Rescuing or re-homing a parrot comes with unique challenges.

When we first bring home a rescued or re-homed parrot, we need to be aware that it isn’t like bringing a fresh new baby bird in. Every one of these beautiful animals – even a young one – can be expected to be unsettled and nervous upon reaching a new environment, but an adopted pet is more likely to suffer from depression, potential aggression, and fear issues, including anxiety. There may also be health issues, ...

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Celestial Parrotlet in his travelling carrier.

Baby birds are tabula rasa, blank slates, and therefore are such joys to train! But before I get into this, I feel that I have add a little side note: I personally believe that parrots aren’t meant to be pets, yet our captive birds need us. In light of this, I encourage rescue and re-homing where possible. Mine is sometimes a bit of a controversial opinion, but I do also whole-heartedly support people who buy baby birds. I ...

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A Congo African Grey – CAG.

While abbreviating names can be much faster to write or type, sometimes it can get confusing even for people who are used to doing it! That’s why I’ve compiled a glossary of the most common abbreviations of bird names.

Cockatoos are the easiest, although they sound more confusing at first. Quite simply, the ‘too’ of cockatoo is abbreviated into numerical form, 2. Then the first letter refers to the actual species or sub-species. Note that cockatoos are also often ...

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Celestial Parrotlet in his emergency travel cage.

I’m one of those people who doesn’t take much time away from my flock unless I can help it. If they can go with me, they do. If not, I tend not to go at all. At one point in my life, I had even said that I would never travel, would never take a holiday – but when you have birds, ‘would never’ are dangerous words. Keeping ...

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In the spring and fall, hormones are often at their worst for our pet parrots. They turn into apparently crazy terrors who would sooner eat you than look at you. These are ten quick safety tips to keep YOU safe this season (the Spring Horrormones course will help you stay sane in the meantime):

1. Know how to towel or restrain your bird – if he or she charges you, you need to know how to gently, calmly, and efficiently restrain them.
2. Master touch training before the hormonal season ...

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