Blue and gold macaw, Scarlet macaws

There are any number of things wafting through the air in a home where a bird lives.  Dust, dander, seed hulls and even airborne particles of dried poop occupy more than just the the immediate air space. It settles on and into everything creating the need for a higher standard of hygiene. Floor or ceiling fans and open windows seem to aggravate the problem more than solve it as it blows the settled dust back into the air.  Some of the better home ...

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The following are five things we all need to know how to do to give us the advantage in day to day life with our birds:

1. TARGET TRAINING

Target training might be one of the most important things you do with your parrot. This activity, which many parrots literally pick up in minutes, is the first step in training. The joy felt by both the owner and the bird during that first AHA! moment when it makes the association between the requested behavior...

Blue throated macaw

I can’t help it.  I cringe every time I see a large parrot with a small child.  From a toddler to a teenager, children carry a significant amount of energy.  You can feel that a child is present no matter where they are. Parrots, as prey animals, are easily alarmed. It is their nature and red flags go up any time something is amiss. We are far more tolerant of our parrots natures than they are of our children’s, and I have seen things go wrong, regardless of ...

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Blue throated macaw

Think, for a moment, about all of the life-stages a human being goes through from birth to old age, and the way each stage effects and changes the person that you are:  from the complete dependence of infancy to the confident and very mobile 6 year old; from the hormonal teen years to early adulthood, the child bearing years; from adulthood to middle age; from middle to old age, where health might start to decline.  Then consider the long life span of our companion parrots.  Parrots go through ...

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Blue and Gold Macaw

The cutest things on the planet may very well be (and not necessarily in this order): a baby cracking up laughing, kittens doing just about anything, and birds playing.  Some of the very best memories I have of my birds are of them playing, especially when it involves me.  There’s something so precious about watching the determination of a 100 gram bird tug on something twice its size, and the lengths they will go to to accomplish an nearly impossible task.  I am always on the lookout ...

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Umbrella Cockatoo

I had two days off in a row this week!!  I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you work in retail, believe me, it’s rare.  It feels like spring break.  I intended to tackle some projects that needed tackling.  I actually tackled two.  And they were, of course, bird projects.

New cage covers were desperately needed for Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, and the cockatiels, so I moved this to the top of the to-do list.  I went to the quilting section at the fabric store and ...

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