I am very excited to share with you our first Bird Tricks success story in this series. I really love this story because it is a great example that even in a “perfect” situation, problems will inevitably arise in raising a parrot over its lifetime and we need to be both willing and prepared as caregivers to meet the challenges as they come.

MEET KIKI

Samina Ansari ...

“I have adopted a male Eclectus parrot and I have a question about cuddling and petting. I have been very cautious about it so far because I have read that with their hair like feathers they don’t like to be pet like other birds. However, when he is relaxing with me he seems to want to cuddle and be pet, but I don’t want to upset him. I would like some advice about what he ...

Fid, my Blue and Gold Macaw

Have you ever sat back and thought that you had everything under control and that you’re doing pretty well with your birds? Thought that your flock is happily occupied, playing with foraging toys, enjoying their amazing diet while rattling off their extensive vocabularies at each other? Thought that while they were busy in their respective aviaries that it was safe to leave them to it and go out for ...

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Hi, my name is Chrissann Nickel, also known as “The Toucan Lady” from Adventures in Toucanland. I’ve been a big Bird Tricks fan for about a year now, shortly after I adopted my three adult Toco toucans – Paco, Paz, and Pepe (otherwise known as the “Three-Cans”) in June 2011.

I am really excited about this new blog series we are beginning, sharing the successes of others who have overcome behavioral problems using the Bird Tricks training program. I ...

There are so many aspects to the training experience for both the trainer and the parrot. It’s about bond building and mutual trust. It’s wonderful enrichment for a caged bird. It’s about cooperation. Mostly, though, it’s about communication. It provides a common language through which a human and a parrot can begin to converse and understand one another. It is exciting and deeply rewarding for everyone.

That I would suggest that someone NOT train their bird is troubling to me, especially when it is such a positive thing. But there are ...

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If I’m going to be honest, I have to admit that I used to have a real problem with the idea of a training diet. It seemed unthinkable that a bird, virtually a wild animal in terms of its lack of domestication, should be locked in a cage and then denied food, something it would be free to acquire in the wild. It is psychologically damaging for any sentient being to be kept at another’s mercy, how could this ever be considered a good thing?

Training bridges a gap, fills ...

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