Blue and gold macaws

This summer I had the opportunity to meet Chris and Misty, a couple that Dave Womach worked with on a behavior consultation involving their moluccan cockatoo. They were at the Womach’s house graciously offering their time to disassemble some of the indoor cages for the Womach’s final move to Idaho.

In talking to them, I realized that Dave had managed to drive home a really important message during the consult. Chris said to me that he was relieved to find that the source of the problem was him ...

Hyacinth macaw

If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend this exercise: go into the woods or someplace where you can’t be heard (this is to keep you from being arrested) and scream at the top of your lung for 30 seconds. Just 30 seconds. You will find yourself needing a nap afterwards. It is a lot of work.

There are a million different reasons why a bird would choose to scream. But the one thing all screams have in common is that, somehow, it is beneficial to the bird. If ...

Goffins cockatoo, Theo

Of all of the mistakes we make with our parrots there is one that stands out over the rest. It is something that we often do unconsciously, but sometimes very consciously. Sometimes it happens just because we don’t understand not to do it.

Unfortunately, it is one of the most damaging mistakes we make, and creates problems that are some of the hardest to fix: in a word, it is inconsistency.

It doesn’t sound terribly evil, does it? Actually, though, it is among the worst of all our sins we ...

The momentum of success is powerful. Every time I read another success story of people applying what they learn through the Bird Tricks training program, it inspires me to work harder with and devote even more time to enriching the lives of my own birds. I hope it makes you feel the same.

I particularly love this next story about a resourceful 15 year old girl who got her cockatoo to eat his veggies, all through the power of flight training.

MEET PUPPY

I am loving this new series we have begun on sharing people’s success stories with the Bird Tricks’ training program. It is incredibly uplifting and inspiring to hear about more and more people realizing that having a bird is so much more than just something pretty in a cage to add to their household décor. This next story is particularly near to my heart as it’s a great example of my fervent belief that no matter what the start your bird has had in this life, no bird is untrainable – every bird deserves the opportunity to live an enriched ...

Congo african grey

“My bird hates me!”

“My bird refuses to listen!”

“My bird is a hopeless case!”

We hear it all the time, but none of these statements are actually true.

It’s fair to say that everyone who gets a parrot has the hopes that theirs will be a playful and interactive member of the family. Many people are disappointed to find that isn’t the bird that they got.

In actuality, EVERY bird is the one you hoped for. Birds are very social by nature – in the wild they choose to live in communal ...