The excited blush of a macaw at play

I wish it were possible to do a blog post that would define, once and for all, the body language of parrots. Heaven knows we get asked for it enough. How cool would it be to be able to tell someone that when your bird does this, it means this?

Unfortunately, such a post will never come to be. There are too many considerations that prevent it:

• Each species of parrot has its own ways of expressing themselves.
• Each bird has its own personality.
• Each owner ...

   

My exceptionally well behaved Blue and Gold Macaw - Fid.

Last night, I was 2.5 hrs late home. It wasn’t controllable or predictable. Who can predict being stuck in stationary traffic while a drunk tow truck driver kept blocking and unblocking the road (even though he wasn’t trying to tow anyone?!?) No one was going anywhere until he either got arrested or got off the road and let the traffic move again.

I have an erratic schedule at the best of times, so the birds ...

Blue and gold macaw

I think that one of the hardest jobs here at Birdtricks is consoling owners whose birds have died. I don’t envy the ladies in customer service – sometimes it is heart wrenching.

Often people contact us because they need a shoulder to cry on – we all know how hard it is to find anyone who understands the way we love our birds. Sometimes it helps to communicate with people who you know won’t make little of your grief.

Perhaps the hardest is the contact with people whose ...

Linus hates nuts. I know…what self-respecting bird doesn’t eat nuts? He and I have discussed this at length and he doesn’t care. No nuts. End of conversation.

Some people have the opposite problem with their birds – they can’t get enough nuts and will complain, loudly, when they don’t get their daily quota. This can be a problem if you are the kind of owner that gives in to your bird’s demands -or the kind of owner that uses nuts to quiet vocalizations, as a distraction from mischief ...

Blue and Gold Macaw with Assorted Goldfish

There are times when it amazes me just what will upset a companion parrot. The smallest thing can seem to set off the world’s biggest tantrum. The latest cause for tantrums in my house just happens to be my pet goldfish.

I got rid of my outdoor pond. I got sick of fighting the wild birds, who somehow managed to get past the wire grille I’d set up to protect the resident goldfish. I moved my goldfish indoors, ...

Rosebreasted cockatoo

Hi. Dr. Killjoy here. We just concluded another fun photo contest here at Birdtricks – congratulations to the winners of Parrots On Harnesses! Your photos were amazing.

I didn’t want to bring this up in the middle of the contest because I didn’t want to kill the mood. Since the photos being submitted were of events of the past, I felt this post could wait until the contest was over.

However, it is an issue which needs addressing: flying your bird on a harness is dangerous. There is no way around ...