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Enrichment! More than Just Parrot Toys

Barbara Heidenreich — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:59:00 +0000

I love the word “enriching.” Everything about it just sounds glorious. It seems to suggest being immersed in bountiful fun. Who can say “no” to that? Certainly not the animals in my household! They love enrichment and I love providing it. I can easily spend the entire morning offering fun activities for my pets and watching them revel in it.

One of the great things about enrichment is that it does not have to be all that difficult to include in your parrot’s (and other pet’s) life. Enrichment can be as simple as providing a head of lettuce as seen in this clip with some sun conures at a zoo.

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It can also be playing some fun audio sounds for your parrot. I like to use one of those digital pictures frames to play bird sounds for my Amazon parrot Delbert. He sings along while I clean house or hop in the shower. I play this for him almost every day and simply mix up the recordings to add variety.

I also love to take items destined for the trash or recycling and turn them into parrot toys. Clean empty plastic vitamin bottles, plastic caps, and empty cardboard cereal boxes can be big fun! I stuff shredded paper and treats in the boxes and string them up with untreated leather strips. Who cares if they get destroyed? They were destined for recycling anyway. Kris Porter has a site called http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ in which she shares many inexpensive ideas for parrot toys you can make at home.

I also use enrichment as a way to help reinforce behaviors I want to keep strong. For example every time my yellow naped Amazon parrot Delbert is out of his cage I rotate out old toys and put in different ones. This can happen several times a day. This means every time my bird enters his cage something fun and interesting is waiting for him. This helps reinforce going back into the cage when asked. I keep a nice supply of toys on hand to make sure there is lots of variety.

Having worked in zoos for many years I also take advantage of an old zoo enrichment favorite…non toxic browse. I grow my own lemongrass and snip bamboo from a friend’s yard to also offer as enrichment. These are usually only good for a day, but they add yet another fun enrichment item to the list. (Always be sure any plant items you offer are non toxic, free of chemical, pesticides and road grime)

Here is a short list of some of the enrichment items I have on hand for my parrots:

Lemongrass
Bamboo
Plastic straws
Lots of foot toys to stuff into other toys
Untreated wood pieces
Old phone books
Plastic bottles (vitamin- remove any foil)
Cardboard boxes (cereal, crackers, etc)

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My dog gets in on the action too. Not only does he forage for his food, but he also chases soap bubbles, plays in the sprinkler, tears apart boxes and even loves to pop bubble wrap. I am not sure who has more fun, my animals or me! Ah yes, enrichment truly is enriching.

Barbra Heidenreich
http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2010

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They Learn the Darndest Things…

Best in Flock — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:41:20 +0000

The other day I was feeling like I needed more snuggle time with Mika. So a little bit before their regular bedtime, I put an almond in Stewie’s cage and put him away for the night, thinking this would give me extra time to hang out with my pionus girl. However, as soon as Mika [...] Related posts:

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Screaming Sun Conure Saves the Day

Best in Flock — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:50:22 +0000

We just got the BEST comment on our YouTube channel ever! (Seriously, best ever!) It was a response to Stewie’s “how loud is a sun conure” video. Most of the responses to that video are along the lines of “OMG that’s annoying” or “I love sun conures despite their screams.” The best comments so far [...] Related posts:

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New Issue of Good Bird Magazine Available

Barbara Heidenreich — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:56:00 +0000

The latest issue of Good Bird Magazine (summer 2010 Vol 6 Issue 2) is now available at this link.

Articles include:

Tubby or Trim? Body Score Reference Chart

Addressing Exploratory Biting
Training Your Parrot to Step Up onto New People
Training a Reluctant Macaw to Crate
Best Parrot Shows on Earth - Discover Tikal, Guatemala
Quietly Communicating with Your Parrot

I also wanted to remind everyone that as of the Spring 2010 issue Good Bird Magazine is now a digital publication. We are no longer offering the print version. However the new format includes video, audio, searchability and so much more. It far exceeds what we could accomplish with print. You can take a test drive of the new features at this link.

In addition by the end of 2010 the magazine will also be compatible with most popular ereaders for portability. Subscribers also get access to members only areas with additional benefits. Learn more about the Good Bird Magazine Subscription and WingNutz membership here.

Enjoy! (Especially the video clips! They are awesome.) Visit this link to subscribe and get access to the latest issue and a bunch of additional perks.

Barbara Heidenreich

www.GoodBirdinc.com

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Happy Conure Noises

Best in Flock — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:30:21 +0000

Stewie has been on a shredding kick. He can pull apart a conure-sized parrot pinata in a few hours. Here’s a quick video clip of him making very satisfied conure noises. (Don’t mind Mika squeaking in the background.) He doesn’t quite get into “eeeeh of glee” mode, but he’s still quite happy. Contrast this to [...] No related posts.

Happy Anniversary, Stewie!

Best in Flock — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:37:17 +0000

Today marks the 3-year anniversary of when I brought Stewie home from the Arlington Animal Welfare League. During our first few months together, he bit the snot out of me often enough. Eventually we started to understand each other a little better. Now, after three years, I can tuck him into my shirt, rub his [...] Related posts:

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Budgie Is SO Happy to See Him

Best in Flock — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:11:24 +0000

This is currently my favorite talking budgie video: You know why I love it? Because for the bird to love saying “I’m so happy to see you!” that much, you know he’s probably heard it a million times. And that’s what’s awesome: the part you don’t see, the guy telling his budgie how happy the [...] No related posts.

Humans: “Random Signal Generators”

raz — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:26:56 +0000

I just came across some books by Dr. Patricia McConnell, an applied animal behaviorist, that are very intriguing. One is called The Other End of the Leash: Why we do what we do around dogs. She discusses human-canine communication and reading each others’ body language. It seems to me it could have some great insights for parrot behavior as well, especially regarding what we humans do around our birds. I don’t know how many times I’ve had conversations — including with very experienced trainers — where one of us was wondering with frustration what kind of body language we might be sending out that inadvertently reinforces or punishes something our bird does that we don’t intend to. Here are some of the first sections in the book:

Little movements have big effects
Hey Human! I’m trying to tell you something!
Humans as Random Signal Generators

Sound like it might be applicable to parrots?

I’ve just ordered it, but thought I’d pass along the title and link to her blog: The Other End of the Leash, which also has some interesting posts.

Patricia is not of the Millan persuasion, and in other books debunks the “dominance” theory. She is from an ethology (biological and genetic basis of behavior) background, but her training methods appear to be entirely based in applied behavior analysis and positive reinforcement.

Another book recommendation I have that is more species specific but still has lots of insights worth sharing is a book called Cat vs Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat, by Pam Johnson-Bennett. A friend sent it to me (thanks Russ mommy!) when I was dealing with the prospect of getting my old kitten used to a new kitten, and then “rehoming” my older cat back into our household after he’d gone AWOL because the old kitten was just wearing him out. I think many of the ideas in here are useful in thinking about working with a multi-parrot household as well.

The concepts are grounded in ABA also, including suggestions for using positive reinforcement to make certain behaviors worthwhile (such as being in the same room together!), using very small approximations to work toward an end behavior, and using “diversionary tactics” (reinforcing alternative behaviors) to prevent unwanted situations. (And I just noticed one of her books is recommended on Dr. McConnell’s web site! Small world of animal behavior.) The recommendations appear to be working. We went from hissing and growling in all directions to this in about a week:

Gatos negros

Birdwatching

Pam also has a blog and web site with great behavioral tips, many of which can be translated into Parrot. For example, on her blog is this wonderful post about the dangers of falling into constructs like attributing behavior to anger or spite, instead of relying on what we can actually see:

All about Cats and Dogs: Is your cat mad at you?

Happy reading!

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Baby Parrot Training: 6 Months Later

Barbara Heidenreich — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 22:27:00 +0000

Guess who I got to visit? Beni and Wrigley! They are the two young parrots whose training many followed here on my blog. I am happy to report they are both doing extremely well. Beni despite his initial attachment to me has happily moved onto another favorite person, John his main caregiver. However despite having a tendency to choose a preferred person he does still present behaviors for other people, including me. While I was there he did fly to me on cue. He also wowed me with his amazing flight skills. The Kaytee Learning Center is a huge open space and he has really had the chance to practice dipping, diving and circling the center. John installed perches high on the displays that allow for some spectacular flights. I can’t wait to see an audience’s reaction to Beni’s flying. I hear it is a crowd favorite.

Wrigley is also doing well. The first day he saw me he came out and eagerly practiced a few flights. He then launched into some of the new words and phrases he has been learning. His little eyes were pinning with excitement as he and I jabbered away together. I like to think it means he remembers me and was happy to see me. Of course it could have been that I had a pocketful of treats. Either way it was great fun to visit with both birds. Here is a little video clip of Wrigley. He is not quite as excited this day, but at least followers of his story can see how much more yellow he now has on his head. He is growing up!

I will be returning to the Kaytee Learning Center soon and will see if I can capture some clips of Beni too. Check back for further updates!

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Short Update on Mika’s Flying Progress

Best in Flock — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:16:07 +0000

In my last post, I wrote about Mika’s progress learning how to fly. It’s been two weeks and I haven’t repeated the exercise of luring her with her favorite junk food, but she has undertaken a couple more attempts at landing somewhere specific… with mixed results. Just goes to show that a parrot learning to [...] Related posts:

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