Parrot

You’ve made a list of all of the qualities you want in a parrot. You’ve gone on line and carefully researched the different species that fit your criteria.  You’ve discussed the possibilities with the other members of the house. You’ve even checked out the costs of an appropriate cage and it’s accessories.  You’ve decided, and you’re going to get the perfect parrot to fit your lifestyle!!  But from where? There are really three possibilities: rehoming, breeder or pet store.

Rehoming/rescuing:

I’m a little biased in my opinions about this one: I think ...

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Budgies

Multiple Bird Syndrome (MBS).  If this were an actual term, wikipedia would define it as:  A deep psychological yearning to get just one more, and just one more  after that.  This condition is generally brought on by overexposure to cute pictures and stories about your friends multiple birds.  The only known cure is the threat of divorce by your spouse or intervention by the Dept of Health.

MBS is a term used by many on the bird talk boards.  I suffer terribly from it.  Whenever anyone posts a picture of their ...

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Hyacinth Macaw

I was talking to a lady at work who was telling me that she was beginning to train her new Boston terrier puppy.  I asked her how she intended to train it: “Oh, definitely with positive reinforcement, I would never punish a dog!”  As she continued to talk, I realized that she took punishment to be the opposite of positive reinforcement.  A lot of people make this same mistake.

The misconception seems to come from the words positive and negative and people’s misunderstanding of the word reinforcement.

First, a reinforcement is ...

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Rose Breasted Cockatoos and African Grey

I have heard so many times that a certain parrot doesn’t like women, or that another prefers them. I have myself had a parrot that didn’t care for men – loved my daughter, liked me, hated my ex-husband.  Smart bird.

I was even told once that a female parrot is more likely to do well with a male human, and vise versa.  Where does this preference come from? Were they born with it? I don’t think so.

Often, a bird that has been placed in a rescue ...

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Blue throated macaw, Camelot macaws

Wild birds learn everything that isn’t hard-wired into them from their parents. Everything from what is safe to eat to how to bathe to what to be afraid of is learned by watching.

Many of our companion parrots have been captive bred and have not had the advantage of having a feathered mom or dad teaching them the ins and outs of being a bird.  It makes perfect sense that our parrots learn from one another.

When I first got Theo (goffins cockatoo), she was sedentary.  She didn’t ...

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Blue and Gold Macaw

None of my parrots are great talkers.  Aside from Theo, my goffins cockatoo, who has never uttered anything sounding remotely like human speech, they all have a small repertoire of words which they use when they choose to.

Libby, my quaker, is probably my best talker and has made big leaps in his vocabulary over the past year or two.  He likes to watch Pluto the quaker parrot videos over and over, and is eager to learn whatever Pluto says.  He is a long way from having ...

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