Sirocco the Kakapo: What to do about Parrot Aggression

Second in the series of blogs on training Sirocco the kakapo. Click here to read the first blog.

Sirocco finally did show some of his undesired behavior. But it wasn’t sexual behavior, it was aggressive behavior. Every night after a pleasant session in the public display area of his enclosure, Sirocco would be released to roam about the larger off-exhibit section. At the top of the hill in the off-exhibit area is where Sirocco had a supplemental feeding station. Each night we had to climb the hill to clean and restock the station.

Kakapo are inactive and slow moving during the day. At night they are an entirely different creature. They can run through brush with incredible speed. When Sirocco heard us at the top of the hill, he raced to meet us. Although Sirocco does many things that are very parrot like, kakapo are at the same time so different from any other parrot I have encountered. I studied his body language as he approached us, trying to determine if he was interested, sexual or was it something else. There were three of us there trying to understand what this bird was communicating. When he tried to bite my boots it finally became clear. We definitely witnessed our first full on display of aggressive behavior. In addition to getting a better handle on body language associated with aggressive behavior we also needed to determine the triggers. We came up with a long list of things we thought caused Sirocco to aggress. (Movement, darkness, squatting down, location, and later I learned that male kakapo will also defend their bowls/territory.) In the end we decided the best thing to do is to have one person prepare his feeding station while he is being trained in the display away from the area where he aggresssed. Then when it is time for him to go explore we wouldn't be near his bowl to trigger aggressive behavior.

However we knew there might be other situations in which avoiding him might not be possible. After Zealandia he was going to return to Maud Island. He would have free range of the island and would likely be coming to visit the rangers at their houses. This meant there could be a situation in which Sirocco might show aggressive behavior. Knowing this we decided it would be worthwhile to train him to do a behavior that is incompatible with attacking. We decided upon stationing. In the display on Zealandia we had already been  training this behavior. A series of logs and stumps made for great training stands and stations for our evening sessions. Our plan was to make several stations near the houses on Maud. If Sirocco had enough history for being reinforced on a station he may very likely choose to go there to get reinforced rather than aggress. Also rangers could redirect Sirocco to his station prior to any undesired behavior being exhibited.

To reduce the likelihood Sirocco would show aggressive behavior near his feeding station we started training him in the daytime. As I like to say he was a “rock star.” He immediately grasped the concept and proved once again how eager and ready he was to learn. As you can see in the clip we gradually added criteria to his stationing. For example we increased the amount of time between delivery of reinforcers. We added some of his known triggers such as movement, squatting down and turning our back to him. By training in the daytime we took away one of the factors that seemed to contribute to aggressive behavior. This allowed us to have successful interactions that we could reinforce. Overtime we could gradually add training this behavior closer to sunset and finally in darkness. As you can see from the video, Sirocco was all about it and ranger Linda did a great job training him. Next time: Sirocco Talks!

Barbara Heidenreich
Good Bird Inc
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2011

Training Sirocco the Kakapo

Last May I had the incredible opportunity to meet seven highly endangered kakapo chicks. (Read more and see video here) During my visit one of our conversations centered on a very famous kakapo named Sirocco. Many of you may know Sirocco from the viral video from the BBC TV Series Last Chance to See. Sirocco mated with zoologist Mark Cawardine’s head. I came to learn his behavior was a mixed blessing. On the one hand it lead to a video that threw a great deal of attention to the Kakapo Recovery Program, a program that is having success in part due to public support. On the other hand Sirocco’s persistence was endangering his safety.

During breeding season male kakapo have a desire to mate that is quite likely stronger than any other parrot species I have encountered. Males have nothing to do with nest building or raising offspring. There job is to attract females and mate with as many as possible. They do this through a unique series of tracks (trails) and bowls (small depressions in the ground). Each night these flightless and nocturnal parrots march up the tracks to their bowls. Once the bowl is tidied up the male settles in and begins to suck air into air sacks on his chest. This allows him to produce a low frequency booming call designed to entice females to visit. If a female or just about anything passes near his bowl, the males charges and mounts.

Sirocco is different from other kakapo in that he was hand raised. A respitory illness when he was just a nestling meant he needed extra care. It was learned too late that having been raised without other birds meant Sirocco would never develop an interest in female kakapo. Instead the objects of his affections are people.

The way kakapo live and are now managed is to allow them to behave as naturally as possible. This means they are free to roam their island habitat. Sirocco was no exception. However unlike other kakapo he chose to visit the human accommodations on the island. For a newcomer to the island a Sirocco encounter was at first thrilling. However as the videos I watched revealed things turned sour quickly when Sirocco would relentlessly try to climb up to people’s head to mate. Sirocco even built his bowl near the trail to the outhouse and would ambush rangers on their way for a pit stop. Imagine a 3000 gram parrot who is determined to climb to your head? Even for those with experience with parrots this could be a challenging situation. The concern was that someone might accidentally hurt Sirocco trying to deter his advances.

Having learned Siroccos story I realized positive reinforcement training could help! I was determined to come back and help get Sirocco’s behavior on a better track. I had been traveling to lecture like crazy this fall. I literally came back from one event on a Sunday and flew to New Zealand the next day. But this trip felt more like vacation than work. Even after 20 hours of flying and a 7 hour time difference, I was energized when I landed in Wellington.

My first night meeting Sirocco was one of observation and lots of discussion. He was living in an enclosure at Zealandia, a haven for New Zealand wildlife. Sirocco was there temporarily as an ambassador bird for the project. Over 4000 people came to see a kakapo, for many their first ever. The second night was when the fun really began. It was time to see if Sirocco would respond to training. I like to think I projected a calm exterior, but inside I was tingling with excitement. I approached Sirocco exactly the same way I do any parrot I am meeting for the first time. I showed him what I had (pieces of macadamia nuts), assessed his body language to see if he had any interest and then slowly and carefully offered a treat. His reaction? More macadamia nuts please. Sirocco was clearly going to be an excellent student. He quickly learned to target. He started stepping on arms when cued, and stepping off. It soon became clear we were going to need to come up with a long list of behaviors to have on stand-by because he was learning so fast.

Although it was a blast for me to train Sirocco, the goal was for his caregivers to learn how to influence his behavior. Subsequent sessions were spent making sure the rangers were feeling comfortable with getting Sirocco to do some simple behaviors and train new ones. Things were going so well Sirocco’s minder, Linda and I were wondering if we were ever going to see any of the problem behavior I was there to address. Our moment came several days into his training. I will save that story for the next blog. More to come!

Barbara Heidenreich
Good Bird Inc
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2011

Parrot Conservation and You!

Parrot people are pretty amazing. One of the things I find so wonderful about people who share their lives with parrots is that they often are the same folks who are saving parrots in the wild. Yup, it’s true. Parrot owners are a huge source of funding for parrot conservation. I love that!


The connection they make with the parrots in their home often leads to learning more about their wild counterparts and what is being done to protect them. I have to say that is exactly what happened to me. I had budgies as a child, but my first large parrot came into my life in 1987. Ever since then I have been fascinated with learning more about parrots. Not long after that I learned about a very unique parrot called the Kakapo.

This large (2000 gram) flightless bird struck me as the coolest parrot ever! I thought it was so interesting that the males climb mountains, build a bowl, suck in air and boom for a mate. For a behavior geek like me this is truly fascinating. When I also learned they were one of the rarest parrots on earth I became even more interested.

When I finally had a chance to visit New Zealand (the home of the Kakapo) I did my best to try to connect with the folks saving these birds in the wild. On my third trip to this beautiful country I finally had my opportunity.

The story of the Kakapo Recovery Programme is pretty inspiring. Kakapos were nearly wiped out completely by introduced stoats, rats, dogs and cats. Animal heroes such as Richard Henry and Don Merton went to great lengths to find safe island homes for the few remaining birds. These birds now live on Codfish Island and are closely monitored. Unfortunately they need more than an island to survive. They need genetic diversity, higher numbers and a plentiful food supply during breeding season. Different strategies have been implemented to address these issues and so far they seem to be working. Kakapo numbers are up to 131 individuals (from a low of 50). However as you can imagine 131 birds is still a small population and there is much more work to be done.

As a parrot enthusiast I wanted to know what I could do to help. As with any conservation project it requires people who care and of course funding to keep it going. We brainstormed some ideas on that day (and my head was spinning with even more on the flight home.)

Our visit took a pleasant unexpected twist. An opportunity to visit with some Kakapo chicks was possible. We only had one spare day to make it happen. The odds were against us. It was a 12 hour drive, flights were coming up as $1000! And time was not on our side. Miraculously we found a travel agent who found us reasonable flights. The next day however the airport closed down due to weather and our scheduled flight was canceled. We finally took off at 4PM. The next flight was delayed due to mechanical errors. My heart was sinking. Finally we made it into the air! We landed at our destination around 8PM and were whisked away straight to seven Kakapo chicks!

Have you ever met someone that awed you? That moved you? That made you want do important and worthwhile things with your life? Meeting the Kakapo chicks did just that for me. Knowing these individuals represented hope for the species and that each bird was so incredibly important made this encounter so emotionally moving for me. I could not stop replaying the events in my head for days. Here is a video clip of the encounter. http://youtu.be/GI4Q0KvaDD0

I hope the video gives you a little taste of the moment and hopefully moves you to take action to save rare parrot species. You can support the Kakapo Recovery Programme directly via their website. You can learn more about the Kakapo from the film The Unnatural History of the Kakapo. You can also follow Sirocco the official Spokesbird for the project on facebook.

The parrots in our lives give us such joy. I know every time I interact with my birds I will reflect upon my Kakapo encounter and be inspired to help parrots in the wild. If you have additional ideas to help raise awareness and funding please be sure to add your comments. Your ideas can help Kakapo and other species such as the Blue Throated Macaw.

Barbara Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright 2011