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
As I await the arrival of my new Cape Parrot, I would like to outline some of my goals with the new bird. The order is ballpark of how it would go but not a rigid sorting:
-Get parrot, let it get used to me and new surroundings -Develop strong flock mate/trainer relationship bond -Encourage independent play as well as social time -Develop a daily routine that sets feeding regimes, flight time, out of cage time, and outdoor time -Desensitize to wide array of household objects while naming each object -Configure clicker as bridge and eventually a strong secondary reinforcement -Teach target training through modeling rather than trial/error if possible -Develop strongest flight recall possible (recall by visual, whistle, and name) -Minimum dependence on food for reinforcement -Develop strong alternative reinforcements -Progressive taming to allow uninhibited touch of entire body -Make minimum intrusion introduction between Kili and Cape -Maximum comfort harness training -Outdoor desensitization while wearing short harness -Begin training outdoor harnessed recall -Socialize parrot to as many people as possible both indoors and out -Differentiate social time and focused training time -Develop safe petting cue and method -Reduce beaking, biting, and nipping by ignoring -Ignore all unpleasant vocalizations and present acceptable alternative ones -Train necessary maintenance behaviors through positive reinforcement -Voluntary carrier training through empowerment -Start training full trick routine -Goal is to train each trick in the shortest and most effective manner possible -Develop visual and verbal cues for every trick -Take parrot on social outings, car drives, and airplane flights while still young -Begin implementing variable ratio reinforcement on cued behaviors -Say same words to encourage talking -Develop special (not annoying) contact call specific for this parrot -Combine flight and cued tricks -Train highly complex trick behaviors to challenge parrot -Test cognitive capabilities through challenging puzzle tricks -Provide occasional foraging opportunities in/out of cage -Continue flight training optimized toward outdoor freeflight -Perfect each trick to develop best trained parrot role model
Having extensively learned trick training on Kili and Duke, I think I will be able to train the Cape more quickly and efficiently. At the same time, I would like to experiment with alternative training methods like modeling, empowerment, and differential reinforcement. I am going to make the strongest possible effort to do all training through positive reinforcement and avoid resorting to flooding, negative reinforcement, or punishment. I do know that these methods can be effective but I am curious to accept the challenge of trying to train without them.
Here are some my goals for the trainedparrot blog:
-Provide regular updates about the Cape's progress -Post photographs/videos of every step of training the new Cape Parrot -Write step by step articles about how I train every single trick/behavior -Present my thoughts/opinions about parrot ownership and care -Develop the training blog as an alternative to costly training products -Write objectively about the good, the bad, and the ugly -Cite outside sources where applicable -Lead the parrot community by example -Make all information public and hold nothing back -Create a definitive source of parrot training knowledge from my own experience -Eventually open the blog up to additional willing writers -Turn training blog posts into a complete/organized training guide
Here is a progress update about the upcoming Cape Parrot. Originally I was supposed to get the older of the two babies. Jean expected the older one to end up bigger because it was born from a larger set of wild caught parents. However, as time progressed, it turned out that the younger baby not only caught up but grew bigger than the older one. The younger Cape comes from a domestic pair named Angie and Magnum. Jean said this baby not only turned out larger but also has a sweeter disposition. The older is now 295g but the younger is 315g. They are somewhere from one to two weeks apart. Jean has done the same extensive efforts with both parrots and I am currently the only paid buyer so I have the option of choosing either one. She taught both parrots to drink from a water bottle, eat the same pellets, and to wear an aviator harness. So based on everything Jean advised, as well as all the good things I've heard from someone else that bought a Cape Baby from the same breeding pair, I decided to go with the younger/larger Cape.
This Friday, Jean will be taking the Cape to her vet on my behalf. I asked her to get the vet checks for me because she has a very good vet and I don't like the one I worked with in my area. If the parrot checks out healthy before being shipped, I don't really see any need in duplicating the check afterwards. The visual inspection the vet did when I bought Kili I can so easily do myself now at this point. I'm quite confident in Jean as a breeder so the vet check is only precautionary. The vet will also take care of some final grooming and place an open band on the parrot's left (non-dominant) foot. Pending all results being good from the vet check, Jean should be shipping the Cape Parrot to me early Tuesday morning to avoid the Florida heat. Thursday is the back up day.
Here are more pictures that I just received from the breeder:
I finally received some pictures of my Cape Baby from the breeder so here they are. My baby is the one that is slightly older. You can tell cause it has a bit more feathers and tail coming in.
The baby Brown Necked Parrot was DNA sexed and confirmed to be a male. The breeder is in the process of weening the immature UnCape on a pellet diet of Pretty Bird and Roudybush.
I can expect the Cape baby shipped to me from Florida when it is fully weened at around 12-14 weeks old. I'll post new pictures as I get them.
Saturday I went to NJ and bought not only a new cage but all the perches, toys, and supplies for the new Cape Parrot (pretty much everything short of food). Originally I was planning on buying the largest powder coated cage with 3/4" bar spacing. However, someone recommended to me to try Kings Cages (which I had never heard of) so I looked into it and found a similar powder coat cage from them for cheaper. But as I spoke to them on the phone, they recommended that I should go with an aluminum cage instead. Originally, I was expecting to spend $600 for a cage and $400 for a tree. So instead I decided to go with the aluminum cage after all but get a smaller/cheaper tree. It will be much easier to upgrade to a bigger tree than a different cage in the future.
I went to their warehouse to see the cages/trees in person because I had not seen their products in stores before and I had questions about doors and other issues. Maria from Purringparrot warned me that her Cape chewed up the plastic food bowls that came with the cage so I wanted to make sure I could get stainless steel bowls instead. Also I was a bit concerned that the aluminum playtop cage was a bit smaller than the powder coated ones I was previously considering. Unfortunately the cage still comes with the pointless cheap plastic cups but the good news is that for about $50 more, you can get a replacement kit to mount rings in place of the plastic cups to hold stainless steel food bowls. For the kind of price of the cage I think the stainless cups should come standard but at least the upgrade is possible and well worth the money. I was also concerned with the locking mechanisms on the doors because I had problems keeping my Senegal Parrot from getting out of her cage. Luckily the Kings Cages come with a very ingenuitive lock for the front door which requires several motions that would be impossible for the parrot to be able to complete from inside. It needs to be pressed down, twisted, then down again, and twisted a second time completing a 180 degree turn. Also there is a magnet on the front door to keep it closed even if the pin is unlocked. The food doors are also well locked with a pin that is completely inaccessible from inside because of a plate that blocks the parrot from reaching the control.
I got to pick out my own tree from the hundreds available. I decided to go with a smaller table top tree not only for cost saving but also to keep the parrot at eye level when I am sitting down. Many of the tabletop trees were too short but the there weren't any short enough tall trees either. Also I didn't like some trees being too covered in branches to prevent climbing space and others being too bare. After much searching though, I found the perfect tree with a lower and higher area that can be climbed. This way I can hang toys from the top and they can be played with on the bottom. I was told that the downside to a short tree is that the parrot can jump off to the floor. At first I didn't understand what the big deal was but he explained that people buy a tall tree so the bird would stay on it. I replied that to me it wouldn't matter because I'm keeping the parrot flighted and it can fly off whenever it wants anyway. I asked to have the bolt for the food bowl removed because I never feed my birds when out like this and don't want a metal thing sticking out. Once again he suggested leaving it for water but I explained that a flighted parrot can just go back to its cage for water whenever it wants it. :D
I requested a Java dowel in place of the machined wooden dowels that come with the cage so we worked out a deal to get some custom cut for the cage. While I was at it, I picked out some toys and additional perches for the cage. Before I was ready to pay, I was asked if I really need the playtop for the cage because there was also a dometop available. I had not even considered the dome top (and I usually thought the dome was cutting off space that a square top could have been). He explained to me that it would actually provide more room. And since I don't leave my parrot to play on top of the cage anyway, I did not worry about missing the playtop anyway. This worked out perfectly because the dome added some space to compensate my fear of the cage turning out smaller than others I had considered.
The prices were good and I ended up buying everything I need for the new Cape within my originally planned budget. So now I can just sit back and wait for the bird knowing I will be ready for it whenever it is ready to come home to me.
The cage came in two boxes and I had many accessories so it filled practically the entire car.
That's my brother helping me unpack the cage parts.
Assembly was actually incredibly easy.
Then I got the tree together.
All it involves is securing one bolt so it's really easy.
So here's the new dometop aluminum cage for my upcoming Brown Necked "Cape" Parrot.
For 2 out of 3 perches I replaced machine doweled with natural Java but I left one dowel in and saved the 3rd Java for later.
Here is the stainless steel cup and holder to replace the junky plastic cup.
Here are the replaced food bowl rings with stainless steel cups.
All of the additional perches and toys.
I haven't decided on a place for the tree yet but for now I'm keeping it out of the way so Kili can get used to seeing it but not go on it.
For the next few months, I'm going to be keeping Kili's cage closer to me in the living area so that when the Cape arrives, I could have a reasonable quarantine and so Kili doesn't try to go on the Cape's cage. For now I'm hiding the cage in a corner near Kili's area but not on her spot. I don't want her flying back to where her cage used to be out of habit and land on the Cape cage instead. So I will keep the Cape slightly to the side of where Kili used to be. It's really important that Kili doesn't try to claim the new cage or tree so I want her to get used to not going on them. I left all the toys and things out of the new Cape cage to further reduce any temptation for Kili to check it all out. Overall I'm quite happy with the new set up and now just anxiously await the arrival of my new addition.
Part II, the Review
Yeah, they don't do a good job of making you feel like you bought something worth the money with the cheap included things. The cage should have been $50 more but come with all of the "deluxe" features standard so you wouldn't feel like getting a cheap quality expensive cage. The good news is you can discard (or use as spares) the wooden dowels and plastic food cups and it is really easy to replace these things with natural perches and stainless cups. Many cages you are locked in using whatever they come with and cannot swap, so basically just imagine the cage as $100 more expensive but including what you would expect with it.
I calculated that the cage is 26,000 cubic inches and the dome top adds another 10,000 cubic inches. That's pretty incredible considering Kili's entire cage is just 10,000 cubic inches. That brings the cage up to 37,000 cubic inches which sounds much more fair to me on a proportional comparison between the 2 species. Senegal Parrot: approx 115g, Cape: 400g. That makes the Cape about 3.5x bigger than Senegal and the cage comes out to 3.7x bigger so it's perfect. I was really skeptical about getting the original version (pre-dometop idea) because 26,000 would mean the cape would be more crammed in the new cage than Kili is in hers and I didn't want that. I don't want the large toys and perches to make the bird too crammed but now with the extra dome, it works out just right. I didn't want the playpen much anyway. And to my surprise the dometop cage is actually a bit cheaper than the playtop one even thought the dome looks like more material and labor to make.
It comes with four feeder doors/cups which I think is overkill but I guess nicer for symmetry. I think I would have still produced just 2 feeders but larger cups than 4 small ones as it is. I usually mix everything in a single bowl for the parrot rather than separating things by bowls. Also I use a water bottle so 2 bowls is definitely enough for me. I suppose for parrots that drink from a dish, 3 bowls is better so they went with 4. I don't have to leave all the bowls in so the extra doors and capability don't really hurt.
As I do not have the bird yet, I cannot give you the bird's review but I can tell you what I think of the cage compared to the powder coat cage I have for Kili. There are many things I like but some that I dislike by comparison. I think the steel cage feels sturdier but the aluminum one is lighter and somewhat more manageable (relative to sizes). The aluminum cage is very easy to assemble, it just snaps in place. I don't think the parrot can disassemble it though because gravity, friction, and shear strength hold everything together. I think there is a high premium for the aluminum material so unfortunately the cage suffers from some poorer quality/workmanship that may go into the powder coat ones. Like I mentioned the food cups and perches for a start. Also it just doesn't appear as neatly built. I'm sure once the bird gets to either kind of cage that's all over. But it just doesn't look the quality of the price you pay for it. I think in the long term it still comes out worth it and it will last longer but it just doesn't look finely produced. For the kind of money they charge, I think they should have upped it a little bit more but made a deluxe quality cage out of the concept rather than a very expensive economy kind of cage.
You can see the poor workmanship in how certain pieces don't come perfectly together without a gap or you can see in the picture that the food bowls are crooked and not level. The feeder doors are much lower on this cage than Kili's but the jury is still out whether I like that or not. Actually I think that will probably end up a good thing because Kili rarely uses the bottom of her cage. This way the parrot can use bottom for feeding and top the way it normally would anyway. The down size to low food bowls is that there is a better chance it will poop or drop things into them. Also the food bowls (plastic and metal replacement ones) are smaller than the ones on Kili's cage but the bird is bigger.
There was one thing broken on the cage when I got it but I didn't bother exchanging cause it was an easy fix for me. On the bottom shelf, one of the screws wasn't holding because the hole for the bolt was stripped too wide and the bolt wouldn't tighten. I have my own workshop so I easily found a screw just slightly thicker that I used to secure into the stripped hole but I can imagine this being a big problem for most other people. Basically the biggest failure of the manufacturer in this case I would say is that they are selling an expensive cage but at economy quality and configuration. I don't think people would notice $50/$100 more as a major increase but would appreciate an all inclusive well built cage for the money. It is hard to match the price of the quality to the perceived value because of the expensiveness of the aluminum. It is still a good cage and I recommended but still to this day I have not come across the "perfect parrot cage" that has every feature you'd want, well made, and still reasonably priced.
Here's a list of things I noticed about it already.
Dislike: -A bit wobbly -Poorer workmanship -Plastic cups -Machined dowels -Food bowls smaller than on Kili's smaller cage
Like: -Aluminum (material, no rust, light weight) -Very big door -Latching systems (both main door and food doors) -Extra space afforded by dome option -Color and options of colors -Seed catcher loops into the inside of cage so everything should fall in -Possible to "upgrade" to stainless food bowls -Bottom shelf -Easy assembly -Size and look
Thank you for visiting the parrot training blog trainedparrot.com. The website will be up soon but in the meantime please visit the parrot forum.
This is a blog about how I trained my Senegal Parrot but it is relevant to training any kind of parrot
People often ask me how I trained my parrot but unfortunately I do not have videos of the early training sessions with Kili. So now that I am getting a new Cape Parrot, I intend to record videos and write articles about it from the very beginning
This parrot blog has been created to discuss, display, post about and talk about how to teach and tame parrots. This blog will show experiences in methods of how to train a parakeet a trick. This blog will also reveal experiences with how to tame and bond with a Senegal Parrot. Experiences training an African Grey to talk on cue will be discussed on this blog. This blog will show that parrots are incredibly entertaining and fascinating animals that can bring a lot of joy to their owner's lives. Owning one may involve training tricks, taming, bonding, and caring for these intelligent animals. Although parrots are extremely enjoyable companion pets, this blog will show that they do have downsides. Parrots love to chew, and they will make a mess. Many parrots have are aggressive or scared. Some parrots will bite, lunge, screech, scream and fly away out of aggression, to defend their territory, or out of fear. Problems can be overlooked or overcome if you teach, train and tame a parrot with the correct techniques used by contributors of this blog.
For anyone who is considering a parrot as a pet, a considerable amount of research and evaluation should be done before a decision is made. Some companion bird species can outlive their owner. An Eclectus may live for 65 years, an Amazon has a life expectancy of about 50 years, a Macaw may reach the age of 60 years, Budgies can live to be about 20 years old, and some Cockatoos can live to be about 65 years old but a Cockatiel may live for 20 years. As a result of such a long lifespan in many species, a parrot should be a lifetime commitment. You must imagine yourself later into your life and consider if you would still be willing to care for your pet decades from now.
This blog will depict a log of experiences of parrot owners who teach their parrots how to perform a trick and the process involved to train one to mimic an entertaining word, phrase, or sound. Some basic tricks to teach a parakeet how to perform are wave, shake, nod, spin or turn around, and show or lift and spread wings. This blog will depict experiences with target or stick training, using a clicker, and this blog will depict experiences with how to use this technique and a clicker to train tricks. Teaching tricks shown on this blog is an incredibly fun and enjoyable way to bond with your parrot. Target or stick train and clicker techniues apply to parrots of all sizes, including a parakeet, a parrotlet, a lovebird, a lorikeet, a caique, a senegal parrot, a meyer's parrot, a red bellied parrrot, an eclectus parrot, an african grey parrot, an amazon, a cockatiel, a cockatoo, and a macaw.
Many parrots are chosen for specific desired qualities that generally occur in that type. Amazon parrots are bold, friendly and confident talking parrots and they can learn to sing songs. African Grey parrots are known to be one the best and clearest talkers. Cockatoos are extremely cuddly, playful and affectionate but demanding birds. Macaws are large, brightly colored and loving parrots with the potential for a very big bite. Poicephalus parrots are small, quiet birds with a bigger bird type of personality. Conures are parakeets with some varieties having extremely beautiful plumage but they are known to be loud. Budgerigars, parrotlets, and lovebirds are small, inexpensive and widely available parrots with many beautiful genetic mutations.
Blog Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get my Alexandrine parakeet to step up?
Training a bird to step up is a universal technique that can be applied to a parakeet, as well as a macaw, grey, cockatoo, amazon, conure, poicephalus, lovebird, parrotlet, caique, and more. In order to teach your parakeet how to step up, you must think of a command you would like to use to cue your Alexandrine parakeet when you would like it to step up. You can choose to say something such as "Up", "Step Up" or "Hop Up" and always use it as your cue. To teach your parakeet how to step up, you simply hold your finger out under your Alexandrine parakeet's abdomen, press it gently against your Alexandrine parakeet, and your bird will become unbalanced. In order to correct its balance, it will step forward and up onto your finger. To make this training effective and rewarding, always reward your parakeet with praise each time they step up onto your finger. Saying "good" or "good bird" and giving your parakeet attention when they step up will teach your parakeet that if they step up onto your finger, they will enjoy it.
What are the essential items needed to own for an Amazon parrot? What supplies do I need to buy from a pet supplies store when I purchase my Amazon parrot?
The Amazon parrot is a large sized parrot and needs an appropriately large sized cage. Your Amazon parrot should be able to move around a bit inside of its cage, as well as have room to stretch its wings completely. A cage for an Amazon would most likely also be appropriate for an African Grey, a Cockatoo, an Ecelctus, and possibly a Macaw. You will need to make sure that the spacing between the bars of your cage is appropriately sized for your bird. Your Amazon should not be able to stick its head through the bars of the cage because that is a safety hazard for a parrot and it is extremely dangerous. Some pet supplies store items that are essential for owning an Amazon are a variety of types of parrot toys, a variety of natural wood perches, food bowls, a water bottle, a cuttle bone or mineral block, food, treats, and vitamins. In addition, you should purchase a book about owning your Amazon, a carrier for traveling, and supplies to clean your Amazon parrot's cage.
How do I stop my Sun Conure from screaming when I leave the room?
The Jenday Conure, the Nanday Conure, and the Sun Conure are known to be very loud. If your Sun Conure has learned to scream for you whenever you leave and you responded to the scream by giving it attention instead of leaving, it has learned to scream to get your attention. In order to get your Conure to stop screaming for attention, all you can do is simply ignore the behavior. Never respond to your Conure screaming whenever you leave and your Conure will figure out on its own that screaming is a waste of effort and time. It may take a while to undo all the reinforcing you have made to the screaming and your Conure may have screaming fits for days or weeks before it learns to stop trying, but you cannot be sympathetic to the screaming.
Why do you need to weigh your Blue and Gold Macaw on a scale?
It is important to weigh your Blue and Yellow Macaw on a gram scale because Macaws, like all parrots, hide illnesses. You may not realize that your Blue and Yellow Macaw is ill you have weighed it on a scale and noticed that your bird is underweight. Being underweight may be a sign of a disease of some kind such as a bacterial crop infection, a virus or another kind sickness. A large gram scale may be needed with a perch on it to weigh large species of Macaws. It is important to continually weigh your Macaw and find out your Macaw's average weight based on its normal fluctuations and watch for this seemingly unnoticed symptom. If you notice that your Blue and Gold Macaw continues to have a very low weight or is losing weight dramatically, it is important to take your bird to a veterinarian immediately for an examination and treatment.
Should I clip my Senegal Parrot's wings?
Clipping your Senegal parrot's wings has many downsides. If your clipped Senegal parrrot falls, it may not be able to catch its own fall and it may suffer from an injury. A poicephalus parrot without flight feathers would be very vulnerable to a serious injury from a hard fall. If your clipped Poicephalus parrot molts in new feathers, the new primary feathers will stick out. As the new flight feathers molt in and they are developing, they may break. If a blood feather breaks, your Senegal parrot may suffer from a tremendous amount of bleeding. These problems can be avoided by not clipping your Senegal Parrot's wings. All poicephalus parrots can benefit from being flighted, including the Meyer's Parrot, the Red Bellied Parrot, the Brown Headed Parrot, the Jardine's Parrot, the Cape Parrot, and the Ruppell's Parrot.
How do you target train your Congo African Grey parrot?
Target training is a fundamental skill your parrot should learn. To begin to teach or train your African Grey parrot how to target, you should obtain an unused, untoxic chop stick. Hold the stick out in front of your Africa Grey parrot in the hopes that they might bite the very tip of the chop stick. If they touch it at all, even by accident, click your clicker and reward them with a treat. If they are not interested, you may have to force them by touching the stick to their beak and rewarding them. Always reward for them touching the end of the stick. Always wait for them to touch the stick or take it away out of their sight, wait a minute, and then try again with an easier distance. Be sure to vary the distance and the direction as much as you possibly can. Targeting is the most useful behavior to teach an African Grey or any other species because it can be used to teach your African Grey to perform a trick or follow the target stick where you want your parrot to go.
How do you stop a Lovebird from biting you?
It is impossible to stop your Lovebird from biting. Start teaching your Lovebird to behave the way you'd like it to by never reacting to any of the bites your Lovebird is giving you. Do not ever try to punish your bird, yell at your bird, or put your Lovebird away as a result of a bite. You must ignore a bite at all times to prevent bites from being reinforced. Luckily, lovebirds have a small beak and they cannot bite very hard. Similarly, Budgies, Parrotlets, Cockatiels, and Parakeets have very small beaks and very weak bites. However, you can distract your Lovebird when it is biting you in several ways. You can misbalance your Lovebird if it is perched on you, you can cue your bird to do a trick and you can make your bird step up onto your fingers repeatedly to tire your bird. If you train your Lovebird to perform a trick, it will most likely try to do a trick to earn a treat instead of trying to bite you. If you teach your bird how to target to a chopstick, you will have an effective hands off method of handling your Lovebird. In addition, your Lovebird will have a positive association with you if you are giving it a reward. These tips can be applied to all other species of parrots regardless of size in avoiding and preventing bites or any aggressive behavior.
Is it safe to have nonstick pans if I own a Parrotlet or are they dangerous and toxic to birds?
The fumes given off from overheating the nonstick coating on nonstick pans is toxic and fatal to a Parrotlet, Lovebird, Budgie, Parakeet, Conure, Cockatiel, Caique, Poicephalus, Eclectus, Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo, Macaw and all other parrots. You should immediately dispose of and purchase an alternative to your nonstick pans. People think that nonstick pans are safe to keep as long as they are not overheated, but this is not true and too risky for the safety of your Parrotlet. You can use affordable alternatives to your nonstick pans such as stainless steel pans and cast iron pans which do not give off toxic fumes.
Is it safe to have a pet cat or dog along with my Budgies?
Cats and dogs are predatory, meat eating animals who they can and most likely will injure, kill and consume your Budgies. It is extremely unsafe to own a cat or a dog with any kind of parrot because there is an extreme risk that a cat or a dog would get into your their cage and harm your bird if you are not there to watch your pets all of the time. A cat or a dog would also be dangerous to keep around larger parrots that they may not be capable of eating such as the African Grey, Cockatoo, Amazon, and Macaw because of bacteria present in cat and dog saliva. This bacteria could cause a fatal blood infection in your Budgies.
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.
Older Articles 
Newer Articles