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Dancing Senegal Parrot

Kili

Type: Senegal Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species: Senegalus
Subspecies: Mesotypus
Sex: Female
Weight: 120 grams
Height: 9 inches
Age: 15 years, 9 months
Caped Cape Parrot

Truman

Type: Cape Parrot
Genus: Poicephalus
Species:Robustus
Subspecies: Fuscicollis
Sex: Male
Weight: 330 grams
Height: 13 inches
Age: 14 years
Blue and Gold Macaw

Rachel

Type: Blue & Gold Macaw
Genus: Ara
Species:ararauna
Sex: Female
Weight: 850 grams
Height: 26 inches
Age: 11 years, 9 months
Trick Training Guides
Taming & Training Guide
Flight Recall
Target
Wave
Fetch
Shake
Bat
Wings
Go through Tube
Turn Around
Flighted Fetch
Slide
Basketball
Play Dead
Piggy Bank
Nod
Bowling
Darts
Climb Rope
Ring Toss
Flip
Puzzle
Additional Top Articles
Stop Parrot Biting
Getting Your First Parrot
Treat Selection
Evolution of Flight
Clipping Wings
How to Put Parrot In Cage
Kili's Stroller Trick
Camping Parrots
Socialization
Truman's Tree
Parrot Wizard Seminar
Kili on David Letterman
Cape Parrot Review
Roudybush Pellets

List of Common Parrots:

Parakeets:
Budgerigar (Budgie)
Alexandrine Parakeet
African Ringneck
Indian Ringneck
Monk Parakeet (Quaker Parrot)

Parrotlets:
Mexican Parrotlet
Green Rumped Parrotlet
Blue Winged Parrotlet
Spectacled Parrotlet
Dusky Billed Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Yellow Faced Parrotlet

Lovebirds:
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Lilian's (Nyasa) Lovebird
Black Cheeked Lovebird
Madagascar Lovebird
Abyssinian Lovebird
Red Faced Lovebird
Swindern's Lovebird

Lories and Lorikeets:
Rainbow Lorikeet

Conures:
Sun Conure
Jenday Conure
Cherry Headed Conure
Blue Crowned Conure
Mitred Conure
Patagonian Conure
Green Cheeked Conure
Nanday Conure

Caiques:
Black Headed Caique
White Bellied Caique

Poicephalus Parrots:
Senegal Parrot
Meyer's Parrot
Red Bellied Parrot
Brown Headed Parrot
Jardine's Parrot
Cape Parrot
Ruppell's Parrot

Eclectus:
Eclectus Parrot

African Greys:
Congo African Grey (CAG)
Timneh African Grey (TAG)

Amazons:
Blue Fronted Amazon
Yellow Naped Amazon
Yellow Headed Amazon
Orange Winged Amazon
Yellow Crowned Amazon

Cockatoos:
Cockatiel
Galah (Rose Breasted) Cockatoo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Umbrella Cockatoo
Moluccan Cockatoo
Bare Eyed Cockatoo
Goffin's Cockatoo

Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw

Glossary of Common Parrot Terms

How to Teach a Parrot the Birdie Darts Trick

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By Michael Sazhin

Thursday December 6th, 2018

Wondering how you can teach a parrot to play darts? Here's an awesome trick to teach your parrot! This free trick training guide is about how you can train the Birdie Darts trick to your parrot!

It's a blast watching a parrot nail a bulls eye on the dart board! The Birdie Darts board is sized for any parrot small, medium, or large.

Here's a step by step guide on teaching a parrot to play darts:

Step 1: Get the Birdie Darts for your parrot from ParrotWizard.com.

Step 2: Make sure that your parrot is fetch trained. If it isn't, teach it to fetch before you start teaching the darts trick. If it is already fetch trained, just do a quick review to remind it what to do.

Step 3: Desensitize the parrot to the dart board and darts. Most parrots get scared of new stuff. The good news is that the more tricks you teach, the more the bird will get used to accepting new things. The best way to desensitize the bird to the dart board is to target it near the toy. Place the dart board on a table beforehand. Bring your parrot and set it on the table far from the toy. Get the bird into a rhythm targeting. Target it randomly in different directions and not strictly toward the darts or it may get suspicious. Target it around randomly but little by little, more and more toward the dart board. Let the parrot pay more attention to the targeting exercise and forget about the darts until you are able to target it right by the board at ease. It is better to take the time to do the desensitization exercise even if the bird didn't get scared than to scare the bird with the toy first and then try to change its mind.

Step 4: The Birdie Darts trick comes with 3 magnetic darts. You can set two extra ones aside for now and just use one dart. Give the dart to your parrot from one hand and then present your other hand and ask it to fetch the dart to your open palm. Using a clicker, click when the bird drops the dart in your hand and give it a treat. Positive reinforcement goes a long way!

Parrot Playing Darts

Step 5: Now it's time to teach the parrot to put the dart on the board. Hold your open hand in front of the dart board and ask your parrot to fetch the dart to your hand. Get the bird used to fetching the dart to your hand near the dart board.

Step 6: Continue having the bird fetch the dart to your open hand in front of the dart board, but now pull your hand away just before the bird drops the dart. When the bird is about to drop the dart into your hand, pull your hand back and away. The bird will end up dropping the dart straight down but the magnetic dart will grab onto the dart board. Click the clicker when the dart ends up on the board and give your bird a treat so that it realizes that the purpose is to put the dart on the board.

Step 7: Teach the parrot to make a bullseye by rewarding less frequently when the dart is placed far from the center. When the bird puts the dart closer to center than previously, click and reward. However, if the parrot puts the dart far from center, ignore. As the parrot learns to put the dart closer to the center, become more demanding by rejecting times when the parrot puts the dart further away. Eventually it can learn to make a bullseye with the dart on the dart board.

You can place all 3 darts on the table and have the parrot fetch all of them onto the dart board for a full game of darts!

Here's a short tutorial I made with Kili to illustrate the key steps of the process:


You can even have your parrot fly with the dart from far away like a long distance cruise-dart.

How to Teach a Parrot the Birdie Basketball Trick

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By Michael Sazhin

Thursday November 8th, 2018

Wondering how you can teach a parrot to play basketball? Here's an awesome trick to teach your parrot! This free trick training guide is about how you can train the Birdie Basketball trick to your parrot!

Nothing is as exciting as throwing a ball and having your parrot fly to get it and bring it back to dunk it in the basketball hoop! The height on the Birdie Basketball is adjustable so even smaller parrots like a green cheek conure can learn to do this awesome trick.

So here's a step by step guide on teaching a parrot to play basketball:

Step 1: Get the Birdie Basketball Set for your parrot from ParrotWizard.com.

Step 2: Make sure that your parrot is fetch trained. If it isn't, teach it to fetch before you start teaching the basketball trick. If it is already fetch trained, just do a quick review to remind it what to do.

Step 3: Desensitize the parrot to the basketball toy. Most parrots get scared of new stuff. The good news is that the more tricks you teach, the more the bird will get used to accepting new things. The best way to desensitize the bird to the basketball toy is to target it near the toy. Place the basketball hoop toy on a table beforehand. Bring your parrot and set it on the table far from the toy. Get the bird into a rhythm targeting. Target it randomly in different directions and not strictly toward the basketball hoop or it may get suspicious. Target it around randomly but little by little, more and more toward the basketball. Let the parrot pay more attention to the targeting exercise and forget about the basketball until you are able to target it right by the hoop at ease. It is better to take the time to do the desensitization exercise even if the bird didn't get scared than to scare the bird with the toy first and then try to change its mind.

Step 4: The Birdie Basketball trick comes with 2 different basketballs. One is a realistic looking basketball and one is a training ball with a lot of holes. For now, put aside the realistic ball and use the easy to grab training ball instead. Give the training ball to your parrot from one hand and then present your other hand and ask it to fetch the ball to your open palm. Using a clicker, click when the bird drops the ball in your hand and give it a treat. Positive reinforcement goes a long way!

Parrot Playing Basketball

Step 5: Now it's time to teach the parrot to put the ball in the basketball hoop. Start by lowering the hoop down low. This will not only make it easier for the parrot to reach but also give you more room to hold your hand. Hold your open hand directly over the basketball hoop and ask the bird to fetch the ball. When the bird drops the ball in your hand, click the clicker and give a treat. This teaches the bird to bring the ball toward the basketball hoop.

Step 6: Continue having the bird fetch the basketball to your open hand above the hoop, but now pull your hand away just before the bird drops the ball. This way it will accidentally drop it into the basketball hoop when it really just intended to drop it into your hand. Click and reward so that your bird realizes that the goal is to drop the ball into the hoop! Keep practicing and progressively raise the hoop higher and higher so the parrot learns to stretch for a slam dunk. Finally, when the parrot has mastered the basketball trick, you can use the realistic basketball instead. Show the bird the single hole through the ball where it can grab it with its beak and you'll have an NBA allstar in no time!

Here's a short tutorial I made with Kili to illustrate the key steps of the process:

How to Teach a Parrot the Birdie Treasure Chest Trick

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By Michael Sazhin

Thursday February 1st, 2018

Looking for a fun and easy trick to teach your parrot? Wondering how you can teach a parrot to put coins in a piggy bank? This free trick training guide is about how you can train the Birdie Treasure Chest trick to your parrot!

I love the Birdie Treasure Chest trick because it's two tricks in one. First the bird can learn to put the coins or its toys away into the open chest. Later you can close the chest and teach it to deposit coins into it like a piggy bank. The advantage of the Treasure Chest toy over a regular piggy bank is that it allows the bird to learn and expand its ability. By practicing at first with the open chest, the bird can learn to be better at fetching things and will pick up on the piggy bank part even better later on. The Birdie Treasure Chest comes with safe plastic coins so that you don't risk contaminating your bird with real coins.



The Birdie Treasure Chest Trick is suitable for most sized parrots including Senegal Parrot, Caique, Sun Conure, Amazon, African Grey, Eclectus, Cockatoo, and Macaw. However, it is probably too big for most Cockatiels, Parakeets, and Green Cheek Conures.



So here's a step by step guide on teaching a parrot to hide its treasure:

Step 1: Get the Birdie Treasure Chest for your parrot from ParrotWizard.com.

Step 2: Make sure that your parrot is trained to fetch. If it isn't already, here is a free article on teaching a parrot to fetch things to your hand.

Step 3: Desensitize the parrot to the treasure chest toy. Most parrots get scared of new stuff. The good news is that the more tricks you teach, the more the bird will get used to accepting new things. The best way to desensitize the bird to the treasure chest is to target it near the toy. Place the treasure chest on a table beforehand. Bring your parrot and set it on the table far from the toy. Get the bird into a rhythm targeting. Target it randomly in different directions and not strictly toward the chest or it may get suspicious. Target it around randomly but little by little, more and more toward the treasure chest. Let the parrot pay more attention to the targeting exercise and forget about the chest until you are able to target it right by the toy at ease. It is better to take the time to do the desensitization exercise even if the bird didn't get scared than to scare the bird with the toy first and then try to change its mind.

Step 4: Open the treasure chest and have the parrot fetch the included plastic coins to your hand near the treasure chest. Hold your open hand above the treasure chest and ask the parrot to fetch the coin to your hand. Click and reward the parrot as per usual training whenever it successfully puts coins in your hand. After practicing a few times, withdraw your hand just as the parrot is dropping the coin into your hand. It will fall into the open treasure chest by accident. Click and reward so that the parrot knows this was good. Show your hand above the treasure chest and have the parrot continue fetching the coin to the chest as you withdraw your hand. You can begin to replace the withdrawing hand with a point toward the treasure chest instead. Eventually you won't have to say or do anything. The parrot will just go and pick up a coin and drop it into the open treasure chest on its own. You just need to click and reward. You can further teach your parrot to put other objects into the treasure chest like its toys.

Step 5: Close the lid on the treasure chest and teach the parrot to put the coin into the piggy bank coin slot. The method for teaching this is similar to the prior step but with some modification. Hold your open hand above the coin slot and have the parrot fetch the coin to your hand. After a few times, pull your hand away so that the parrot ends up placing the coin on top of the treasure chest and reward this. Once the parrot is good and eager to put coins on top of the treasure chest, you just need to teach it to direct the coin into the slot better. You can help the parrot out by putting your finger near the slot and as the parrot is placing the coin down on top of the chest, you help aim it into the slot. When the parrot drops the coin into the slot, make a big deal about this with big rewards. Don't reward placing the coin near but not into the slot anymore. After a few more times, the parrot will learn to work the coin into the slot on its own. Now your parrot is a certified pirate and can stash away its plunder in a treasure chest! Argh!

Identifying and Avoiding Parrot Scams on the Internet

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By Michael Sazhin

Thursday May 18th, 2017

You are thinking of getting a parrot but you don't have any local stores, breeders, or rescues to consider so you turn to the internet. But, the internet is a mine field of scams. How do you find an internet vendor of parrots that will actually deliver a bird to you and isn't trying to scam you? Well, this article is about how to spot parrot scams on the internet!

I'm not going to get into how to find a good companion parrot or even the arguments for rescues vs baby birds. I'm going to focus specifically on avoiding internet scams that will run with your money and leave you empty handed entirely. Finding a good breeder or rehoming situation is a whole other topic.

Of course the absolute best way to avoid getting scammed online is not to get your parrot online. Any opportunity to find a parrot locally or even going somewhere far to see it in person makes for the highest chance that you won't get scammed. But if you have no choice but to deal with a breeder/seller remotely, here are 10 of the most common signs that a parrot breeder is really a scam!

1. The seller is not knowledgeable about parrots! Presumably a breeder or even someone rehoming their parrot should know some basic things about it. However, if they are talking complete nonsense or have major inconsistencies, it's likely a scam. It starts with the text in the listing talking about an entirely different species than the one depicted. The text appears combined from different sources/writers. Often times, the scammer does not even write the text but just copies it from other websites. If you copy/paste some text from the listing and find it on other sites, it's a scam. Also, keep an eye for similar inconsistencies or copying in the text of emails sent from them as well.

Parrot Eggs Scam

2. They are selling eggs! If someone claims to be selling parrot eggs on the internet, they are a scammer! Real parrot breeders sell live birds and not eggs. You cannot buy a parrot egg from someone, have it delivered to you, and pop a parrot out of it. Furthermore, legitimate breeders don't sell eggs that way. Even if you are thinking of purchasing a live baby parrot from a breeder, the presence or claim about selling eggs on their site or listing means it is a scam.

3. Using common pictures off the internet! A real breeder or someone rehoming their parrot should be able to provide an abundance of real pictures of the same bird. Scammers are often so lazy and incompetent that they copy one of the first pictures they find on a google search. Often times, these are pictures of well known celebrity parrots. If you can do a google search and find the same image on other websites, then you are witnessing a scam. The seller should be able to provide you with pictures from different angles of the exact same bird. And if you see any of my parrots in the listing and it is anywhere but my website, it is most certainly a scam!

4. Online communications only! If the seller insists on communicating to you only by email or via the messaging portal on a website, it's totally a scam. Legitimate breeders will talk to you on the phone and you will be able to get a sense of their experience in talking with them. Scammers don't know much about parrots so they can best hide this by cleverly putting together written responses at their leisure. Often times, these responses are copy/pasted responses they had previously written or that they copied entirely off the internet. Most of the scammers are from overseas so they can barely speak English and would not be able to talk to you on the phone. Insist on chatting on the phone before ever committing to an online purchase of a parrot.

5. Rush sale! Parrots are rarely available for immediate purchase from a real breeder. Since the breeding is seasonal, there are many months of the year when the breeder could not sell you a parrot. By the time the breeder has available breeders, they are usually already reserved by buyers from the low season. It is very rare that you can contact a breeder and get a bird immediately. You will usually have to wait for months or even a year for your baby to be laid, hatched, raised, and weaned. So, if the seller claims immediate availability of baby parrots, be suspicious. If the seller rushes you and tries to get you to make a quick decision and payment, it's a scam. A real breeder will give you time to think and decide about getting a baby and then after a deposit, you will be the one waiting for it to be ready.

Fake Parrot Testimonials

6. Fake testimonials! Most real stores, breeders, and sellers of parrots couldn't be bothered to post testimonials on their website. They understand that anyone can post a bunch of fake testimonials on their site and nobody will fall for that. They are too busy raising real birds, because after all this takes a lot of effort, and promote their reputation by their results. You should be able to find mentions of that breeder on public parrot forums, social media, and other places online and not just read fake glowing testimonials on their page. On the other hand, by searching the internet for the seller's name or alias, you might be able to come across others who already mentioned that this seller is a scammer. Ask the seller if they could get one of their past customers to call you and tell you about the baby rearing experience. A scammer surely won't be able to provide that.

7. Worldwide shipping! It's hard enough shipping parrots to new owners around the US. Claiming to ship all over the world is most like a scam, particularly if the breeder doesn't even claim to be located in the US. The cost and complexity of shipping parrots between countries is so high that it isn't worthwhile to most breeders. In fact, the cost would be so much, that you would not end up agreeing to it. However, if someone is trying to convince you that they will ship a parrot to you from another country and it won't cost a crazy high amount of money, it's a scam!

Macaw Scam

8. Seller is outside the US! Most, but perhaps not all, of the parrot seller scams originate outside of the US. If the seller claims to be outside the US, don't even go there. If the seller claims to be in the US or does not make it clear where they are located, further investigation is certainly necessary. Try to find out where the seller is. Ask what city they are in. Offer to come and pick up the bird yourself (even if you will end up having it shipped) to see how uncomfortable the seller is with this idea. If the seller absolutely refuses for you to pick the parrot up in person, it is most likely a scam. Check if the business and website domain are registered in the US. If they are not, it is a scam. Poor English, misunderstanding of US geography, and strange time of emails (coming from a remote timezone) are also signs of a foreign scammer.

9. Requiring a money transfer by anonymous means! If the seller requires you to send money via a western union or similar transfer, it is definitely a scam!!! Legitimate sellers will accept or even insist on a personal check, cashiers check, credit card, or paypal payment. These can be traced as well as stopped. There are buyer protections when paying by credit card or paypal. These are useless to a scammer. If you are getting close to the payment part of your negotiations with an online parrot seller, insist on using a payment method like paypal and see their reaction. If they are completely against it, run for the hills cause it's a scam! Gift cards, bitcoin, money orders, and other anonymous payment methods all smell scammy the same way.

Free Parrot Scam

10. It sounds too good to be true! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! If you come across a seller that claims to be selling a parrot species that you know is typically much more expensive, they are probably claiming a low price to trick people into their scam. A typical scam is an offer of a free parrot where you only have to pay for the shipping.

Watch out for very exotic/expensive species being offered for cheap. This just doesn't usually happen. There is a pretty high demand for baby parrots so a breeder just isn't going to appear desperate to sell you a bird. Know the typical price for a species and avoid falling for low price scams. If you are offered a cheap, quick, easy, exotic, unbelievable sale on a parrot, it's a scam!




So there you go. Ten ways to avoid falling victim to common internet parrot scams. Be smart. Look for clues. Ask unique questions. Take your time! You'll be well on your way to finding a legitimate parrot breeder and get the bird you really paid for.




Signs of Common Parrot Scams Online
Watch out for some of these signs of typical parrot scams on the internet: species doesn't match photo, parrot eggs for sale, international seller, payment in moneygram or bitcoin, extremely low price.

How to Teach a Parrot the Birdie Bowling Trick

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By Michael Sazhin

Thursday April 27th, 2017

Looking for a fun and easy trick to teach your parrot? Wondering how you can teach a parrot to bowl? This free trick training guide is about how you can train the Birdie Bowling trick to your parrot!

I love the Birdie Bowling trick because it looks a lot more impressive than the effort it takes to teach it. This is a trick that suits virtually all kinds of parrots and is easy to teach (basically everything except budgie, lovebird, or parrotlet because it is too big for them). This was the first prop based trick I ever taught to Kili and I recommend it to people as their first prop trick.

So here's a step by step guide on teaching a parrot to bowl:

Step 1: Get the Birdie Bowling Set for your parrot from ParrotWizard.com.

Step 2: Make sure that your parrot is target trained. If it isn't, teach it to target before you start teaching the bowling trick. If it is already target trained, just do a quick review to remind it what to do.

Step 3: Desensitize the parrot to the bowling toy. Most parrots get scared of new stuff. The good news is that the more tricks you teach, the more the bird will get used to accepting new things. The best way to desensitize the bird to the bowling toy is to target it near the toy. Place the bowling toy on a table beforehand. Bring your parrot and set it on the table far from the toy. Get the bird into a rhythm targeting. Target it randomly in different directions and not strictly toward the bowling or it may get suspicious. Target it around randomly but little by little, more and more toward the bowling. Let the parrot pay more attention to the targeting exercise and forget about the bowling until you are able to target it right by the bowling at ease. It is better to take the time to do the desensitization exercise even if the bird didn't get scared than to scare the bird with the toy first and then try to change its mind.

Step 4: Target the bird toward the bowling ball with your target stick. Set the pins aside for now. Place the ball on the ramp and use the target stick to direct the bird to the ball. Say "target" and when your bird touches the stick, click and reward. After the bird gets good at this, point to the ball with your finger and say "target." The bird should do the same as before but touch the ball instead of the non-existent stick. If it doesn't catch on, keep practicing with the stick some more.

Parrot Bowling

Step 5: Get the bird to push the ball. This part is a bit tricky and requires careful scrutiny on your part. Saying "target" and pointing to the ball should get the bird to come to the ball and touch it. But we're not trying to get the bird to just touch it. We want the bird to push it. This is where some clicker training really comes in handy. Using the "target" command, we can get the bird to touch the ball. In the beginning, accept by click/rewarding any touch of the ball. However, as the bird continues to improve, require firmer touches and presses of the ball to receive a click/treat. What you will most likely encounter is the bird getting a bit frustrated when it touched the ball and got nothing, then it will start attacking or shaking the ball in an attempt to get the touch to work (like pushing the dysfunctional elevator door close button a million times). This is your chance to watch for the moment of maximum pushing to click/reward. At some point, the bird will push the ball hard enough that it will roll of the ramp and this is the time to click and give a jackpot reward to mark success. If the bird never overcomes pushing it over the bump, you can try holding the ball just over the bump and encouraging it to push. Let go when it does so that the bird can realize that pushing it to move is what gets the click/treat. Eventually it should learn to push harder and be able to push it on its own.

Step 6: Set up the pins, set up the ball, tell your parrot to "bowl," and enjoy! Click the moment the parrot pushes the ball off of the ramp and give a treat. Eventually you won't have to click because the bird will learn that getting the ball rolling is the entire purpose.

Here's a short tutorial I made with Kili to illustrate the key steps of the process:
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Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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