Great shot and it must have been very difficult to get the pair of Red and Yellows into the frame too. I've seen this show from a distance when at Whipsnade but not up close. How do they get these two pairs of Macaws to fly on cue- is it by whistle training and/or a food reward or something like that. And do the Macaws just fly around in a big circle or do anything else?
Great shot and it must have been very difficult to get the pair of Red and Yellows into the frame too.... And do the Macaws just fly around in a big circle or do anything else?
Thanks Pertinax. I was shooting the blues, so getting the reds in frame too was pure luck!
The Macaws were the finale to the show, and did several laps of the show area.
Our free flight macaws are trained on a basis of positive reinforcment and its complex training. All our free flyers are trained to recall the first feed after they hatch. In this shot we see their pair of scarlets, blue and golds and whipsnade also have a pair of millitary Macaws that also free fly. Considering there is really no other way of training parrots to free fly I would imagine they have gone for the positive reinforcment/operant conditioning method.
