10 Basic Do’s Of Bird Ownership
Liz Wilson has 10 basic do’s of Parrot ownership. Companion birds come in all sizes, shapes, colours and personalities. They range from the diminutive finches with their soft beeping calls, to the Hyacinth Macaws, the largest and one of the loudest of the Parrot family. Interactions with companion birds can range from a friendship-from-a-distance with […]
Toilet Training Your Parrot
Thank you to Liz Wilson for providing this article with tips and advice on toilet training your Parrot. We have all heard the joke about the Parrot owner who goes to a psychic. The young man was totally amazed at how talented the psychic was, as she was able to read his mind and tell […]
Clicker and Target Training
Find out more about clicker and target training your Parrot. Read more about training Parrots here. I’ve mentioned clicker and target training in a couple of my Q&A responses, so we thought a more detailed explanation was necessary. The concept of clicker training was formulated over 50 years ago, but it has only become popular in […]
How To Address Fear In Parrots
Here is how to address fear in Parrots. Example Have you ever been really scared? Perhaps it was a moment when you did not have control. For example as a passenger on a turbulent plane ride, or you realized someone was targeting you to pick your pocket, or you were stuck in a big crowd […]
Parrot Body Language
Find out more about Parrot body language. While Parrots might be considered to be rather noisy, babbly creatures, they do most of their actual communication through body language, not voice. This is crucial for us humans to understand if we ever want to successfully communicate with our Parrots, so we need to learn to pay attention. […]
Spring Behaviour in Parrots
Liz Wilson tells us more about spring behaviour in Parrots. As the hours of daylight start to increase in the early spring, life becomes chaotic for companion Parrot behaviour consultants, and we are inundated with phone calls and emails from distraught Parrot people whose birds are suddenly a problem. Rescue organisations It is tremendously sad […]
Feather Plucking – Psychological Factors (Part 2 of 2)
Liz Wilson explains more about the causes of feather plucking. As explained in my last column (Feather Destruction – Environmental Factors – Part I of II), Feather Destructive Behaviours (FDB) or feather plucking are a symptom of an underlying stress. In a brief review of the previous column, environmental stressors include sleep deprivation, malnutrition, improper […]
Petting Your Parrot
Barbara Heidenreich has advice on petting your Parrot. People often warn of the dangers of petting your Parrot. Usually they are referring to the kind of touching that leads your Parrot to believe you two would make lovely children together. This might include stroking under your Parrot’s wings or near the base of his tail. This […]
Managing Mess in Parrots
Barbara Heidenreich explains how to manage mess in Parrots. Zookeeper Once a zookeeper, always a zookeeper. I admit I was trained well. When I started my career in zoos back in 1990 I worked for the best kind of boss a newbie could have….a stickler for cleanliness and exceptional animal care. The standards were high […]
Parrots Who Can’t Wait To Do As You Ask
Barbara Heidenreich explains what to do if your Parrot can’t wait to do as you ask. Joker the Yellow-naped Amazon Parrot made me proud today. As mentioned in an earlier blog, both Joker and Jackson the Blue-throated Macaw showed some hesitancy in returning to their cages after a few hours spent outside their cages training […]