All The Amazing Secrets Of The Macaw Parrot December 5, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : Articles, Macaw , 2 commentsBy Dane J Stanton
The macaw parrot is a type of parrot that originates from South America and Africa. There are many different types of macaws and two of the most popular are the Catalina macaw parrot and the blue and yellow macaw parrot. Many people will recognize the macaw from pirate movies as being the parrot that sits on the shoulder of the captain. They were of course used by sailors back in those days for sailors who could not speak. They used to train the macaw parrot to speak for them.
The lifespan of the macaw parrot ranges from 15 to 30 years depending on how well looked after they are. There is lots you can do to make sure your macaw parrot will live for longer and one of the most important things you can do as an owner is to make sure your macaw is consistently being shown attention. Parrots hate nothing more than to be bored and being bored usually decreases their lifespan.
How To Know What Your Pet Bird Is Saying To You Even If He Can’t Talk November 28, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : Articles , add a comment...please?By Lee Dobbins
One of the unique aspects of having a bird for a pet is that this is one of the few pets that may actually be trained to talk. Many people feel that they’ll be able to communicate and have conversations with their pet birds but this may not be true in all cases. Even if a bird can talk fluently you must remember that even the smartest birds only have the intelligence of a toddler and therefore may not be able to tell you how they are feeling.
How To Stop Your Parrot’s Biting In 7 Days October 31, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey, Amazon, Articles, Cockatoo, Conure, Macaw, Senegal , add a comment...please?By Dave Womach
Do you own a parrot that bites? Would you like me to share some proven principals for getting your parrot to stop biting? If so, you’re about to discover how to get rid of your parrot’s biting, using a strategy I call “Target Training”.
Never heard of target training? I’m not surprised. Most so called parrot behavior “Gurus” have been so busy standing on their soapboxes, preaching to everyone that “if we just loved our parrots more, they’d start to be nice” – what a bunch of garbage! And what they’re preaching couldn’t be further from the truth.
Let’s face it. When most people buy a baby parrot, it’s just been hand fed, it’s still a baby, not yet strong enough to bite, and it’s the cutest, cuddliest little thing in the world. And they actually stay that way, for several months & even years.
But then every parrot eventually comes into what I call their “Teenage Years”. It’s basically puberty for your bird. Its hormones are a wreck, it starts wanting a mate, and just like your teenage kids, parrot’s tend to become a bit troublesome during this time, and there’s no amount of love that can turn their behavior around. Instead the magical fix is to do what every therapist says to their emotionally challenged clients when their relationships are in a mess – “work on strengthening your communication”.
And that’s exactly what “Target Training” does. It develops a level of communication with your bird that both of you can understand.
Here’s how it works. You train your parrot to understand simple commands from you, or cues. Then you teach your parrot that whenever he follows these cues, he gets rewarded – usually with a really tasty treat! The more commands you teach your parrot, the better the level of communication and the more your parrot will trust you, and cease to bite you.
The very first and most basic level of target training is teaching your parrot to touch the end of a small wooden stick, or wooden dowel. You reward your parrot every time he touches the end of the wooden dowel by giving him a treat each time, even if when he touches it, he’s lashing out at the dowel.
And with time, the parrot realizes that you’re calling the shots, and that you’re actually opening up a new level of communication to him that he never knew existed. He’ll start to realize that if he follows your cues, and touches the end of the stick like you’ve asked him to, that you’ll reward him… and reward him well.
Your parrot will start to trust you so much, that a well target trained parrot, can be known to actually be trained to do whatever it takes to touch the end of that stick, even by flying or walking over your entire house, just to obey your cues.
By focusing on training your parrot to “Target” or touch the end of a stick, you’ll open up that level of communication it takes to get your parrot to realize you really are a nice person and that he doesn’t need to bite you to get what he wants after all.
For more information on target training, or other tips and tricks for teaching your parrot to stop biting, sign up for Chet Womach’s “Parrot Training Newsletter” where you’ll get free videos and monthly tips for fixing the behavior problems in your parrot.
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How to Feed Hummingbirds by Hand October 28, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : Articles, Wild Birds , add a comment...please?By Simone Skorcik
This is the technique I used to get our backyard hummingbirds to eat from my hand.
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Transferring Birds from Bird Cage to Aviary October 24, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : Articles , comments closedBy Tanja Hut
When catching the larger birds, a small bird cage is taken into the aviary and the bird is transferred from the net. The temptation to transport birds in the net must be resisted as accidents can very easily happen and one can easily let go of the top of the net, allowing the bird to escape.
A vital piece of equipment in any bird room or aviary is a catching net, obtainable from aviary suppliers. Those made of dark-colored materials are preferable. The rim should be padded to prevent injury. The sight of the net invariably causes the birds to scream or to fly about wildly so I always conceal it until reaching the aviary containing the bird to be caught.
Familiarizing Yourself With Different Parrot Species October 19, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : Articles , comments closedBy Low Jeremy
Fascinated to the world of the fast-talking, fun-loving parrots? Are you contemplating on the idea of getting one as your pet bird? If you have plans of purchasing one in the future, then you must familiarize yourself with the different parrot species existing in the pet trades and pet stores today.
As defined, parrots are a very popular group of birds for possessing high intelligence depending on the degree of its socialization and training. Famous for its ability to imitate human speech and various sounds, these tropical colorful birds are mainly found in Australia and South America.
