Updates and Musings About Life with Parrots
A long time ago I decided to buy the Aviator Harness for Mika. Last weekend I finally got it out and introduced it to both the birds. The Aviator Harness comes with a DVD, which I have to admit I haven’t watched yet 🙁 Apparently you’re not supposed to watch it where your birds can…
Read More...Stewie “turns around” to Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 hit song Total Eclipse of the Heart. This is an old trick, set to music for the first time. (He’s not turning to the song; he’s watching for my “turn” cue off-camera. Shhhh.)
Read More...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…
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Lovebirds have a reputation for losing their “pet quality” when paired up. But this video shows that lovebirds can be handled, remain tame and be taught to do cute tricks like “shake hands” and “turn around” even if they’re part of a bonded pair. The creator of this video credits Tani Robar’s videos as the…
Read More...Check out this great video of African Greys and Eclectus parrots playing basketball – this video is making the rounds on bird message boards and might just be the next viral parrot video (alongside such classics as Snowball) 🙂
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…
Read More...Some people are under the impression that budgies (budgerigar parakeets) aren’t trainable because they are so small. Quite a few people, in fact, think budgies aren’t even real parrots. Not only are they parrots, check out this guy’s very entertaining comedy act comprised of trick trained budgies. (He’s saying “Allez, allez!” which means “let’s go”…
Read More...Pepper the African Grey is a representative for Phoenix Landing, my favorite parrot adoption agency – and this weekend she rose to stardom singing for a national audience. This precocious parrot sang The Star Spangled Banner to open Puppy Bowl V. Check out Pepper showing off her pipes at the Puppy Bowl: And then join…
Read More...Here’s our most recent video of Mika demonstrating target training. As I’ve mentioned numerous times (as I learned from the Bird Click group), targeting is the best first prop trick to teach a parrot. It’s easy because it requires almost no chaining, and can be used to teach subsequent tricks. To be honest, doing clicker…
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