Teaching Your Bird To Play Independently

I remember seeing a heart-wrenching meme a few years ago that left a huge impact on me. It pictured a bird inside a cage: “You have your job, your family, your friends. I only have you.” I actually lay awake that night thinking about the truth of it. How many bird spend the majority of their days, unmotivated and inactive, waiting for their humans to come home from work?

It makes sense that these same ...Save

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My Brilliant Bird

In the last 15 or 20 years, scientists came to the conclusion that birds are intelligent. More recently, they have considered avian intelligence to be in line with that of the primates. Of course, we bird enthusiasts...

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Too Much Cuddle Time Is Not A Good Thing

I miss my birds terribly when I am away from them. Sometimes when I am at work, a coworker will see me staring off into the distance with a big smile on my face and will automatically know I am thinking about my feathered family. Sometimes all I want to do is go home and cuddle up to one of my cockatoos, arms holding him tightly against me and nose buried in soft, white feathers. But, as appealing as the thought of this is, I know it is...

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Deciphering Your Parrot’s Calls

Congo African Grey Parrot

 

Have you ever just sat and listened to your bird’s calls and tried to figure out what they mean?  Just like babies have different cries meaning: I’m hungry/wet/tired/angry, your bird has a different meaning and a different sound to each of his vocalization.
We all know the shrill, panicked sound of the alarm call.  Often meaning that there’s a fly in the cage or Alex, the evil pool guy, is in the back yard again waving around that net thingy on the the long stick.  ...

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Play vs. Aggression

Rose Breasted Cockatoo

I was looking through you tube videos and came across the title Funny Biting Parrot.  I thought to myself: what can possibly be funny about a biting parrot? and I watched the video.  I did find it funny.

When you watch the video, there are a few clues that tell you this is not aggression, but a game between parrot and owner.  First, the owner is encouraging the bird  and  is clearly unafraid of a serious bite.  Secondly, there is no aggressive body language in the bird – just ...

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