Springs Preserve show is for the birds

Using the phrase “for the birds” to describe most people’s lives would qualify as a put-down.

For Clint Carvahlo, however, it’s an accurate description of his life — and his life’s work.

Carvahlo and his Extreme Parrots appear nightly in “Vegas! The Show” at Planet Hollywood Resort’s V Theater, where Carvahlo also hosts “V — The Ultimate Variety Show.”

And in the seventh season of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” Carvahlo and his performing partners made it all the way to the semifinals.

But Carvahlo says his new weekend gig at the Springs Preserve is probably the most rewarding thing he’s ever done.

That’s because “the show is 50 percent educational,” giving him time to perform with his winged co-stars, then explain how they can sing, dance, free-fly and otherwise amaze the show’s all-ages audiences.

During his 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. weekend performances in the preserve’s Gardens Amphitheater, Carvahlo offers insights as he puts his parrots through their paces.

“The show is superinteractive,” he says. “Everyone screams, shouts, whistles, yells” and otherwise “becomes part of it. It’s like going to a sporting event.”

Which is exactly how he likes it.

“If there’s no noise, we wouldn’t have a show,” he admits. “That would kill me.”

To say nothing of Peaches, Beatrice and Kitten (nicknamed “Kitty”), the three parrot stars of the show.

If you saw Carvahlo and Co. on “America’s Got Talent,” you already know what they can do. Especially Kitten’s trademark free-fall dive.

On the show, the parrot plunged from 130 feet in the air, at 85 mph, then sailed across the street, flew into the theater lobby and over the audience’s heads before joining Carvahlo onstage.

“Well, you must be the bird whisperer,” judge Sharon Osbourne said after the stunt.

At the Springs Preserve, Kitten does only a 30- to 40-foot plunge, but the birds also do flying stunts in the audience, Carvahlo says, including one where the birds brush their tails across audience members’ noses.

Following each show, additional parrots join Carvahlo and their onstage counterparts for meet-and-greet sessions where audience members can hug and interact with the birds, he says. (The backstage visits carry an additional $5 charge.)

During a recent backstage session, “the youngest person was 2 years old — and we had six birds on that child,” Carvahlo recalls. “Everyone gets very relaxed.”

Such backstage encounters introduce audiences to parrots who don’t quite have what it takes to star in the show.

“It’s kind of like a human being,” Carvahlo says. “Most of the parrots are not star quality.”

Overall, only about 1 percent become show birds, he says.

“I joke that the rest are freeloaders,” he adds.

Carvahlo, who considers his show birds “college” material, likens the backstage parrots to “high school” graduates.

“They’re great — they can talk, fly, do all kinds of cool things, but they won’t do it show after show,” he says.

Yet each bird, whether onstage or backstage, displays a unique personality.

“They like to socialize, (but) some are more outgoing (than others),” he says. “They’re exactly like humans. They have different personalities.”

Previous animal shows at the Springs Preserve featured in-house employees, “but we thought it was time to start looking for an outside show,” assistant curator Emmi Saunders says.

Carvahlo and his birds are a good fit, Saunders says.

“He’s a showman down to the bone,” Saunders says, “but he’s really interested in being able to teach.”

Ultimately, Carvahlo and Springs officials have the same goals in mind.

“We want to give guests a phenomenal experience,” she says.

And people are really excited to be able to touch the birds during the postshow meet and greet, Saunders adds. (Guests who capture photos of the experience may post them on Instagram or Twitter at #meettheparrots.)

Carvahlo met his first parrot as an 11-year-old.

The bird was mainly just a pet, but he and his parrot were frequent school show-and-tell guests in his Northern California town.

And at one show-and-tell, a student told him, “ ‘I saw a bird riding a bike — can your bird do that?’ ”

The remark kind of hit a nerve, Carvahlo remembers.

From that point on, he started training his bird, following a system inspired by his experiences as a karate instructor.

Remembering how he taught kids intricate moves, step by step, Carvahlo figured out a way to get the bird to do something.

In 1987, Carvahlo sent a video of himself and his birds to officials at the Tropicana Las Vegas, which had just revamped its pool area.

They hired him to present outdoor shows — which was fortunate, Carvahlo says, because he was only 18 — not old enough to be in the casino.

After his shows, Carvahlo talked with audience members, including many people who had parrot problems.

He’d never experienced such complications.

“I was so good with them (the parrots) just naturally,” he says.

But he began “fixing birds for people,” eliminating such bad habits as biting.

“Because of their intelligence, they need a super-regular schedule,” along with interaction “with everyone in the family,” Carvahlo says.

Soon, he began taking in troubled parrots and rehabilitating them to perform in other shows and attractions, while continuing his own performing career.

From his perspective, the current Springs Preserve shows represent a high point in that career.

“I have kids who come up to me and thank me” following the performances, he says. “Little tiny kids — 3, 4, 5 years old. When they shake your hand, there is no better reward.”

Contact Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.