Updates and Musings About Life with Parrots
I thought I’d compile another list of things my conure likes. Mind you, this is only Stewie-approved stuff… it doesn’t include things I think he ought to like, things I’ve purchased for him and he’s not interested in, or things I just think you ought to have in case of birdie emergencies. The list may…
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In 2010, I wrote a blog post about Stewie’s and Mika’s favorite foraging toys. I recently found that post again and wanted to do an update. Their favorite toys have really changed! All new Stewie- and Mika-approved recommendations for 2018: Homemade Parrot Foraging Toys Homemade = cheap. Hooray for cheap. Here are our favorite toy…
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Earlier this month, Deb White the founder of Super Bird Creations (a line of high-quality bird toys available for wholesale to retailers) as well as a number of other sites dedicated to enriching the lives of parrots, came to Phoenix Landing for a special lecture on the important role that “play” serves in the lives…
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So this was just brought to my attention: A brand called FM Brown’s is selling bird “food” called Extreme! Candy-Covered Millet Treats. Hat tip to “Amanda’s Tweeties” for posting this picture: Someone at a company that makes bird food thought it was a good idea to cover natural millet sprays with a candy…
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Inspired by a request from Saemma and Coco, Kris Porter has released a modified design of her Fantastic Foraging Blocks. The new design, called The Puzzler, has an additional cut along each long side, which gives small beaks more nooks and crannies to explore and exploit. It also comes in smaller sizes. This small modification…
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In our last post, we just had some fun posting pictures of us opening a box of Kris Porter’s “Fantastic Foraging Blocks.” But what do the birds actually think of their new wooden toys? It turns out that they love ’em! Mika likes the little wicker accents. She’s big into textures and accents. I appreciate…
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Last week, Kris Porter of ParrotEnrichment.com asked if we’d give some feedback on a new foraging toy she has developed. Of course we jumped at the chance! (Are you kidding? A foraging toy developed by the guru of parrot enrichment? Yes, please!) The box arrived Thursday night and we couldn’t wait to open it. Check…
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Have you ever seen those little toy cell phones designed for birds? The ones with the buttons that make noise when you push them? They are advertised as interactive fun that can keep your bird entertained and engaged when you’re away. Your bird will LOVE playing with this toy and making it talk back, the…
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Stewie has been on a shredding kick. He can pull apart a conure-sized parrot pinata in a few hours. Here’s a quick video clip of him making very satisfied conure noises. (Don’t mind Mika squeaking in the background.) He doesn’t quite get into “eeeeh of glee” mode, but he’s still quite happy. Contrast this to…
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In my last post, I talked about making wooden DIY parrot toys. But I only made one for Mika and got tired of drilling holes into the wood scraps. I rationalized that Stewie doesn’t really like wooden toys nearly as much (he has some untouched ones in his cage as we speak). But then I…
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We have a contractor friend who was kind enough to offer to cut up pieces of his leftover untreated pine two-by-fours when I mentioned that I could use pine scraps for parrot toys. I picked up a small bag of them yesterday and restrung a $15 toy Mika had shredded in a few days. (This…
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