This blog isn't for me to force my opinions on anyone; it's to bring up topics for you to actually think about that you may have not given any thought before. Wing clipping is such a serious topic for bird owners or soon-to-be bird owners. I don't think people quite grasp how essential and important flight is to our feathered friends. Fledg...

  Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, Florida Flying: Galah "Bondi"  Bondi is a rose breasted cockatoo also commonly known as a galah in Australia. She is three years old and was bought from her breeder fully flighted and was properly fledged by Dave Womach and I using target training. She is not only an avid flyer but a very skilled flyer. Dave u...

Back in January 2006, we bought three macaws; two blue and gold macaws and one military macaw. They were all around the age of 6 months old and were shipped to us while in Henderson, Nevada. We were preparing for the show we would perform for 13 months straight on the island of Saipan with them entitled Magical Flight. Jersey and Chayko, the two...

Photo by Dave Location: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands Hugging: Blue and Gold Macaw "Chayko" Earning your bird's trust can be hard depending on your bird's situation. One of my favorite behaviors to train is based on trust and that is getting your parrot to lay on its back; whether it's on a hard surface or in your arms. It's important to g...

  Photo by Dave Location: Orlando, Florida On back: Congo African Grey "Cressi" and Galah "Bondi"  I recently joined a really great parrot related forum. A user named Cheryl asked for advice on how to properly socialize her six birds and I ended up writing to her about how I socialized my Congo African Grey, Cressi, with my Rose Breasted Cocka...

My favorite type of training is behavior shaping. It can also be the hardest because it requires finding a natural behavior your bird already does and having a clicker on hand to let the bird know it's a good thing to continue to do for a reward. I trained my galah, Bondi, (featured in the video above with Dave Womach) to do what is called "Th...