In the last couple of weeks my personal facebook messages and email inbox have gone nuts and I admit to having missed messages, notifications and yeah I’ve been kind of in my own world after the death of my dog so when I have replied I’m not overly sure how coherent I’ve been! Birdtricks followers have been particularly supportive of me lately ...

Have you ever blown an entire week’s wage on a new indoor cage for your parrot and then discovered that it sucks? I challenge anyone who has done that to refrain from complaining about it!
About 6 months ago, that’s exactly what happened to me. I decided to ‘upgrade’ my male eclectus parrot’s cage. Stainless steel cages aren’t readily available in Australia, so his old cage was a powder coated one. Unfortunately, they ...

My Blue and Gold Macaw named Fid joined my flock back in February this year. He went through the standard ‘new bird’ vet consultation and was diagnosed with psittacosis and an assortment of other much more minor problems.

When I last wrote about him, Fid’s was health was steadily improving and I’d finally solved the issue of his terrible sleeping habits and fear of the dark by giving him ...

I live with a Rosebreasted Cockatoo (Galah) who is at least 60 years old. Impressive considering that in the wild their expected lifespan is 30 years. I can’t tell you his exact age because anyone who knew him 60 years ago is now dead and that’s as far back has I have been able to trace him. What knowledge I have of his history, comes from the descendants of his ...

rosebreasted cockatoos

Positive reinforcement: the addition of something in a bird’s environment that increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.

Negative reinforcement: the deletion of something in the environment that increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.

That’s all – there are no implications of good or bad, right or wrong. One does not mean reward and the other punishment.

Your bird performs a trick or task. Upon completion, you immediately click, and then deliver a favorite treat. Positive reinforcement. You have added food to the bird’s environment. Your ...

Read the rest or post a comment »