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Individuals tend to set expectations or objectives for themselves in many areas of their lives, such as their health, job, and so on. Some expectations are formed in order to foster a mutually positive and dynamic relationship with others, not only with other humans but also with pets. A perfect example of this scenario began on an average sunny morning in August of 2020, where a 25-year-old man’s life was bound to change the moment he opened a juice box package with a tiny and few-feathered chick inside it.
Seeing photographs and brief footages of a friend’s pet bird astounded Earl Almagro, a seafarer. Seemingly in awe at how magnificent these animals are, it led him to consider getting one for himself. Earl began viewing bird-related videos on YouTube as well as researching the financial aspects of taking care of one, particularly when it comes to food intake, vitamins, and cages.
After months of thinking and surfing through the net, Earl purchased a cockatiel on a Facebook page dedicated to selling various breeds of birds. He named the bird “Samael”, which he took inspiration from a series he was watching at the time.
Photo from Earl Almagro
Conducting further research and other preparations was effective according to Earl. “The preparations that I did were very effective as it helped me in terms of bargaining the bird’s price as well as helping me acquire proper knowledge on hand feeding knowing that I was taking care of an infant,” he stated.
For Earl, taking care of Samael was like taking care of a baby. He wakes up at midnight or early in the morning to feed or to simply nurture the infant bird. Earl says that taking care of that kind of animal is not that simple as not all things go the way as planned and it involves making a lot of mistakes as well.
Earl set a high goal for Samael to master typical bird tricks like recall, blind recall, and free flight, which allows your bird to fly freely outdoors and return on command. Samael was being trained while being fed, and it worked for a while. Unfortunately, intense training once drove Samael to his limitations, affecting the bird’s performance.
This realization drove Earl to accept that not all birds can perfect tricks. Eventually, Samael did learn how to recall, which involves allowing your bird to come to you on cue. Earl was bathed in amazement by this because he was not only able to develop a bond with his pet but held a great sense of achievement for being able to train Samael as well.
For several months, Earl had created a very dynamic relationship with his bird with all of the training they had done together. This, unfortunately, ended when Samael accidentally flew out of the window and Earl failed to retrieve him. He considers this as one of his most unforgettable experiences being a bird owner. “After that experience, I felt down but was never discouraged to take care of birds again,” Earl stated.
One month after losing Samael, Earl bought another bird: two birds to be precise, and of a different breed. They were both African Love Birds (ALB). One was named "Mango", inspired by one of his favorite YouTuber’s bird. The second one was called "Peach”. He intended to get a third one, which he planned to name "Pie," so that he would have birds with names based on a well-known Jollibee pastry, Peach Mango Pie.
Photo from Earl Almagro
Earl chose this breed not only because they were more affordable but the colors of this bird were more vibrant. Unlike his cockatiel, Samael, who was highly affectionate and used to follow him around, Earl says that, “both of my African Love Birds display their affection in a different way.” He added, “when it comes to this breed, the more they bite you, the more they love you.”
Photo from Earl Almagro
Earl considers having another set of birds around as an opportunity to fill in the gaps he lacked when he used to care for Samael. For Earl, having an ALB as pets made training easier. In fact, he was able to train both birds recall, blind recall, and another trick called boomerang. It would only take two to three days for the birds to master these tricks and in order for them to learn the tricks faster, Earl provides them with a treat. He says, “It’s best to conduct your training in the morning since your birds are hungrier which means they are eager to look for food,”. Earl also added that it is important to “train your birds one at a time because they’re less distracted and are more focused on your commands.” Earl sees the training as an excellent opportunity to foster a bond between a pet and an owner much like with his bond with Samael.
Additionally, when it comes to taking care of birds, Earl feels that there must be a balance between cage time and letting them have their play time to exercise their wings. This activity was highly beneficial for his birds since it demonstrated improvement between their bond and the performance of the birds simultaneously. Seeing himself progress as a bird owner, Earl wanted to invest in taking care of a medium-sized and a more expensive bird breed. As a result, he bought a green Indian ring-neck Parakeet named Rio.
Photo from Earl Almagro
“There’s really a difference when it comes to taking care of Rio from my other birds,” Earl stated. “Somehow, Rio’s quite hard-headed but I still managed to train him.” Earl began whistle training with the use of whistle videos on YouTube because Rio is a breed that can learn to communicate and these were seen as highly effective, according to him.
Although Earl tried his best to avoid making the same mistakes again, he ended up losing Peach who learned how to open its cage and, similar to Samael, flew out of the window when he was about a month old. “I felt hurt right after because I invested so much time training Peach only to lose him again,” Earl said.
Not only this, while conducting one of his daily bird trainings, Earl also made the mistake of placing Rio on top of his cabinet while training Mango. Rio, anxious to eat, leaped from the cabinet, injuring himself. Earl learned the hard way not to be complacent because that injury affected Rio’s performance which eventually affected his flying.
Photo from Earl Almagro
And so, Earl had to focus on Rio’s recovery, and as Rio gradually recovered day by day, the training also resumed, albeit in baby steps this time. Rio has progressed and mastered common bird tricks because of Earl’s patience and perseverance. This progress pushed Earl to purchase another bird: a blue male African Love Bird he named Fifth because it’s his fifth bird purchase. Unlike his previous birds who were all infants, Fifth was already three-months old when he brought the bird home. This makes training a little more difficult for Earl, but this, he already expected because of prior research. “It was challenging because he wouldn’t obey my directions,” Earl explained, “so I simply let him be until I earned his trust.”
Following Fifth, Earl purchased another set of birds to explore more on. He purchased a Budgie and luckily enough, he got another one for free. He named one B1 and the other B2. Similar to his other birds, Earl was able to effectively train the two.
Due to Earl’s work environment, he was obliged to leave his pets behind and entrust his siblings to take care of them for nine months. All of his birds were relocated to his hometown in Dalaguete, which is a drastic change in the birds’ surroundings and lifestyle, since they now have more space to fly around and are more exposed to different people. Although it worked well for a time, with training still being carried out by his younger brother, training was discontinued which resulted in the birds forgetting some of the routines. Unfortunately during this time, B2 died as a result of injuries sustained by other birds. Rio, on the other hand, developed a habit of plucking his own feathers.
Photos from Earl Almagro
On the bright side, Earl’s desire for Fifth and Mango of becoming a bonded couple and eventually hatching eggs came true, which brought a smile to his face.
Nine months after leaving them for work, Earl was able to reunite with his birds. It was a heart-warming experience for him not only to see his birds once again but for them to be able recognize him after months of separation. Earl was pleased to see his birds gain a lot of weight and their colors get more vibrant than the last time he saw them.
Having birds as a pet has allowed Earl to learn a lot of lessons along the way.
Earl finds it very satisfying to efficiently train his birds since it indicates how well he has done his part as a pet owner. He will never forget his training sessions with Mango and watching how effectively Mango has learnt the commands. “There was one instance when I thought Mango would approach me if I made any noise, so I tried calling her by a different name, and she didn't approach me, but when I called her name, she immediately flew towards me,” Earl recalled.
“Bonding with your birds is very different from bonding with your regular pets,” Earl explained. “Unlike dogs and cats, which you get to cuddle and touch in order to bond with them, many say that [even] while you exercise or even lay in your bed or even just being near them, it’s already considered bonding [with the birds] and that is something that every bird owner should know.”
Today, Earl owns seven birds in total and has upgraded their aviary cages. He has also put up wood perches, swings, and nest boxes because he wants to offer the best for them and his way of compensating for his months-long absence. He is also in the process of retraining his birds so that they can recall the tricks and routines they once mastered in the past. Earl says progress is being made now, particularly with Rio, who is progressively growing his feathers back with the aid of the vitamins he is receiving.
At the end of the day, Earl not only dedicated his money, time, and effort in teaching his birds to master a range of skills and abilities, but he also learned a lot from the dynamic connection he created with his feathered buddies.
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