Camelot Macaws

We’ve had a lot of fun training our parrots for the Ringling Circus shows. Out of the 9 birds we brought along with us on the road, we have 5 currently in the show as of dress rehearsals on December 20th. Our goal is to be able to have all the birds do the show, so that they get plenty of days off! This way we can rotate who does which show.

The first birds we implemented into the show were our camelot macaws. We chose them for the opening ...

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Blue throated macaw, Harlequin macaw

When Jamie first told me that she and Dave were signing a two year contract with the circus, I have to admit I had some serious misgivings.  The first thing that came to mind was the duration of the contract.  Two years is a long time on the road with an itinerary, and a very long time to be away from the comforts of home.  I worked in the music business for a long time and know how grueling every aspect of a road tour can ...

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Blue throated macaw

Parrot Training Myth #1: It takes a long time to train a parrot.

Almost every parrot I’ve personally worked with that belong to our clients and customers, have been able to show improvement, progress and success immediately within beginning training.

Most parrots show positive results from training within their very first training session!

And most basic behaviors can be taught within a couple days to a bird. I’ve been able to teach the “wave” to a bird in less than two minutes! Success happens fast with parrots and they love ...

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Goffin Cockatoo

I really don’t like the word “desensitizing”, it sounds so…insensitive. It is an appropriate term, however, and sometimes necessary. If you’ve read some of my recent posts, you know that Theo, my goffins cockatoo,  is often overwhelmed by new things, sometimes by old things, and that I have been concerned about how she would handle the changes in Florida.  In no particular order, these are some of the bigger concerns I had and how she actually responded to them:

1) the chaos of packing up the house – didn’t ...

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Military Macaw

There might come a time when, because of illness or injury, you will need to medicate your parrot.  It’s a good idea to start preparing for that possibility now, before the need for your bird’s cooperation arises.

Several years ago, after I had first gotten Linus, he managed to escape his cage while I was at work.  I came home to a complete mess.  A quick glance showed that all the other bird’s cages were still closed, so I spent the next several minutes assessing the damage and trying to ...

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