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Thread: Shanlung foraging for birdies

 
  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Shanlung's Avatar


    Shanlung foraging for birdies

    Shanlung foraging for birdies // Jackie and clicker training // climate change

    extract of above - posted about Dec 2011

    Below was a piece I wrote and posted into some forums.

    That started a year back or so in http://www.aviannation.com/forumdisplay.php?53-Foraging . That consisted then only of the links. Later on in other forums, I wrote the context in and added a bit more such as in http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthr...ums/13/1/Birds

    I had seen birdies in the wild on madly swaying branches. I was very pleased when in a German forum http://www.vogelforen.de/forumdispla...54-Quasselecke , a video of white eyes foraging in the wild was posted to me asking for identification of the birdies and the plant. A truly ideal video to show how birdies perched and hold to thin branches in the wild. Eventually, those birdies and the plant was identifed in yet other forums I haunted. And the foraging for birdies became what you see below. But with photos and videos added into this entry in Livejournal. Only one from each of those Livejournal entries extracted here. A lot more in those livejournal entries and even more in their associated Flickr folders of course.

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


    Foraging for birdies add so much more to their richness of life. This will make them more content and much happier. And a happy birdie will be that much friendlier and bond that much better with you.

    Have a look at the foraging points I did for Riamfada. Also for all other birdies including Oberon, but it was better documented and photoed with Riamfada.
    It is too complicated to write here, as without the backing photos, words are not easily understood.

    Photos speak better than words.
    And you will realised it is a lot easier to do then to talk about.

    All these done even for my softbills as well if you have followed accounts of Libai and others.

    At the perch


    Riamfada foraging
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/107799.html

    {PS note how a piece of wood with silicon sealant stuck to the wall holding up the perch as what I wrote about earlier .. and later removed without any marks}


    On perch having discovered a delicious Syrian tiny pear grown in Jordan

    Staying home with Riamfada & back2room & sharp turning
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/117091.html




    Pakistan//mind of parrot//Tinkerbell Mash Batch 9//Riamfada pulling up cup//Villa walkabout
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/119016.html

    Riamfada love to eat the almonds on the perch. But almonds were in foraging jars. She would climb down to get the almond and then climbed up to eat that almond.

    A video tells it better. More fun for her and more fun for us.


    Riamfada at home//Dommie at the beach again Ramadhan 2010 //Villa walkabout 3
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/119381.html




    Riamfada last few neighbourhood walks //Riamfada at home on perches// Dommie last neighbourhood walk
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/121502.html


    You all have to understand that fully flighted birdies in the house can go just about where ever they want to go.
    If you do not have places that you are contented that they go to, and they contented to go to, it can be a bloody nightmare.
    If the birdie ended up where they should not be, I could righteously toss the birdie to the nice perches for them to chill out

    A HUGE added advantage will be the birdie will poop at the places that they like to go and like to be.
    And newspaper underneath will take care of those kind of mess.

    So my fitting out for foragings was all a nefarious self serving plot of mine to get birdie to like those perching areas, to play there
    and to poop there, and to stay out of my hair so I can retain whatever is left of my sanity.


    For smaller size birdies such as Libai, this is whats done for foraging.
    See him going to especially wobbly perches and eating from there.





    Tinkerbell -Summer of 2O11 // Ivan and LiBai // LiBai voilational flights to me //
    http://shanlung.livejournal.com/128061.html

    Best will be a variety in perch sizes. I used also thin perches, but those perches will always be slanting to approximate thin sloping branches. And also very wobbly as well and swaying left and right and up and down, almost like a mobile.

    The birdie will have to tighten its claws around them to stay on them. To reach and get at the foraging stations fixed on those thin branches.

    Good for their balancing skills, self confidence as well as allowing them to develop and exercise their clawing and leg/foot muscles as well.

    Perches of different sizes from very thin to very thick should be provided.

    Take a look at this youtube video of Oriental White-Eye Zosterops palpebrosus passerine song birds feeding in the wild.
    As that was shot in Taiwan, the White Eyes that you have seen would have been the sub specie Zosterops japonicus simplex.
    See the way they grasp at the very thin swaying branch of the Triadica sebifera or the Chinese tallowtree and you get the idea.


    Warmest regards

    Shanlung
    山 龍

    http://shanlung.com/


  2. The following 2 users like this post:

    Lady (10-19-2015), Mare (10-18-2015)

  3. #2
    Nobility Member
    spiritbird's Avatar


    Parrots

    Lineated Parakeet named Kobe (M) and (F) named Tango Maine Coon Kitty named Christine
    You provide such wonderful enrichment for your birds. If I ever reincarnate as a bird I want to live with you?

  4. The following user likes this post:

    Mare (10-18-2015)

  5. #3
    Nobility Member
    Mare's Avatar


    Parrots

    Sassy Goffin's girl, she IS Sassy Amigo, male umbrella cockatoo Chip! The cockatiel! The sweet, sweet Jellybean!
    Good stuff, Shanlung! Your foraging perches are perfect! I know they wouldn't work for Amigo, he would have that rope chewed up and laying on the floor within the hour. I think our Sassy goffins and cockatiels would enjoy it, though . Thanks for sharing that!

  6. #4
    Junior Member
    Shanlung's Avatar


    Quote Originally Posted by spiritbird View Post
    You provide such wonderful enrichment for your birds. If I ever reincarnate as a bird I want to live with you?


    Quote Originally Posted by Mare View Post
    Good stuff, Shanlung! Your foraging perches are perfect! I know they wouldn't work for Amigo, he would have that rope chewed up and laying on the floor within the hour. I think our Sassy goffins and cockatiels would enjoy it, though . Thanks for sharing that!
    Chewing is not only natural to birdies with hook bills. Chewing is mandatory and essential to their health to keep their ever growing jaws from growing until they cannot close their bills properly. Vet visits to trim their jaws traumatised them and cost a lot lot more than providing them with things to chew on. I bought coils of thick and thin sisal ropes to replace whatever chewed away. I was then in the Sultanate of Oman and what can be found in birdie shops were pathetic and forced me to improvised. I think what I created you can judge gave Riamfada greater happiness than the most horrendously expensive perches (which I seen going for USD2000 in this forum). But again, perhaps some folks got a lot more money and stuff then got created to take those money from them.

    Note too the stand in Riamfada's room. Started off life as rack to hang cloth and shirts from. Cost about 10USD and I bought two sets for Riam. Wife complained why she did not get a set so I bought 3rd set for her.
    Stainless steel not suitable for Riamfada's grip. So bought cheap thin carpet and washed that 4 times in washing machine with Clorox and twice more after that. To snip to pieces to wrap around the bars and stuck on with silicon sealent. Wrapped thick and thin sisal ropes to make that enchanting for Riam. The second set in the hall.

    The 3rd set for my wife was left to her to do as she wished.

    You can see the genesis of the contraption that Riamfada claw and jaw the little cup up to get her treats. That was called the basket. I bought lots of cheap (to ensure no $%&^$@% preservatives used on those canes) disposable baskets. And hung them about. One such basket hung at shoulder level when I sat on the chair to get into Internet so Riam can be chucked onto from time to time. She chewed up that basket. Only the handle remained. Which I then tied a piece of wood. Then the handle got chewed away so another piece of wood got used as handle. Then I jazzed that up with extending the sisal ropes down and below to give her claw hold and jaw holds.

    Likewise, you see hemp twine around the wood under the ring so she could have grip holds since the wood too smooth. That piece of wood started about 3 feet long. She chewed and chewed on that wood until it became 6 inches.

    Which was why a hacksaw was essential tool in my car.

    Since no literature exist as to poisonous wood in Oman, I chewed and licked fragments of wood and bark that I cut.
    The standing instruction to my wife was that should I keeled over, that wood should not be used for Riamdada's perches.




    Modes of flight of Riamfada and comparison to Tinkerbell //Some chess memories, hustler foil, Bali
    extract from above written about Oct 6 2009


    Modes of flight of Riamfada and comparison to Tinkerbell //Some chess memories, hustler foil, Bali

    shanlung
    October 6th, 2009
    .


    My wife flew to Singapore on Wednesday 30 Sept 09 evening. She will come back to Muscat Oman on 8 Oct with bagful of books and cans of shellfish that I love. I love live shellfishes even more, but almost impossible to get that in Oman.

    With her away, no new photos in this blog as she not only take the photos, she upload them for me. However I found some old photos of that 'basket' that you have seen in Riamfada's room. Here was how that basket used to look like. You recognised the handle whipped with twine.



    Then this basket was moved into Riamfada's room. In retrospect, I should have gotten photos taken of the basket as it was chewed to pieces. Which it was, and a drift wood then tied onto the handle.



    I specially chose a piece of driftwood that looked like it was torn out from the branch, with loose separate sinews of wood suitable for Riam to chew on. She finished those loose wood sinews and chewing on the wood branch now. I could not deprive her of her chewing fun, even if I got to sweep up the floor periodically.




    Photo above was the 'ring' in Dec 2008. Then later on it became the rhomboid, but still called as 'ring' the way I called that old basket , basket even without the basket already chewed to little bits.



    We all love it as the rhomboid became more wobbly then when it was a ring or a square.


    I mentioned that a lot of cuttlefish bone were found on the beach, about 6 inches or longer. Riam did not bottle to chew the bone as she had so many other nicer things to chew on , not excluding dear wife now and then. I pulverised the bone a bit at a time to add into her mash. Being lazy, I wondered if easier way can be found to pulverise cuttlefish bone short of shouting to my wife to do that.

    Then I looked at the liquidiser in the kitchen that only used to mash the beans of Tinkerbell mash. I added half full of water, and broken pieces of 2 cuttlefish bone. At a press of finger, the blades started to spin and all those pieces of cuttlefish bone became a milky liquid.

    I then settled the water, pour the water away leaving cuttlefish powder behind. I washed and poured away the water 8-9 times. I now have nice cuttlefish bone powder to periodically add to the mash.


    During a neighbourhood walk recently before my wife flew off, I noticed a new landing from Riamfada in her recall flight. She flew to me, a bit higher than usual. She flew past my shoulder, and in a flutter of wings, she landed so lightly on me but facing the direction that she came from. She flew past me, did a U turn in the air, and then touched down onto my shoulder.

    I mentioned in my Tinkerbell chronicles that Tinkerbell used to do this even at an early stage below.

    http://shanlung.com/harnessfx1.html

    It was always un-nerving every time this was done. One never know if they flying off to the horizon or making that U turn to land softly on the shoulder. See reports on an even more spectacular Tinkerbell landings in

    http://shanlung.com/Modelandings.htm

    http://shanlung.com/wback2school.html

    http://shanlung.com/w6gyrodrop.html


    With my wife away, I did not bother on any weekend trips. I had to do the neighbourhood walks with Riam and Dommie and Katie. All of them expected it of me with the cats appearing by magic about 530pm. Even when feeling lazy, I could not be that mean to them all by not taking them out for the neighbourhood walks.

    Without my wife around, doing recalls with Riam became more difficult. When I asked her to step up on a wall or fence as precursor to do recalls, I could not get more than 10 meters from her before she decide that was far enough and flew to me. I tried to give her the 'evil eye' and gestured NO NO NO. My eyes were not evil enough and my gesturings too weak to hold her until I could give recall cue. To make best of a bad situation, I had to give recall when she launched off to me.

    With my wife, Riam would stand on her hand perch and be distracted by my wife or felt cosy with my wife and allowed me to walk far far far away. Or my wife turned around so her body blocked Riamfada view of me walking away. You seen enough of our shots on the beaches and you can estimate for yourself the distance she allowed me to walk away and the distance flown by Riam on her recalls.

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
    Warmest regards

    Shanlung
    山 龍

    http://shanlung.com/


  7. #5
    Nobility Member
    spiritbird's Avatar


    Parrots

    Lineated Parakeet named Kobe (M) and (F) named Tango Maine Coon Kitty named Christine
    I notice in your photos there are no pictures hanging on the walls. Is this because of the birds?

  8. #6
    Junior Member
    Shanlung's Avatar


    Quote Originally Posted by spiritbird View Post
    I notice in your photos there are no pictures hanging on the walls. Is this because of the birds?
    I did have this self portrait painting of Van Gogh. I was reluctant to put that up. Especially as I knew I would feel very bad if Riamfada went to chew off his remaining ear.
    Just pulling your leg. Jokes aside, the villa was a rented villa and no painting provided. Even if painting were provided, I would have taken that down and stored in another room. You do realise living with a flighted parrot in the house will be filled with compromises from your part. Magic from the birdies do not come cheap and free.

    I thought I include here more foragings on wobbly perches. This time by Oberon, the Asian Fairy Bluebird when he was with me recuperating prior to his return to the Fairy Queens.






    I realised that even though nothing was there to forage, the birdies still loved to go to the wobbly perches, much more than they want to go to the rock steady solid perches.
    All of them, from Tink to Riam and others.
    Perhaps you folks might like to bear that in mind even as pet shops assure you that their rock hard steady perches will be what the birdies want and good for them.


    Here are some dynamic shots

    Dubai trip //Ivan & Batty // Roundabout come.


    Extracted from above


    I also mentioned of the roundabout come I taught Riamfada. That she would go to a named place and returned immediately to me. That save me the trouble of walking to give her treats.
    My natural laziness and laidbackness have silver linings.

    It started off slowly.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlung/4034149587/


    Then she became better and better.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlung/4035945909/

    Her favourite rounabout come would be with that wobbly rhomboid 'ring'.
    In that the ring would turn around which position her nicely to return to me.

    The perch with hanging basket has erratic wobbles, best seen for yourself




    Then she got better at it.



    https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlung/4035974595/




    Then roundabout come from bar






    In the evening, after the neighbourhood walks with the kitties, Riam would be given a portion of sunflower seeds. After which she would fly to me to share my fruit juice. And then during the commercials, we do a bit of training/playing together such as the roundabout comes.


    Many more videos that I did not transfer across since those videos are in Flickr and not as easy as youtube to embed here. Go into Livejournal URL to see them all
    Last edited by Shanlung; 10-21-2015 at 04:11 AM.
    Warmest regards

    Shanlung
    山 龍

    http://shanlung.com/


  9. #7
    Junior Member
    SquawkandHowl's Avatar


    Parrots

    Black Headed Caiques, Budgies, Starling past: Conures, Macaws, Amazons, Cockatiels, Ringneck
    Nice bird set ups! I like the repurposing- I do that, too! I have a plastic "bread pallet" that I have turned into a hanging gym- my Caiques love to be flat footed and up high, so it is perfect for them!
    Squawk and Howl: Parrot-Centric Pet Sitting & Behavioral Consultations in Columbus, Ohio

    We also power wash cages, offer avian catering, and more!

  10. The following 5 users like this post:

    Dragonlady2 (09-12-2017), Lady (09-14-2017), Mare (09-15-2017), plax (09-12-2017), Quakerella (09-12-2017)

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