by Ken Globus
Angelo
was a nervous bird – a rescued eleven year old
Timneh African Grey that startled easily. His wings
were kept lightly trimmed - about an inch off the
tips of the last few flight feathers - just enough
to allow him to do what he loved most, swoop across
the room and land on Karen Walker’s shoulder. Yes,
coincidentally, this is the same woman who wrote
about her phobic Orange Wing, Ed. It was a
blustery, Midwestern, October day when Karen was
about to take out the trash. She had no reason to
imagine that anything unusual would happen.
As Karen opened the door, Angelo took off and flew
across the room heading for Karen’s shoulder. But
Angelo overshot his mark, sailed right past her and
out the door. The startled bird suddenly found
himself being lifted upward by a strong gust of
wind.
The air current carried the terrified, screeching
Angelo higher, up over the house and out of sight.
When Karen ran around to the front of the house
Angelo was nowhere in sight; and she could hear his
frightened screams fading beyond the distant trees. Karen
was frantic. She raced up and down the block,
knocking on doors, asking the neighbors for help.
They all pitched in. Sharon Wendt, a knowledgeable
bird person and friend of Karen’s, drove over to
join the search. They combed the area, calling
Angelo’s name over and over. They were very aware
that the longer a bird is missing the less likely it
is to recover him. Along with that, the nights were
getting cold and some red tail hawks had taken
residence in the neighborhood. As Wednesday
afternoon moved into night there was still no sign
of Angelo.
On the second day Karen and Sharon trekked the
neighborhood, posting signs and talking with
everyone they could find. They showed photos of
Angelo and implored people to keep an eye out for
him.
At about
9 PM of
day two they came across a woman who told them, “I
saw a funny looking gray bird about six blocks
away.” Karen and Sharon drove to the area and
searched and searched, calling out Angelo’s name.
But there was no response. As it became dark,
they decided to resume the search the following
day.
Late that nig
ht,
Karen and Sharon were discussing their search
efforts, trying to figure out if there was
anything they overlooked. They realized that Karen
had been repeatedly calling Angelo’s name to find
him. Then it finally occurred to her that she had
taught Angelo a “contact” call. To get her
attention, Angelo used to make make unpleasant
squawks, so she worked to change the behavior by
teaching him to substitute the squawking with the
more pleasant contact calls. She taught Angelo to
call, “Yooooo hoooo,” whenever he wanted her attention.
This is a very useful technique used to change screaming
behaviors.
