on a floating lamp, which of course is an unstable perch, so he immediately took off in fright out the door!

That was at 10pm, and we all know parrots just shut down in the dark unknown. So after an hour of failed night searching, we woke up at dawn to cycle around the new neighborhood.

At one point of calling him, he heard me and responded back. He tried finding me - I saw him dart out of the trees and fly overhead, calling out to me as he went. But despite me calling back again, he couldn't find me in his panic.

A few minutes later, my partner phoned me, saying he found Cairo. I rushed over to where they were. I was frantic, didn't see where Cairo was - I just put my arm up like we always do for recall training, and he swooped down from the trees into my arm.

He was happy enough to climb up onto my shoulder, but the morning environment can easily spook him (lots of rolling trolley/cart sounds from the gardeners and trash collectors), so we immediately slipped on his harness. And home we went.

...

Moral of the story is:
- have a set flock call that you regularly initiate (not just your bird initiating)
- recall train with verbal and nonverbal cues (sometimes they're so high up, they might not be able to hear you as you would normally sound)
- train them to easily accept whatever mobility device you use (Aviator harness, Pak-o-Bird, Birdie GoGo, etc)
- bonus: have set pieces you always use with them (we always use the same blue bag for his toys and treats when we go out, we always put his treats in the same type of container, we always try to keep things easily identifiable with bright colours that aren't commonly found)

 

[Laurasea]

Wow!!! So scary!!!! So glad you got him back!!!!! I need to do this training for sure...

 

[LaManuka]

Are you sure your bird’s name isn’t Houdini? Thank the “Whoever From On Top Of The Thing” you got him back!

 

[charmedbyekkie]

He sure drives me crazy, the little stinker

And we managed to find him right before I was supposed to leave for work! Perfect timing. My partner said the little kids boarding the school bus were just amazed to see a bird randomly fly out of a tree and onto me. I was too busy crying in relief - he's not familiar with our new neighborhood and our new neighbors don't know him just yet (our old place, everyone recognised him and knew he was with us) plus if he flew a klick more, he'd reach a highway and an incredibly busy main road.

And the little bugger acted as if nothing was wrong at all! He went to my shoulder and started whistling and chatting away again

 

[itzjbean]

WOW I am SOO glad this had a happy ending.

When you're unpacking boxes now.... keep him in his cage if you can't give him your full attention!! Training will be helpful but in situations like this, cages are the safest place they can be when opening doors.

 

[Tami2]

Oh, thank God he came right down to you!

Very good points you make, all of them!! I love that you keep things constant & organized. That's how we do everything w/ my son and it makes perfect sense to do it with Levi as well.
Bright colors etc... Excellent advice, thank you. :heart:

 

[Anansi]

Wow! I'm so happy that this had such a happy ending! Darn it, Cairo, why are you always messing with your parronts! Not cool, bro!

Excellent advice. Thank you for sharing your experience and reminding people why this stuff is so important.

 

[clark_conure]

My flock is super bonded....I can't even move three feet away without being followed. We have a few calls we all do. Do you think this is a species re-enforced return to owner behavior or a time spent with your flock thing. genetics or environment.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

My flock is super bonded....I can't even move three feet away without being followed. We have a few calls we all do. Do you think this is a species re-enforced return to owner behavior or a time spent with your flock thing. genetics or environment.

I know ekkies are not typically considered a clingy species. And Cairo doesn't need to always been on one of us or having 100% of our attention 100% of the time - he's fine with just chilling, knowing that we're somewhat nearby. When he's comfortable, he doesn't need to be even in the same room as us - he's happy playing by himself. That being said, he was free flight trained with his previous family.

In fact, when my partner found him, Cairo was just content to fly around him - didn't feel the need to land on my partner or anything. Once we're in eyesight, he feels like everything is ok (and he doesn't even respond to flock calls when we're in eyesight). It was only when I used our recall gesture that Cairo obeyed and came down.

But while I think there's a significant portion that's trained/nurtured, I know it's also nature.

When we lost him, his previous family said he will keep trying to circle to find us because we're his flock, but that he'll get lost and confused and might fly further in his search for us. So we actually made sure to keep circling the same area, growing the circle a bit bigger each time. Sure enough, I first heard him north of where we live, he flew southeast when he heard me calling him (and my partner also called him from our house), then we found him south of where we live. He definitely was trying to circle around and find us. In fact, when he flew out at night, my partner alerted me, and I ran outside, calling his name. I saw him fly in circles around in the dark, trying to find us, but it was too dark for him to see us, so he ended up in tree instead. So there's an instinct to stick with the flock.

I definitely know Cairo is quite bonded to us - a lot of local ekkie owners are surprised how bonded he is to us - it's just not as obvious as I think other species demonstrate. I know when he's insecure, he flies to me immediately (magical safe head). But when he's just sheer panicking, he just flies anywhere there seems to be an opening. Eventually, when he calms down enough to think a little, he'll try to come back. Just when it's night time, he can't see well enough to fly, so he stays put until dawn. He's a good boy - he knows to stay with one of us or his perch when we're out and about (wearing his harness of course). I just have to be more careful to preempt situations.