Taking a wee break!

If you've been following the blog you'll notice it's been a couple weeks since my last video - I'm currently on a 3 week practicum out of town and Brita is staying with a friend until I come home. I have video footage of her lasted stunt, which is standing on a short pedestal, but it might be a while before I get it up because I'm on wifi internet at the moment and loading takes a long time. Two more weeks before Brita and I get back at it with more learning!

About 10 days ago Brita and I did a presentation to a local 4H group and Brita performed both her Peck a Red Ball and Stand on a Green Platform in front of about 40 people. She hasn't been around that many people since she was a day old and wasn't the least bit concerned!

The Green Square - A foot target

I wanted Brita to target something else, but with her feet instead of her beak. I chose something a different shape and colour. I started out with a very large one so that the chances of her stepping on it by accident were good. Once I captured the behaviour, I made the square smaller and smaller.

I also tried a new treat - mealworms! I read a study that said coturnix used in operant conditioning studies worked harder and longer for mealworms with less fasting, so I thought I would give them a try. They're a huge hit! Brita's getting good at getting several in one peck, though, so I have to be fast.

I am working on making the green square 3D and gradually increasing the height of it until I can get her to hop onto a little pedestal when the green square is on it.

Brita's Ping Pong Ball

Once Brita was pecking at a red target as reliably as Blondie was, I took her a step further by introducing the target in 3D in the form of a red ping-pong ball. It takes her a minute to make the connection but once she gets it, she really goes for it. I was having a hard time not laughing when the ball went flying off the table a few times. I also tried putting the ball on a stick and holding it in positions she would have to reach for, and she does. Brita was a lot faster to learn to peck the target than Blondie - Brita began to peck when the red circle was still big so I captured that early and just whittled the size of the circle down.

Brita is actually a joy to work with. She is a little calmer than Blondie but a little more serious too. And she likes to cheat. A lot. She also makes it very clear when she thinks she has earned a click and she doesn't get one!

Epic Quail Eggs

Epic doesn't always mean big. Quail eggs are the perfect awesome party snack - they are bite sized, mild-flavoured eggs with the perfect proportion of white and yolk in each mouthful. Marinating them in bay leaf, mustard, pepper and dill-infused salt-and vinegar makes them irresistible! In this video I show each step in making them perfectly. Anyone who keeps quail often has so many eggs they don't know what to do with them - this is the answer!

Goodbye Blondie...

Unfortunately Blondie has passed away. When the lid was off of her cage last week, my feet startled her and she flushed up and hit her head on the underside of the desk. I am very angry at myself for letting this happen because this is something I should have anticipated - I have seen many quail do the same thing over the years. I took a weeks' break from the bird training and even wondered if I wanted to continue it. I have decided that I will continue to work with Brita. I have done a few sessions with her now and she is indeed a very different bird to work with - she is more wary or indifferent of new things and definitely more wary of what's going on around her. She burns out faster than Blondie and is not as fast, and always tries to cheat by trying to find out where the food went. She also insists on picking up a lot of the little granules of food that she spills. She is coming along, though. As a matter of fact, I got her to the point where Blondie was in half the time (but this may be because I too am learning!). What happened to Blondie was a terrible reminder for me to think about things. I had a quail once named Barbara who did the same thing. She didn't die but did damage to her inner ear as her ear was bleeding afterwards. A few months later she started to fall over and eventually could not get back up and I chose to put her down. Hard roofs kill quail. I take every precaution to build their cages appropriately but didn't think about the environmental factors. Under the desk, the desk itself is like a big roof. With animals, a lot of learning has a lot to do with context. I suppose it is the same for people too.

Video 8 - Blondie owns the target

Blondie has been catching on to stepping on the red target to get her food, and when she finally offers the behavior of pecking it, I get very excited and give her a few extra pecks. After a few tries she really catches on and I narrow my criteria - I still click for stepping on it, but she must have most of her foot on it - no grazing. Another session or so of this and she will only be pecking it. I move the target around to force her to actively look for it, and she does! I'm very happy with the progress after only one week. My next challenge will be putting the target on a stick to see if she will peck it off the ground.

Video 7 - Brita gets her chance

Brita finally gets some one-on-one attention. This is a super short session with her very own "clicker" which is an app I downloaded on my phone called Dog Whistle. It has a variety of different settings and I picked a fairly low one for Brita, since bird's ears are quite sensitive to sound. Because she hears the sound of the clicker all the time and gets nothing for it, the sound of the clicker means nothing to her. This new noise will be hers and hers alone. I just have to be careful to hold the button down for the same length of time every time to keep the sound consistent. Sometimes I tap it too lightly and the sound is too short. With a real clicker you don't have to worry about this much.Also, it is very easy to start moving the feeding hand at the same time the sound goes off. Ideally the sound should be first and the movement of the feeding hand after. After watching this video a couple times I realise this is something i am going to have to work on, especially when using my phone instead of the clicker.

Brita is not as "driven" as Blondie but once she gets the hang of it, she might get to be just as good. Her sessions are very short and so far she hasn't shown as much enthusiasm as Blondie. The different personalities of the two birds are interesting to observe!