5 Things You Should Know About Parrots

You may be new to sharing your life with parrots or you may be an old pro. Or perhaps you have never even considered a parrot. Either way you may be surprised to learn a few facts about parrot behavior that make them a bit different from your average companion animal. Here are a few of my favorites.

1.    Parrots prefer to have their head feathers stroked towards their beak. While your dog, cat or rabbit may appreciate being stroked from head to tail, this is often merely tolerated or it can be sexually stimulating to companion parrots.  Look at your bird’s body language to clue you in as to whether your parrot is just taking it or can’t get enough. If your parrot is squatting, trembling or panting it is a good idea to reconsider this practice. A bird that is tolerating it isn’t really the goal either. I prefer to see a parrot who fluffs his head feathers up in a big ball in anticipation of a few head scritches. Touch on the head is definitely a great way to foster your relationship. Allopreening (grooming each other’s feathers) is an important part of parrot social relationships. Parrots can’t reach those pin feathers (new feathers growing in) on their head, having their human companion remove the keratin casing on newly grown feathers is usually quite welcomed. Check out this video clip on how to pet a parrot to see what touch should look like.

2.    Parrots show love by puking for us. Isn’t that a fun one? Yes it is a true. A parrot who has decided you are its chosen mate will express its love by regurgitating for you. The beak will be brought to the chest and the head will arc in a repetitive motion as food is brought back up into the mouth. The bird may try to dribble this usually smelly gooey mush into your hand if you make it available. This courtship behavior is also one that caregivers will want to avoid reinforcing. This means removing your attention the moment the behavior is exhibited. Wait for the bird to present any other acceptable behavior and reinforce that instead. Reinforcing courtship and sexual behavior can contribute to a number of behavior problems such as aggressive behavior towards other members of the household, excessive vocalizations for attention and more. Learn more on how to address these problems from the webinar recording Solutions for Parrot Behavior Problems Related to Hormones.

3.    Just because a parrot has feathers doesn’t mean it can fly well. In some countries it is common to clip the flight feathers on parrots right about the time the bird would first attempt flight. If this happens (or the parrot is kept in an enclosure that is too small to allow flight) during that time in development when flight should be happening, it can lead to a loss in flight for the rest of that bird’s life. This is especially true for heavy bodied birds such as Amazons, macaws and African grey parrots. Some people may have an older parrot that now has full flight feathers but never flies unless startled. These typically are the birds that were clipped during this critical stage of development in which their genetics would have been urging their body to attempt flight. Instead of flight, each launch off of the perch would have been met with a crash landing. This quickly teaches the bird to stop attempting flight. Unfortunately it has an impact that can have a lifetime effect on flying. Lighter bodied birds such as budgerigars, cockatiels, conures, some cockatoo species and a few other smaller species of parrots can regain flight. But unfortunately for many of the larger species, even with excellent training, a confident flying bird in most cases is very unlikely. It is often best to provide as an enriched a life as possible without flight for such individuals. If your bird was never clipped or has sufficiently recovered flight, training with positive reinforcement does offer solutions for managing the behavior of flighted parrots those who are interested in keeping parrots flighted. Behaviors such as recall, station training and developing flight skills make living with flighted parrots a pleasure.

4.    Parrots are super-duper visual. Your dog has a super sniffer. Your cat hears the slightest rustle of a cockroach in debris. Your parrot can see the tiniest speck of a spider on the ceiling or teeny tiny airplane in the sky. This means he is also carefully watching you. Especially if he is interested in your attention and companionship. If you have a parrot that has the problem of vocalizing for attention this is important to know. This is because one of your goals is not to reinforce the undesired vocalizations. Often we think we are ignoring the calls, but many times things like our moving shadow on the wall, or the body language of the dog responding to us (even though we are out of line of sight) is enough to clue our parrots in that we are just there around the corner. This can be enough to keep a parrot screaming for attention. This is often a reason why people have a hard time being successful at resolving this behavior problem. Learn more about how to address this common parrot behavior from the webinar recording Addressing Screaming for Attention in Companion Parrots.

5.    Parrot friendships can take time, but can be extremely rewarding. Most of us are accustomed to meeting a dog or cat and within minutes being able to interact with our new furry friend. Certainly there are exceptions, but in general most dogs and cats friendships seem easily earned compared to parrots. Many parrot species are not as social as we might think. In the wild they live with only one partner or small family groups. Flocking may only happen under certain circumstances such as foraging or roosting.  Therefore automatically accepting new individuals may not be the norm for those species. Some parrots species also show a tendency towards neophobia (fear of new things). This can also inhibit a parrot’s inclination to warm up to new people. Learning history also plays a role in how quickly a parrot may be inclined to respond to a new potential friend. That is where training can help. Teaching your parrot some simple behaviors (like waving, saying hello, or turning around on cue) to present with strangers can help give your parrot an activity to focus on that has past reinforcement history that can be paired with new people. This can go a long way in helping build trust with new people and experiences. It may take a little more effort than some of our more gregarious companion animals, but what an honor when a parrot decides your company is delightful.

Whatever species you share your life with; it is about getting to know them. Parrots have characteristics that are unique to them, but like any animal they are also influenced by learning history. This means behavior also has flexibility to some extent. Unfortunately we can really miss the boat on flight if we don’t allow birds to fledge properly when nature is telling their bodies to do so. However we can definitely still influence things like building trust, addressing vocalizing for attention, preventing behavior problems associated with reproductive behavior and more by getting a good understanding of learning theory and how it applies to the behavior of animals in our home. Even though your parrot’s behavior may present challenges that might be a bit different from your dog or cat, don’t give up! They are often eager students and ready to learn. Check out more resources on parrot behavior at www.GoodBirdInc.com.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.BarbarasFFAT.com
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2015

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional animal trainer since 1990. Her company Barbara’s Force Free Animal Training (www.BarbarasFFAT.com) provide animal training DVDs, books, webinars and workshops. She has been a featured speaker in over twenty countries and has been published in nine languages. Barbara also consults on animal training in zoos.

Baby Parrots!

My blog has been kind of quiet lately. But my house hasn’t! Both are the result of some new visitors to my home. Two baby parrots. Jackson is a young Blue Throated Macaw and Joker is a young Double Yellow Headed Amazon parrot.

These two adorable youngsters are here for some training. The Kaytee Learning Center is their intended home. There they will help educate people about responsible pet ownership, as well as be ambassadors for conservation education. (Blue Throated Macaw numbers are quite low in the wild, and captive hatched Jackson will help spread the word and raise awareness!)

Because of their role in education there are some specific training goals I am working towards with these two birds. They are both flighted and will not only educate at the Kaytee Learning Center, but also at special events. This means both birds need to be comfortable with travel, be comfortable wearing a harness and interacting with new people in new environments.

For some birds, those can be challenging behaviors. With Jackson and Joker being youngsters they are a little more receptive to change at the moment. I am taking advantage of this time in their development and exposing them to many new things and pairing these experiences with positive reinforcers.

They recently met two new people and also some puppies! Both birds responded as I had hoped. No fear whatsoever…….just a bit of curiosity. They flew to new people for treats. However they soon discovered playing with one new friend’s curly hair was more tempting than a treat. I had to spend the next day teaching Jackson that other places were for perching….not heads.

It is an easy trap to fall into. A parrot flies to someone’s head and starts to have all sorts of fun. That makes flying to heads reinforcing. This means that flying to heads is likely to happen more often. To address this the following day, whenever Jackson tried to fly to my head, I simply stepped aside. He is a very confident flyer at this point and remained aloft and looked for another perch. As soon as he landed I reinforced him. This quickly got him back on track. It was now hard to land on a head and super easy to land somewhere else. Plus you get a treat for it. Problem solved!

These two young parrots will be with me for a number of weeks. I will continue to post on their training and their progress. Keep checking back for updates!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Training a Cape Parrot at a Workshop in Portugal

When I would tell people I was going to Europe, so many people lit up when I said Portugal was on the itinerary. I had no idea what to expect, having never been. Well I have learned why people love Portugal so much; beautiful beaches, fabulous food and incredibly friendly people.

I presented two days of parrot training workshops. The first day was for parrot owners near the city of Lisbon. The second day was for veterinary and zoo professionals in the north of Portugal.

I promised I would share some of the highlights of these workshops. A stand out in Lisbon was a wonderful young Cape Parrot. It is not too often you see Cape Parrots. They are an unusual African species with a large beak. Some people say they look they are always smiling. Plus they are sexually dimorphic, which is pretty uncommon for most parrot species. A very unique species indeed.

The first thing that was quite obvious about this little fella was that he was very comfortable with new people, new environments and he was also a bit of pig. In other words he had a great attention for treats. He was the ideal training subject.

Because he was flighted and a number of people in the room were interested in working with flighted birds, the first thing I worked on was demonstrating how you train a strong recall. This also included teaching a cue that means fly to a perch. Piece of cake for the Cape Parrot.

Throughout the day he continued to show his eagerness to learn. In a matter of minutes he learned to turn around on cue. This is always a nice easy behavior for people new to training to try at home with their parrots. The humans learn how to train and the parrots learn how to learn. Usually it can be trained in one session, so it is a big confidence booster for everyone.

After that I thought I would demonstrate teaching a bird to take liquid from a syringe as we did in France with an Umbrella Cockatoo. I used a straw. The Cape Parrot was a bit nervous of the straw at first. Since he was flighted this was a good lesson in just how slow to go and the subtle signs of fear trainers must respect in order to have success.

When we got to the step where he tasted the water, everyone was surprised, especially him! He shook his head and sprayed a few droplets of water around. But fortunately he came back for more despite a bigger approximation than planned.

He was certainly a joy to work with and I think we all went home wishing we could add a Cape Parrot to our feathered families.

Photos Courtesy of Decio Lopes.

Barbara Heidenreich
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2009
www.GoodBirdInc.com

One More Parrot Training Secret Revealed.Thanks!

I am most definitely ready to get back to blogging about parrot training. yea!!!


However this post was just the perfect compliment to the position statements that I had to share it. This explains why I wrote the positions statements. Cringely is the name of the guy's site. I do hope you will check it out as it is quite enlightening.

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Bizarre Rare Parrot......The Feather Duster

Behold the feather duster. Kind of a controversial topic I have discovered. Apparently they are a rare mutation of the English Budgie. I recently met Munchkin a feather duster hatched at J & M Aviaries in Austin, TX. I remember when Linda and Jerry told me they might have a feather duster baby. They were hand raising a few budgies and one appeared with unusual feathers. At first they thought it might be a disease such as psittacine beak and feather. They had even thought they might need to euthanize the bird to protect the flock. Fortunately they realized what they had on their hands was one of these rare mutations.

The controversy over these parrots is that there is concern that they don’t live long and that the feathers create a hardship in their lives. This can mean challenges seeing and also keeping the feathers clean. The shorter life span has been attributed to the nutrient requirements for feather growth. All of this may be true for some, but what we all wondered is how many people actual have the opportunity to give a feather duster the kind of attention it needs to live a healthy life?

As a small facility J & M is able devote plenty of time to each bird. Larger aviaries that hatch a feather duster may not have that luxury. Munchkin goes home every night with staff and is attended to all day at the aviary.

As a hand raised baby he is extremely engaging and appears to respond enthusiastically to attention. In this video clip, you can see him perk up when he hears his name called and spin circles when Linda comes closer.

In one article I saw comments that it was unkind to allow feather dusters to survive. I found this difficult to agree with after watching Munchkin. He certainly did not seem to be suffering and in fact he was as vital as any bird I had seen. He has a preferred toy that he rests up against (made by the Leather Elves….Robin is quite proud I am sure!) and probably gets more attention than most parrots I know.

Working in bird shows for so many years I often had the privilege to work with and train some unusual cases ….a blind Harris Hawk named Storm; a Barred Owl with brain damage due to a head trauma named Mr. Magoo, and an amazing wing injured Bald Eagle named Hope. One thing that amazed me is how adaptable these animals are. As with any animal the goal was always to use positive reinforcement to help makes their lives as rewarding as possible. And in turn they helped educate and inspire so many people despite their personal individual challenges.

I hope people can look at Munchkin as a special bird who happened to hatch into the hands of some people who care deeply for him. With any luck he will teach us more about this unique condition and how best to care for feather dusters.

Barbara Heidenreich

Copyright 2009 Good Bird Inc
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Get your Flighted Parrot Back Home Safely

It has been a very busy few months and I have had a hard time getting to the blog. It has been in the back of my head for a long time that I would love to make sure more resources are out there for people with flighted parrots. Too many times I see postings on chat groups in regard to lost birds.

I have posted an article about what to do when a flighted parrot is lost here on this blog, but now it is also available on my website. Here is the link.

It has detailed information on what to do when a parrot flies off and how to retrieve it. Please feel free to share the link with other lists. I hope it will help people get their birds back.

Also I know how panicked people can be when they are searching for a beloved parrot. So I have also prepared some free "Lost Bird Flyers" I don't have all species represented yet, but if you have a nice picture of your bird you would like to share we can make one and post it for others to use.

The flyer is designed so that all you have to do is enter your contact info and details on where you last saw the bird. You can add other items too if you want. But the basic template is there for you.

I recommend downloading the flyer, adding details and printing some to keep on hand. That way if you do ever end up on a search for your bird, no time is wasted making flyers. They are ready to go. Here is the link for the flyers.

I hope you will find these useful. Please feel free to cross post.

Photo: Scarlet Macaw provided by Chris Biro.

Photo taken by Barbara Heidenriech

Barbara Heidenreich

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

Parrot Podcast at

http://www.petliferadio.com/

Copyright 2008 Good Bird Inc

When a Flighted Parrot Escapes

My blue fronted Amazon parrot, Tarah, does not have clipped wings. However like many birds that were clipped during the fledging process, he has never quite learned the kind of flight skills that might earn him the title of a “flyer”. I often said “He’s has his flight feathers, but he doesn’t fly.” One day I learned, the hard way, that this wasn’t exactly true.

I was visiting my parrots as I was moving from southern California to northern California. When I arrived I brought Tarah in his cage to my old bedroom. I opened the door to the cage to allow my bird some much needed free time. Before I knew it, he bolted off his cage, through the bedroom door, took a right and made his way down the hall. He then banked left and flew through the living room. At that very moment my father was just opening the sliding glass door to step out onto the deck. Guess who went through the door too? The deck was on the second floor, so my bird had two stories of lift to assist him on his grand flight down the fairway of the golf course behind the house. Thank goodness he was a green flying brick. He ran out of gas and slowly descended to the soft green grass before a tree offered its branches as refuge. Juiced by adrenalin, my feet barely touched the ground as I ran after my bird.

I have always been very careful about the choices I make having a flighted bird in the house. But I was very surprised by the amazing flight my bird made on that day. Sometimes birds that we think will never fly do indeed fly. Sometimes birds that have flight feathers trimmed surprise us when feathers return. Sometimes experienced flyers get frightened or find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Whatever the situation, there are some strategies that can be very useful to recovering a bird that has flown to a location undesired by you. The following information is provided to prepare you for that day when your bird may find itself airborne and heading in the wrong direction. These strategies apply if you bird has no flight skills or is a world class flying athlete.

Bird is flying away

• Call to your bird loudly as he is flying- it may help him find his way back to you.
• As your bird is flying, do not take your eyes off of him. Note the last place you saw him, the level of his flight, how tired he looked. He may have landed in that area. (Radio or phone contact for a group of people searching can be very helpful in this situation. Grab your cell phone!)

Searching for your bird

• If you have a group of people, spread out and circle the area you last saw him.
• If you cannot locate him, call to him. He may call back. Say words or sounds he knows or mimics. Most parrots are located by their screams.
• If he has another bird he likes, put that bird in a cage and bring it to the area you last saw him. Walk away from the bird in the cage. It might encourage the bird in the cage to scream. This may inspire the lost bird to scream. Keep talking to a minimum so you can listen for the scream.
• Look carefully in a limited area (within 1 mile) in the early stages of your search. Parrots usually do not go far unless, blown by the wind, chased by a bird of prey or extremely frightened.
• Keep in mind your parrot may see you before you see him. When this happens, parrots are sometimes very quiet. This may be because the parrot is more comfortable now that you are present.
• Despite some parrots bright colors, they can be very difficult to see in trees. Look for movement buried in the trees as opposed to your whole bird perched prominently on the tree.

You have located the bird, but he is out of reach

• Once you find you bird, relax (unless the bird is in immediate danger.) It is better to let the bird sit where he is (if he is inaccessible) while you work out a strategy. Do not frantically try to grab the bird, hose or scare him down.
• If the bird has just landed. He will probably not fly again (if at all) for awhile.
• Bring the bird’s favorite person and/or favorite bird friend (in a cage) to the area where your bird is located.
• Bring favorite food items, familiar food bowls and the bird’s cage if possible.
• Be careful not to ask your bird to fly from a great height or a steep angle. Try to position yourself (or bird buddy, or bird cage) to allow short flights or short climbs to lower places.
• Try to lure your bird to fly or climb to branches/objects that are similar to those upon which he is sitting if possible. A bird may be too frightened to climb onto a distinctly different perch. (For example, the bird might be afraid to climb off of a tree onto a fence.) If you have no other option, expect the process to be slower and be patient with your bird as he builds his confidence. He may also fly again if he touches the new perch and is frightened by it.
• Do not raise unfamiliar objects up to your bird to have him step onto it. More than likely this will only scare your bird to fly farther away. If you have a familiar item, you may have a chance that the bird will step onto it. Keep in mind things like ladders, people climbing trees, cherry pickers etc. may also scare your bird. Go extremely slowly if you resort to using these items. Stop any action if your bird looks like he wants to fly away.
• Try to call your bird down when his body language indicates he is ready to try to come down. Do not constantly call.
• Try hiding from your bird on occasion. This will create a level of anxiety in your bird which may cause him to try to come to you once you reappear. Usually birds will scream and or start moving around a lot when they are ready to make an effort to return to you. If you notice this activity, come out from hiding.
• If you hear your bird screaming while you are hiding, he may be ready to fly or is already in the air. Come out of hiding right away. Most parrots scream when they are flying in this type of situation.
• Birds also often relieve themselves and also scream right before they fly. Be alert for this. You may need to see where your bird flys. Be ready to run if necessary.
• Avoid having a crowd of people around the bird’s favorite person. A scared bird may not want to fly into a crowd of strangers. Give the bird’s favorite person lots of room.

The sun is setting and your bird is still out.

• Parrots will usually fly again shortly before the sun starts to set. This is probably your last opportunity to get your bird back before he will begin to roost for the night. Take advantage of it. You can try to get the bird “pumped” up by yelling and creating a level of excitement. This may encourage one last flight.
• As the sun starts to set, your bird will start to fluff his feathers and get ready to roost for the night. At this point it is best to just allow him to go to sleep. Keep an eye on him until the sun has set completely. Remember his exact location.
• Before the sun rises the next day, return to that location. Your bird should still be there, unless he was frightened in the night (owls can cause this).
• Usually by 8:30 or 9:00 AM your bird will be ready to fly again or make an attempt to get to you. Repeat the steps described in the section “You have located your bird, but he is out of reach”.

Your bird has flown off and after 24 hours of searching he has not been spotted.

• Contact the following people and let them know you are looking for your bird. If a person finds your bird they may contact one of these organizations.
• Call animal control
• Call the SPCA/humane society
• Call local veterinarians
• Call local zoos
• Call local pet shops
• Call local police
• Place an ad in the classified section of the paper for a “lost” bird.
• Note: Don’t give out the bird’s band number. If your bird accidentally falls into the wrong hands this could lead to removal of the band.
• Check the classified section of the paper for “found” bird. Answer all ads. People are sometimes unaware of what they have found. A Congo African grey may be mistaken for the mythical red tailed pigeon by a helpful stranger who is unfamiliar with parrots.
• Post flyers that state “lost bird” in the areas you last saw your bird. You may also wish to offer a reward as incentive for people to call.
• Often times a bird is found within 24 hours of his disappearance. The trick is to find the person who found your bird before you.

Do not give up

The key to getting a bird back is perseverance. Do not accept that you will not get the bird back once you have lost sight of him or her. As a professional bird trainer that free flys many types of birds on a regular basis, I can attest that parrots are often the easiest type of bird to locate and recover. Trust me - nothing is more frustrating than searching for the silent, but observant owl who has buried himself in the bushes and has watched you walk by 100 times! Thankfully our parrots often seek out human or bird companionship if and when they have a big flight adventure.

Copyright 2005 © Good Bird Inc. First appeared in Good Bird Magazine Volume1 Issue1 Spring 2005. Cannot be reprinted without permission.

For more information on training visit www.goodbirdinc.com