Treats for Training: What I Use

Recently on my YouTube videos, I've received a lot of the same question, "What treats do you use to give your bird during training sessions?"   And I know what those askers are really thinking... if they use what I use for my birds, their birds will do that which my birds are doing, right? WRONG!   That's the whole point of "Bird Treats for Trai...
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Parrots Preferring Male/Female Trainers

Photo by Dave Location: Saipan, MP Cuddling: Blue and Yellow Macaw "Chayko"   Something I have come across a lot in working with parrots is that I’ve noticed their gender tends to determine who they like more out of a couple. For example, the male birds tend to bond more to me while the females bond more to any of my male co-workers or husban...
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My Parrots Wear Me Out!

Photo by David Location: Holland America Line Wearing me out: Congo African Grey “Cressi” Do you feel like your parrot has more energy than you do? By the time you get to him or her, he or she is just wearing you out? That’s how I felt when my above picture was taken. I had just finished saying, “You are wearing me out, Cressi!” before I face p...
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Does Your Parrot Understand Mirrors?

Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, Florida Taking a peek: Galah “Bondi” I always go through “introducing the new bird to the bird in the mirror” phase when I get a new member to my (giant) flock. What this means is a new bird typically has never seen a mirror before and thinks that it is another bird in the mirror that they are looking at and n...
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Plucking vs. Preening vs. Molting

I’ve seen and read people mistaking these three importantly different aspects of parrots and their plumage. Although plucking parrots can tend to look somewhat like those parrots going through a molt and sometimes the act of plucking can look somewhat like a preening parrot – all aspects are entirely different and it’s important to be able to te...
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Bathing = Bonding

My three year old galah, Bondi, is not so fond of her new younger brother, Bandit. However, he is fond of being around her! So what to do? Well, I found that they both needed a bath one day and there was no sense in me taking two just so they could each have one so I decided to give bathing them at the same time, on the same perch, a try. I ran ...
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