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
The primary purpose of training our pet parrots is to get them to behave more how we would like. Whether that's not going on your furniture (by staying on parrot perches), flying to you on command, or going back in the cage when it is time, training can help. However, training is useless with motivation. The owner needs to be motivated to train as well, but I'm talking about the parrot's motivation to do as the trainer requests.
From a behavioral standpoint, motivation can be measured by the rate of learned responses to stimuli by the parrot. The motivated parrot is more likely to perform the behavior, with quicker promptness, with greater accuracy, for more repetitions, for a great span of time. A motivated parrot will also learn new behavior quicker.
In the early stages of parrot training, motivation may be less crucial. The very basic things you need to teach at first such as step up, targeting, and taming may be successful with the bare minimum unmanaged motivation. However, when you wish to proceed to more challenging behaviors, motivation will play a tremendous role in whether your succeed or not. Besides teaching or performing tricks, motivation is essential for flight training exercise, harness training, socialization toward strangers, solving biting and problems, and for all around good behavior.
Since food motivation is most universal and replenishable, I will mainly focus on managing motivation with food. However, I similar approach can apply to toys, attention, petting, and other things you may find motivate your parrot. There are three key elements to controlling motivation from food:
-Quantity/hunger -Quality/desirability -Effort to gain it
I covered the importance of weight management in my previous article. The main reason to manage your parrot's weight is to keep it healthy rather than for training. However, with your parrot's weight already managed to keep it at the optimal healthy weight, motivation for food can exist. An overweight parrot with constant access to food will not only be unmotivated to eat, but it will also be less motivated to participate in activity because it is physically harder.
Besides establishing a healthy weight for your parrot, it is also important to implement a feeding schedule. Twice a day for most species, three times a day for the smallest ones, works great. Many zoos and professional shows will go so far as feeding a lot of food but only once a day so that the parrots are inevitably super hungry and motivated by show time. I do not recommend their approach because I believe it is more stressful than spanning food out some.
Another reason why weight management is imperative is to compensate the parrot's training treats from meals. If you don't adjust your parrot's food portions, the training treats (which are normally fattier or sweeter) will implant excess calories and cause weight gain. By weighing your parrot before all meals and adjusting food portions to maintain the target healthy weight, you will be able to compensate for treats and maintain a stable weight long term. Some days the parrot may train better than other days (aside from motivation factors) and thereby receive more or less treats. Feeding the same sized meals may be unfair when the treat portions are different. Compensating this with an adjustment in meal portions will ensure the weight stays healthy and that the parrot is free to volunteer to train or not. Since the parrot's training is voluntary, it is up to us to find ways to solicit maximum motivation without food deprivation that can impact health.
By scheduling food meals and training just before (rather than after), you can expect maximum motivation from mealtime hunger. You can further enhance motivation at training time by padding the prior meal with low calorie foods such as broccoli or carrots. That way the parrot still feels filled up but since it received fewer calories, will be more eager to fill on the next meal. This will be balanced out by the weight management approach by analyzing empty weights and adjusting pellet portions accordingly.
Desirability of treats highly impacts motivation. Part of it is how much the parrot enjoys the treat food but part of it is relative to the food it normally eats. If the parrot is fed nothing other than pellets or vegetables in the cage, it leaves all other foods to be more desirable. I never feed fruit, pasta, seeds, nuts, or pretty much anything else my parrots get (other than pellets or vegetables) in the cage. Since they don't need these other foods in abundance anyway, saving them exclusively is treats not only helps motivation but is healthier.
There is also the desirability of certain treats over others. This can be a great aide in training. There are two ways to improve motivation based on the relative value of different treats. You can generally use less favorable treats but then mark major success with the better treats. The other approach is to mix all treats and provide different ones randomly. This approach is good for sustaining motivation because the parrot never knows what it's going to get. It must keep trying because the next treat may just be a whole nut. This also helps ensure the parrot does not get bored of the current treat. If you keep using the same treat, once the parrot no longer wants that specific food, motivation will diminish. Learn about choosing and evaluating treats here.
But now I want to get to some of my more interesting discoveries about managing parrot training motivation. My goal is to maximize motivation for specific tasks and to sustain it for a longer period. The reason both of these are important in training is because if you can get your parrot to do difficult tasks or endure long sessions at home, you'll have much greater success for easy/short tasks when you really need your parrot to deliver. For example if my parrots can fly 50 flight recalls (50ft out and 50ft back) in a training session, the likelihood of them making the one critical recover flight when lost outdoors is greatly improved. So you see this isn't strictly for training them to perform in shows.
Strong motivation is needed for the more complicated or strenuous tasks. Flying requires greater motivation than waving. A lot more. The parrot can probably wave 100 times for the amount of energy it takes to fly 100 feet. Does that mean we have to give a treat that is 100 times better? No. The biggest reason is because the treats we are giving for something small like wave is far excessive of what it could be. If my parrots can fly a dozen 50ft out and return flights for a single sunflower seed, then they can do the wave trick for an infinitesimally small treat or do an insanely large amount of waves for a normal treat.
Now this doesn't mean that the parrot just learning to wave thinks it's any easier than flying. While teaching the trick and shortly after, high motivation is in fact required. But once the trick is learned, in order to increase motivation for other things, you MUST challenge your parrot further. You must always strive to get your parrot to do more for less. This is the secret to achieving outstanding motivation. When my parrots normally have to do 20-50 flights an evening for a dozen treats, performing tricks at a show is comparatively easier and the motivation is extremely high. Likewise when I needed to work on Socialization to teach my parrot to stop biting strangers, I was able to make the situation far more desirable by differential reinforcement. Since the parrots normally have to do so much for so little, I can solicit an insanely strong level of motivation for comparatively easier task. For example step onto a strangers hand for 5 seconds without biting and I'll give you the same treat you normally have to fly your butt off to earn.
Obviously you're not going to jump from teaching a parrot to wave to flying 20 times for a treat. You need to build your way up there. This is why I always say you must challenge, challenge, challenge your parrot. When you challenge your parrot to wave a little higher, wave a little longer, wave for a smaller treat, wave more times for the same treat, you are teaching your parrot to be motivated by less! After some months or years of this constant sort of challenge, the parrot develops a tremendous level of capability and motivation. When you go from 1 treat for 1 wave to 10 waves for a treat to 50 waves for a treat (using variable ratio reinforcement), you have diluted the treat ratio so far that it virtually looks like your parrot does the trick without any reinforcement at all. All you have to do is occasionally reward that trick out of the blue to maintain that variable reinforcement ratio level. But this goes even further where you can maintain tricks with no food reinforcement at all. When the parrot can wave 20-50 times (and I mean in separate instances, not at once) before getting a treat, that parrot can just as well wave for a little attention or a head scratch. The motivation level required for performing the trick has become so low that virtually any minor reinforcement will suffice!
If you are not challenging your parrot to do better, more, for less, you are actually regressing in your training. Think about a parrot with a foraging toy. At first it can't figure it out but once it has, it gets the treat out in no time and the foraging toy becomes useless. It is similar with trick training. After the parrot "gets it" that picking up its foot gets it a treat, it takes less effort to do it. There is also the exercise component as well. After waving daily for a week, that foot is stronger and it is even easier still to wave. So if you are still giving the same quantity/quality of treat for the same behavior, you are in fact making your parrot give you less motivation (not more and not the same as before)! The only way to increase motivation is to increase the challenge, reduce the quality of the treat, reduce the quantity (break off a smaller piece), or increase the number of behaviors it takes to earn it (chaining or variable ratio reinforcement).
The point about exercise is not to be taken lightly either. If you fly your parrot regularly, their flight muscles become stronger and the amount of motivation to take an extra flight becomes less. You can challenge your parrot to fly further, more times, and for fewer or less desirable treats. This ensures that motivation continues to increase in the long run.
Sustaining motivation for duration is another part of the equation. If you can manage a 30 to 60 minute training session at home, 5 minutes of glory in front of your friends or an emergency flight recall are going to be more successful. Sustaining longer durations of motivation is also great for molding good day-long behavior from your parrot. If the parrot can spend an hour doing what you ask, it can also learn to do it any time of day outside of training. Here are three tips for sustaining motivation longer. First do all of the above for maximizing motivation and minimizing treats. By giving smaller treats, using variable ratio reinforcement, and making the tasks easier with time/challenge, your parrot will be able to continue to go longer before it is too tired or full. The second thing is to compensate the treats/difficulty with time. In the beginning of the session, start out with small and less desirable treats. But as the session progresses, you can squeeze motivation for longer by increasing the desirability of treats to keep the parrot going. Lastly, begin the session with tougher training and progress to easier tasks as you wrap up.
Varying levels of motivation required depending on challenge: (from low to high motivation requirements)
-not doing anything (being tame) -overcoming minor fear (taming) -stepping up -performing easy known tricks -performing complex known tricks -learning new tricks (training) -overcoming bigger fears (i.e. socialization/strangers) -flight recall (and other flighted behaviors) -flight recall amidst distractions (outdoor harness/freeflight)
So to make the most of the motivation in a training session (after a warm up if one is needed), begin with more difficult or strenuous tasks first and then work your way back toward easier things by the end. For example, let's say your parrot knows 5 tricks, step up, and flight recall. But at the same time you're teaching a new trick and working on getting the parrot to let you grab it. To maximize training motivation and get the most out of a single training session, work on some flight recalls first, then teach the next portion of the new trick, then practice some old tricks, and end the session by taming. Since the taming process for grabbing merely involves the parrot tolerating your hand's presence or touch (without spending any effort), the parrot will still gladly take treats while you work on desensitization. If you worked on the taming in the beginning of the sessions, your progress would have been marginally better. Yet the parrot would not be hungry enough to be motivated to flight recall to you after getting a bunch of treats for taming.
Finally, here are a few more little tricks you can use to maximize motivation during the training sessions when you really need it (or inadvertently get it). My parrots seem to get really motivated to eat when rain is approaching. That makes sense, they probably naturally want to fill up before they can no longer feed. Even if this is occurring midday or when motivation isn't expected, it's worth trying some training and it gives your parrot the opportunity to earn food when it wishes. Sometimes I have to leave early so I uncover my parrots and leave their meal. Naturally they eat it right away but a byproduct is that they are more hungry come training time. I take advantage of this heightened motivation since it is already there. I don't normally do this intentionally but if there is a training session where I want to stimulate greater than usual motivation this technique can help. It doesn't work long term though because then they just get used to a different feeding schedule. The last strategy that can sometimes help boost motivation is skipping training on occasion. Sometimes the birds just get bored and need a break. By skipping a session, it also means they are missing a chance to get treat foods. After a few days of not getting to have treats, even without major hunger, there may be a stronger motivation to earn it.
Thus the secret to teaching your parrot to be more motivated is to keep training and challenging it! The more difficult stuff you can get it to do, the easier it will be to get it to do the easy stuff. Sustain motivation longer by diminishing the difficulty of tasks throughout a training session while increasing the reward value. Exercise your parrot's muscles and brain through extensive flight training. As your parrot becomes stronger, flying will be easier and likewise it will be more motivated to fly. So there's nothing silly about teaching your parrot dozens of tricks, it just makes the parrot even easier to teach something new. Have fun.
Check out this video that demonstrates varying degrees of motivation from some previously unused clips.
I have received much criticism of my atypical approach to using the clicker from beginners to experts alike. Many have noticed that I don't always give treats after using the clicker and that I make clicks while training two parrots simultaneously. I'd like to take a little time to explain how and why I am doing this and the impact it has on parrot training.
First of all, let's go over the typical approach to using a clicker as a bridge. At the moment the parrot does the right thing, a click is issued by the trainer using a clicker. Then at the trainers soonest convenience, a treat is given to the parrot. In other words, the clicker is a promise to give a treat as reward for the behavior being performed at the moment of the click. This is a highly effective techniques for capturing and shaping behaviors in training. Using the clicker can consistently and precisely mark the desired behavior so that the parrot can catch on and repeat it more readily.
I have used and do recommend the standard method of clicker training described above. For the vast majority of parrot owners, trainers, and performers, this may be the optimal approach. However, I have taken the clicker a step further and would like to present my method for those parrot owners and trainers that want to achieve even greater success with clicker training. The fundamental prerequisite is 6-18 months of consistent and successful clicker training using the standard method. The parrot should have already learned a bunch of different tricks and be reliable at demonstrating them. Attempting my special approach with an inadequately trained parrot will surely ruin the clicker and confuse the bird so I do not recommend this approach for most people. Only put this into effect if you have had extensive success training your parrot and want to take it one step further.
My clicker approach is made up of two parts. First is transforming the clicker from a bridge to a secondary reinforcer and the second is to use it in this way with multiple parrots simultaneously. Both of these parts require extensive successful clicker training of one bird at a time. Thereafter, either one or both of these can be applied although I would put off training two parrots simultaneously to the last. If you don't anticipate to move away from one click means one treat, you can skip to clicker training two parrots together.
The main reason I moved away from one click means one treat was because I wanted to train Kili to perform many different tricks but couldn't give her treats for everything or she would get too full. Thus I employed a variable ratio reinforcement schedule when it comes to treats. What this means is that the parrot has to complete the right behavior every time it is asked but only receives a treat some of the time at a random trial. However, one problem with doing this is that if the parrot botches one trick in the process, giving or not giving treats does not provide reliable performance feedback. With classic clicker training, not receiving a treat and likewise not receiving a click mark failure in regards to the bird's behavior. Since treats are necessary for continued motivation but providing them randomly provides poor feedback, I decided to use the clicker every time the right behavior is offered but provide food on a variable interval. Thus the clicker is used a continuous secondary reinforcer while the treats are provided on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule. This works out as a perfect blend of feedback and motivation with minimal satiation and maximum success/improvement.
In this way I can have my parrot run through 10 tricks in a row, click for the 9 correct times, not click for the 1 wrong time, and provide just a single treat at a random point (but only following a correct attempt). The parrot is still told that the 9 attempts were correct and could have earned a treat, 1 attempt was wrong and should not be done that way, and motivation was maintained the entire time. Furthermore, 10 treats could be used to elicit as many as 100 iterations (and thus 100 practices of performing the right tricks the right way at the right time) instead of just 10. This is how my special clicker approach is successful and goes well beyond the classic one click one treat approach. By having 110 trick attempts, 100 correct/successful ones, and 10 incorrect unclicked ones, he parrot has 10 opportunities to learn what not to do and 100 chances to learn what to do for the same number of treats that would have only provided 10 opportunities for learning. This allows my parrots to practice more behaviors, exercise more flight, and be overall more reliable than with the standard clicker approach.
Since the clicker has been so closely associated with food from the beginning, doing things to hear clicks can become desirable and thus a conditioned reinforcer of its own. Since good things tend to happen around clicks but don't have to, the parrots are still more inclined to demonstrate clicker-worthy behavior. This is also a great way to retain motivation through very high ratio variable reinforcement. For example, if I am going to make Kili fly 20 recalls to earn a single treat, as long as she keeps getting clicks, she knows it is worthwhile to keep trying and not give up. She knows from past training that as long as she keeps getting clicks, there will be a treat offered at some point. Since there is no other way to get that treat except to keep trying, that's the course she has to take to earn it.
Keep in mind that I only use this approach while I am sustaining tricks through practice. I do revert to the more effective continuous reinforcement strategy of one click one treat when teaching a fresh new trick. Once the parrot is well accustomed, I add that trick to my list of tricks to practice using variable reinforcement.
There are times when I chain behaviors either out of convenience or because it is a trick that requires multiple components. This is another great time to employ my click for correct behavior rather than treat for every correct behavior approach. Many times when I am training tricks to my parrots, I continue having them fly recalls to me from across the room for exercise. I used to feel bad when I would divert treats away from flight recall (which is valuable exercise) and use them for trick training instead. Lately, I've come up with a much better approach where I make my parrots first fly a long recall (or several) to me just to get the opportunity to practice a new trick to earn a treat.
After years of training, both of my parrots understand very well that new tricks earn treats every time while old behaviors only some of the time (although they are easier so they love to perform them). For this reason, they are very eager to give me some flight recalls for the chance to get a guaranteed treat for learning a new trick. Plus it's simply more fun that way.
Now when it comes to chaining tricks to form a long sequence, the clicker can apply in the same way. Let's take Kili's famous stroller trick (which was performed on the Late Show with David Letterman) as an example. Clearly the complete sequence is comprised of several independent tricks that she must perform in order. First she must pickup her baby, then she must patiently hold it for demonstration, then she must take it over to her stroller (and not the bed) and place it in, then she must walk around the stroller and start pushing it, then she must stop pushing and walk around, then transfer her baby from the stroller to the crib, rock the crib, and then finally wave goodnight to baby. How do you teach such a long chain to a parrot without stopping every couple of seconds to wait for it to eat a treat? This is where the click for every correct behavior but only a treat at a random time approach proves such a success! Obviously I taught Kili the separate tricks that combine into the sequence separately, but when I was finally teaching the complete sequence, I used this exact clicker approach. A problem that I was running into was her eagerness to skip steps to jump to the end and get the one final treat for finishing the sequence. For this reason I went back to the click every correct behavior and offer a random treat to ensure that all steps in the sequence are equally rewarding. After she got really good at the trick, I returned to clicking along the way (to remind her that she is doing things right by not skipping to the end) and only giving one treat at the end. Since she won't get a treat at the end of she misses a click along the way, she learned to patiently go through the entire routine.
The final non-standard complex use of the clicker I employ is teaching two parrots simultaneously while using just one clicker. I sneaky (but too annoying) approach could be to have two different sound makers where one is for each parrot and they know their sound. I differentiate who is earning clicks through attention and eye contact. Even though I say I train the parrots together, it's not actually in the exact same moment. Normally I'll have one bird stay on its training perch while I have the other fly over to me to learn something. The parrot near me knows it is earning the clicks and not the one far away. If I have the two birds on perches next to each other, they know when I am clicking for them because I am looking at them at the time of the click. Sometimes I have them perform the same tricks at the same time. In this case I am looking in a blank way toward both of them. They are exceptionally intelligent and catch onto all of these subtleties. The important thing is that I am consistent in these methods so the specifics they learned apply each time.
Although it might seem that mixing the clicker in the ways I do would be confusing or dilute its effectiveness, this couldn't be further from the truth in reality. Parrots are so highly intelligent and catch on to things very quickly. They learn the multi-dimensional complex of the clicker based on the context they observe. It's like we can hear the sound "toooo" and still be able to understand whether we are talking about "to", "two", or "too". Since my mixed clicker strategy has not resulted in a diminish in clicker effectiveness (and in fact improved it), I am certain that parrots too can learn to understand things in context.
So that is my special mixed method of parrot clicker training. Although I would not recommend anything but the one click-one-treat approach to most people, I think this article should help clarify what I do and why. Also for the select few who have taught many tricks and wish to take their training to a new level, I share my approach. Whatever clicker approach you use, as long as it is effective, the parrot is learning, and you are both having fun in the process, it is already a major success.
I often get asked what Cape Parrots are like because I have one. So for everyone that wants to know what a Cape Parrot is like, here is my review of the good, the bad, and the ugly. In case you read no further, let me just say that Truman is a great bird and I love him, but I wouldn't recommend a Cape Parrot to virtually anyone. Now to understand why, read on.
When I mail ordered Truman from a Florida breeder, I knew very little about this species. Based on my good experience with Senegals, appreciation of the Poicephalus genus, and fear that an African Grey may be too neurotic for my lifestyle, I decided to go with a Cape Parrot. I heard nothing but good things about them and unfortunately that is most of the information that is out there. That kind of information does not help an owner make an honest well thought through decision. But a decision like this must not be made lightly as these birds live for a very long time.
Before I got Truman, I heard Cape Parrots described as "gentle giant," "cuddly," "playful," "adaptable," "non-aggressive," and other high marks of praise. I heard that they are good at playing with their toys, independent, and social. Furthermore, I was impressed that they are considered less prone to common parrot problems like biting, plucking, or screaming. After nearly 3 years of Cape Parrot ownership, I can say that these descriptions are very true. BUT, the typical descriptions leave out the real problems with Cape Parrots.
While the Cape Parrot is very good on paper and on quick comparison to other parrot species, this is is very misleading about their quality as a pet. The best way to put this is that Cape Parrots are very difficult in a way unique from other species. This part is missed on comparison because it is hard to describe and unique. So for a beginner it is tempting to think that a parrot that doesn't bite, pluck, or scream must be easy and suitable. But instead, their unique difficulties are far more difficult to remedy than the more common and understood problems that other parrots may engage in such as biting.
Simply put, Cape Parrots have a very difficult and unmanageable personality. They are extremely stubborn and it is impossible to change their mind when they are set on something. Capes tend to get very moody at times and good past relationships are challenged. Cape Parrots don't take very well to normal taming and training.
For spans of time Truman may be well behaved and easy to handle but every once in a while out of nowhere he will throw a tantrum. Suddenly he decides he doesn't want to go in the cage or doesn't want to be handled by me and he'll be flying all over the place to avoid it. If I manage to get my hands on him, he'll be throwing his beak all over the place and biting like crazy. Under normal circumstances he has never bitten anyone, however, when he is throwing a fit he bites very hard. These moody spells seem to happen every several months and keep coming back. Even with great efforts on my part to resolve these matters (and even to do preventative training when things are normal), things will be bad for up to a week at a time. During this span Truman generally doesn't want to hang out with me, doesn't want to be grabbed, does a poor job at training, and I'll be lucky if he steps up without any fuss.
While my Senegal Parrot, Kili, can go through hormonal periods or get upset on rare occasion, it is far easier to work things back to normal with her and this is all extremely infrequent. So while a Cape Parrot isn't likely to bite when being stubborn, they go through extreme lengths to have their way and resist yours. Shortly I will get to why hunger and training don't sufficiently help like they might with other species. Maria Brinson from The Purring Parrot says of her Cape Parrot Jupiter (who happens to be Truman's older brother), "Overall this a not a good bird for someone that has no bird experience. I have learned that if Jupiter sees me coming for him and he doesn't want to interact he will start grooming and ignore me. If I push the issue I will get bit." Natacha the Poicephalus Lady doesn't mind so much but has a similar experience with her female Cape Lea, "Lea is also quite into drama reaction, making things seem bigger than they are...again, not something I mind but some people might find irritating. But yeah..very very very stubborn, when her mind is set on something, it's hard to redirect her attention towards something else."
If a Cape Parrot is set on doing something you don't like, virtually impossible to make them stop. Either they will keep on doing it anyway or they'll hate you for interfering. It's a very fine line in between and almost impossible to manage even with extensive parrot keeping experience.
Cape Parrots are also very injury prone. Since he was a baby, Truman frequently falls off his perch in the cage. Less so now than before, but even after 2 years I occasionally hear the "Cape Cannon Ball" when he thuds down on the cage bottom. Truman always has some kind of scrapes, bruises, or broken feathers. Whether in his cage or out he tends to knock into things and get a cut between the ceres, break feathers, or bust the tip of his beak. If in 4 years I have only seen Kili bleed once or twice, I see Truman bleeding at least once every few months. When Truman isn't hurting himself, he's getting hurt by Kili. But the unfortunate thing is that he puts himself in her way more often than she comes after him. A few ripped out feathers and a bloody cut later, he's still landing on her cage asking for it. This is that Cape Parrot stubbornness at its max. They never learn.
Maria sums up the trouble by saying that Cape Parrots "can be very stubborn, prone to light injuries from too much rough play with toys. Can be a bully with other birds, will hold grudges for a least a few days, bites can be very bad since beak is so large, quick temper." Her Cape, Jupiter, once flew into something and busted the tip of his beak and was bleeding badly. Truman goes through the same and then is mad at me for a week even though I had nothing to do with it.
Not only does my Cape Parrot hurt himself a lot but he also gets very dirty. All parrots are messy, but that doesn't mean they let the mess affect them. Sure parrots will throw stuff out of the cage and make you clean the floor and things like that, but Truman will take a poop on a perch, walk around in it, get it on his beak, climb all over the cage wiping it everywhere, and then have bits sticking on his back. I've noted my Cape Parrot to be pretty smelly right from the very start. And it's not just that he's a bigger bird. I've been at a rescue with 8 Senegal Parrots and all those birds combined did not make the kind of smell a single Cape Parrot does. And all these birds eat the same foods. Truman is messy, gets dirty, and worst yet is completely shameless about it. I've had to put up with countless poopscapades with him where he'll poop on some vertical surface and manage to hit everything on the way down.
When it comes to their voice, Cape Parrots can be fairly good talkers. It is still debated if they are as good as an African Grey or not but this isn't particularly important. Personally I don't think they are. Unlike smaller parrots, Truman talks in entire phrases rather than individual words. However, the downsides are far worse than the infrequent nice bits of talking. For everyone one word he says, Truman has to let off several dozen honks, screeches, and whistles. He is extremely shy about talking in front of people and only does it when no one is looking. Truman tends to spend at least an hour a day on a screaming fit. He screams a lot when I come home and even more when he wants something. Despite the fact that I ignore screaming, he still has it in him to let off a bunch each day regardless. I encourage Truman to talk when he wants to come out and he does. But he alternates saying things and screaming just to be sure. The worst part is that if I give in to his talking or quiet and let him out, he'll come out and then start screaming but really close to me. Here is an example of Truman screaming but to get the authentic experience, turn your volume up to full, sit close to the speakers, and put it on loop for an hour:
When it comes to training, it is much more difficult with a Cape Parrot. The way I'd best describe it is that he's too smart for his own good. It's not so much that it is difficult to teach specific tricks to him as his mindset in general. When it just comes to simple things like practicing flight recalls or maintaining what he knows, he is always trying to come up with ways to cheat the system. This may seem smart but it's not because I never give in. In fact I usually am less generous with treats when he's pulling these kinds of things, yet in his stubbornness he won't give this up. However, I know that he's not stupid because when I get a good motivation day out of him, he will do everything exactly right which only indicates that he is purposefully screwing around the other times.
For example even after years of the same going back in the cage routine, he still does it all wrong. The idea is that I recall fly the parrots back and forth across the room a bunch of times and at some point put them away for their meal. Kili has this down perfect and will fly any number of times I request her to and gets to have her meal. Truman will either jump the gun and try to fly over when he wasn't called or refuses to come when I do call him. I bet he thinks that if he just stays put while I make Kili do all the flights, that he can just come once at the end and get his meal. What the smart aleck doesn't realize is that I'll just put Kili away and then make him fly as many if not more flights by himself until he gets to eat.
Managing Truman's motivation with hunger is quite problematic as well. When overfed, he's extremely stubborn and unresponsive. As he gets progressively hungrier, nothing happens for a while and then it quickly jumps to the flip side where he is too hungry and troublesome in other ways. Truman seems more likely to scream a lot when he is hungry (not that I ever feed him because he's doing this, so I still can't figure out why he thinks that's a beneficial thing to do). Also when he becomes too eager for food, he'll jump the gun and fly to me when uncalled and then be too tired to fly when I do call him. So across the spectrum of hunger, there seems to be no middle ground where he can train well without effects of being too hungry. With Kili this is no problem and there is in fact a pretty good range of weights where it works well.
So in conclusion, even though Capes have many desirable qualities and seem to make pretty good pets on that basis, they are extremely difficult in ways that are not well known. Except for people with extensive parrot experience, no one should even consider them as a companion because they will run into difficult issues. Clipping a Cape Parrot is about the stupidest thing someone could do, so forget that as an option. They are clumsy and get hurt flighted as is, if they can't catch themselves they'll get even more hurt. Worse yet, a Cape Parrot that cannot fly away when upset will turn to biting and that is not a beak you can afford to get bit by. Little is documented or known about Cape Parrots so if you get one, you're pretty much on your own. Basically if you rely on books, videos, help from other people, etc, you will be in deep trouble with a Cape because that sort of information doesn't exist for them and you'll have to figure it all out on your own. Like I said, their stubbornness is like no other and I don't know anyone who has found a universal and successful way to manage it (except putting up with it). While for example a Senegal Parrot may be prone to known problems such as aggression and be a one-person-bird, I find those issues to be simpler and more probable to solve. When it comes to the Cape issues, it's not only that I haven't been able to solve them yet but I don't even have a solution/approach on the horizon. For now it's just something I have to put up with and keep trying.
I hope this article will help people understand that even though Cape Parrots can be fun and exciting parrots, they should be avoided as pets by anyone that is looking for anything but an extreme challenge.
Hurricane Sandy was a wake up call for people in the northeast and a reminder to everyone that we are not invulnerable. Whether you live in a tornado, earthquake, flood, or other natural disaster prone region, it is important to be prepared. Even if you live in the safest possible region, other unforeseen problems such as fire, electrical outage, or medical emergency can still happen. Therefore we must all make sure that we are able to care for our pets even under extreme circumstances. The number of lost and abandoned pets from the recent hurricane is astounding as much as unacceptable. I would like to go over some things to consider in preparation for unforeseen circumstances and how it pertains to parrots. As difficult as it may be to deal with a disaster, it is even more difficult for us to keep our parrots safe because of their special needs.
I challenge you to consider a few of the following scenarios and play through in your head what you would do to deal with it. Better yet, run through some of the steps with your parrot that may pertain to handling or the bird's reaction. Then I will share what I would do in each case and what you can do with your parrot now to be prepared.
Case 1: Electrical Outage: whether a loss of power specifically in your home or in your entire community, what will you do? What if it's a summer time black out and temps are over 100F? What if this happens in winter and takes your heating system down with it? How will you feed your parrot without fridge or microwave and a week long outage?
Case 2: Pre-Disaster Evacuation: a predicted natural catastrophe in your area mandates urgent evacuation. Are you prepared to bring your pets with you? Where will you go? How will you keep your parrot safe in the new location? What supplies must you bring and what can be left behind? How will you get your parrot out of the cage? What will you transport it in? What will the parrot live in while away?
Case 3: Sans-Civilization Survival: what if you remained through a natural catastrophe or were hit by an unexpected one that leaves you without modern conveniences for weeks? You are stuck in your home without running water, electricity, heating, or cooling. Do you have the supplies on hand to take care of yourself, family, and pets?
Let's consider all of the things our parrots take for granted that require electricity and would be affected if it were cut off. First there's temperature control. In the summer it may be too hot without power for cooling and in the winter too cold without heating. As it turns out, most gas heating systems still require electricity to function. So while a gas outage could be overcome with electric heaters, an electric shortage takes out all stationary heating systems. If electricity is cut off in the entire neighborhood then it may affect access to water (pumping stations) and food (stores closed).
Without electricity, lights would be affected. This may not seem like a terribly big deal (so it gets dark early and the parrot goes to sleep) but it is important to stock up on battery powered flashlights and resist the temptation to light up candles because fumes may be dangerous.
For an electrical outage my first course of action would be to take the birds over to my parents' house, however, if the outage is for the entire region rather than just a single home, no one might have power. In this case I would have to deal from home with it. During a hot summer blackout, I would put my parrots outside to stay cool rather than indoors. I have an outdoor aviary with a roof so with frequent misting they would be cooler there than indoors. If you don't have an aviary, you might consider taking the birds outside in their cages (but only with supervision). Box fans are a good idea but resist the temptation to use ceiling fans.
For an electrical heating outage in winter, things would be a fair bit more complicated. If the situation makes the likelihood of outage to be more than 24 hours, my first solution would be to pack up the birds and drive out of town and find a hotel room someplace. If the situation were so bad that it's impossible to go anywhere or do anything and I were housebound, I would pitch my camping tent indoors and keep the birds in carriers under many blankets with me. Birds wouldn't do well with cold so conserving/sharing heat is the best solution when there is no energy to provide heat with. Burning things would be out of the question because the fumes would likely be toxic to parrots. I have an electrical stove so that would do me little good. However, if you have a gas stove, you can light it with matches and use that to make some heat. Just be sure to keep the parrots caged during this process and in a well ventilated area.
I would be much less concerned about food for birds because luckily their pellets aren't prone to perish and can be kept for months in a dry place. Since I normally keep the bird food in a cooler anyway, that supply should last me through any trouble. I always keep at least a month of bird food ahead in reserve so that would be no factor. As a fallback to pellets, I would feed my birds cereal and bread. Anything that needs cooking would obviously be a problem but luckily this is unimportant for their survival.
When it comes to evacuating with the birds, I couldn't be more prepared. The parrots' carriers are always ready to go (not only in case of a disaster but also medical emergency). Since the parrots are tame, always step up, and used to travel, grabbing them from their cages and sticking them in carriers would literally be a process that would take seconds. Then I'd grab the bag of pellets from the carrier, bird cage cover sheets, and be ready to go. With more time I could pack some toys and other conveniences but in a real emergency, that's all that would be necessary. I can always find bottled water and let the birds drink out of a paper cup. Pellets can be hand fed or placed on the cage bottom if I didn't have the time to grab food bowls.
Just because my parrots are accustomed to travel doesn't mean other peoples parrots are. This is why I always try to tell everyone to travel with your birds now. Get them used to going into the carrier now, not when there is an emergency and no time to work on it. Practice putting your parrot into the travel carrier when things are stress free. Take your bird on car rides and short outings just for the fun of it. By taking this preemptive approach, you can ensure that you will be prepared to evacuate your birds under any circumstances.
During the actual hurricane, tornado, earthquake, or other scenario, use common sense on keeping parrots safe inside the home. Some people lost parrots during the recent hurricane when windows flew open and birds flew away. If things are that bad, then leave the bird in the cage! Keep cages away from windows and consider putting them in the bathroom (often the sturdiest place in a house). It may also help to throw sheets or blankets over the cage to protect from debris. The only event in which the birds would be worse off in a cage is a flood. If you are on a low level and a flood is taking place, the birds could drown right in their cage. Try to get their cages high or let them loose in the house. If the situation is most severe and your birds are flighted, just open their cages and let them fly away and deal with recovering them later. Don't let your birds be trapped in their cages in a flood or fire.
Finally, if I were unexpectedly stranded home with the birds for some time, I would apply the ideas mentioned above for survival. Like I said, I usually order a new bag of pellets when I'm approaching a month reserve so I doubt the birds would go hungry. But even without pellets, I get them used to eating alternate foods. Cereal is not as good as pellets but similar and will ensure that your parrots don't starve. Some parrots are picky and might not immediately want to eat it. Try it now, see if you can feed your parrot several meals of easy to find human food in case you're in a situation where you had to evacuate birds without time to get their food. I always keep some bottled water for convenience which also serves as an emergency supply. When I travel with my birds, I keep one bottle aside just for them to drink from. I pour the water into a cup and let the birds take turns drinking from it. I never give them water from a bottle I drank directly from because of bacteria.
Hopefully this helps you begin to think about dealing with emergencies and how they could affect your parrots. It is better to be prepared and not need to use it than to be caught by surprise. Given that most natural catastrophes are predictable, try to err on the side of caution and move your family/pets to safety beforehand. If hit by something unexpected, be prepared with supplies and plans. Practice the steps that might relate to dealing with an emergency by traveling with your parrots and exposing them to novel situations, foods, people, and places.
This Thanksgiving, let us be thankful for the conveniences and safety we have while making preparations to ensure that we and our pets can be safe under extraordinary circumstances. Have a wonderful holiday.
My pet Senegal Parrot Kili performed on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday November 13, 2012. She played off her maternal skills by holding her toy baby, pushing her around in a stroller, and then rocking her asleep in her crib. We had a lot of fun and a great time on the show.
Now for my loyal readers I will offer a play by play analysis of how the trick went. Right after coming out I shook Mr Letterman's hand with my right with the bird on it because clicker and treat were tucked in my left hand. I had to keep Kili's foot clamped with my thumb while speaking to the host not because the bird wanted to get loose but because she was dying to do the trick. She was like "would you just shut up already and let me do my thing!? GAH!"
When David brought up the age thing about the bird outliving me, I didn't feel like getting into the specifics about how Senegal lifespans are closer to 30 years so I just left it at "I hope she doesn't outlive me!" for the folks paying attention. So when David brought up quirks/ticks, they showed Kili up close being all jittery, however it had nothing to do with this and all to do with the fact that she could see her props and was trying to rip herself loose from my hands and do the trick already. At one point I had to cup her against me to distract her and get her to stop seeing her trick. It took no effort to get her to do the trick because by the time all talking was done, all I had to do was let go and like a horse at the start gate of the Kentucky Derby she was off!
Few realize this, but Kili picking up the baby with her foot is a whole trick in itself because parrots don't naturally do this. Normally they pick things up with their beak and then transfer them to their foot if they have to. Kili dropped the baby but quickly picked it back up to continue. Getting Kili to stay in the position and show how she holds the baby is also a challenge because she'd prefer to run along and continue the trick. The table top was a bit slippery but Kili managed to get by and push the stroller all the way across. She didn't realize to stop until she hit the crib though. This was mostly the result of an unfamiliar surface that she didn't get to practice the stroller push much on.
Kili was posed with a major dilemma at the finale of the trick because she pushed the stroller up against the crib. She would not be able to put the baby in from the stroller side as she'd normally be accustomed to. But being the brilliant bird that she is, Kili simply walked around the crib and placed it from the other side! She finished off by rocking the crib a few times and waving goodnight to the baby (however, the camera angle doesn't really show this). She ended the whole thing off by flying back to me and got a sizable piece of almond as a reward.
I intentionally stayed back away from the table and had Kili fly to/from to show the lack of involvement on my part, keep my hands off, and let Kili show everyone what she can do! After it ended Kili flew back to the table because she was looking for a comfortable place to chew her almond. I wanted to give her a big reward for doing a big job but later regretted it because it took her too long to eat and it was hard to get her to stay on my hand. Finally there was that awkward moment where Letterman was like "oh you're back? There's always the guy who won't leave." That was really a gaffe on the show's part because I was told to walk off stage after shaking the hosts hand at the end but as I walked off the stage manager told me to go back out to watch the instant replay. Thanks a lot guys for playing me the fool when you can't even keep your procedure straight!
After leaving the stage I got a banana and grape from the salad bar to reward Kili. While she was chowing on those I also threw in a load of pellets. She didn't know what to go at first and was thrilled to have everything. She rolled the banana around in the pellet powder and made her own treat out of it! The look on her beak was hysterical as all the pellet powder was sticking to her banana covered beak! I wanted Kili to celebrate her job well done by feeding her as much as she'd like to eat. So unlike the normally moderated portions, here she could eat as much as she want and she did! I left the carrier open but she wouldn't come out because she was so thrilled at her special meal. She porked up 21 grams (nearly 20% of her empty weight) without blinking an eye and might have kept going if I hadn't eventually taken away the leftovers. She was bloated beyond belief and looked like the slightest squeeze of her belly and she would pop. What I found even more astounding was that when we got home (and I went to train Truman, business as usual...), Kili still wanted to train and did a few flight recalls despite the fact that I didn't expect anything at all from her. She recalled to go back in her cage for one final pellet!
Kili got the greatest meal of her life after nailing her performance on the Late Show
Thanks to everyone for watching and being supportive of the training efforts to date. I hope you enjoyed our performance. If an average guy like me can teach his ordinary parrot all these tricks, then there is little doubt in my mind that any and every parrot owner can develop a simple loving/caring relationship with their parrot. Your parrot doesn't have to be the world champion performer but by applying comparable techniques including positive reinforcement training, taming, socialization, flight, food management, steady schedule, love, and patience you can have the same relationship. The greatest victory of all of this is the relationship that I have with this bird. A few years ago she was becoming a biter and difficult to manage. Now anyone can hold her, I can travel with her, and she is just a wonderful pet. My blog, forum, and store are here to help you so please take advantage. Private consultations are available.
Here is Kili watching herself on TV (we got home in time to see it air):
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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Kili got the greatest meal of her life after nailing her performance on the Late Show
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