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The idea of it leaves me a little spun, but makes sense when I think about it. A study done by the Field Museum involving a detailed look at the genetics of 169 birds had some surprising results. Convergent evolution is a lot more prevalent in the bird world than we guessed. I've trained birds professionally for 15 years, but my affinity has always been for parrots and falcons. I find myself speaking more and more in lectures about how my falconry informs my training style and critical thinking when working with parrots. Now perhaps I can claim the link between the two was always intuitive. Maybe people won't look at me like I'm insane when I explain the training the two families of birds is not so very different. Well, that may be too hopeful, but this is one more fabulous example of why parrot owners should keep reading and learning. Exciting times!
Related??
WRONG.
There are many reasons that a parrot might bite. Some may not be as predictable or make as much sense to us as others, but the one thing you can count on is that repetitive biting is rewarding to the parrot somehow. This means that parrots bite because it gets them something they want. It also means that if you can figure out what your parrot gets from the biting behavior, then you can lessen the behavior or quite possibly put a stop to it.
If you reach in your parrot’s cage to pick him up and he doesn’t want to come out he may retreat to the back of the cage or turn his back to you. If you persist, even though he’s tried to let you know he doesn’t want to go with you, then he may resort to biting you. If he bites you and you leave him alone, he may have an “ah ha” moment. “Ah ha! If I want her to know that I don’t want to come out, all I have to do is bite her!” He may stop retreating, turning his back on you or any other variety of more acceptable behaviors that mean “no” and go straight for the bite in the future. Why not? It’s the only thing you seem to understand.
Shouldn’t you just take the bite and pretend like it doesn’t hurt so your parrot doesn’t get what he wants? Absolutely not! You don’t deserve to get bit. How can you have a great relationship with your bird if you’re afraid one on one time will lead to bloodletting? How can your parrot trust you and enjoy your company if he might get dropped, yelled at or worse? Instead, you both need to learn to have a conversation with each other that doesn’t involve biting.
So what do you do?
• Learn to read and be respectful of your parrot’s body language. No means no. Respect that.
• Find ways to get your parrot to say “yes.” Make what you’re asking worth your parrot’s while. Offer a treat, time out on the play stand, some cuddle time or whatever your parrot really enjoys.
• Don’t get bit. Biting begets biting because it almost always rewarding. A behavior that is rewarding will repeat itself.
More positive communicating. Less biting. It’s a great way to thing to strive for in all our relationships!
Do you have a great story about a parrot that you rescued or fostered? Do you run a rescue and have a story that would save parrot owners a lot of potential heartbreak? Rebecca K. O’Connor, author of A Parrot for Life! is looking for stories for her next book, Rescue Me! A Guide to Living with a Re-Homed Parrot. Rebecca believes that the best way to convince potential parrot owners to adopt and foster is through imparting key information in an easy to read, entertaining manner. Rescue Me!, like the well-received A Parrot for Life! will cover the most up-date-information and resources available, but she wants to add one more thing…true stories. Rebecca fosters and has some stories of her own, but your personal experiences may make the difference in a parrot’s life! If that’s not enough of a reason here’s more incentive:
•Twelve stories will be chosen. Authors will receive a copy of Rescue Me! published by TFH Publications upon its release.
•Authors of the top three stories will also receive a copy of A Parrot for Life!
•The author of the top story will receive a free lecture/workshop presented by Rebecca at the Parrot Rescue of their choice with all proceeds going to the Rescue. (The parrot rescue will need to provide space for the workshop, but will not need to cover travel or pay a presentation fee.)
So what are you waiting for??
Please send your adoption/foster story of 400 words or less to: Rebecca@rebeccakoconnor.com
or even better, post them as comments here on the blog. Let's got a dialogue started about fostering and rescuing and behavior!
Authors will need to provide permission for the use of their stories upon acceptance and agree to editing for style and length. Payment will be in the form of a copy of the book.
http://www.wpr.org/PETS/index.htm
Check out Rebecca on Patricia McConnell's radio show "Calling All Pets". Rebecca only says one really stupid thing. (along with a lot of ums and a couple of semi-stupid things) Answer the trivia question and win a copy of her book! --but hurry, you have to do it this week!
Looking for a place to toast to all things pscittacine for your Friday night revelry? Here’s a few suggestions. And for those of you who live outside of North America, I would love for you to share yours as well!
Thirsty Parrot Bar & Grill
32 S Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO
Blue Parrot Bar & Grill
1934 W 6TH St, Wilmington, DE
Green Parrot Bar
601 Whitehead St., Key West, FL
Barking Parrot Bar
21 Lakeshore Drive West
Penticton Canada
Pickled Parrot Bar & Grill
8780 Rivers Ave # 210, North Charleston, SC
Parrot Pub
5010 Louetta Rd., Spring, TX
Or was it violins on TV that we’re being desensitized to? Either way, desensitizing can be a good plan for your bird. Taking care to note a bird’s discomfort with a new toy and helping him slowly overcome that discomfort and gain confidence can go a long way toward encouraging play. It is very easy to notice fear in a parrot that is thrashing in his cage or cowering in the back when you present a brightly colored toy and hang it from the center of the cage. I sometimes hear, “just put it in there. He’ll get over it.” True, he will get over it, but at what cost? You can lock me in a closet with a big spider and I’ll stop jumping every time it skitters eventually. I’m certainly not going to touch it or trust any new spiders that appear though. I don’t want my parrots to “get over” their scary toys. I want them to play with them. Desensitizing is a kinder and more effective means of introducing something new and potentially fun.
If you frequently see something and ultimately it is of no threat to you, then you cease to be afraid of it. That is the idea of desensitization. That new toy should remain far enough away from the bird that he shows no signs of fear. Watch for the subtle ones, not just the feather-breaking shrieking variety. If he arches his neck, pulls he feathers tight, shrinks further back in the cage, the toy is too close. When your bird appears comfortable, move it closer a few feet always leaving the toy within the comfort range. You may have to leave it across the room for a day, halfway across the room the next, hang it from the outside of the cage before you put it inside etc. This process my take an hour or it may take weeks, but by the time the toy is inside, you can be certain you parrot is comfortable with it, more likely to explore it rather than cower from it. Even better, you can feel confident that you haven’t been responsible for something undesirable happening to your friend and harmed your relationship in any way. (For the record, if you lock me in a closet with a spider we can no longer be friends.)
Flour is healthier when it’s enriched and so are parrots!So why does it matter that Tao won’t play with toys? Sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know. That goes for animals too. You can give a parrot all the toys in the world, but if he doesn’t know the joy of finding buried treasure, ripping up paper, or peeling pine into tiny chips then the toys are just decoration. And what is it they say…idle hands are the devils playground? A parrot with nothing to do may find behaviors we feel are inappropriate with which to occupy their time instead…screaming and plucking for instance.
Parrots, dogs, cats, boyfriends all need enrichment, mental stimulation that gives them the opportunity to use their senses and be the animals that they are. For parrots this means foraging and exploring with their beak. For dogs it might mean using their nose to discover new exciting things in their world. Boyfriends are more complicated, but a sporting event seems to do. Me? I’m easy. Put me in front of a busy bird feeder with a bottle of beer and you won’t hear a peep out of me all day. If Tao learned to explore, engage in and destroy most anything in his cage, I doubt anyone would hear a peep out of him either.
Meet Jasper. (Click and laugh)
But you're nothing like this, right? Nooo. Me neither! Love me. Love my parrot. Quite possibly why all my dates make hasty retreats...
The joy of destruction.Nothing happens instantly when you are training animals. Or at least, things rarely happen instantly. Usually what you get is the overnight success phenomenon. The truth is that people who are “suddenly” successful have been slaving away-- a hopeful rockstar singing in dive bars, an aspiring writer (ahem) laboring over one small book at a time, one success building on other until all of the sudden they are stars. Training parrots often progresses like this too. The progress is so subtle that you take it for granted and then suddenly it looks like everything just comes together.
This is what happened with Tao. I kept laying seeds on the egg carton. I thought I saw small nibbles on it, but wasn’t sure. Then one morning I slept in an hour past dawn, wondering why the house was so quiet and woke to this:
Now every egg carton quickly finds itself in the same shape without any provocation. Egg carton = treats inside! Exactly what this lesson was supposed to succeed in doing. However, the other toys in the cage remain untouched. What next?
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