The O.C.

I haven't been taking notes on my experiment in Operant Conditioning with the birds, so it's probably time for an update.

Materials:
2 specimens of Nymphicus hollandicus, 21-22 years of age, chosen at non-random degree of randomness (not really random, but they should be unrelated at least)
Target stick (long wood stir stick)
Clicker (jar lid)
Brown and white rice as treats, steamed
Plastic cocktail stir sticks from my last trip to Vegas:
- A green tiny plastic sword
- A white/gold stick from the Mirage
- A clear/gold stick from the Bellagio
4 Fisher Price wood/plastic boys and girls of various colours & other targets

Procedure:
I read this page on clicker training birds online and have basically been attempting to follow it.

1. Reward N. hollandicus with rice treat and click for touching target stick.
2. Repeat until reliably successful.
3. Reward N. hollandicus for touching secondary target indicated by stick.

Observations:
Bird C quickly attained success with Procedures 1-2, surpassing Bird B's performance. After about 3 sessions, both were readily able to seek out and touch the stick for their treats.

We've done a few rounds of Procedure 3. Here's a picture for now... More later.