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
Until recently, Truman didn't know how to eat soft fruits on his own! Whether it was corn on the cob, pomegranate, or grapes, Truman would only eat them if I peeled them a bit and stuck them in his beak. Imagine that! I giant beak like that which could crack an almond in half in a second, couldn't eat a grape!
If I stuck a grape in Truman's beak and didn't at least peal the skin a little, he'd drop it. In other words if I didn't get it started for him, he couldn't figure out how to get the fruit going. But a few weeks ago, I grew tired of all this and decided to teach him a lesson in figuring it out on his own! So instead of giving him something tasty like this at the end of a meal as a treat, I gave him a corn on the cob as his meal. The only catch is he'd have to figure it out on his own!
I put a piece of corn in Truman's bowl and left him at it. At first he was pissed that he couldn't get at the tasty kernels but since he was hungry he kept at it and figured out. Since then I've been able to get him to work grapes and other fruit without having to help him. What a big baby!
Now this time I took the birds in the yard where the fig tree is blossoming. Kili had never had a fig before and Truman only had one once in the aviary. Since the figs look like a giant grape, I think they both figured it out pretty quickly and began munching away. I think for a parrot this must be one of the most enjoyable experiences: peeling off mother nature's own right off the branch and making a big big mess!
I took Kili & Truman on an outing to a glider club picnic. This isn't the first time I've taken them to this annual event so it wasn't surprising that they were at complete ease. I'd even go so far to say that they even enjoyed it.
The parrot duo got to ride around on my shoulders and earn bits of unusual food. They took turns stepping up for people, getting pet, or showing tricks. The birds especially enjoyed eating freshly picked NJ sweet corn off the cob. Funny thing is that Truman is a dodo and can't manage corn off the cob. Truman goes bonkers for corn off the cob but can't figure out how to get it off. Kili just digs right in. I can't take a bite of my corn without Kili ripping off the other end.
The place where the club hosts the picnic has a small lake and boats. I took the parrots on their first ever open boat ride. I put them both down on the side but Kili flew right up to my shoulder. Meanwhile Truman sat on the edge and watched the water and wildlife. By exposing the birds to every possible imaginable experience, I can best prepare them for complex unforeseen situations or performances in the future.
At these picnics, the club always ends things with a balsa wood glide throwing contest to see who can toss their flimsy little plane to land closest to a pole. The host's mantra has always been that "there are no rules and cheating is encouraged" so my brother and I usually bring our own higher performance gliders. But this year I decided to go all the way and have the bird do the flying. Before the competition I worked on training Truman to harness fly and land atop the PVC canopy of the target stake. Using my "go to perch" command, I had Truman fly to the point from further and further back until I could do it from the launch point. I had to have a running start and send Truman flying in order to keep running to grant him slack in his flying line. Since Truman's string is only 25ft but the required distance was over 75, I had to run with him to be able to fly. I paid the $2 entry fee twice. I entered Truman as his own competitor.
When the competition came, it was already well after sunset. I didn't realize just how badly birds see in twilight until I tried to have Truman fly to the point during the competition. The first two tries, he flew the wrong way and only the harness kept him from going who knows where. But on the third and final attempt, things went a little different. Truman again took off and headed in the wrong direction. He reached the end of the line and began an arching turn to follow the radius. I took his continued flying to advantage and started running toward the stake calling his name to recall to me instead. He turned and headed for the sound of my voice. He was so winded by this point that he did not make it to the top of the stake but did land just 12 inches short of the pole which was the closest any flying object had made it to in this competition. Truman was cheered on by the onlookers as he made it to the landing zone. I didn't do nearly as well when I tossed my balsa glider.
The birds were satisfied, satiated, and exhausted from all the flying, thrills, and experiences. They did not make a peep the entire ride back. These kinds of outings are a fantastic socialization experience for the birds and I think for them a lot of fun. It also gives me a chance to educate people about parrots in the process. For more information about building trust, hand taming, harness training, taking parrots outdoors, and teaching them to wear a harness, check out my book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots.
I flew by airline to Phoenix, Arizona for a few days to help my favorite rescue, Ginger's Parrots. Although not new on the scene, the rescue recently incorporated and acquired 501c3 status. On Saturday we held a Grand Opening event for Ginger's rescue to celebrate making everything official and to draw attention to the organization.
Ginger's Parrots is a new kind of rescue specializing only in certain species of parrots and with a different approach. Most rescues inevitably become overfilled with parrots as the number of unwanted birds only grows while the birds live long. So instead of focusing on quantity, Ginger focuses on quality instead. Running the small rescue out of her own home, Ginger works individually with the parrots to prepare them for pet life. Rather than trying to get the birds adopted to anyone that will take them, her focus is to make the birds as good or better than baby parrots that can be bought at stores. If the birds are good, they have a much better shot at staying in the same home than in the condition they were brought to the rescue.
The Grand Opening Event brought a nice turn out and collection of donations. I offered a talk on my well-behaved parrot approach as well as a harness training demonstration. During the demonstration with parrots from the rescue I was able to demonstrate the harness desensitization process with visible progress. One of the Senegals was doing so well that I challenged him all the way to voluntarily walking across the perch to sticking his head into the harness collar.
As the event continued, I signed copies of my book, the Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots. The rescue event was a very suitable place for selling these books as Ginger applies the techniques I teach in the book on her rescue flock. Also she wrote the foreword to the book based on her success applying my methods to a whole lot of parrots.
I had already been to Ginger's rescue twice and conducted a lot of training work with the birds, setting in motion an approach that Ginger has continued. However, we have bold goals for these birds so there are further skills they could learn. This time, I set a goal of initiating harness training with the birds so that Ginger could take them out and socialize them with people more frequently. Considering the novel no-clipping policy at the rescue, outdoor safety can only be assured with a harness or carrier. The trouble with a carrier is that it doesn't get hands on time with the birds so it narrows everything down to harness.
Since the main focus of the rescue is Senegal Parrots, aggression is the key target for rehabilitation. Ginger has noted a tremendous decline in biting while an increase in confidence with the birds since they've been flighted. Although the birds are capable of flying away, they generally don't. They merely use their awareness of being able to fly away to drive their confidence to cooperate without reverting to biting. One challenge, however, has been to keep the Senegals from fighting with each other as they are no longer geographically isolated because they can fly.
One of the solutions to reduce territorial issues with the parrots (while also simplifying cleaning) is to eliminate the long standing trees (which were arranged one per bird) in favor of a more communal approach. We wheeled all the tree stands out of the room and set out to make a full new set of hanging play gyms instead. I shipped ahead a bundle of NU Perch sticks I was donating for the bird room remodeling. On the spot we bought a few additional supplies and in 2 afternoons built 8 original play gyms and hung them from the ceiling. The all hanging approach eliminates base cleaning and makes a single cleaning of the floor a lot easier. It also provides an unstable platform that stimulates the birds to think more about getting around. It has been a blast watching the birds get around their stands because they tip and rotate in place as they climb. When one parrot flies off a stand, the remaining parrots end up going for a merry go round ride. The birds were so preoccupied with the new stands that they were too busy to get into fights with each other.
To ease the transition to the new stands, I played a targeting game with the birds to encourage them to climb around. Not only was I able to get them to climb to all ends of individual stands but between stands as well. One particular Senegal who has been really difficult to tame, really took to target training. In a single attempt, I was able to teach him to target. I'm sure he'd been watching the other Senegals and had it all figured out. He was just waiting for the opportunity to be involved as well. In no time I had him climbing between playgyms and flying to other perches for opportunities to target.
A different Senegal has recently regained his flight feathers but was unsure how to use them. He seemed very eager to target but just didn't fly for it. So I put together a set of Training Perches and began the perch to perch targeting method of teaching him to fly. Before the evening was over, the parrot that just didn't know how to fly across 4 inches, was flying 15 inches between stands with ease. An interesting thing is that he wasn't really doing it for the food. He was much more eager to fly across the gap to target (ultimately for a treat) than directly for a treat lure. Since the birds get to watch each other targeting, they see a particular excitement for the opportunity to play. The motivation they exhibited in targeting around the room far exceeded their hunger for treats motivation.
The morning after the event and upon the 5th harness training session, I got a harness entirely on the promising Senegal. Ginger and I took him to a Sunday morning parrot group that meets at a park with their birds. Although this was sooner than I would have liked to put a harness on a parrot in this stage of training, we went for it for lack of time. However, I knew this would not be a problem because this was a super tame bird that doesn't mind being held. He was not upset having the harness on (which is important to avoid trouble putting it on next time) but he did want to chew it. To reduce chewing, I grasped him in my hand, through a towel, or did things to occupy his attention as much as possible. Once at the park outing, he was preoccupied with the activity and paid less attention to the harness.
I taught Ginger about socializing the parrot to complete strangers and went from very controlled interactions to random interactions based on my 12 step socialization approach. The Senegal went from hand to hand, allowed people to scratch him, and didn't bite anyone. The outing was a tremendous success and we got a harness upon him with ease for another outing the following day.
Since that Senegal Parrot is extremely hand tame and enjoys laying in hands, I held onto him a lot to keep him from chewing the harness. Since the squeeze of my hand is more noticeable than the harness it took his mind off of it. I began playing a game with him and in no time taught him a new trick which is to allow me to toss him in my hand like a bean bag.
The event, bird room remodeling, training, and outings have been a tremendous success. Not only have we made big improvements but we also set things for continued improvement in the future. I signed countless books and talked to parrot owners. Although I hope these things were educational, most of all I hope that they were inspirational. Rather than expecting someone who came to one of my talks - or met us on an outing - to have the skills to succeed, I hope to leave them with the inspiration to continue their education and to set goals of what to achieve. I want people to realize that parrots young or old, friendly or mean, can all learn these basic pet skills. If I can teach these rescue parrots to wear a harness or target fly in such a short span of time, then surely any parrot owner can achieve these things with a little more patience.
My book is here! The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots is the most complete book about parrot keeping. It's not just a book about trick training, it is an entire approach to having an outstanding relationship with your parrot.
I have been writing this book for the last half year but more importantly it is the culmination of five very intense years of parrot education, training, consulting, and performing. I've taken everything that I have learned, applied it, and then wrote down for you the essentials that you can apply to your bird. This book isn't there to teach you how to teach a million tricks or become a performer. It's about how to achieve a well-behaved parrot and ultimately a mutual relationship!
It's not that I think I know better than others, but I just was never very pleased with the other books I've read about parrot keeping. Many of them are obsolete and don't recommend best practices. But even some of the books I agree with, I just found terribly boring. They are written by experts for experts and really leave the common parrot owner in the dust. Parrot owners don't need the nitty gritty technical stuff, they need something accessible that they can apply and that will work! I understand this because I'm a pet parrot owner and it wasn't long ago that I was desperately seeking help on the most basic things.
Instead of teaching you how to do absurdly complicated tricks with your parrot, my book is there to teach you all the essential stuff from merely approaching your parrot's cage without it freaking out to being able to grab it. A lot of emphasis is placed on taming, health, safety, and other things that are essential elements of keeping a pet parrot. Also the first chapter is entirely about how to choose a parrot in the first place for folks who do not yet have one and attempts to answer the classic question, "what kind of parrot should I get?"
In my book, I tell it how it is. I don't try to sugar coat things or make a parrot owner out of everybody. The purpose is to help those who want the help and to get them to achieve a good relationship with their parrot. The book takes a very balanced approach keeping both the parrot's well-being but also the parrot owner's sanity in mind. I realize that people are busy, have other commitments, may not have the means to buy fancy stuff. That is why my book is down to earth and really about finding a way that anyone can make it work rather than a professional approach to training performing parrots.
Unlike any other parrot book I've ever come across, mine presumes that parrots are flying creatures and takes an approach to keeping them as such. Despite the recommendation of keeping them flighted, the book presents countless ways to get more out of your parrot than if it were clipped! Flight safety, flight recall training, flight trick training, and managing flighted parrots are key themes throughout the book. Even if your parrot is clipped you will find this book extremely helpful and I think it will convince you that you can still have a relationship with your parrot by allowing it to fly. Better yet, you will have a better behaved, healthier, safer, and more fun parrot than it could ever be while clipped!
Problem solving receives an entire chapter in the book. Solving problems such as biting, screaming, plucking, and even flighted related issues are extensively covered. However, the main purpose of the book is to present an approach to follow from day 1 to ensure that those problems don't arise in the first place. This information is all based on problems I have solved in my own parrots or have helped others solve with theirs.
You'll find it interesting that I barely wrote any of this book at home. It has bits written all over the world on planes, trains, and automobiles. I've been writing it on the go during my travels. Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia are some of the places I was in while writing the books. During those trips I got to observe parrots in their natural habitats so it was especially encouraging to me to help owners find the best compromise between a parrot's nature and desirable household pet qualities.
Kili and Truman are fantastic examples of how well-socialized a parrot can be. The concept of socialization is a broad scope of everything a parrot may encounter and how it reacts. Simply put, the socialized parrot doesn't get scared and even enjoys visiting new places, handling new objects, and meeting new people.
The main benefit of socialization is that it removes a parrot's fears across the spectrum. As the parrot is exposed to more objects, places, and people in a harmless way, the less fearful and thus better behaved it is in future encounters. Since a lot of biting is driven by fear, teaching a parrot not to fear novelty results in a tremendous reduction in overall biting. Furthermore, other forms of biting such as jealous, displaced, territorial, and possessive are diminished with socialization as well.
Taking parrots outdoors is a great way to expose it to a multitude of random objects, places, people, and situations. The more times the parrot is exposed to these, the less of a big deal these exposures are in the future. The parrot learns to handle situations with greater ease. Also, taking parrots outdoors is essential for their health and well-being.
One of the ultimate challenges is taking the parrot to a busy playground. Anything and everything can happen at a playground. Kids are running around, there's screaming, birds are flying around, bikes are zooming buy, cars are backfiring, you name it. But after several years of going to the park regularly, none of this bother Kili and Truman. They are calm and enjoy the situation. It is very rare for them to take off and even when they do they usually just fly over to me.
I spend a lot of effort teaching controlled outdoor harness flight. On one hand I am giving the parrots exercise and flight practice, but on the other hand I am also teaching them to stay. Since the harness, even with leash extension, isn't terribly long, the parrots have learned that there is no benefit to flying (unless called). Thus they have learned to be more stationary than they would normally be at home. If they kept trying to fly around while being harnessed, crashes and tangles would be rampant. But using the method of encouraging recalled flight only, I have been able to set some very reliable guidelines that make the harness less of a burden.
The training and preparations I do at home make the parrots more prepared to handle the park. But the socialization, desensitization, and extensive challenges of the park also make them better behaved at home.
Considering how Kili was becoming a tremendous biter (toward everyone but me), I have definitely come a long way. My socialization approach not only reversed the biting but made her the sweetest parrot ever. Anyone can walk up to Kili, grab her, turn her any which way, play with her, pet her, hand her off to someone else and all the while she does not bite. In fact I think she enjoys it and will show off her tricks (not for treats) in the process. Truman on the other hand never bit anyone. By using the same socialization approach with him from the start (as well as ignoring any remote attempts at biting), he has never developed a biting issue in the first place. Between solving Kili's biting and solving Truman's biting, I have really come to appreciate the importance of socialization and outdoor time with parrots.
I think this park outing embodies the epitome of all my parrot training endeavors. I can have a fun time with my birds, they can enjoy fresh air, the birds are outgoing and fun, and everyone benefits. This special relationship that I have developed is the basis of my upcoming book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots. The book has now moved into the printing stage and will be coming soon. The book is 296 fun-filled pages about all facets of parrot ownership. But ultimately it is based on my experience achieving well-behaved parrots and helping others achieve the same. The 10 chapter book starts from how to choose a parrot and then goes through an extensive array of easy things you can do with your parrot to achieve the easy-going pet you've always dreamed of. You don't have to be a performer to be able to achieve a well-behaved parrot and that is what my book is going to teach you. If you enjoy my blog, you'll especially enjoy my book because it is written in a similar easy to follow style. But it covers many things I have not considered blogging about and it really ties everything together in one easy read.
Enjoy the following video of how well-behaved my parrots are and then please order my book when it is released. This park outing best embodies what I consider to be well-behaved parrots.
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.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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