Birdie Springtime

It finally feels like spring today. Although still a bit chilly this morning, the sun is shining brightly, the grass is greening, the birds are singing and the crocus and daffodils are blooming. Warm weather is almost here. Typically, spring in Indiana goes like this: one week we are in the 30's with the occasional sleet or snow shower and the next week, we are in the 80's, trying to get the AC to work after a long winter;>)

The inside birds are becoming a bit flighty with all the nesting behavior going on outside. We don't breed our birds, nor do we intend to-there are more than enough unwanted, abused and neglected cockatoos in the world! When hormones rise as daylight hours increase, undesirable behaviors (screaming, biting and destructiveness) escalate. What I call undesirable behavior is often a very natural behavior for the birds. Screaming to call to a mate, chewing wood to make a nest cavity in a tree are understandably wonderful attributes in a wild parrot. Most parrots do not bite in the wild-they can fly away from something thye dislike or fear and they pay much closer attention to body language than we do. Parrots signal others with body posture, eye and feather shape and position, etc. We teach our parrots to bite when we do not observe their body language that says "I don't want to, go away, don't touch me ", etc.

This is where positive reinforcement comes into play. When we teach our parrots a desirable behavior (waving their foot, for example), we can achieve two major goals:

#1 We learn to observe our bird more closely while teaching, so we can reward the desired behavior. Behavior that is rewarded is repeated. We learn our bird's body language.

#2 We teach an acceptable behavior that we can ask of our parrots when they are exhibiting undesirable behavior. In other words, if Merlin, my cockatoo, is engaged in repetitive screaming, I will ask him to wave. This refocuses his attention to getting a treat and he stops screaming.

Too good to be true? Nope, positive reinforcment REALLY works. Check out my DVD at:


Companion Parrot Media