Updates and Musings About Life with Parrots
This cockatoo has learned that it can barter for a yummy treat by bringing back an empty walnut shell. Shells = currency in this simple economy. The owner explains “if I don’t want him to ask for more, I simply remove all the empty shells [from the cockatoo’s reach]” How clever! The bird has learned…
Read More...Put a Ball in a Cup Putting the whiffle ball in the cup was the first trick Stewie learned (about a year and a half ago); just posting a better video of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK19-N8eXYI Ring Toss Trick (Rings on a Peg) This was a fairly natural extension of retrieve and the ball in a cup….
Read More...Finally I have some video to share of Mika (white capped pionus) working on her retrieving skills! [updated: I’ve noticed some criticism of this video floating out there, so I want to make a couple of points: 1) This is NOT her regular cage. I just needed a surface to work on that I could…
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Clicker training is a fantastic method for taming and training parrots, effective on everything from little budgies and cockatiels to ornery cockatoos. It’s amazingly simple and easy to do, and yields really fast results. The basis of clicker training is positive reinforcement/operant conditioning, and the “secret” of the clicker is that it’s a simple way…
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I frequently see people struggling with getting their bird back in its cage. I adapted one of my recent BirdBoard responses into a blog post. How do you get your bird to go in its cage? My parrot always puts up a fuss and runs/flies away when it’s time for him to go back in….
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In my previous post about skateboarding parrots, I mentioned the skateboard prop I bought and the first steps I took to train my sun conure to stand on it. Basically I began to desensitize him to this new object by C/T’ing him for stepping close to it and beaking it. But I needed to be…
Read More...Some birds (like Mika) step up pretty much whenever you present your finger in the step-up position. Stewie thinks that’s for suckers. Here are his rules for getting him to step up (from his perspective): 1) Bribes – A bribe is when I show him the treat (and let him watch me get the treat)…
Read More...I’ve probably mentioned that I recently read Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor, a book that popularized clicker training among pet owners in the United States, and which spawned a whole industry — including clicker training books like Clicker Training for Birds by Melinda Johnson, which talks specifically about how to train parrots. Since…
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Getting Started: Clicker Training for Birds by Melinda Johnson is my bible for anything related to parrot ownership, including taming or training my parrots. If you read my blog or read the Bird Board forum, you’ll notice that I mention it frequently — both to people who have problems with their birds (e.g. “my bird…
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For my 100th post anniversary, I am delighted to publish a guest post by none other than Sid Price, founder of Avian Ambassadors, and a very well respected member of the professional bird training community. Sid is also president-elect of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators. Sid and I had talked about the…
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Notice the post title isn’t “skateboarding parrot”… that’s because we haven’t gotten to the part where he actually steps onto the board, BUT… he is beaking it, so at least he isn’t afraid anymore. What’s going on? Well, I bought Stewie a little skateboard prop and I’m frickin excited! (Sorry for the poor quality pic,…
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