Nora Caterino, formerly known as the Mississippi Bird Lady has relocated to Cocoa, Florida. For Nora, this is a return to the area where she lived for many years and first became involved with parrot training.

As you know, her mother was in failing health. After thinking long and hard about it and consulting with healthcare professionals, the decision was made to place her mother in a full-time nursing care facility.

Now that Nora is no longer her mother’s primary caregiver, she’ll be focusing on helping Elite Parrot Club members with rapid responses to questions and concerns about their parrots. Questions from free members cannot be guaranteed to be answered, so if you have been thinking of upgrading to a lifetime ELITE status, now is the time to take advantage of Nora’s additional coaching and consulting time.

http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

One of most commonly asked questions I receive in coaching and consulting with ELITE members is how to stop parrot biting. Whether the parrot is only slightly tame or hand fed and very tame, sometimes parrots do bite and it is important to learn how to stop this bad behavior.

Here are the steps to teach your parrot to stop biting:

Step 1: Relax Completely - Parrots can tell when someone is nervous or afraid of them. This makes them become nervous and can result in a bite. Before approaching your parrot, sit calmly and take a few deep breaths. Relax as completely as you possibly can. Think of a peaceful place that makes you happy and serene.

Step 2: Watch - You need to observe to determine exactly why your parrot is biting. Some parrots bite from fear but others have triggers that make them want to bite; such as when you put your hand inside “their territory” (the cage). Their body language will indicate when the parrot is about to bite in most cases. Watch carefully and think hard about what is going on when and just before the parrot bites you.

Step 3: Remove Yourself - If the parrot is tame and likes attention, immediately go into another room. Do not respond with drama in any way at all. Remember, parrots LOVE drama. They take any shouting, raised voices, or waving arms as a positive response from you. Do not let the parrot know that it hurt you. Take care of the bite and calmly return to the parrot so you can continue to figure out what is triggering the biting.

Step 4: Command - If you notice the parrot is becoming nervous around you, say “No Bite” or another command and touch the bird’s beak. Generally, this will tell a tame parrot that it shouldn’t react after you do this repeatedly and the bird gets the idea. When the parrot calms down a bit, provide lots of dramatic praise and a treat. This way your parrot will get the idea that biting = no attention at all while not biting = praise, drama, and treats. It won’t take long for your bird to learn this concept.

Step 5: Be Consistent - You MUST always be consistent with a parrot. Give the same command; perform the same behavior or quietly remove yourself when the bird bites. If you change things around the parrot may never learn to stop biting.

No matter how hard your parrot bites you, never respond by hitting the bird. This abusive behaviour will result in a parrot that is so fearful of people that it may never become tame. Never spray your parrot as punishment. Never throw anything at it. The ONLY discipline a parrot understands is removing yourself and your attention from it.

Now, if for any reason all this above does not work with your bird, then I honestly recommend that you learn a break-through technique called “perching” to stop your parrot from biting. It was developed by Chet Womach and is one of the best methods you can ever use to tame your parrot without ever being bitten! Here’s the DVD link:

http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/recommends/birdtricks/b1/

Warmest Regards,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

————————————————————————————————————-

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. If you want to receive unlimited one-on-one coaching from her for ONE full year… and while you learn how to teach your parrot to talk and stop annoying bird behaviours like parrot biting, screaming and feather plucking, via the audios, articles and videos published inside the Elite Parrots Club, then visit this page now:

http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Today we have a special interview with members from ParrotCare and Rehabilitation Charity: June Edwards, Chris Tinson and Darren Gronow.

Q1: When was ParrotCare and Rehabilitation Charity founded?

I have been rescuing birds for 40 years now and the ParrotCare and Rehabilitation Charity was formed 15 years ago.

Q2: How many birds are you currently supporting?

At the moment we have over 80 birds here at our head office that cannot be rehomed due to many different reasons. Some are handicapped, some have been too badly abused to rehome, and we also have birds that are not tame. So, unfortunately these tend to get overlooked.

In total, we have fostered out 1200 birds. The birds always remain in the care of ParrotCare, and we help and advise the foster carers whenever they need it. If for any reason the foster carer can no longer look after the bird, the bird comes back to us.

Q3: Tell us a bit about the history of ParrotCare?

ParrotCare is not just a charity, it is a way of life.

I rescued my first parrot a wild caught macaw at 15 (I am now a lot older) from a consignment of blue and gold Macaws (4 crammed into a tiny wooden crate) brought in to the pet shop where I worked weekends and school holidays.

I write this newsletter to you with tears in my eyes and a broken heart, yet with a sense of joy. I know that most of you will feel exactly the same once you read about the parrots Elite Parrots Club is helping provide with forever sanctuary homes, food and supplies.

It is a true tragedy what some misguided people will do to parrots. These six stories will surely touch you and make you want to do as much as is within your power to help parrots like these.

The six parrots represented here happen to be located in the United Kingdom. However, the same thing happens to parrots around the world, every single day. Please participate in helping those you can and educating people so these tragedies do not happen.

First, let me introduce you to Blue. The horrible person who owned her cut her wings off with pliers, as well as three of her toes. That person was prosecuted, but Blue was forever handicapped and traumatized. For the past four years, she has lived with only love, happiness and proper care in the sanctuary she calls home. She is not tame, but is never inside a cage and has fallen in love with Fred, who you will meet next.

Fred is an Amazon that was born blind. With this challenge and extra care needs, he was unable to be placed in a safe, loving home. He came to the sanctuary and manages to get around his play area, locate his food and water, and even play with toys. He’s not in love with Blue and the two are happy companions.

Damien is a very special parrot. He was rescued from a group who wrapped him in wire and were using him as a football. He is totally blind as a result, but still has fun with toys. His food, water and other cage items can never be moved because he can’t locate them unless he knows exactly where to go to get them. But, while he still bites hard, he is loved and well-cared for.

George is a gentle, sweet parrot who suffered a serious beak injury. We are happy to be a small part of the help he needsto have his beak rebuilt so that he can live a more normal life.

Tommy was beaten so often and so badly that he passed out from fear. He talks and the things he says indicate how horrible his life was in that awful place. He has fallen in love with Tilly, another parrot at the sanctuary, and is now a happy parrot. Everyone that meets Tommy falls in love with him immediately.

Hamish has been at the Sanctuary for 7 years. He came at 9 months old completely stripped of feathers, and dying of starvation. He was left over Christmas on his own with no food or water in a pet shop. When they found him they were going to put him down as he was so close to death but a wonderful man paid for him and brought him to the Sanctuary. He was rehomed about 4 years ago but stopped eating and sat on the floor of his cage. So he came home to the Sanctuary and that’s where he will stay.

These six parrots have been helped because of the support of loyal parrot owners who have chosen to become members of Elite Parrots Club. We hope to add others to our family of sponsored parrots. Become part of this effort by becoming an ELITE member today.

“Certificates Proof From “Parrot Care” UK Charity Organization”

Blue                                  Fred                               Damien

George                             Tommy                           Hamish

————————————————————————————————————–

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. If you want to receive unlimited one-on-one coaching from her for ONE full year… and while you learn how to teach your parrot to talk and stop annoying bird behaviours like parrot biting, screaming and feather plucking, via the audios, articles and videos published inside the Elite Parrots Club, then visit this page now:

http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Right now it is extremely hot outdoors in the Northern Hemisphere. In fact, temperatures are reaching record highs in many areas. It is so hot that the electric power grid is in danger of crashing because of the need for climate control indoors.

So many people are running their air conditioners on the highest cooling setting in order to keep their homes tolerably cool - even in areas where air conditioning is seldom required. This condition is expected to continue during this summer.

Those who live in the Southern Hemisphere are predicted to experience these same conditions once spring and summer arrive.

Climate control units in homes fail and must be repaired. Often, the repair company can be very busy and be unable to repair the problem for a day or two - or longer. Electricity may go out for any of a number of reasons, making air conditioning in the home become unavailable.

Even in extremely hot weather, there are times we need to transport our parrot in the car to see a vet or when relocating their residence. Even if a person is bringing a new parrot from a breeder or qualified, reliable source, the bird must be safely transported. At times, the air conditioning in a car may fail or be unable to cool a vehicle enough to safely transport a parrot.

Extreme heat can cause a parrot to suddenly die if exposed to this heat for even a short time. So, what can be done to save a beloved companion parrot when climate control becomes unavailable for any reason? Unfortunately, you cannot control every situation where a parrot is exposed to extremely high temperatures.

Signs of heat stress in parrots include holding the wings away from the body. Opening the beak and breathing with is also a signal of heat stress. If you are perspiring difficulty (sweating) heavily in the heat, yet not doing work to cause the perspiration (sweat), due to the heat, you can be certain your parrot is also too hot.

Parrots cannot perspire to control their body temperature. Once they begin experiencing heat stress, death can occur within minutes. Action must be taken right away. Here are the tested and personally-proven steps you must take in an extreme heat situation in order to keep your parrot from over-heating and possibly dying due to heat stress:

Step 1: Spray Bottle Bath

During hot weather, always have a clean plastic spray bottle available. Place water in the bottle which is tepid. Tepid means the water should not be very cold but should also not be hot. Usually you can turn on the cool knob of any of your home faucets and the water will be tepid.

Lightly spray your parrot with the water. If your parrot enjoys the spray, you can simply continue spraying, but make certain he is not in a draft when drying off. If it is outdoors or inside the home, even with windows open, it should be fine, but don’t place it where a fan is blowing directly on it.

Step 2: Cover with Damp Towel

If you are transporting your parrot or the bird hates being sprayed, you can wet a nice thick bath towel. If you have the super-sized bath sheets, this would work best. Cover the top of the cage with the towel. This method is great to use in the car if the air conditioning should break down during a trip. Combine with the spray bottle if needed until you can get the house or car cool again.

Step 3: Chill the Water

When a parrot is hot but not yet suffering from extreme heat stress, such as traveling in a vehicle that is warm but not extremely hot, it will drink more water than on an average day.

Place some ice chips in the water dish so that the water the bird drinks is cooler than usual. Just as humans crave a drink of ice cold water when hot, the ice in the water will make the water cold and help cool the parrot because its body temperature will actually drop a slight amount when drinking the water, helping prevent any serious heat stress.

If you follow these simple steps you can transport your parrot in extreme heat safely. You can use these tips
indoors temporarily should your air conditioning fail.

Just remember, if the parrot has its wings extended away from its body, but not spread out as if mantling, and its beak is open and it seems to have difficulty breathing, the bird MUST be cooled in order to prevent heat stress and possibly even death.It can happen within minutes if you allow the parrot to become badly overheated.

Warmest Regards,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

————————————————————————————————————–

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. If you want to receive unlimited one-on-one coaching from her for ONE full year… and while you learn how to teach your parrot to talk and stop annoying bird behaviours like parrot biting, screaming and feather plucking, via the audios, articles and videos published inside the Elite Parrots Club, then visit this page now:

==>http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

“Flock Talk” is a brand-new parrot speech training system which has been released onto the market by Chet Womach. You can check it online here:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/recommends/flock-talk/

Because the web site requires that you watch a 10 minutes video, then I’ve decided to create a TEXT based version with the most important key aspects of this brand-new program. This way you can save TIME in your day!

—————————————————————————————————————
What’s so special about this new program?
—————————————————————————————————————

Basically, this program consists of 1 audio and 1 DVD which can help you teach your parrot to talk new words - even if your bird already talks you can teach new ones!

A couple of reasons why I feel this is a special and unique program:

1) “Flock Talk” uses a special type of VISUAL that can put your bird in a “heighten state” of emotion and so you can get faster parrot talking results.

Basically, if you can put your bird into a “heighten state” of emotion you can increase the amount of WORDS your parrot can learn.

You see, most birds say the most common types of phrases like: “hello”, “good bye”, etc.

And these are words birds usually hear, for example, when you enter into the room where your bird is. At this point your bird is usually EXCITED… or AFRAID to see you.

Or this can also happen when you leave the room. This heighten state of emotion is also present.

The fact is, WHAT you say to your bird during these moments can dramatically increase your chances of getting your parrot to actually learn those words.

And “Flock Talk” brand-new parrot talking program uses this same training principle. It keeps your bird in that heighten state of emotion and by using a 2 hour long DVD. Simple and effective “longing learning”!

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/recommends/flock-talk/

—————————————————————————————————————
Here’s what makes “Flock Talk” program different from other audio CD’s on the market!
—————————————————————————————————————

The main problem with other audio CD’s on the market is that they repeat the words too many times… to the point where your parrot can get eventually bored… and this is not good!

NOTE: It does not happen with all programs. There are a few exceptions. So I say this as a “general rule” for you to consider.

The “Flock Talk” audio and DVD are pre-programmed to play every 5 minutes so your parrot won’t be bored with the learning… and while keeping the heighten state of emotion. This is the key factor #1!

2) The DVDs come with video footage of birds in their own wild and natural environment.

Meaning that when you combine the birds voices from the audio CD… with the video footage which is presented on the DVDs, then you get an exponential learning effect. In other words, you can MAXIMIZE the parrot talking results your bird can potentially get.

3) This system uses REAL BIRDS voices

“Flock Talk” does not use human voices. Rather, it uses birds REAL voices, so you can speed up the speech training results you can potentially get.

Plus, in this program you can receive 25 words which were picked in the Talking Annual Bird Context (which is held by Chet every year). So these words have been fully researched and tested.

Also, these are 25 BRAND NEW phrases which are NOT presented even on the first parrot speech training system Chet Womach released in the past years. Meaning you can not find these words packed into a single system anywhere else!

—————————————————————————————————————
I highly recommend that you check Flock Talk!
—————————————————————————————————————

Listen, if you want to get the best parrot talking results by combining the best from:

- Audio stimulation
- Video stimulation
- And parrot voices (instead of human ones)

… then I highly recommend that you try out this brand-new “Flock Talk” parrot speech training system:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/recommends/flock-talk/

WARNING: The free bonus gift is only available through Friday, if Chet still has any left by that time.

And remember this. You simply need to plug in the audio and DVD and press start. The rest is simply “automated leaning” so to speak!

—————————————————————————————————————
Final Words!
—————————————————————————————————————

Just remember this. There are no guarantees your parrot will ever talk. The audio and DVD are TOOLS which can allow you to potentially get better results.

And at the end of the day the parrot talking results you can get will vary from species to species and from the amount of TIME you are dedicated into using this new program.

That’s it!

That’s all I have to say.

Now, it’s your call.

Warmest Regards,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

——————————————————————————–

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady,or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access videos, audios, articles and receive unlimited one-on-one advice via  email for one full year at:

==>  http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

A complaint I’ve noticed coming in email a lot recently is:

“My bird loves me so much if he can’t see me he starts screaming. If I’m not around he will sit on dad’s shoulder very calmly, but as soon as I enter, he starts screaming and flapping and sometimes if I’m close by and my husband wants to take him out the cage, he just drop to the ground like a potato and starts screaming .”

Unfortunately, parrots don’t always like everyone in the home equally. In fact, they tend to bond to one person and it is not necessarily their caregiver. Optimally, you socialize the parrot when you first get him or her, but if you have not done that, you can still help reduce the over-bonding.

This can, to say the least, be a frustrating problem. Often the parrot will bite others in order to be with their favorite person. It thinks that if it runs all others away, their favorite person will be the only one that touches it.

The good news is that there is a solution. Here are the steps you can take to help reduce or resolve this problem:

Step 1: Reduce your time with the parrot: Parrots want attention. They will accept it wherever they get it. If the person who is over-bonded simply reduces the time spent with the parrot, over a period of time, the bird will adjust and become more social with others.

This can be a difficult thing to do because you want to be with your bird a lot. But it is an important step to take in order to reduce the screaming and potential nipping.

Step 2: Never reward, even unconsciously, any act of aggression or screaming when the bird is with others. Never take it back from the person; instead use a stick to make it step onto. Never laugh or be dramatic. Parrots just love drama and will repeat actions which provide drama.

Step 3: Have your parrot’s favorite foods and treats available to allow others to offer them. The over-bonded person should never provide treats during this training.

Step 4: Let others remove the parrot from the cage so that it gets the idea that other people are good and fun.

Step 5: During this training, any actions your parrot objects to but which must be done should be done by the over-bonded person. This will make the over-bonded person seem less fun. The idea is to get the parrot liking others more and the over-bonded person less, but it will still love everyone in the home in the end.

Step 6: When the parrot is interacting with the over-bonded person, keep the parrot BELOW eye level. This reinforces that the humans are the heads of the flock and is called “nurturing dominance”. In fact, ask everyone to keep the parrot below eye level.

Step 7: When the parrot screams for the over-bonded person, simply ignore it totally. Then, when it quiets down, have another person provide a treat. Make the period between becoming quiet and the treat become longer and longer as the parrot gets the idea that quiet = treat, noise = no attention. When the treat is given, the person should make a great, dramatic display of giving it and create lots of the well-loved drama.

If you practice this training for a period of time, the problem will improve and likely end. While parrots will use their voices to “contact call” their people, they should not endlessly scream. Any simple contact call should simply be ignored or, if you wish, answered once the training has worked. Until then, ignore all screaming.

Once you’ve solved the problem, be sure not to recreate it by going back to old habits. Keep the parrot interacting with the entire family and your friends. As soon as you go back to being the main person in the parrot’s life, it will return to its old habits too.

——————————————————————————–

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady,or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access videos, audios, articles and receive unlimited one-on-one advice via  email for one full year at:

==>  http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Have you ever thought about how your parrot sees you and what the bird has to deal with while living in a human environment?

This is simply a short story, written from a cockatoo’s point of view. The actual words spoken by the cockatoo are in red.

Well, I just woke up and it’s still dark in here. I better let my humans know it’s time they got up and uncovered me!

“SQUAWK! Good morning! SQUAWK!”

I hear them now. There’s water running in that funny room they spend so much time in doing strange things.

But I like when they take me in there to play in the water that magically comes out of the wall.

“Good morning! Come here! I love you! Good morning!”

Here she comes now. The covers are coming off my cage and I can see the sunshine outside my window. Time to eat! Look, my human has these strange new feathers today.

Yesterday she was all green except for her heads and somehow she’s grown all new feathers that are blue and some funny color like sand. I do not understand how these humans grow different feathers every single day everywhere except on their heads.

Their heads look really funny because there are no feathers except on the top and those hang down. But I like to play with those head feathers. My humans play with my head feathers too and I love that.

“Mommy, I love  you. Come here. Come here.”

She’s coming! She’s opening my door! Yeah!! I can get out now. I want her to pick me up and tickle my head.

Wait, she’s going back into that funny room where water comes out of the wall sometimes. She’s doing something strange to her head feathers. She’s making them all fluffy on top and the longs ones she’s making stay all together somehow so they hang down her back in one place. I wonder why she does that? I’m glad I don’t have to do stuff like that with my head feathers!

“Come here! I love you, Mommy!”

Yes, here she comes. Maybe she will pick me up this time. Here comes her hand. I’ll step on her hand and walk up her arm to her shoulder if she’ll let me. I want to play with those funny head feathers that she tied back somehow into this long crest. But my crest stands up so pretty and her’s just hangs there straight down her back. Oh yes, she’s sitting down with me and going to tickle me. I love when she does that.

“Pretty bird, I’m a pretty bird. Scritches”

I hope she never stops tickling my head feathers. She’s standing up and taking me with her! Yes! Fun!

We’re going into that other room that has water that runs out of a shiny thing.  She’s opening that thing that is cold inside. I can feel the cold coming out and making me chilly. What’s she going to get for me?

“Apple! Peanut! Hungry birdie!”

She’s chopping up some nice veggies and fruits and I think they are going to be for me! Look, she’s got raw corn on the cob. I love to pick those yellow things off that hard inside. What’s that yellow thing? Ooooh, it’s  a melon. I like that too. I don’t see any peanuts or walnut or pecans or even peanut butter though and I want those too.

“Peanut! Butternut! Cracker! Give me some! Yum Yum!”

There’s that round thing that got the yummy creamy peanuts in it. There’s the cracker. She’s making me a cracker corner with soft peanut stuff.

“Peanutbutter! Yummy! Give me some. Come on”

Oh yes, she’s handing me the cracker. Yummy. I can lick the bit of peanut butter off the cracker. I wish she’d give me lots more of it but she says something about it is fattening.

Now she’s taking my dish and putting those goodies into it. I am going to get breakfast now! Yes!

She’s taking me back to my house and putting my breakfast in there. I’m going back in and eat! I can play with her later. I’m hungry right now.

I’m going to walk down to her hand so I can step on my house easily. Look at that shiny stuff on her finger with that pretty sparkling stone in it. I want to get that sparkling thing!

“No, no, Baby, you can’t play with Mommy’s rings“, she says to me. I don’t know why I can’t have that sparkling thing on her hand for MY toy.

The very ends of her fingers have this strange red stuff on them. It looks like blood by my Mommy doesn’t seem to be hurt at all. If my toes were red like that, they’d hurt really bad and I’d scream. Why are her fingers bleeding, and why doesn’t the blood drip off? I don’t get it.

I’ll go in my house and see if she does something about her red fingers. Maybe it’s not blood, I wonder what it is? Should I clean it off for her after I eat and she picks me up again?

I think I should. I’ll try to help her because maybe she can’t get it off without my help. Maybe then she’ll give me that nice toy on her third finger to play with. But she always says it’s not for me. I’ll try again though.

Oh well, time to eat.  I’ll try all the stuff my cup and if I don’t like anything, I can throw it out of my house so it’s won’t be in my way.

“Thank you. Yummy.”

Now my crop is all full and I feel happy. Time to see if Mommy needs help cleaning her red fingers. They weren’t like that yesterday I’m sure so it must need to come off!

“Baby, that’s my new manicure. You can’t take it off! Let’s play with this nice white paper bag instead. I hid a surprise inside. It’s a walnut but you have to untwist the bag to get it”

Uh oh, Mommy doesn’t like for me to clean that stuff on her fingers. I better go see about this white puffy thing that rattles when Mommy shakes it. I can tear it up and make a big mess with all the pieces. Wait, there’s a nut inside!

“Thank you, good good!”

That was a tasty walnut. Now I’ll shred the rest of the white thing it was inside.

I think it’s time to nap now. I want to go to my house now.

“Mommy, go home.”

Mommy knows what that means. She’s letting me get on her hand with that shiny toy on her finger and taking me to my house.

I’m going to go to the top perch and get into that nice snuggle mop Mommy gave me to hide in when I sleep so nothing can eat me.

“Sleepy sleepy time.“.

————————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access videos, audios, articles and receive unlimited one-on-one advice via email for one full year at:

==>  http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Remember Ray Charles?

Ray Charles was the pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s. He is the author of many popular songs like:

Hit The Road Jack (14,136,009 views)

I Got A Woman (1,941,085 views)

Now imagine a parrot dancing a music from Ray Charles.

——————————————————————————————-
Parrot Dancing Music From Ray Charles
——————————————————————————————-

Watch this cool video!

It’s called “Frostie The Cockatoo Dancing To Shake Your Tail Feather! Bird Loves Ray Charles!”… and this video has been seen by over 2,159,888 people.

It’s very popular in Youtube!

Enjoy today’s video!

Warmest Regards,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

If you want to enjoy a great relationship with your parrot…

… and have fun in a non-threatening, fun loving way, then you have to check out this brand-new resource I’ve discovered recently:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/Presents/Florida/Resource/

It’s about a 2h 20 minutes seminar presentation which got a standing ovation in a past bird training seminar in Florida. (I think some of our older subscribers should remember this seminar)

What You’ll Discover In This Parrot Training Presentation

In this presentation you’ll instantly discover these amazing parrot training secrets:

- The 4 languages of parrots and how you can
use them to establish a better bond with your bird.
(Hint: It’s not about using treats or praise)

- How to deal with birds’ territorial aggressions!

- How to deal with birds’ jealousy aggressions
(children, spouse, etc)

- How to stop severe biting!

- The amazing step up secrets found with
a stubborn African Grey who would NOT
step up no matter what!

- EXPOSED: Energy management strategies
and how to channel energy bursts!

- How to develop mental rehabilitation for
abused birds (includes nutritional tips)
and how to do it naturally and in a totally
natural way without using drugs.

- Discover the simple communications strategies
you can use to communicate very clearly
with your bird.

- Learn psychological methods to overcome
trust issues.

- And how you can use bonding games to transform
good birds… and make them even better birds.

Here’s the link for this unique presentation:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/Presents/Florida/Resource/

What Makes This Parrot Training Presentation Different?

Listen, some people paid over $1000 to listen to this very well known parrot trainer teaching some of his methods when you consider the:

- Price for attending the Florida seminar
- Hotel bill
- Meals
- Transportation (flight tickets, taxis)
- etc.

In fact, I was even invited to go to that seminar, but I could not manage to go there due to my mother’s health issues. (I wish I had been there to be honest!)

Fortunately, you can now listen to a simple downloadable file you can watch on your computer (or even IPOD in case you want to run or go to the gym, etc)

So, what makes this presentation different is that instead of paying $1000 you get a short piece from this parrot training seminar for a very cheap price. I won’t even mention it because you need to check out it online here:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/Presents/Florida/Resource/

WARNING: This offer expires next Wednesday the 21st of April so you better take actions very soon!

Again, if you want to want to develop a closer relationship with your bird, then you need to check this resource today.

Warmest Regards,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

Well, 2009 brought much work and many suprises in the world of Parrot rescue.  I have now started my own facility and brought many of the birds with difficult issues with me from my previous facility where I was the Director.  Over the past few months there were many times that I thought this was too much or that starting over was not worth it but as I have worked with these birds daily seeing the progress that each one is making I began to realize that every sweet birdie kiss makes it all worth while!

Simon and Sophia are a pair of Blue Crown Conures who were purchased as breeders by their previous owners.  They had never been held and were very aggressive toward everyone; you could not get near them.  Although they have a wonderful vocabulary and love to say things like ”I love you,” “Peak a Boo” and so forth. This made it even more heartbreaking when you realized that you couldn’t just pick them up and kiss all over them when they spoke so sweetly….for fear of having your face ripped off! :)  We started working with them more right before Christmas and it wasn’t long before my son came running in one morning and he said “Mom, I got Sophia to step up!” I almost cried I was so excited that after all this time we were finally making progress.  Over the next week we continued slowly trying to build trust with Simon who is a little more skeptical of us.  Sophia got to where when Simon would try to bite us she would bite his toe and tell him “No” which I thought was very cute!  Before we knew it we were able to get Simon to step up out of his cage, what a happy day!  Now were are able to hold both of them although we have to be very careful and watch our movements as to not startle them and we still have to do the old dodge and weave to avoid Simon’s beak occasionally but we have high hopes for this New Year.

A parrot spends all its life standing on its feet.

After hatching, as soon as the parrot has grown enough that its legs will support it, it remains upright constantly, even when sleeping. At least one foot is used for supporting the bird’s weight every minute of every day until the day it dies — except for a few minutes here and there for those parrots who know how to “play dead” or like to snuggle on their backs.

For this reason, it is crucial for your parrot’s comfort and health to ensure that the things you provide your parrot to grasp with its feet are the perfect perches. Poor perch selection can result in arthritic feet and general discomfort for the bird. After all, you wouldn’t want to wear a pair of shoes which were a bit too small or too large or make of uncomfortable material all the time, would you?

You would probably survive, but you wouldn’t be happy or comfortable and over time your feet would become very unhealthy. Using the wrong perches in your parrot’s cage or on its playground likely feels to a parrot’s feet much like your feet would feel in the wrong shoes. Here is a step-by-step guide to making certain you provide perfect perches for your companion parrot:

Step 1: Determine the Correct Perch Size for your Parrot’s Feet

For the basic perches, your parrot’s feet should be able to go around the perch and grasp it comfortably. The forward-facing toes should not overlap the backward-facing toes at all. In fact, there should be a little space between the toes when the parrot is perched comfortable.

It is important to also provide perches which are slightly smaller and larger than this average size. This lets the bird’s feet rest and grasp in varying positions. But at least two or more perches should meet the above size criteria.

Step 2: Select Several Types of Perches

You should have at least one bird-safe natural wood perch from a local tree with the bark on the perch.

You should have a mineral perch that is large enough that the bird’s nails contact the rough surface for nail conditioning.

You should have at least one soft flexible perch.

Large birds should have some manzanita perches so they will not destroy them so quickly.

You should not use more than one smooth wooden perch.

Step 3: Position Perches

Place the perches in the cage securely. Space them so that the parrot can move from perch to perch comfortably. Climbing is healthy exercise, so don’t crowd the perches too closely together.

Step 4: Provide a Sleeping Perch

Parrots like to sleep high up in a corner of their cage. Place one perch so that it allows the parrot to snuggle into the corner of the cage with just a bit of head room. This makes the parrot feel safe and secure at night.

————————————————————————————–

In Closing

————————————————————————————–

Avoid those smooth perches which come with bird cages. They really are not healthy for your parrot’s feet. If you want to include one in the cage, that is fine but do not use those as the only perches.

Your parrot will thank you for ensuring the right size and material is available for perching on. Remember, you bird is standing on at least one foot all the time so make the parrot as comfortable as possible.

In case you want to consider a company that creates great perches and playstands online, here’s a resource which might assist on you this:

==> http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Perches/

==> http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Playstands/

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

This week I got an email from a dear subscriber of ours who asked me a set of very intriguing questions about our “Total Parrot Transformation Seminar” DVD’s email promo - which happens to end this next October the 22nd 2009.

First of all, for privacy reasons I am not going to mention the subscriber’s first name or last name since we take privacy very seriously.

Second of all, we are still waiting for the email reply from that subscriber. I will only use the questions below for “educational purposes”… mainly because I do think we ought to make some more comments public as to how we feel about similar situations.

In all cases I want to make sure that this is transparent to everyone who is in our Parrots Secrets newsletter email list, or Elite Parrots Club customers list, because when the topic is TRUST… It strikes my nerves!

My blook pressure goes UP… and then I RANT about it!

I am going to COPY and PASTE each question/comments from this subscriber and with my personal reply… Please note I did edit/ADD a few more pointers to make all our points CLEAR for everyone in our newsletter.

====== Subscriber Question/Comments ========
Hi,

I have been receiving your emails for some time now and enjoy reading them. This email concerns me though.

I recently purchased this package from Birdtricks and what I received fell far short of what is advertised.

I urge you to get assurance from Birdtricks that what they are advertising is what people are actually going to receive. I would hate for you to get bad feedback from your clients about a product you are promoting.
==========================================

We do hate to get bad feedback from your clients or subscribers and about ANY product we sell or are promoting.

In fact, that’s why I have purchased myself a few products from BirdTricks to make the test myself. For example, I’ve bought:

1) The parrot taming package DVDs
2) The abused parrots DVDs
3) The parrot talking DVDs and audio CDs (image below)

And these are the ones I can think out of the top of my head FAST.

Plus, I’ve later even sent all DVDs to Nora Caterino (have in mind I live in Europe and Nora lives in the US) so she could have her own insights into the products and write an endorsement letter herself in many cases.

Plus, I’ve also received other ebooks, reports, etc for which I DID receive a review copy… and that I also did pass to Nora Caterino before you got anything in the mail. If Nora doesn’t agree that it is a good value, we NEVER recommend it to anyone EVER!

EDIT TODAY: So the reason why we don’t get much ”bad feedback” is because we do our homework as much as possible to protect the best interests from our subscribers and customers! Let’s move on to the next question!

====== Subscriber Question/Comments ========
I have been in contact with Birdtricks about my situation and thus far have had only a very ambiguous response claiming that I must have misinterpreted the ad. I can assure you that I definitely did not as what I received looks nothing like what they have pictured.
==========================================

Because I HATE to escape direct questions (unlike politicians who like to every time “work their body around the houses”!) I am going to comment directly on this with a flaw admission on our part.

I want to admit in PUBLIC that I’ve had in the past and:

a) Out of the many products BirdTricks produces.

b) And out of the MANY 100’s of clients which have been following our recommendations to buy their products since 2003…

… that we did have ONE client of ours with whom I did agree BirdTricks had a very specific order page process which DID gave the wrong perception to the buyer.

(This is my FLAW admission in public)

Now, from 2003-2009 (that’s 6 years) that was the only complaint I’ve sent to Chet Womach from a buyers’ point of view. Why? Because it is the only complaint since people love the products!

Yes we did have occasional refund requests (all were honored), but that was the only REAL complaint!

On top of doing this… I’ve personally contacted BirdTricks personally so they could:

a) Refund the person
b) And change the page ASAP!

… and they did take appropriate measures to consider a review on BOTH cases!

Plus, don’t get us wrong… even ONE person MATTERS!

I don’t care if that was one person out of 1,000’s.

That was still a PERSON.

So, it is not just because this person was one in 1,000’s that we will play the “cynical game” which many politicians use to manipulate people. Like:

“Oh it was just one person in many 1,000’s. From a percentage point of view, that was under 0.005%!” (Very sad to say this, but that’s the TRUTH)

Therefore, once I do spot anything that is or might be wrong I am the first one to point it out… and by saying it LOUD… and by changing it FAST.

In fact, I am NOT afraid to admit errors in public either. To borrow a famous movie line from Dirty Dancing, “When I’m wrong, I admit it!”

Because I prefer that you see the reality “as it is” (even if it involves losing some sales here and there), but at least you can make your judgment later based with as much good information which we diligently provide you with in good faith. Like for example:

———————————————————————————-
The same catch from June 2009 still applies TODAY!
(Be careful. Get informed… Only then take a decision!)
———————————————————————————

We’ve said in the last promo about the seminar DVDs when they were selling last June this… please see the BLOG post from us in June 2009:

==> http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/blog/category/product-reviews/seminar-dvds/

I’ve said that if you were to buy the seminar DVD’s you had the option to be enrolled into the “Toys Program”, which is a separate rebilling order.

Now, since I personally HATE rebills myself as a customer (and that’s a general rule for anything I purchase online), I did mention that in the blog and in a PUBLIC way so people could be aware of that. In fact, here’s the MAIN quote:

============= EPC BLOG QUOTE =================
WARNING: There’s a catch with this bonus and here’s how it works… You can try the toys on your bird for 30 days. After that you will have a monthly billing. So be careful as you have 3 options:

(a) If you don’t want this do not select this option in the order form;

(b) If you do want to try this and later cancel during these 30 days you can always contact Chet.

(c) And if you want to keep them after 30 days, do know you’ll be billed.
================================================

For the promo we are running until 22nd of October this month, this SAME catch applies. So do know about it in advance, because that’s the only UGLY truth you’ll find about their offer.

Finally, what our subscribers do after we inform them about any specific offer it’s entirely up for them to make a decision. We live in a DEMOCRACY. Dam it!

a) I have to admit some people do buy anything from BirdTricks.com
b) As I have to admit other people will never buy from BirdTricks.com

… but I don’t make decision for them!

So when we mail content or offers we try to find a “mid-solution” that can let people be informed… while making everyone pleased with the recommendation and BUYING experience.

Yes, we do care about pointing what can be fishy for some people UPFRONT. Not after people fork over their cash! When we fail at this… believe me… GUILT starts topping up our heads and we know that is NOT worth it!

In fact, we at the Elite Parrots Club like to treat people as our friends. We often ask ourselves that question when mailing content. Would we send this to our FRIENDS?

If the answer is YES, then we go for it.
If the answer is NO, then we don’t go for it.
If the answer is MAYBE, then we review the whole process!

Most importantly we hope our actions can prove it so and consistently over time. Because we know this great principle: ”Deeds and not words are what count the most!”

So we focus on doing it… and not just saying it!

====== Subscriber Question/Comments ========
I do not wish to defame Birdtricks (I am hoping to sort my situation out with them), I am only writing this to make you aware that it could happen to others and to seek reassurance from Birdtricks before encouraging your clients to purchase.
==========================================

I can see that was your buying experience and NO ONE can ever take that emotion, feeling and opinion from you.

I also understand you are doing constructive criticism and I can only appreciate that.

With that said, in the past years I’ve heavily promoted BirdTricks.com along with Nora Caterino and we try to either buy the products directly ourselves or get a review copy to make our own judgement about:

a) The order process,
b) The merits of the product itself
c) And the support given.

So, if you ever had any problem with ANY purchase from BirdTricks, please do let us know. While we are separate web sites, we do have a special contact line with them, so we can assist you faster on any problem.

If I can get this info I might be able to provide the guys at Bird Tricks with an outside view on your purchase process and give them my hints about:

a) What can be done for you first.
b) What can be done for future customers later.

….

Finally, and for anyone on the fence, do consider reading the entire seminar promo from Chet Womach because it might be the BEST and most complete information you can ever get about bird training.

Here’s the link:

=> http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Presents/Florida/Seminar-DVDs/

WARNING: Our special offer ends next October 22nd 2009!

Thanks for listening to this rant.

We do care about REAL people!

Regards,

Frederico Vila Verde
EliteParrotsClub.com

Often, parrots are fearful of new toys or any other new items placed in their cages or even around the house near their cages. It is not unusual for a bird to require a couple of weeks to investigate a new item added to their play area. This doesn’t have to be the case, even with parrots that are not fully tamed. This technique will work with tame parrots very, very quickly and with untamed ones remarkably well.

Here are the steps to introduce a new toy to your parrot with success:

Step 1: Let the Parrot See the Toy

Upon bringing the new toy home, or better yet after making a new one, show it to your parrot while sitting or standing a good distance from the bird’s cage or play area. Just hold it up and look at it; don’t shake it or make it move in any way. Just let the bird see that you have something in your hand or hanging from your hand.

Step 2: Bring the Toy Near

Shortly after showing the toy, either later that same day or the next day, sit or stand near your parrot’s cage with the toy in hand. Be comfortable in your physical posture. Smile and show that you are happy. Stroke the new toy. Most importantly, place the toy near your mouth as if you were chewing on it. Of course, you don’t want to actually place the toy in your mouth, but you can certainly mimic the activity closely. All the time, smile and talk softly to your bird.

The fact that you place the toy near your mouth and face says to your parrot “this object is safe and will not bite you”. Your smile expresses that you like the toy and the parrot, too.

Step 3: Play with the Toy and the Parrot Together

Now, this step is for those people who have tame parrots that come out and interact with them freely. If your parrot is not tame, skip to the next step and ignore this one.

When the parrot is outside the cage playing with you, bring the toy near the bird. Again, place it near your mouth. Fondle the toy and smile. Tell the parrot that the toy is fun to play with in soft loving words. It doesn’t matter what exactly you say, just make the experience pleasing for your parrot.

Step 4: Place the Toy in the Cage or Play Area

Now is the right time to place the toy where you want it to reside inside the cage or on the parrot’s play stand or play tree. Let your bird see you attaching the toy securely to the play area you have selected. Again stroke the toy and again place it near your mouth. Then leave your parrot to check out the new toy.

For some parrots, they may still wait a day or even two before accepting the new item, but they will not wait long. The fact that you have introduced the toy as a non-threatening object in a very calm and loving manner will help your parrot accept the change and want to get its beak and claws on the toy much sooner.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at
http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

If you’ve owned parrots for years, you may already know these facts.

But I receive queries every single day from around the globe from novice parrot owners who are concerned as to whether their parrot has become ill or not. If you are concerned about whether your parrot has become sick suddenly, here are the steps to determine whether to be worried or whether you can relax because the behavior is normal.

These tips are organized as ascending criteria. If you find that Step One results are normal, you will likely find the other steps are normal. If you find that several of the steps to check appear abnormal, then you should seek medical attention for your parrot immediately. While awaiting medical attention, you should take precautionary steps to protect the parrot.

Step One: Look at Your Parrot’s ‘Poop’

Every parrot owner should become aware of their parrot’s excretions of feces and urine (commonly called poop or poopie) and check it frequently because this is often the very first clue that something is wrong with your bird’s health. Once you are aware of what your parrot’s poop looks like when it is healthy, you’ll easily identify is anything appears to be different. It is important to act at this first symptom of potential illness since parrots do hide their illnesses from people and other parrots.

Things to look for include:

• Has the consistency of the poop changed? Is it runnier than normal and you can not explain the difference due to the bird having eaten juicy fruits such as grapes or orange slices within the past 12 to 24 hours? Note: If you own a Lorikeet, this is not a good measure of health since Lorikeets tend to have runny poop normally since they are nectar-eaters.
• Has the color of the poop changed? A healthy parrot normally excretes poop which is fairly firm and has a white center and greenish-brown outside ring. The white center is the urine and the greenish-brown material is the feces. The color of the feces can be impacted by what has recently been consumed to be a slightly reddish color, orange-tinted, or greener. Review the food your parrot has eaten recently and if the color of the poop has changed but you can not explain it based on diet eaten with the past day, then you need to watch your parrot for other signs of ill health.
• Has the frequency of pooping increased? Often a sick parrot will poop more frequently and strain physically when pooping. Every parrot poops shortly after eating and again a while after that. They also poop upon awakening usually. Small parrots such as budgies and cockatiels poop more often than larger birds and generate smaller poops, but if you know what is normal for your parrot, you’ll be able to tell if there is a difference or not.
• Is there poop on the bird’s feathers around the vent? When a healthy bird poops, the poop does not stick to the bird’s feathers around the rump (vent) area. A healthy bird may sometimes come in contact with a poop that has not dried completely and get it stuck to their tail feathers, but if the area around the vent is badly soiled and stained, there is clearly a reason for concern.

Step Two: Determine Amount Eaten

You should have a good idea of how much and how often your parrot eats. Healthy birds eat upon rising and pick at their food periodically during the day. Tame birds and even some which are not tame but comfortable with their people will eat when they see people eating because parrots are social creatures by nature.

If you notice your parrot is not eating normally, you should monitor when it eats and if it is eating significantly less than usual, there may be a problem with its health. If it will only eat treats but not its normal pellets, seeds, fruits, veggies and other people foods, then you should monitor for a problem.

Step Three: Watch for Changes in Play Habits

You probably have a good idea how much your parrot plays alone during hours spend in its cage or on its play area. You also know how playful the parrot is when outside the cage interacting with you. If a normally playful parrot becomes significantly less playful, this can be a signal that something is amiss.

Of course, parrots have moods just as people do. If your parrot doesn’t play much for a few hours, that alone is no need for concern. If it returns to being playful later that same day and no other signs of illness are present, it is likely the parrot just was in a quiet mood and didn’t feel playful. However, longer-term changes in play behavior can be a signal that the bird’s health is not up to par.

Step Four: Determine if Parrot is Sleeping on Both Feet Frequently

Keep in mind that this step does not refer to a parrot that is lightly napping. It refers to a parrot which is soundly sleeping. At night or when in a deep sleep during naptime, a parrot will pull one foot up into its feathers and stand on only one foot. This is true of large birds as well as small ones. If you’ve ever seen a flamingo asleep, it is a funny sight to see one leg bent and pulled up as high as possible; flamingos however can’t hide their long legs in their feathers. But the concept is the same with your companion parrot.

When your parrot is soundly sleeping, especially if it has turned its head backwards to hide its beak in the back feathers, check whether one or both feet are on the perch. If you consistently see two feet on the perch, even before the parrot has realized you are watching, then you should be concerned.

Step Five: Monitor Perching Posture and Feather Posture

A health parrot sits tall on its perches with feathers tight and smooth most of the time. When it is sleeping, the parrot will probably fluff its feathers up somewhat and snuggle down so that the lower feathers on its body cover the foot on which it is sleeping. Healthy parrots also like to sleep on high perches rather than low in the cage and they often choose the upper corner of the cage or play area on which to sleep. This is part of their basic instincts and nature.

If you notice that your parrot is sitting low on the perch with feathers fluffed all the time, even when not napping, and you know the temperature in the room is sufficiently warm for the bird, there might be a health issue involved. If you see your bird perching lower and lower in the cage with feathers fluffed and sitting crouched on the perch along with other signs of illness, then you definitely have a health problem and must get help quickly.

In Closing

Any parrot that presents signs of illness should be immediately taken to a qualified avian vet. It is not wise to go to the pet shop and buy those over-the-counter products for your parrot because they often do not work and can cause even more problems with the bird’s health. If you love your companion parrot, see help at the earliest symptom of illness.

When a parrot gets sick, it can easily be dead within only 24 hours. While some illnesses do not take a bird’s life so quickly, you can lose your beloved feathered friend so quickly when its health is compromised. Parrots tend to hide illness until they are no longer strong enough to do so. By the time the parrot is showing more symptoms than changes in poop, it can be too late. So, if you see changes in your parrot’s behavior and bodily functions, move quickly to seek professional help for your parrot.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at
http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

You probably thought only a dog could bring an object to you on command, as in the FETCH command, right? Well, parrots can learn this trick quite easily if you follow these 10 simple step-by-step instructions.

10 Steps For Performing The “BRING” Trick

First, I’ll list the steps needed to accomplish this training and then I will expand on each step. Here are the steps in a quick-view format:

Step 1: Identify the object to be retrieved
Step 2: Pick up the object
Step 3: Speak the bridge word
Step 4: Select a retrieve command
Step 5: Let the parrot come and pick up the object with no treat
Step 6: Repeat the bridge word
Step 7: Place your hand under object
Step 8: Praise and reward
Step 9: Repeat until the parrot gets the idea
Step 10: Move farther away

In this trick, we want to introduce a new concept: the “bridge”. A bridge is simply a word which is used to let the parrot know it is doing exactly what you desire. “Good” or “excellent” or whatever choice you use for a bridge word should be consistent so the parrot understands you are happy. Say the bridge word with a smile so your body language also says you are pleased. Now, let’s look at each of these steps in more detail.

Step 1: Identify the object to be retrieved

Later, you will teach your parrot to bring anything you wish, but for initial training you must choose an object which is easy to pick up and carry for the bird and show it to the bird. Cuddle the object a bit, place it near your mouth. These actions show your parrot that the object is safe and will not bite or harm it in any way; they indicate you trust the object.

Let the parrot touch the object and become familiar with it. You could also choose to use a toy you know the bird likes already if you wish but it can be more difficult to teach this trick because your bird may want to play with the object instead of bringing it to you.

Step 2: Pick up the object

Next, you want to get your parrot to pick up the object you wish to have retrieved. Place the object near the parrot. Place the object in the training area and place a treat next to it. Be sure your bird sees you put the treat beside the object and let the parrot go get the treat. Next time, place the treat on the other side of the object so he or she has to seek the treat.

After the bird gets the idea that a treat will be associated with the object, hide the treat underneath the object and be sure your bird sees you do this. Now, let the parrot move the object to get the treat. In order to do this, the bird will have to pick the object up.

Step 3: Speak the bridge word

As soon as the bird moves the object to get to the treat, speak the bridge word so the bird knows it is doing well. It will catch on really fast that you are pleased and be willing to get a treat from under the object readily after a few attempts.

Step 4: Select a retrieve command

Choose the words you will use for the RETRIEVE command. You may want to use a long series of words instead of a single word so it will be new to your parrot. I like to use something like “Bring me the (name of object here)” because it is specific. When you say this command, you will also place your hand flat on the training area, at first very near the object, so your parrot can see where you want the object placed when it obeys your command.

No matter what command you choose, be sure to use the hand signal with this trick because parrots are visual creatures by nature. Previously, there have been no hand signals but this is a more advanced trick and not based 100% on your parrot’s instincts.

Step 5: Let the parrot come and pick up the object with no treat:

Now, place the object on the table but place no treat under the object. Say the chosen command. Your parrot will go look for the seed but find nothing. Once it picks up the object to look for the treat, immediately give it a treat. Repeat a few times, each time waiting longer to give the treat but allowing the parrot to recognize that it will get a treat if it picks up the object every time.

Step 6: Repeat the bridge word

Repeat your bridge word so you parrot knows it is doing well.

Step 7: Place your hand under object

Say the chosen command. As the bird picks up the object next time, move your hand under the object as that the object falls on your hand.

Step 8: Praise and reward

The very first time the object falls into your hand, say the bridge word and immediately give a nice reward and lots of praise. This lets your parrot know it has done something special.

Step 9: Repeat until the parrot gets the idea

Repeat Steps Five through Eight until your parrot is quite comfortable with the trick so far.

Step 10: Move farther away

As you practice the trick, slowly move your hand farther away from the object so that the parrot must move its head to drop the object in your hand in order to earn a reward. Then move your hand so it must take one single step to place the object in your hand.

As it learns each new progression, move a little farther away until the bird must take several steps to place the object in your hand. Always remember to say the bridge word, reward and praise, praise, praise.

In Closing

With practice, your parrot will willingly bring an object several feet to place it in your hand. Over time, you can even ask it to bring it across the room. Be sure to keep training sessions short enough your bird doesn’t get bored and become contrary. And always, always give lots of love and praise as well as treats at the end of every session so your parrot will look forward to trick training with you.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at
http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Now that you have taught your parrot to step UP consistently and used that behavior as the basis to teach it to shake hands, let’s teach a trick that is just a little bit more complex: PLAYING DEAD. See this video from YouTube where you can see this trick:

Step-by-Step Trick Training: The Play Dead Trick

This trick is easiest to teach to a young parrot because in the nest, parrots often lie on their backs when fed by the parents when they are very young. But, a parrot of any age can master this behavior on request.

However, do not attempt to require your parrot to play dead for more than a few seconds because it is slightly harder to breathe in that position. Content yourself with asking for the behavior for only a few seconds unless your parrot happens to really enjoy lying on its back as some do.

Step One: Position Parrot on Finger or Arm

First, simply ask the parrot to step UP onto your hand, or for a large parrot, onto your arm.

Step Two: Allow Parrot to Become Familiar with One Hand on the Back

In this step, simply position your hand so that it is on the parrot’s back in a posture which will allow you to comfortably and safely support the parrot when you later teach it to lie still on that hand.

Step Three: Speak the Command

After your parrot becomes very comfortable with a hand on its back, which may require several sessions or only one, depending on the parrot, it is time to say the command and continue to Step Four.

As with all previous behaviors, the command you select is not important. What is important is that you BE CONSISTENT. If you want to use “play dead” as the command, use those same words every time. If you want to say “go to sleep” then always use those words. Never confuse the parrot by changing the command tied to a desired response.

Step Four: Flip Parrot onto Back While Supporting Its Feet

Step Four is in interim step to achieving the desired result. Make your parrot feel safe when it is flipped over by supporting its feet with your finger or hand so that it does not fear falling. For some birds, you may need to work on this step several times while other birds will take right to the behavior.

Step Five: Remove Supporting Hand While Praising

Once the parrot seems comfortable lying on its back on your hand, remove the hand which is supporting the feet. Do this gently and speak loving words of praise while the parrot performs the behavior.

Step Six: Allow the Bird to Stand Up

After only a few seconds, offer your free hand to the parrot so that it can return to an upright posture. Some parrots simply love lying on their backs and are more than willing to lie there for a longer time, but when first teaching this behavior, never ask for more than a short response. Some parrots never really love lying on their backs and you should be pleased if your parrot will only lie there for two or three seconds.

Step Seven: Reward

After the parrot has completed the trick, it is time to provide a reward. If you have been working with food treats, then offer the treat now. If you use only praise and petting rewards, then provide extra-special praise and scratches because you want your parrot to know that you understand he is doing something that is not totally natural just because he or she loves you.
—————————————————————————————————–

About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at

http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Now that you and your parrot have perfected the UP command, it’s time to move on to the next basic trick. Let’s use the UP command to help your parrot learn how to shake hands. Many parrots can learn this trick in only one or two session while others may require a few more training sessions.

Because the trick is built upon the already-familiar UP command, it is one of the easiest tricks to teach your parrot and can be a building-block for many more tricks. To inspire you in taking some real action with what you’ll learn, please watch this video PROOF from YouTube on how this “non parrot trainer” can easily teach this trick (among many others) to their birds.

Step-by-Step Trick Training: The Skake Hands Trick

So, here’s a breakdown of some of the parrot trick training steps you must follow to work on the shake hands parrot trick.

First of all, you’ll want to determine which foot your parrot uses as his primary foot. People are either left-handed or right-handed and parrots prefer to stand on one foot more than the other, becoming less confident if required to stand only on their non-primary foot. Notice when your parrot steps UP which foot is raised first. This is the primary foot and will be the foot which is used for shaking hands.

While people always extend the right hand, not all parrots are willing to offer their right foot for shaking. You can encourage your parrot to use the right foot if you prefer, but it is much, much easier to allow the bird to shake hands with the foot which it prefers to use.

Step One: Choose the Command

You may prefer to use “shake” or “give me four” (parrots only have four toes instead of five fingers). What word or words you select is not as important as being consistent with the use of the command you select. You can’t expect your parrot to respond if you have taught it to shake hands when you say “shake” but the next time you say “give me your foot” or something similar. Consistency is the absolute key.

Step Two: Speak the Command

Simply say the command you have decided to consistently use when you want your parrot to shake hands. Speak clearly and assertively but also kindly.

Step Three: Get the Parrot to Lift One Foot

Because your parrot knows to step up when you present your finger or arm, you will use this to get the bird to lift one foot. Because you do not want it to actually step up, you should offer room for only one foot. If you normally offer your finger, then place your finger so that only the primary foot will have room on your finger.

Step Four: Grasp the Raised Foot

As your parrot lifts its primary foot to step onto your finger, gently grasp the foot and move it up and down very gently once.

Step Five: Reward

As soon as the parrot has allowed you to shake its foot, immediately offer the reward you have found to work best for training. You’ll find information in Appendix A about choosing a reward and learning your parrot’s favorite treat. If you offer a treat, combine it with lots of praise and loving words. If your parrot loves to be tickled, give him some tickles in his favorite spot. The idea is to let him know that he has done exactly what he was asked to do when he was asked to do it.

What if the parrot didn’t lift its foot to shake hands? In that case, if it has even made any effort toward doing what you requested, then it gets a reward and you repeat the steps. If you have taught your parrot well to step UP on command, then if you have difficulty getting him to lift one foot, you can touch its foot and it almost certainly will lift the foot so you can grasp it and then reward.

If you parrot performs only part of the behavior the first time, it gets a reward. However, the next time it must do a little bit more toward completing the behavior before receiving any reward. Do not offer a reward for going backward instead of forward in the process! Otherwise, the bird will simply “play you” to get treats!

Step Six: Repeat

During a training session, you should repeat this process four or five times. Do not ask your parrot to repeat the trick too many times or it will become bored with the idea and choose not to respond, defeating your whole purpose. Instead, wait a while — maybe an hour or two — and repeat the training. You can do this several times per day but always keep the training interesting and fun for your parrot.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at
http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

In order to teach a parrot any type of tricks, you must have first developed a bonded relationship with your parrot. Your parrot must be tame and generally socialized. This doesn’t mean your bird has to have absolutely perfect behavior in every respect, in fact some of this training is directed to helping you develop better behavior in your bird and better control because you will be able to consistently obtain a known response from your bird when he or she is asked to perform a behavior. By teaching your bird that you will respond positively to its positive behavior and responses, it becomes easy to teach new behaviors and responses as well as basic manners commands.

Socialization and Tameness

Your parrot should already have developed tameness and willingness to sit with you. If a parrot is not tame and does not want human contact, it will have no desire to perform any behaviors. If that is the case, you need to first tame your parrot and develop a social bond with it.

Ideally, your parrot will be so tame that it will love to receive scratches and pets from you. It must be at least tame enough to accept food from your fingers in order to provide a reward on which to base the training.

Consistency in Training, Requests, Bridges and Rewards

The training must be performed in a consistent manner. So, you will need to teach your parrot during some time every day. Spending time teaching a behavior for a few minutes one day and then waiting until the next week to again perform any training will not allow you to teach your parrot quickly and get the responses you desire. In fact, it may well confuse your bird.

You must also be consistent with the use of words you choose for commands and for the praise bridge word. There is no hard and fast rule about which words you will want to use as the command. For example, I use “step up” for the “UP” command words and “good bird” said with lots of love and enthusiasm as the bridge words (more about bridge words later in this report) to let the bird know it has done well.

However, you might choose to say “step” or “up” or some other logical phrase for the “UP” command and might choose “great” or “good” for a bridge word. Whatever words you choose to requests behaviors and to offer praise in the form of the bridge word, it must be the exact same every single time in order to allow the parrot to know what you desire. You can’t say “get on my finger” once time and “step up here” another time and expect your parrot to know what you want, certainly not at first. Be consistent with requests and bridge words as well as rewards.

Rewards

Now you may be wondering how you will know what the best reward is to provide to your parrot during early trick training and later during further training. After all, you want to teach your parrot tricks as easily as possible. Well, I can help you determine the best reward for your particular parrot.

Treats

When you first begin training your parrot, it is likely you will get the best response by offering a treat as a reward. Here is where it becomes a problem to select the very best item to offer. After all, your parrot has to WANT the reward in order to associate the command/behavior response with the pleasure of a treat, making the bird really want to do what you ask.

Here’s how to choose the best treat for your own parrot. It will not be the same treat for each parrot, possibly not even each parrot in your own home if you have multiple birds, and not even parrots of the same species. Each parrot has its own preferences and one bird may love peanuts while another could absolutely care less if it ever eats another peanut in its entire life but goes nuts for a bit of walnut or a sunflower seed.

Perform the following experiment process before you begin training your parrot so you start the training with the best choice of rewards. Here are the steps to learn your parrot’s best treat reward:

Select a day when you can be with your parrot for a little time in the morning. The evening before, remove all food from your parrot’s cage when you put it to bed for the night. This way your bird will not wake up and eat before you awaken.

Because parrots are hungry in the morning upon wakening, you must perform this little test the very first thing. Prepare a food dish which contains four or five treats that you believe your parrot really enjoys. These might include half a peanut or other type of nut, a sunflower seed, a bit of peanut butter on a cracker corner, a bit of apple or other fruit, or a kernel of fresh raw corn or other vegetable.

Place the dish of treats inside your parrot’s cage. The parrot will likely come right over to grab some food. Note which item it chooses first. Immediately afterwards, place your parrot’s normal daily diet in its cage so it can eat until it is no longer hungry. Of course, you can include the treats not chosen first in its regular food.

Repeat this process several different days and you will notice your bird picks one treat first most of the time. Three to five tests should be enough to reveal a clear preference. Then you can be absolutely sure that the item chosen most often is your parrot’s best loved treat.

You will almost certainly find that the treat your companion parrot loves best is one of the high fat items offered. Parrots love foods that are high in fat, but remember, fat must be limited in their diets in order to ensure good health.

We’ll delve into the process of how exactly to work with the treat reward as we get into the steps of trick training.

Praise, Scratches, Love, Cuddles and Non-Food Rewards

Parrots which are human-bonded and have learned already that human praise and other non-food rewards are just as wonderful as for doing the right behavior as a food reward. If your parrot was hand reared, it may even be so bonded to humans that it will willingly accept this type of reward from the very beginning. Many hand reared parrots do. The rest of the companion parrots will need a little time working with food treats before switching over to non-food treats.

Food is a great motivator when training parrots. If your parrot is not hand reared or has not developed a firm bond with humans and you as its specific human, then it is best to begin working with food rewards. After the parrot learns the behavior completely and realized that it will gain a lot of praise and attention, many parrots will then willingly perform the behavior when asked whether food is offered or not. This is the end-goal of training.

Even if your parrot demands that a food treat be provided, you can still teach the bird tricks. So, don’t think that you must remove that form of reward if it works best for you and your particular parrot.

Review of Training Assumptions

So, let’s review the training assumptions:

• Parrot is friendly and tame
• Parrot is socially bonded to human that will be performing the training
• Parrot must have a desire to please their human
• Human must be consistent with training program
• Human must know what the parrot desires as a reward for correct behavior
• Human must also be consistent with words to request behaviors and bridge phrases and rewards.

In the next post I will show you how to teach parrot training tricks like perfecting the ‘up command’ of bird training.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club athttp://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php

Today we are finally announcing the winners for the Super Bonus Package.
To make the process 100% transparent to every winner, we have decided to show an image PROOF with the first 10 orders we have generated on the first launch days. (all data presented below is in TIME descending order)

NOTE: We have removed the buyers last name (in red above) for privacy reasons.

This means the first person “Brandon M” is the lucky person who will will receive the Complete “Real Speech” Deluxe Training System ($97 value for the first person that orders)”. Then we have all these parrot owners who will receive a 30 Minutes FREE Phone Consultation with Nora Caterino:

1) Brandon M
2) Criket E
3) Brenda B
4) Justin I
5) Michael M

All other parrot owners who have ordered after “Michael M” will receive a free membership for the Elite Parrots Club… either for them or for any parrot owner (like a friend) they decide to invite in case you are already a current customer of EPC. So if you have NOT ordered we want to let you know that we will have this BONUS offer open, where you can receive a free Elite Parrots Club membership, until next July the 15th.

Also, if for any reason your customer name is NOT presented on this list… and if you DID order online this week… then now can still claim your Super Bonus Package. Simply send us an email with your order ID number and we will check your situation again. No problems!

Finally  if you are one of these parrot owners mentioned above as you can compare the order ID, do send us an email to support@eliteparrotsclub.com so you can claim our SUPER bonus package. We really want to send you ALL the materials we have promised and so you can make the most from your parrot training experience.

Chet is releasing the Total Parrot Transformation DVD Series in the next few minutes here:

http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Presents/Florida/SeminarDVDs/

Important Note: This page should be LIVE exactly at 9 a.m. (USA Pacific Standard Time). Refresh that page later in your browser in case you access it earlier!

See now the SUPER bonus package you can access just for ordering the Total Parrot Transformation Seminar DVDs and by following TWO simple steps… which we reveal at the end of this BLOG post.

—————————————————————————————————–
BONUS #1: Get a FREE Elite Parrots Club Membership ($47 value for ANYONE that orders)
—————————————————————————————————–

We sell the Elite Parrots Club memberships everyday for $47.77.  If you want to join the community of parrot owners who are already having success in training, taming and in teaching their parrots to talk, then you can get a FREE membership when you order the Total Parrot Transformation Seminar DVDs. Read all that you get with your membership here.

Important Note: If you are a customer of the EPC already, then you can give your free membership to any friend or parrot owner you know. And in return we can extend your 1 year email consultation period for a 2 year email consultation period. (This email consulting offer is ONLY FOR current EPC customers!)

—————————————————————————————————–
BONUS #2: Get A 30 Minute FREE Phone Consultation  ($47 value for the first 5 people)
—————————————————————————————————–

When you claim your seminar DVDs, we can schedule a 30 minutes phone consultation. You can speak, consult and hold me as your “hostage” for an entire 30 minutes on the phone. We will provide you with a PRIVATE phone number where you can discuss your unique parrot problems.

It does not matter what question you have, as I will answer ANY question you have during this 30 minutes phone consultation. The only expense you’ll have is that you’ll have to call me to the USA in Mississippi. US and Canadian participants will be able to schedule a time for me to call you.

The reason why I am doing this is because… while Chet does offer the same bonus for first 100 people who order, I am sure MANY of you will be LEFT out. That’s because over 5000 people are already on his waiting list so this bonus from him will probably “sell out”. And I don’t want that to happen to YOU!

—————————————————————————————————–
BONUS #3: Get The Complete “Real Speech” Deluxe Training System ($97 value for the first person that orders)
—————————————————————————————————–

As you know inside the Elite Parrots Club we offer you a 4 part series of videos and articles on how you can teach your parrot to talk. However, we don’t offer ANY parrot talking CDs that you can insert into an AUDIO CD player, so your parrot can learn to speak more words faster and using the recorded voice of other birds talking. However, if you are the very FIRST person to claim a ticket to the Total Parrot Transformation seminar DVDs, here’s what we will do.

We will BUY FOR YOU The Complete “Real Speech” Deluxe Training System from Chet Womach that sells every day for $97. We will buy it and ask Chet to ship the DVD’s to your home at our expense! We will buy these audio CDs and system DVD’s for you so can have no EXCUSE in possibly failing to teach your parrot to speak, sing, or even whistle.

And yes, the ability of parrots to speak or NOT varies among different bird species. But the point is with the audio CD’s from Chet you will have the absolute UNFAIR advantage to more easily teach your parrot to talk. That we can guarantee you as your parrot can increase the likelihood to speak more words.

It’s that simple! I’ve tested these audio CDs and that’s why I am BUYING them myself for the first seminar DVD’s buyer only. Now remember this. We are offering all these bonuses above and on the TOP of the $5000 worth of bonuses that Chet Womach is already giving away.

For example, the very first person to claim their ticket can win a FREE bird aviary valued at over $4,000 from Chet directly! (Read the seminar letter later for more information on Chet’s bonuses). And we are doing this to make sure you can get the most from your “at home” seminar experience.

—————————————————————————————————–
What You Have To Do To Claim This SUPER Bonus Package
—————————————————————————————————–

Step #1: Use this link below and claim your ” Total Parrot Transformation” Seminar DVDs:

http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Presents/Florida/SeminarDVDs/

Step #2: Send us one email to support@eliteparrotsclub.com with a simple proof of purchase (the receipt you get from Chet Womach), and we will send you an email on how you can get access to all the bonuses we mention above.

—————————————————————————————————–
WARNING: The DVD’s Might Just “Sell Out”!
—————————————————————————————————–

Please be warned:

This event is likely to sell out very quickly. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the bonuses alone to sell out in the next few hours… Because most bonuses are time limited or supply limited. If you want to increase your chances of getting a seminar ticket, do make sure you visit the page below in the next hour or so.

http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com/Presents/Florida/SeminarDVDs/

And don’t panic if the page does not display. Just keep hitting the REFRESH button so you can be sure that you’ll get to see the page BEFORE anyone else does.

We really hope you have enjoyed the SUPER BONUS PACKAGE we have created for you.

Yours sincerely,

Nora Caterino
EliteParrotsClub.com

Frederico Vila Verde
EliteParrotsClub.com

While working with over 30 Macaws and about 50 other parrots of different species on a daily basis one of the most common questions I get is “What do you feed your birds?“  People are always amazed at how beautiful the birds at our park are and my response is two fold, first and most important is diet and second, sunshine/exercise.

I often see Macaws and other parrots who look as though they are not properly cared for despite how loving their family may be and I usually find this is attributed to the diet.  Most families are encouraged to feed their birds a pellet type diet supplemented with fresh foods and without knowing better they do this thinking that they are doing what is best for the bird.  Pellet diets are similar to the process and enriched foods we consume in our daily lives, the same foods that cause obesity, disease and poor nutrition in humans.

When choosing the best diet for your bird research what they would eat in the wild and then provide them with a diet as close to that as possible.  Our Macaws for instance are only fed mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, hazel nuts and brazil nuts) all unshelled, fresh fruits and fresh veggies.

We alternate a schedule of nuts one day, followed by veggies the next, then nuts again, followed by fruit the next feeding.  We find that by alternating days and not combining fruits, veggies or nuts on the same day we prevent them from picking out only the items they want so that in the end they eat a well balanced diet.

My challenge to anyone who ask me about a bird’s diet is to make the change to a natural diet and I guarantee within two weeks you won’t believe your eyes.  The improvement in you bird in just two weeks will amaze you.

I can’t tell you how many skeptical bird owners have come back to me after that two week period and just couldn’t get over the changes in their bird.  Some even said that their friends thought they had gotten rid of their old bird and gotten a new one.  Now that is a major change!  So take the challenge and see what a difference nature can make for you and your bird.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Allison Sorensen is the Director at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park and shares her home with a wonderful husband, two great boys, a dog, rabbit and multiple birds(depending on the day). The park began back in 1992 and has grown rapidly about three years ago when 7 macaws exposed to a virus during research tests were about to be euthanized even though they had not contracted the disease the park step in a gave them a home. Today, over 80 parrots are loved and cared for at the park and some are available for adoption. Learn more about Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park at http://www.macawbirdpark.com and come visit if you are in the Pensacola, FL area. Volunteers are always welcome!

Charlie my African Gray few away on 10th May 2009, I was heartbroken

I was fortunate enough to get him back after three days through luck and determination. He had a very badly fractured left Femur and was operated on at Onderstepoort Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital  on Friday the 15th May 2009. They had to put a pin in the leg. The operation has been very successful and Charlie leg brace and screws will be able to come off his leg on the 26th June 2009.

My boy has been a absolute little star though this whole ordeal. I am so proud of him and just wanted to share this with other bird owners. I would also like to thank Dr. Elliott and Dr Odendaal from Ondestepoort Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital for all their patience and support - and the good care they took of Charlie.

On that particular day Charlie was very close to my home I would probably have found him but a very caring African  garden boy was also worried about Charlie so he tried to pick him up to take to his employees and in the process broke Charlie’s leg.

Never give up!! When they fly away!!!

Kind Regards

Charlie’s Mom

Belita

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Bellita lives in South Africa and owns an African Grey parrot called Charlie. Bellita is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her and the community of parrot owners from over 15 countries here http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com

I have a good news story to tell… My African Grey parrot (Charlie) flew away last Sunday (10th May 2009) but, I found him the Tuesday (12th May 2009). It was the most horrible experience and it was just by shear luck that he was found!

He fractured his Femur. He was operated on at one of the world’s best Veterinary Hospitals - Onderstepoort in South Africa on Friday in the Bird and Exotic Animal Section. Straight after the surgery he was able to put some pressure on the sore leg – I was told this is very good!

He came home on Sunday and seems fine – he can at least take his food in his sore foot now and eat with that foot. He is not saying much apart from “I am cross with you”. See a copy of the x-ray of the surgery.

I would also like to emphasize that we should really start encouraging bird owners to maybe Micro Chip their birds. The lady who found Charlie said that her next step would have been taking Charlie to the nearest Vet or SPCA (our animal welfare society) to see if he was Micro Chipped. Which he was “not”, at the time when had queries about Micro Chipping none of the Vets I spoke could help me with this!

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Bellita lives in South Africa and owns an African Grey parrot called Charlie. Bellita is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her and the community of parrot owners from over 15 countries here http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com

Aussie and Stella’s first baby was a surprise to all of us. How could we have ever known that Aussie had finally hit the jack pot. One day as my husband and I were having lunch, we heard Aussie screaming at the top of his lungs. I thought he just wanted attention as usual, but my husband heard a tiny squeak and said I think a baby has hatched. I didn’t believe him and told him that he was crazy.

He walked to the cage and said “look it’s a baby!” Again, I doubted him, but I went to see anyway. Well, there it was before my eyes at the floor of the cage a tiny fuzzy little baby, no bigger than my thumb nail-so cute and helpless. Tears came to my eyes. However, how did he get to the bottom of the cage? That we couldn’t answer. Maybe they accidentally knocked him out, who knows, but Aussie kept trying to pick him up with his beak, but couldn’t put him back in the nest.

I believe Aussie’s screaming was an attempt to tell me to put him back in the nest, so I did and he came to the cage door and chirped something at me. I think he was thanking me. They are so smart. Aussie is always the first to visit the nest and feed the little ones when they hatch. He is a perfect daddy and husband to Stella. He feeds Stella before she goes to the nest; he takes his shift in the nest during the day; he helps to keep the nest clean; he has even learned to bathe, after seeing Stella do it every morning.

For a bird that wasn’t sure of his role, he has surprised all of us. I’m so fortunate to have experienced the companionship of these beautiful and intelligent birds. They have taught me so much. I have found loving homes for all my baby tiels and I keep in touch with all their new owners. They send me pictures of them and tell me stories about their awesome little friends.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Miriana lives in Canada with her husband Jim. Miriana has become an expert on cockatiels and budgies while Jim continues to love his canaries. Miriana is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her at http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com

Last Saturday as I was running late and frantically trying to get things loading in the car to head to the bird park that I run I was finding my Blue Crown Conure “Remi” to be quite difficult. 

As most of you know when it comes to kids or birds the further behind schedule you are the more difficult they will be to deal with.  Well as usual I loaded the car and came back in to get Remi and Oliver (my Quaker) as they normally go to the park with me. 

Well, Remi refuses to come out of his cage, he begins to threaten me as if he was going to bite and then tries climbing out of reach in his cage.  All the time I am fussing at him that I am running late and he needed to step up and behave.  

After a few minutes of watching this Oliver blurts out “Oooo, Mama’s gonna kill you!”  “Come on!”  I stopped immediately and look over just as Oliver repeated himself once again.  Now don’t get me wrong Oliver often speaks in full sentences and uses them in proper context but at that moment I knew just what my teenager had been telling his 10 year old little brother while I wasn’t home! 

Of course when I later confronted my children they both turned a little red in the cheeks and that was all I needed to know.  Ah, the birds have it again!

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Allison Sorensen is the Director at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park and shares her home with a wonderful husband, two great boys, a dog, rabbit and multiple birds(depending on the day). The park began back in 1992 and has grown rapidly about three years ago when 7 macaws exposed to a virus during research tests were about to be euthanized even though they had not contracted the disease the park step in a gave them a home. Today, over 80 parrots are loved and cared for at the park and some are available for adoption. Learn more about Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park at http://www.macawbirdpark.com and come visit if you are in the Pensacola, FL area. Volunteers are always welcome!

Published as “Who’s a Naughty Parrot then?” in Veterinary Times, (UK) 18th Feb 2008. 

Introduction and general issues. 

The sight of a badly self-plucked parrot in the surgery with its owner hoping for some ‘cure’ is all too frequent.  Sometimes the bird has removed 90% of its own feathers and may even be self-mutilating its flesh.  We might ask why such a sight is so common in parrot-like birds.  

It is of course as easy to acquire these ‘exotic’ animals as it is to acquire a hamster, a rat or a goldfish. Buyers are simply required to be over 16 years old.  Most of the needs of species such as small domesticated rodents can be met while these animals are kept as pets and the provision of these needs is not particularly demanding for the animals’ keeper.  Nor are these animals particularly long-lived.

Conversely, the medium-sized and larger parrots have complex needs and a lifespan similar to humans (Low 1992).  However, it is as easy to acquire a parrot as it is any other commonly-available (but domesticated) species and this ease of acquisition bears no relationship to the knowledge required in order to keep the bird well.  This is perhaps at the heart of the matter when we look at the quality of care many parrots receive as companion animals. 

While the condition of the plumage of wild parrots varies and these birds may damage each others’ feathers there are no incidents of self-harming in wild parrots; the behaviour is confined to captive birds.  Here, the condition seems more common in lone (caged) companion birds as opposed to aviary birds which have the company of their own kind.  

Since there may well be dietary and medical issues which contribute to self-harming in parrots, these aspects should always be investigated when presented with a bird in this condition.  However, self-harming always includes a behavioural component since the bird is making a voluntary decision to damage its own body, so this aspect needs to be examined as well. 

We know that where an animal’s behavioural needs are frustrated, then the animal is vulnerable to behavioural problems.  Engebretson (2006) writes: “The freedom to express normal behaviour and the freedom from distress appear to be inextricably linked in captive parrots and other birds kept as pets.”  

While we do not have many detailed studies of the behavioural ecology of many species of wild parrots, we do know that they are highly social animals which typically spend most of the day-time engaged in foraging for a range of foods, flying, and mutual preening (Birchall 1990).  

Captive parrots, in addition to being unable to perform many of their normal, natural daily behaviours, are also subjected to a range of other common management practices within the bird-keeping world which would seem likely to exacerbate behavioural frustrations.  

These include parental deprivation (hand-rearing), being confined to small cages for most of the time, deprived of flight through wing-clipping and kept in solitude.  It is worth reviewing how captive parrots are produced [for the pet trade] and kept at present. 

Hand-rearing.

While some aviculturists allow some of their breeding pairs to raise their own young, many parrots are hand-reared.   Even before the ending of the commercial importation of wild-caught birds into the European Union in 2007, most captive-bred parrots destined for the pet trade were being hand-reared.  

The hand-rearing process may start with removal of eggs; these being incubated artificially.  The reasons for hand-rearing are essentially commercial.  Where eggs are removed from a laying female, she is stimulated to re-lay her ‘lost’ clutch, so more eggs can be had from her each year than is natural.  As a result of being fed by humans as neonates, hand-reared parrots exhibit submissive behaviours to humans.  

This trait continues, at least until the birds reach maturity at 2 to 5 years old (depending on the species).  The submissive behaviours ensure the birds are tractable and can be handled by potential buyers and ‘cuddle-tame’ parrots sell much quicker in the pet shops than those which are not so tame. 

At sexual maturity, many hand-reared parrots tend to show sexual imprinting to humans.  The process of hand-rearing has adverse effects on the behaviour of African grey parrots when they mature (Schmid, Doherr and Steiger 2005).  Indeed, many behavioural problems do not manifest until the birds become young adults.  
Typically these problems include over-bonding to one member of the household and aggressive biting of anyone who approaches the bird’s favoured person.  The bird’s normal contact calls often escalate into distress calls whenever the favoured person leaves the room, so the bird becomes a ‘screamer’ or noise nuisance.  These sexually imprinted birds experience behavioural frustrations with which they fail to cope.  

These birds are then vulnerable to a range of unwanted behaviours, the most common being stereotypies and self-harming of feathers; these tend to manifest when the birds are no longer immature.  So the hand-rearing, or what we might more accurately call parental deprivation, sets in place a behavioural time-bomb with a 2 to 5 year delay in behavioural problems.  

Indeed, according to Schmid, et al. the maladaptive behaviours of hand-reared birds appears to be largely in proportion to the amount of parental deprivation they have experienced.  Where birds are part-parent raised (not removed from the nest until at least 8 weeks old) they suffer fewer behavioural problems as adults than those which have been solely hand-reared from the day of hatching.  In addition to adverse behavioural issues caused by hand-rearing, there can be adverse physical effects including osteodystrophy (Harcourt-Brown, 2003, 2004). 

Flight deprivation. 

Birds use their ability to fly in order to escape from many fearful situations.  While this escape response is the bird’s most essential predator-avoidance mechanism, it is also used to avoid a range of other adverse encounters.  However, parrots, even immature birds, are often subjected to wing-clipping.  

Clipped birds will still execute this fear-induced escape-by-flight behaviour since, being a reflex action, they have little control of how it is initiated.  Such birds are then at risk of crash-landing and injuring themselves.  So, an already fearful situation is exacerbated by the bird’s often painful crash-landings.  

Such events would not be repeated in a wild bird, since a flightless wild bird would soon be dead.  These events can trigger so-called ‘phobic’ behaviours in parrots.  Phobic birds display an apparently exaggerated fear in response to ‘harmless’ situations (Luescher, 2006).  In the author’s experience, many phobic birds are flight impaired; due either to being wing-clipped or self-mutilation.  Since these birds cannot employ their escape reaction their ‘phobia’ is likely to be reinforced each time they try to avoid some fearful event.  

If they do not ‘escape’ the problem because they cannot, and also hurt themselves when crash-landing, then pain and fear become more frequent and ‘unavoidable’ realities for them.  Where phobic birds have flight restored (by imping or removal of feather stumps to initiate feather re-growth) their confidence improves and their fearful reactions tend to subside.  

As clipped birds risk breaking their growing blood feathers, imping also offers good protection while these feathers grow back.  Non-wing clipped birds can of course easily be taught several requests to fly to and from their keepers and this obviates the ‘need’ for wing-clipping. 

Over-use of the cage.

Were dogs and cats to be confined to small cages and only let out for an hour or two each day we would not be surprised to see more incidences of ‘behavioural’ problems in these animals.  Captive birds are, by default often confined to cages for most of their lives.  For parrots, over-use of small cages which may also be bereft of environmental stimulation commonly leads to stereotypical behaviours, particularly route-tracing and self-plucking (Meehan, Garner and Mench 2003).  

However, where birds have many hours each day out of their cages and are provided with a stimulating environment which includes facilities to forage for some foods they are far less likely to suffer behavioural problems.  Without direct, physical contact with their keepers or other birds, the caged bird is, essentially in solitary confinement. 

While captive parrots are commonly subjected to some or all of the above conditions (conditions which are inimical to their behavioural needs) they have a further common problem.  This relates to how their keepers interact with them when they are out of the cage. 

Relationship with owner and applied behaviour analysis. 

Where the bird’s keeper can be persuaded to provide the bird with a more stimulating general environment which includes several hours out of the cage each day, facilities for foraging for some food, flying opportunities and the company of other parrot-like birds, then the bird’s general behavioural frustrations will be greatly reduced. However, some unwanted behaviours such as biting and self-plucking may still occur in some birds.  

Changing these behaviours will require a more focussed, scientific approach from the bird’s keeper.  In the author’s view, the most effective means of reducing and even eliminating unwanted behaviours is to use methods grounded in applied behaviour analysis (ABA).  The use of ABA for modifying some parrot behaviours has been advocated for some years by Dr Susan Friedman (see www.thegabrielfoundation.org ) in the USA.  

The efficacy and suitability of ABA lies in its use of positive reinforcement (rewards) for desired behaviours while eschewing any aversive interactions with birds such as punishment, admonishment or negative reinforcement.  The rewards used are determined essentially, by the particular bird.  Some respond very well to food treats, other will ‘work’ for a head-scratch or access to a favourite toy (Glendell 2007).  Where unwanted behaviours occur, a non-antagonistic approach is maintained.  Birds are not reprimanded or ‘challenged’ for any unwanted behaviour.  

The concept of ‘dominating’ a bird and forcing it to do certain actions and be 100% compliant is rejected, largely on welfare grounds.  As highly social animals without a simple order of ‘dominance’ found in some species of mammals, a parrot’s need for companionship and company can be used to ask it to refrain from unwanted behaviours.  

So, instead of returning a ‘bad’ bird to its cage in response to some unwanted behaviour, the keeper calmly removes themselves from the company of the bird for a few minutes by walking out of the room.  Once a bird understands the connection between an unwanted behaviour and its favoured person leaving it, it has an incentive to cease the behaviour.

In order to make real progress in the care of companion parrots, many ‘traditional’ avicultural practices need to be dispensed with.  A cessation of hand-rearing -simply letting parrots raise their own progeny- will certainly help.  Training birds to accept some simple flight requests from their keepers removes the ‘need’ for wing-clipping and most birds learn these requests within a few days.  

Ensuring owners are fully aware of the need for birds to be out of their cages for many hours each day is also necessary.  Of course all of this first requires people to change their behaviour, and that is always the really difficult task for vets and behaviourists alike. 

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author:  Greg Glendell is the UK’s only full-time a companion parrot behaviourist; his consultancy is based in Somerset. He runs a free feather-donor service for avian vets and can supply flight feathers from most ‘pet’ species to vets for imping.   Greg has written several books on parrot care; Breaking Bad Habits in Parrots is his latest.  He keeps several parrots, including African and Timneh greys, Amazons and a Meyer’s parrot.  Find information on Greg’s consultancy at http://www.greg-parrots.co.uk   

—————————————————————————————————–

References:

Birchall 1990.  Who’s a clever parrot then? New Scientist Feb. 24th 1990.
Engebretson M.  2006.  A review of parrots as companion animals.  Animal Welfare Vol. 15. (3).  (UFAW). 
Friedman, Dr S www.thegabrielfoundation.org  Accessed on 15 Nov 2007. 
Glendell G 2007.  Breaking Bad Habits in Parrots.  Interpet. 
Graham 1998.  Pet Birds: historical and modern perspectives on the keeper and the kept.  Jrnl. of American Vet. Med. Ass.  212 8). 
Harcourt-Brown N 2003.  Incidents of juvenile osteosdytrophy in hand-reared grey parrots.  Veterinary Record, 152 438-439. 
Harcourt-Brown, N 2004.  Development of the skeleton and feathers of dusky parrots in relation to their behaviour.  Veterinary Record 154.  42-48. 
Low R 1992.  Parrots; their care and breeding.  Blandford. 
Luescher, A U (ed). 2006.  Manual of parrot behavior.  Blackwell. 
Meehan, CL Garner, JP and Mench. JA.  Isosexual pair housing improves the welfare of young Amazon parrots. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 81. 73-88  2003.
Schmid R,  Doherr M G  & Steiger  A 2005.  The Influence of the Breeding Method on the Behaviour of Adult African Grey Parrots.  Applied Animal Behaviour Science 2005.  See www.sciencedirect.com

What is the WWF? Here’s a quick intro:

“The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the “World Wildlife Fund”, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada.” 

“It is the world’s largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 90 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with approximately 9% of its funding coming from voluntary donations by private individuals and businesses.” 

—————————————————————————————————–
References: The video above was embedded from YouTube. Juan Bernabe, is a falconer trainer and has a lot of experience in training birds of prey like eagles, falcons and many other birds. Inside the Elite Parrots Club we have a PDF interview where you can learn the exact secrets he uses to train his eagle Victory to fly this same crowded packed stadium full of 65,000 people. Join the Elite Parrots Club here http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com

Almost 8 years ago now, my daughter-in-law was given a cockatiel named Simon. We already had canaries, so she thought that Simon would be happy living with us. I accepted adding Simon to our bird family even though I knew little about cockatiels.

Simon wasn’t very tame, but when he flew to the floor he would hop onto my finger and make his way to my shoulder where he would whistle to me. One night Simon was yawning (I know that now) and I thought he was choking. I screamed to my husband to see what was wrong and he tried to pick Simon up. Much to his surprise Simon bit him badly and his finger took 2 weeks to heal.

From then on my husband was in Simon’s bad book and visa versa. Soon after Simon came to live with us, my children thought that he was a very lonely bird, so they went out and bought me Stella — a beautiful Lutino. Stella was very tame, but Simon didn’t appreciate her presence at all. However, Simon and Stella tolerated each other as long as they were sitting on different perches.

At one year of age, Stella’s hormones started up and she tried and tried to instill an interest in Simon, but no-go. He just wasn’t interested in her at all. My sister-in-law had a young cockatiel named Aussie, the same age as Stella, who was very tame and wanted to breed but only knew how to enjoy himself on perches. She suggested we swap our male birds — and so we did.

At first Aussie was terrified of Stella, who was very persistent. She would chase him around the large cage until he was tired and panting — poor little fellow. Stella became very jealous of him as well. She didn’t want to share him with me at all. When I had him on my shoulder and then returned him to the cage, she would yell at him. Can you believe it?

One day I witnessed Aussie trying to mount Stella. I guess she taught him what to do. It was so funny to see, because he fell off numerous times before he got it right and stayed on. That’s the beginning of a number of years of breeding baby ‘tiels. The first few eggs were empty. Then some babies died in their eggs, but then there were babies and babies and non-stop babies until I’m at my wits end tying to have them stop and rest.

I have made this take a break from breeding. I only recommend breeding companion parrots if you know they have good, loving, caring homes available. I’ve been fortunate that all my friends and family have learned about birds from my experiences and many have provided homes to Stella and Aussie’s babies. Others who want one of my babies must pass my screening process so that I am sure they know about care and diet and will give the birds a good home. I always ask them to bring the real cage with them so I know what the baby will be calling home — no tiny cages for my babies!

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Miriana lives in Canada with her husband Jim. Miriana has become an expert on cockatiels and budgies while Jim continues to love his canaries. Miriana is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her by visiting http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com

Companion birds of any of the species commonly kept as pets really add a lot to our lives. Those people who do not own birds simply have no idea how rewarding having a loving companion bird can be.

Often people come into my home and see me interacting with one of my birds and say, “I had no idea birds had so much personality!” Well, that is simply because they have never been exposed to parrots of any kind that were tame and loving.

In fact, birds are so beneficial for people that if you walk into most nursing homes, you’ll find several budgies or cockatiels in the residence. The people living in these homes surround the birds and talk to them daily, watch them play and cavort about their cages performing their cute antics. Some of the residents even spend time teaching the birds to talk. The quality of life of these nursing home residents is greatly improved by the presence of feathered friends.

I know when Mother was in the hospital recently, she missed our birds a great deal. Once she returned home, just seeing her FIDs (feathered kids) or in her case feathered grandkids, really perked her up and helped reduce the level of pain she was experiencing from her surgery. Not only were our birds happy to see Mom, she was so happy to see and hear them chirping and talking to her.

Birds are great companions for people who live alone. They do not require the outdoor walks in cold, rainy, or snowy weather which dogs require and they don’t require smelly litter boxes that cats need. Small birds take up very little room and really are not messy.

Birds are also great for apartment dwellers, especially smaller birds such as budgies and cockatiels. These small species are not noisy and any apartment with “no pet” policies will permit small parrots as residents. You can easily tell I am a huge fan of companion birds. I’ve lived with at least one bird for the past 30+ years and can’t imagine not enjoying the companionship of one in my home.

Right now my little birds, the budgie pair named Ziggy and Honey, are having a family of their own. So far, four of their six eggs have hatched and the babies look like little aliens with huge heads, huge closed eyes, bare pink skin and somewhat transparent bodies.

The oldest one is just one week old, so very soon it will begin looking like a bird as it develops down and then pin feathers. While I don’t recommend that everyone breed their companion birds, I have allowed Ziggy and Honey to have a  family because I already have good homes waiting for tame loving budgies.

If you have a companion bird and need one-on-one advice or coaching, I’m always happy to help. WIthout proper care and knowledge of household dangers, it is so easy to lose a beloved bird.

—————————————————————————————————–
About the Author: Nora Caterino, known as the Mississippi Bird Lady, or just Bird Lady for short, has trained, raised, and lived with birds for over 30 years. You can subscribe to access news, articles, videos, forums, and receive unlimited one-on-one advice and coaching for one full year. For one-on-one coaching and advice, simply join the Elite Parrots Club at http://www.eliteparrotsclub.com/talking.php