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
Parrot Wizard Michael Sazhin Brings Kili and Truman to East Hartford
More than 8 million viewers have watched YouTube sensations Kili and Truman perform astounding feats, and these tricky parrots--who have also been seen on America's Got Talent, The Steve Harvey Show and Late Show with David Letterman--and world-famous trainer, Michael Sazhin, will make their first live Northeast appearance at The Parrot Club's monthly meeting in East Hartford on Tuesday, April 9.
The public is invited to this intimate, interactive performance showcasing the talents and friendly personalities of these avian entertainers and their devoted "coach," whose notoriety skyrocketed when he created the "World Record 20 Parrot Tricks in 2 Minutes" video starring Kili, a Senegal Parrot: It's been viewed more than 1.7 million times on YouTube alone. Attendees of all ages will have the chance to see Kili and her sidekick Truman, a Cape Parrot, flying, flapping, waving, talking, slam dunking and executing other zany stunts. Sazhin will answer training questions and invite audience participation during his first ever bird club presentation.
The program begins at 7:15 p.m. (doors open at 6:45) at the Veterans Memorial Clubhouse in East Hartford, Connecticut. Admission is free for members of The Parrot Club, the state's oldest companion bird club, and for children 12 and under. There is a $3 suggested donation for adult guests.
Based in New York City, Sazhin is the founder of an online community of parrot owners and is best known for his kiliparrot YouTube channel. He is the inventor of the Parrot Training Perch and sells products for parrot training at ParrotWizard.com. He also provides training tips for bird owners via his TrainedParrot.com blog. Self-educated in ornithology and with a background in psychology, Sazhin is a strong proponent of keeping parrots flighted. His entertaining videos are also educational, providing inspiration for those who keep parrots as household companion pets.
The Parrot Club, founded 39 years ago as the Connecticut Association for Aviculture, is a non-profit organization dedicated to education about responsible ownership and care of exotic birds. The club provides educational outreach programs; sponsors field trips; supports the work of bird rescue, breeding and habitat preservation organizations; and hosts a variety of speakers and programs during its monthly meetings, held the second Tuesday evening of each month, March through December, at East Hartford's Veterans Memorial Clubhouse. The club welcomes bird enthusiasts of all ages. Membership information is available at all Parrot Club events.
The Veterans Memorial Clubhouse is located at 100 Sunset Ridge Drive in East Hartford, Connecticut. For more information about this event, visit the organization's Web site, www.theparrotclub.org.
Tom Sawyer your parrot into doing what you want. Want your parrot to try a new food? Or to accept a new toy? Or to step up reliably? Or to fly to you when called? Why is it that our parrots manage to pick up on everything we don't want them to do and then serve little interest in doing what we try to encourage? For this, Tom Sawyer offers a great lesson and plays a marvelous role model!
Recall how Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer made his friends pay him for the opportunity to whitewash his aunt's fence and thus completing Tom's chores for him. Instead of paying (with toys and food) his friends to do his work for him, Tom made the work so lucrative that his friends agreed to pay him just to have the chance to try it. Well this unlikely literary lesson comes in very handy for parrot training!
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. (From Chapter II of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)
I have noticed the same effect to work marvelously on my parrots when it comes to training. Doing something directly for a treat is "work." Believe it or not, often times our parrots will be more willing to do stuff without getting treats!. Now isn't that something? You save money on bird food and the bird returns the favor by doing more tricks/good behaviors for you? Well that's the Tom Sawyer effect for you.
I have several examples to share with you. First a more illustrative recent one and then some others that have worked very well in the long term. Lately I've been working with Kili on some new tricks and desensitizing Truman more to being grabbed. The downside to working on these new behaviors with the birds is that if I spend a lot of treats working on non-flight stuff with them, then they will fill up and not want to fly recalls for practice/exercise. A large portion of my parrot training involves flight because I think it's the best exercise and bonding experience but teaching new tricks seems to be mutually exclusive. But it's not!
I got Truman, who has a reputation for being a really stubborn bird, to fly more flight recalls that he was not getting any treats for at all for the opportunity to be grabbed than he would when he gets treats for flying recalls only!!!! Not only did he fly more flight recalls in this process but he also flew them reliably on the first time without any hesitation. Likewise, Kili's recalls have been rock solid and I can use my treats only for working on the new tricks. When I don't have to spend treats on flight, I get the benefit of knowing my birds got some much needed exercise, are dependable fliers, and have lots of treats left over to teach new tricks or behaviors with. The amazing thing is that the birds end up doing more work to get the same amount of food or less than if they just flew the recall for the treat directly.
I have found this method so effective that I even took it another step forward with Truman's grab training. I have Truman flight recall to my hand, then I put him down on his cage (that he lately doesn't like being grabbed from which is why we are working on it), then I grab him but don't give him a treat for that either, and finally I let him do one of his tricks on my hand to earn a treat. Since the birds are more eager to fly or accept handling for the opportunity to do something easy to earn food, I am turning flight recall and grabbing into something I don't have to ever reward with food. For several weeks now the birds have barely received any treats for flying recalls. Instead, they earn an opportunity to perform a trick to earn the food.
I suspect that in their little bird brains they see flight as a difficult way for earning treats but doing tricks as an easy one. So they treat flight as a means of coming over but performing the trick as the easy way to earn a big treat. In other words flying recalls for treats is work but flying over to do a trick is simply coming over to get started. Or it's just more fun to do it the Tom Sawyer way.
Before you have an "aha moment!" and post a comment saying that the birds are getting treats on a continuous interval whereas before I had them on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, NOPE! They are still on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule which makes this all the more exciting! So a single treat may be rewarding the following sequence with Truman:
1) 50ft flight recall 2) Short flight from hand to cage 3) Grabbing off of cage 4) 50ft flight back to perch 5) Stay until called again 6) 50ft flight recall 7) Short flight from hand to cage 8) Grab from cage 9) Wings Trick 10) Receive reward and fly 50ft back to perch
If getting Truman to do all of the above for a single pellet isn't pulling a Tom Sawyer on him, I don't know what is. Note, the food management level used is comparable to what was done before applying this method.
Now that you are convinced that this is a useful strategy, here is how you can apply it to your own parrots. First and foremost this should apply to stepping up. My parrots never get treats for stepping up at all, yet they do it 100% of the time when asked. Why? Tom Sawyer. The birds have to "white wash the fence" for me by doing the work of stepping up for the opportunity to find out what they'll get to do. Sometimes it's the chance to do a trick, sometimes it's to watch what I'm doing, sometimes a head scratch, sometimes getting groomed, etc. However, since they never get treats for stepping up, this ensures that they won't refuse to step up when they don't desire a treat.
Another place where this applies marvelously is for coming out of the cage. Better yet, I've taught my parrots to station to get to come out. Basically what this means is they climb down to an easy to reach perch for me to take them out rather than me bending my back and my arms into a pretzel to get to where they are. Whenever I come up to the cages, they climb to the perch nearest the door and wait to be taken out. They never get a treat for this, yet they pay me with this work for the opportunity to come out and see what they have in store.
Chaining tricks, variable ratio reinforcement schedules (random rewarding by giving a treat once in a while), and requiring multiple behaviors to earn one treat gets the most exercise for your bird, the most reliable presentation of behavior for you, lowers the dependence on treats, ensures the parrot will behave well anytime/place, saves you treats, reduces your parrot's overeating habits, and ensures the best relationship between you. Now go thank Aunt Polly for giving you this task and put your Sawyer skills to the test by seeing how much more behavior you can get from your parrot for less food.
Kili & Truman went back to school today to experience their biggest, freest flights to date. Two years since they began their flight training in the larger spaces at my old high school, they returned to fly in the enormous gymnasium. Pending some of Truman's - ehem - reliability problems during the earlier sessions, I did not want to take the chance of him landing and refusing to fly down from the unreachable rafters in the gym. Flying birds in this gym is the real deal. In the little gym we first used and then later the theater, it was possible to at least reach the birds with a long recovery perch. But in this gym there were many places that would be impossible to reach. I was putting my faith entirely in the birds' wings.
Having done two years of extensive flight training with Truman, I was ready to take this chance to further his flightducation. Just to be sure he'd come down to me if he did end up in an unreachable place, I brought his weight down to his training minimum weight. Kili on the other hand, I took down no further than typical training weight because I was comfortable and certain that she would do just fine. I've already taken chances flying her in irrecoverable indoor locations (such as TV studios) and knew what to expect from her.
What I mean by an irrecoverable indoor flying location is basically a location where the bird could land in such places that it would be impossible for the owner to recover the bird (except by the bird returning on its own). This is the closest thing to outdoor freeflight but without the risk of permanent loss or predation.
Note, I do not encourage anyone to attempt to fly their parrot (or for that matter have it unrestrained) in an irrecoverable indoor flying location without extensive flight training experience. Although it may not result in the death or escape of your parrot, it may cause extensive problems for the bird and disruptions to the facility. Instead, I encourage you to find recoverable large indoor flying locations first. This is not only to practice but also to test how your parrot would behave flying in a novel location. You don't want to be finding out that your parrot will fly right up to a 60ft ceiling, land, and be incapable or unwilling to come down the first time you are trying this! For the recoverable locations, I have designed a parrot recovery perch for getting parrots down from places up to 20ft high. If you are interested in one, please contact me directly. Only after you are confident that while flying in recoverable locations, your parrot has reliably returned to you even after landing in high places, then can you attempt flying the bird in a place with unreachable ceilings.
I started out with Kili & Truman on their training perches in the center of the gym. I had them fly short recalls to get the hang of flying in this new place and then progressively increased the distance until I was able to have them fly across hundreds of feet to reach me. I had them fly short boomerang flights to remind them how to return to me which proved useful when they would overshoot me. You see, parrots that are used to flying in confined spaces may develop too much speed flying in the open to slow down in time to land on you. Boomerang flying is a great skill to develop so that they would have the practice to turn around instead of just flying away.
It definitely helps to have two birds instead of one. One motivates the other. When Truman would recall first, Kili would eagerly follow when called. And vice versa. If one bird were to land and not come down from somewhere, giving a lot of attention, recalls, and treats to the other bird can sometimes drive it out and back to you. So while on one hand flying two parrots is more work and more to keep track of, it also helps improve the motivation of both birds at the same time!
Finally, when I was comfortable that Kili & Truman had no trouble finding me to land on, I sent them off to freefly around the gym to their hearts' content. I was curious if they would end up flock flying together or independently and it appeared to be more of the latter but really they were just all over the place. Kili enjoyed flying extensive figure eights around the gym at high speed and I was surprised to find that her stamina was better than Truman's! Don't forget that Kili is permanently missing some flight feathers, was not fledged as a baby, and has always been the weaker flyer. This made me realize that I had always worked her harder to compensate for this and as a result she ended up outflying Truman who is the natural born flyer!
In the span of over an hour the birds flew over a mile of heart pumping exercise flights both on command and of their will. They stayed on their perches until called and flew around when I offered them to. Overall I was very pleased with the session and my brother helped me record some of the highlights to share with you.
This is the 2nd video with footage of the birds' 3rd gym flight training session which also features Kili's newest trick.
I dug up this old classic silent film from a hundred years ago of a performing Senegal Parrot. Unbeknownst to the trainer at the time, capital punishment is not the best means of dealing with an insubordinate parrot! I hope you enjoy and please share this one around.
Kili the trick trained marvelous performing Senegal Parrot was cast in the role of the insubordinate ex-parrot. This parrot has ceased to be after being shot by her impatient master. A talented actress with years of experience acting out dying scenes, Kili nailed the part!
Winter is here but that doesn't mean your parrot's need for natural sunlight is any less. This article is about how to get your parrot the natural sunlight it requires for its health in the midst of winter. How cold is too cold for your parrot to go outside? And ways of transporting parrots in winter are all covered right here.
Parrots require natural sunlight for vitamin D and calcium production. Also, it seems to play a role on their plumage, health, and overall well being. I have heard that they're requirement is 15 minutes of direct sunlight a week and it seems about right to me. In the winter it is difficult to get any, but some is still better than none.
Daylight balanced full spectrum light bulbs are supposed to help but I have strong doubts about them. Neither my nor other parrots I have seen that were in proximity to these bulbs match the plumage of parrots that spend time outside (I'm comparing mine before and after I started taking them outdoors as well as other people's birds). I know someone that keeps multiple Senegal Parrots and uses the expensive daylight bulbs that are specifically meant to simulate sunlight, and yet none of her Senegal Parrots have the rich yellow in the eyes like Kili does. Furthermore Kili's eyes did not become like this for over two years until I began regularly taking her outside. Thus the bulbs are something you can try, but their effect is somewhere between barely helpful to none at all whatsoever. Actual sunlight is what is really needed (and luckily cheap to have).
So given the importance of sunlight, yet thwarted by the coldness of winter, it takes some effort to get sunlight for my birds to get them through these dark months. I wait for the warmer bright sunny days and when I encounter one, I take them outside during the warmest time (between noon and 2PM). If I'm lucky enough that temperatures are over 50F, I don't sweat it and just take them out on a normal outing. Since they have feathers and aren't out terribly long, this works out fine.
If the temperature is between 40F-50F, I take Kili & Truman out but more briefly. Usually in this kind of temperature I only take them out on extremely sunny days where it already feels 10 degrees warmer just standing in the sun. A good way to gauge that the weather is warm enough to be safe for your parrots, go out wearing just a sweatshirt or light jacket. If you have to wear a warm coat, it may be too cold or you'll be so warm that you don't realize when it's been too long out. If you are dressed for 55-65 degree weather, then you'll be more in line with how your parrots feel and when you get cold, you'll know it's time to take it in.
If things get more desperate where the weather stays below freezing for weeks, I'll take any chance to get the birds out above freezing. Between 35-45 degrees, I make sure that there is no wind and that it is super sunny. I'll wear a warm winter coat and only take one bird at a time. I zip my jacket only 2/3 of the way up and keep the bird tucked underneath. I have the bird's head stick out and orient myself so the sun beams down on its head. Since a lot of the sunlight absorption happens through the skin on the head and around the ceres, this is a way of getting some sunshine for the parrot without letting it get too cold. I stay out this way for about 15 minutes and then take the other bird out for some sunlight too. I only take one at a time because I don't want them fighting under my jacket. For temperatures between 45-55F, I'll usually let a bird sit on my shoulder or hand while tucking the other under my jacket and they take turns. This way they are exposed but get to warm back up again under my coat. They actually enjoy the warmth and it's a good means for teaching them to be cuddly toward being held.
Taking the parrots out on winter days that aren't sunny is pretty pointless because they'll just be cold and not get the most important part of getting them outside. However, it's still good to do this from time to time just to keep them used to wearing harnesses and being out if there are no sunny days available.
If there simply are not any days above freezing where you live, another thing to consider is taking your parrots on a short vacation some place warmer. Check forecasts for warmer regions near you (even if they aren't really warm but at least match above criteria). It will do your parrots a lot of good to have an interim burst of sunshine to get them through the remaining winter.
If you need to transport your parrot during the winter, it's a good idea to run your car for a while before bringing the parrot out to get it warm. Cover the parrot's carrier with a towel at home for 10-30 minutes beforehand so that the heat builds up inside the carrier to keep it warm. I actually place the carrier on top of a warm (but not hot) radiator with the cover to make it even warmer inside. Pull the car up as close as possible and bring the parrot in. Make similar arrangements on the destination end to keep the parrot outside as little as possible. Run the heat up hotter in the car prior to opening doors so that the temperature doesn't drop too much.
To recap, the lower the temperature, the more picky I am about the conditions outside and the shorter the time we spend out. I try to feel the temperature with the bird by not over dressing unless the bird is going to stay warm under my clothes too. I don't let warm winter days go by without taking the birds out because these are far and few. Finally if I can't find a single warm enough day in a very long time, I drive or fly south to some place warmer with them so they can get some sunlight to get them through the winter months.
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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