Female Speaker 1: Bringing a new bird home is like a never-ending science experiment. Here is day two of Maui being home. As expected and typical of the first few days, he went down a bit in weight. We knew we needed a new strategy to encourage him to forage and consume more raw whole foods. We knew already he loves eating greens from the baffle cages. We also know he loves in-shell nuts like filberts.
Female Speaker 2: You should crack it open. That’s a good start. What happened to the nut though? You got little pieces of it? Little pieces of it, Maui?
Female Speaker 1: We just were concerned. He’s not eating enough and he also was not eating still from his feeders. Working very closely with his birth mom and breeder, we got some really good encouraging advice and tips to try.
Female Speaker 2: The little filberts seemed to be your favorite right now.
Female Speaker 1: After giving him several hours to allow him to feed himself, we decided to use the same technique we used the day before with the stainless steel bowl, offering him the bowl by hand and allowing him to choose what he wants.
Female Speaker 1: Of course, during these first several days, we’re doing a lot of observing him. Observing his behavior, but also observing what are his favorite food, what is he choosing first, because having that knowledge might come in handy later when we begin training.
Since we still have concern about the amount of food he was consuming, we did decide to place a stainless steel bowl on the floor. We know black palms are ground foragers, and it worked. We were so excited. We were able to observe him through the camera we have placed in his room. He went down to the stainless steel bowl on the floor several times throughout the evening time. We then brought him up to living room to hang out with us and to hang on his O ring stand from Wingdow. He likes to do that.
Female Speaker 2: Want to drink?
Female Speaker 1: There he goes.
Female Speaker 2: Here you go.
Female Speaker 1: Have some water.
Female Speaker 2: You’re good. Come here. You drink. [unintelligible 00:03:04]
Female Speaker 1: He’s like, “Let me test this out first.”
Female Speaker 2: Testing the waters. Got it.
Female Speaker 1: He wants it. Yes. The reason why we were still offering anything, so a bowl with the water in particular is that drinking water for birds is critically important. We just did not feel he was drinking enough water for the day.
Female Speaker 1: Hi, Maui. What do you have to say? You did good, huh? Would you like to try this? Yes.
Female Speaker 1: It’s amazing how the smallest little pieces. Good boy.
Female Speaker 1: What happened next wasn’t really part of the plan for the day, but we did a really brief short-distance recall training and just responding to what his desire was.
Female Speaker 2: Maui. Come. Come on, Maui. Good boy.
Female Speaker 1: Good boy.
Female Speaker 2: Good boy. Maui, Maui? Come. Come on, Maui. Come on, Maui. Good boy.
Female Speaker 1: Good boy.
Female Speaker 2: Good boy.
Female Speaker 1: These two very unusual roommates met each other for the first time. Now, a few hours later, we noticed in the camera, something that really was exciting that Maui, for the first time on his own, went down to his feeders and started eating. Drank some water, he ate some nuts, so this was definitely a win for the day.
