Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Alaska, Holland America Cruise Line On shower perch: Rare White Parakeets "Nikko" & "Visa" While cruising Alaska and performing on Holland America with my birds, I met a man who had a cockatiel who plucks. One of the first things I asked him was, “Do you bathe your bird?” he was surprised by the question and a...

 Photo by Dave Location: Holland America Cruise Line Theater Pictured: Galahs "Bandit" and "Bondi" I touch trained my 4-5 month old rose breasted cockatoo, Bandit, in two days with three training sessions. It’s the very first thing I taught him (aside from flight training outdoors) and it was actually harder to touch train (or target train) h...

One of the many reasons it can be hard to introuduce your bird to new people is because new people who don't know birds, don't know how to properly handle or hold them. I've experienced it before - both not knowing what the heck I am doing and witnessing someone else not know for themselves! Neither feels better than the other!   Here are some p...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Holland America Cruise Ship "Veendam" Wide Eyed: Congo African Grey "Cressi" Yes, this post really is about how I cured my bird’s racism… and towards African Americans. In the following video you will notice three adult men in the background at one point and how Cressi, my Congo African Grey parrot, flies near th...

Photo by Dave Location: Sandpoint, Idaho Showerer: Rose Breasted Cockatoo "Bandit" I took Bandit into the shower for the first time while staying at my parents' house in Sandpoint, Idaho. I didn't take a shower perch but he had watched Bondi (a 3 year old of the same species) from a shower perch before. He merely perched on my hand and I covere...

The easiest treats to train with are things that already come in small sizes such as sunflower seeds, pine nuts and spray millet. It's easy to hand your bird a single seed for a job well done or give them a quick bite of a millet stick. Other treats, such as peanuts or almonds, are more time consuming to prepare since you have to break them int...