My three lorikeets love meeting new people and appear friendly but they're fast moving and capable of biting if provoked.

My house hasn’t been the calmest, quietest place lately. I’ve been catching up on a lot of jobs that have needed to be done, many of which are outside of my abilities and have required the assistance of some handy workmen. This has meant my birds have seen more strangers than usual. It’s always interesting to see what happens when a stranger is around.

Photo of green cheeked conure by Anna Sloan

Q: I rehomed a green cheeked conure (Byron) last week. The first few days were great! He was so sweet and really seemed to like me. A couple days ago he started threatening to bite me when I tried to get him out of the cage. What happened?

Jill B., Independence, MO

A: When a new bird comes into our homes, there is usually one of two ways they react to the event: either they are stand-offish and guarded, or they are compliant and eager ...

Blue throated and camelot macaws

When you have parrots, the word “patience” is always on the tip of your tongue. Their odd and unpredictable behaviors would send you straight to the madhouse without patience. Those moments of seasonal insanity would certainly push you over the edge without patience. On certain days, even normal events like the sun-up and sundown calls might not be endurable without patience. Patience has its place.

The definition of patience is this: The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. It ...

Congo african grey

Dogs have been living among humans for a very long time – this fact is documented throughout much of our recorded history. During this time, we have bred favorable traits into them and slowly excised the unsociable ones to make them more suited to life as a pet.

We have engineered breeds that are suited to perform certain tasks such as herding (collie), hunting (spaniel) or search and rescue (German shepherd.) that give dogs a place of their own in human society. Throughout the process, dogs have been modified ...

Sometimes when faced with behavioral issues with our birds, we immediately quantify them as BIG problems, potentially unfixable problems. But what we fail to realize when we’re “in the trenches” is that often times, our biggest problems can be solved much quicker than we’d even imagine once we apply some new training techniques. In Lauren’s case, she was able to solve her “big step-up problem” in as little as 2 days!

MEET OLIVER

Lauren Moore and her husband are ...

Cockatiel

Q: I have a 14 year old cockatiel who has been my close friend for a long time now. Over the years she has changed a lot. She used to be very friendly with everyone, and now she won’t go to some people. She used to love rides in the car, but seems afraid to go outside at all now. She used to love sweet potatoes but won’t touch them anymore. Have I missed a health problem?

-Bethann, L., Harper’s Ferry, WV

A: Two things you hear us say often at Birdtricks ...