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
I am having a collection of parrot graphics created for my website and content. I wanted to share some of the latest graphics with you as well as Truman's movie trailer. There will be many more articles and videos coming soon so check back frequently. You can subscribe to the blog to receive a notification immediately when new articles are released by adding your email in the green box in the left hand column.
Truman now has his own cartoon character, check him out:
Truman the Performing Cape Parrot
Truman the Pillaging Pirate Cape Parrot
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Truman the Caped Cape Parrot
Follow the trained parrots Kili and Truman on Facebook. I will be posting status updates, brief stories, and testing out new content on there first. If you haven't already, press "like" on the parrot's facebook page so you can get the first scoop on what's happening with the performing parrot duo.
I still have not come up with the perfect cartoon character for Kili. You can see the Kili ballerina graphic near her concise profile in the left hand column. I'm not sure it is the best representation of her. Kili would bite the heck out of me if I dared try to dress her up in a tutu like that. Truman the Caped Cape Parrot just clicks as the right character for him both as a play on the name and his personality. I welcome you to submit your ideas for a Kili character in the comments.
Getting your parrot accustomed to being held with a towel is a fairly important exercise. There will be times in its life that toweling will be necessary such as vet visits, grooming, drying, or frantic capture. Unfortunately most people go about toweling completely the wrong way and make their parrot more and more fearful of the towel. In this article I will tell you about why Truman became phobic of towels and how I trained him to be toweled in just three days.
After I had discovered that Truman was phobic of towels, I contacted his breeder and learned she had never toweled him. I suspected this by the fact that he was cautious around towels in the first place. I had never bothered toweling him myself since I got him as he is completely tame. He always stepped up and I was able to grab him, so I never even considered toweling him. However, during Truman's last vet visit, I noticed he was very uncomfortable being grabbed by a towel. The harsh treatment during the procedure probably contributed to his phobic response to towels. I realized that this towelphobia was serious when I walked past Truman with a towel and he took flight. I knew we would need to work on this.
First of all, I would like to say that toweling should never be the primary means of taking a parrot out of a cage or handling. This will only make the parrot more fearful of the towel and make the aggression you are trying to block with the towel even worse. While I do say in my taming guide that a towel could be used to extract the parrot out of the cage for the first time, positive reinforcement training must immediately be employed to overcome the distress caused by the circumstances. Such toweling should not be used beyond the first few times being taken out (or better yet avoided all together by targeting). The parrot should not be chased with, cornered, or trapped under a towel. All towel interactions should be positive.
I am horrified by the advice I hear given to newbies at pet stores and online about forcibly toweling the parrot regularly to make it used to handling. This is terrible advice not only because it is ineffective but also because it does not build a relationship based on trust. The parrot has no reason to like its human just because it has been broken to stop fighting a towel. And yet, this is possibly one of the most advised methods out there. Please do not use or advise toweling as a method for taming a parrot to handling. Instead, use my Taming/Training guide for a better approach. This Toweling article builds on that taming approach to extend it to toweling but is not a primary means of taming.
Just because you can capture/grab a parrot with a towel does not mean that you should. It is easy to break feathers or possibly a wing in such rough handling. These types of incidents elicit a fight or flight reflex and teach the parrot to be fearful both of you and the towel. Ideally, positive toweling should be introduced prior to any unavoidable negative toweling (vet, grooming, etc). If the parrot becomes accustomed that the majority of toweling is positive and the rare vet visit is unpleasant, the parrot will still remain towel tame. A big mistake that many people make is to only use the towel when necessary and therefore all towel interactions are averse.
The first step in towel taming a parrot is to let it observe the towel in a harmless way. How long this needs to be done will depend on how scared the parrot is of towels or new objects. I prefer to use a specific towel for parrots only but this is optional, just don't use a used towel because there could be mold on it. Begin by hanging the towel on a chair or placing it inconspicuously at a great distance from the cage for the first day. In the span of several days to a week, leave the same towel out close and closer to the parrot's cage. Once the parrot is used to the site of it, just walk around the cage area holding it but without much attention on the parrot. Definitely do not come straight at the parrot with the towel. Just walk around casually to and from the cage holding the towel and even play around with it. This will show the parrot that the towel is harmless.
The prior steps can be done with a completely untame parrot, however, to continue with towel taming, it is important that the parrot is already accustomed to coming out of the cage and stepping up. If it is not, follow the steps in my taming guide prior to continuing with towel taming.
Now begins the formal towel training. I recommend putting the parrot on a Training Perch because it will keep it focused on you with limited space to go. The training perch will keep your hands free for manipulating the towel and parrot. Put the parrot on the perch. Once again show the towel from some distance and approach slowly. Hold the towel casually and not pointed straight at the parrot. Drape the towel over your shoulder or arm and handle your parrot normally. Cuing some tricks (such as targeting) and providing treats is a good way to get your parrot to relax in preparation for towel taming. Only at this point will you try to gauge your parrot's fear threshold to towels. Hold a small tip of the towel out and let the rest hang away. Slowly approach the small tip of the towel toward the parrot. The moment it begins to back away or attempt to bite, stop and hold the towel there for a few seconds. Withdraw the towel and reward the parrot with your other hand. It is important not to push too far to the point of eliciting biting or flight. If the parrot is given the chance to bite or fly away, it will become negatively reinforced for that response.
Continue the approach and hold method with the towel for several training sessions. Eventually you should be able to hold the tip of the towel closer and show a greater portion of it. The reason for showing just a small tip at first is to make it less big and frightening looking. But as the parrot becomes more familiar, you can show more. You will keep practicing this until you can gently touch the parrot's back with the tip of the towel. Lay a corner of the towel on the parrot's back and give it a toy or treat to play with while the towel is there. If the parrot still pays attention to the towel, you need to practice the previous steps further. But if the parrot entirely ignores the towel and enjoys the reward, negative reinforcement is no longer necessary because the parrot is not scared of the towel. What this means is that taking the towel away from the parrot is no longer the main reward but the treat/toy is.
All that is left now is to go from touching the parrot with towel to grabbing it. This is kind of the tough part if the parrot is afraid of being grabbed with a towel. The mistake I made the first day was approaching Truman with the towel to grab and giving him the chance to fly away. Every time he got to fly away from being grabbed by the towel, negatively reinforced flying away from towels. He was learning that flying away is the best way to deal with his fear of towels. This might work great for him but it is counter productive to my goal of towel training him. Here we reach a fork in the road where it is necessary to choose between flooding and strict positive reinforcement.
The positive reinforcement approach is probably "nicer" in practice but will take drastically longer to achieve. To use the strictly positive reinforcement approach, continue practicing the method mentioned previously squeezing with ever slightly more pressure with every approach of the towel and then rewarding. This will need to be practiced and practiced until the parrot can be grabbed and held with the towel.
The positively reinforced flooding method is much more effective though. It accelerates the training and helps you be over with this procedure sooner. It should not be used as a short cut to avoid careful and deliberate training. It is just a way of showing the parrot straight out what is required and reconciling rather than taking a long time to let it figure it out on its own. Do not skip the previously mentioned steps and jump straight to flooding because then you won't achieve the tameness required for a parrot to voluntarily accept toweling. Once you are confident that the parrot is not fearful of being touched by the towel, place the towel on the parrot and squeeze to hold the parrot. Use your other hand to block the parrot from flying out of the towel while the towel is approaching. Essentially you force the parrot to be in the towel and grabbed. Once the parrot is grabbed, it can no longer kick or flap. Wait a few seconds for the parrot to calm down and release it back to its perch with a preferable reward. Continue practicing this by either holding the parrot prior to applying the towel or at least keeping another hand up to block it from avoiding the towel. If the parrot is having a major panic attack here, this training will not be effective and you need to go back to the basic taming listed above. However, if the parrot is tolerating the towel with only slight discomfort, you are making progress. Continue practicing this until you no longer need to block the parrot from flying away from the towel. Do this by keeping the blocking hand looser and then further away with each try. Successful completion of towel taming is when you can hold a towel in your palm, approach it to the parrot, and grab it without any resistance.
While in the training progress you may have forced the parrot to be in the towel against its will (otherwise, how would it find out that it won't hurt and a treat will be given if it never tried?), it is important to get to a point where the parrot accepts toweling voluntarily. Treats and painless interaction will erase the fear originally created by the towel or mild flooding process. Continue practicing toweling in a positive manner from time to time to maintain the comfort. Eventually you can reward toweling less and less frequently but the parrot will have no reason to resist because it knows the towel is harmless. You can transition to social rewards in place of food/toys for toweling. You can make toweling fun by toweling the parrot and then cuddling/petting it. On a cold day or after a shower, toweling will in itself be rewarding to keep warm. If you practice toweling in these positive ways, the occasional bad experience of necessary toweling will not outweigh all the good ones. It is just important that the vast majority of toweling times be good, that's all.
Kili and Truman helped us with pumpkin carving. We had to pause every minute for them to eat some pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. They had a blast. Not only is it a fun toy to play with, but tasty too! I supervised the parrots while my brother carved a jack-o'-lantern.
Introducing your parrot to new objects frequently is a great way to keep the parrot more social and relieve fear aggression. You see, parrots that are easily frightened can become bitey every time they see something they are scared of. But if you create positive stress free introduction with new objects frequently, they will be far less affected by it. Holidays are a great opportunity to introduce them to unfamiliar seasonal stuff.
The parrots watched as all the humans were enthusiastic about the pumpkin. They were just dying to get involved too. If all the humans are doing it, then it must be safe. This is a fantastic way to introduce them to the new stuff they haven't seen before because seeing you play with it reassures them it is good. Don't just give your parrot a pumpkin or the finished carving, let it watch the process which will get it even more excited to play with it.
The parrots were having so much fun that they did not fight once during the whole time, even when Truman accidentally bumped into Kili.
You could say it was a fun filled weekend of bringing parrots places... The first outing was with Kili the Senegal Parrot, and the second was with both Kili and Truman the Cape Parrot. These were done to maintain socialization skills with Kili, and develop socialization further in Truman.
Michael and I took Kili to a recent homecoming football game/alumni reunion event. We arrived at the homecoming game near the very end but just in time to see the home team's victory. We stuck around on the school's field for snacks and socialization for Kili after the game. She was very comfortable and calm in her flight harness on Michael's shoulder with crowds of people in every direction. The temperature outside that afternoon was a bit chilly. Kili was snuggled into the collar of Michael's light jacket with her head poking out to shelter her from the occasional breeze. Some of the school's faculty, alumni and students attending the events spotted Kili and handled her. She eagerly performed tricks, said hello, and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention.
The following day, Michael and I took both parrots outdoors to a park. Kili had been fed pellets in the morning in her cage so she was not significantly food driven, but Truman had only been offered pellets in his carrier and had not eaten much.
We started the experience by walking around the park area with Kili and Truman, looking for members of a wild flock of Monk Parakeets in Brooklyn. We walked around to two different communal nest locations for 10 minutes and listened for the distinct calls of these parakeets. We heard their shrieking and we knew they were near by. Amazingly, we spotted five or six of them flying together. We stood and watched some land in a tree across the street and then watched a few fly to their nest.
When the activity died down, we headed for the playground a few minutes walk away with Kili and Truman. What started as just a socialization experience at the playground became a trick and recall session, especially with Truman. Some children and adults at the playground gathered around and watched us with the parrots. Truman was screaming and shrieking loudly in excitement. Kili and Truman demonstrated a few tricks and harness flight recalls, and the parrots seemed to enjoy all the attention and showing off for the crowd. Truman was highly motivated at the park and showed improved recall reliability with Michael. He seemed more motivated in the presence of the crowd. We finished up at the park and were walking out when Truman became highly vocal and excited on Michael's shoulder. He learned to mimic a catcall and clicking sounds from Kili's vocalizations, and we finally caught it on video.
Truman is currently maturing and is developing beneficial outdoor, social and coping skills. He is acquiring a positive association with being inside of his carrier because Michael and I are offering him meals, treats and toys inside. However, Truman was not fully comfortable eating in his carrier and his carrier training is still incomplete. Kili is already socialized and has become more accepting of being outdoors, new people and changes. As a result, being outside with us in new situations and meeting strangers are meant to maintain her skills. However, Kili is highly aggressive in her territory and defends her cage, perches and trees from anyone but her perceived mate, including Truman.
It is beneficial to bring a territorially aggressive parrot to unfamiliar or neutral territories and introduce a perceived intruder to a parrot who has displayed this kind of aggression. This type of interaction can help to improve a relationship and increase confidence in both the parrot and the person. Kili is more willing to step up for me away from home because I am more familiar to her than the surroundings. Furthermore, both parrots benefited from spending time outdoors. Prolonged direct sunlight exposure is important for vitamin D and calcium. Harness flight training outdoors helps to prepare for the event that either parrot is lost outside.
In order to avoid serious behavioral problems including stress, aggression, and fear toward new people and new objects, prevention is best. In the wild, baby and juvenile parrots would learn skills from their parents, such as what is food, where to find food, how to eat food, what is dangerous, what are predators, flock dynamics and social skills. As pets, parrots rely on their breeders, hand feeders, caretakers, and owners to teach them skills so they can thrive in a domesticated environment.
Exposing your parrot to new things will prepare it for more significant changes in the future. Introduce your parrot to new people, objects and places. Always create positive experiences and pay attention to your parrot's comfort level. Reward the parrot for tolerating or experiencing new things to avoid creating phobias. Make being inside of a carrier rewarding with a meal, treats, or a toy. Take your bird to an enjoyable and safe environment so it becomes accustomed to traveling in a carrier. Teach your family and friends how to properly handle and interact with your bird. Set up positive reinforcement scenarios for socialization with other people with trained tricks or other behaviors. Teaching a parrot socialization and coping skills is essential in order to own an overall healthy and confident pet.
Between all the physical therapy and trick training that's been going on with Truman, behind the scenes I have also been doing a lot of taming exercises with him as well. Just like Kili, I can now hold Truman on his back, open his wings, hold him by the neck, hold him by the tail, and hold him by the beak.
Actually the holding by the beak trick is unique to Truman. Although I can sort of get away with holding Kili in this way, her beak is just too small to get any sort of grip by. But by sliding my finger into Truman's beak, I can lift and hold by his maxilla. This does not only show tameness but also very strong trust between trainer and animal. He can easily crack almond and walnut shells with that powerful beak, yet he is very gentle with my fingers and lets me hold him that way. For me it provides an alternate way to hold him but also helps to maintain the beak/hands comfort between us. If my hands and his beak interact on a daily basis then there will be no fear for either of us.
The primary training method I have been using for developing all of this tameness with Truman has been flooding with negative reinforcement. Now I am definitely not suggesting this for everyone, but just sharing what worked for me. Keep in mind I have previous training experience and am working with a baby parrot. I absolutely do not recommend this method for aggressive, problematic, or older birds. I believe that the main reasons this seemingly unrewarding technique is working so well for me is because Truman is so young and eager to learn. He doesn't develop a negative association for me as I am increasing the discomfort gradually. I'm definitely not pushing him straight to the limit. There is no need for positive reinforcement (although he gets some scratches and praise anyway) because he is not actually doing anything. He is learning through negative reinforcement that if he puts up with what I want to do without resisting, he can get it over with and we'll proceed to better things.
To hold Truman by the tail I took slow steps to get him ready for this. I definitely didn't just do it out of the blue. I had been accustoming him to being held on his back so now the main difference would be by where he would be held rather than the angle. I began by holding him on his back in my hand and touching his tail. I would increase this with each step by holding the tail and releasing part of the weight from the hand that was holding his back. I kept practicing this just a few times a day over a few weeks and now he trusts me to hold him by the tail. He is flighted so he's not scared of falling and I'm not too worried about dropping him then. Please don't ever subject a clipped parrot to this though.
By handling my bird in all different ways every day, the overall tameness improves. Unlike trick training which is accelerated to facilitate quick learning, taming is about going slow and only over time developing a comfort zone. This comfort zone is very important though. Sure holding by the tail might just be silly but being able to hold the parrot by the neck or beak can be quite important. Holding by the neck allows for carrying a flighted parrot through an unsafe zone (that is how I carry him the few yards from home to aviary) and is also useful for restraining the parrot during grooming/vet exams. The ability to hold the beak reduces fear of the beak, biting, and can be useful if any beak care is required. This article isn't meant to serve as a lesson on parrot taming, however, a previous one I wrote should be more helpful. It shows how to tame parrot to open its wings and hold it on its back. The same concepts can be applied for the other tameness demonstrations I show as well.
Here is a video to show Truman's little trick routine which consists of shake, wave, target, and fetch as well as his latest tameness demonstration. Although he was tame from the day I got him, there is no way he would have allowed me to do the things I show in this video without all the work we did. Also this is the first video where he can do shake and wave interchangeably. It took much longer to get him used to doing the trick I ask for rather than just one or the other.
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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