This is my Senegal Parrot’s first appearance in a video and I had only had my bird for about 6 months at the time it was shot. In the video she demonstrates 7 tricks: wave, shake, nod, turn around, bat, fetch, and bowling. That is greater than an average of 1 trick per month.

Also I had taught several other taming behaviors and established a regime. She also knew target, let me pet her, hold her in any angle, and open her wings to check feathers. I taught these tricks at a leisurely but consistent pace. Check back at this blog for more training tips.

This summer I had to go to a BBQ outing so I brought my Senegal Parrot along for the day. It’s a good way to socialize the bird and introduce it to new people and surroundings.

By bird is usually much more tame during such outings and never bites anyone (although at home she can get territorial). Such outings are a great opportunity to introduce new people, new foods, new objects. The parrot is like a sponge and soaks this all in because it’s curious and observant.

And of course this is a great opportunity to show off your bird’s tricks to friends and family.

Also, I had to go to a birthday party to which I decided to bring my Senegal. Everyone is always quite impressed, the bird learns, and I have my favorite companion along with me to enjoy it. I don’t keep her out for too long at a time.

I give the bird breaks in the carrier but usually place it some place nearby so that she can see me. On occasion, however, I leave the carrier (in a safe and undisturbed place) for a while so that the bird can learn to be alone in the carrier if need be transported.

So by all means, bringing your bird on single day outings is a great experience for you, your bird, and your friends. When you have to go visit the in-laws or some other outing you aren’t so much looking forward to, bring your feathered friend along to keep you company.

Warning: Your bird should be on a harness when taken outside unless properly trained by a professional for un-tethered outside interaction.

I had to have certain confidence and trust in my bird that if I had to pick her up or put her away that she would let me do that without a fight. Heck, there wouldn’t be a chance for any treats, targeting, coaxing, or second tries. But having trained 12 tricks, numerous taming behaviors, and gotten close with my bird, I felt comfortable and confident that I would not have a problem with her behavior.

As you may have seen in a previous post, I have taken my parrot out on car outings before. This helped her get used to new people, places, and car rides. The airplane ride was not that much different from a car drive and birds aren’t afraid of heights.

My friend, who suggested that I get a bird, told me that he never takes his bird places. In fact he said that since its first wing clipping, he never took it out of the house because it would be too stressful. It is no wonder that he was shocked when I met him at the airport having flown in with my parrot on my shoulder.

There is no doubt that vet visits and grooming visits can be stressful to a bird. But this does not mean that travel has to be. If the only reason you ever take your bird out is for unpleasant things, it is no wonder it doesn’t want to go in a carrier. I try to make my birds outings as pleasant to the bird as possible. I give her lots of attention (more than at home), lots of opportunities to earn treats easily, and new things to try. Furthermore, I try to balance every vet/trimming visit with at least (but usually more) double the number of fun outings. Thus my bird really doesn’t know in advance what kind of outing it will be but odds favor a pleasant one.

The reason why trick training was important and had such a tremendous impact on my bird is because it makes the bird used to doing what I ask it to do. Trick training builds trust and respect between bird owner and bird in both directions. The owner teaches the bird behaviors but the bird also reflects what it wants to and doesn’t want to do. Trick training helps develop a positive relationship and that relationship develops into a real loving bond.

Well actually it is a parakeet. But it’s only one of over a hundred types of parakeets. This bird is a budgerigar.

A new pet peeve of mine is when people call these birds parakeets, keets, or American parakeets. When I head of this American Parakeet, I was perplexed because I had never heard of a parakeet native to North America. When I looked into it and saw a picture of a budgie labeled American Parakeet, I only got more frustrated.

That is because budgerigars are actually native to Australia and in the aboriginal tongue means “good to eat.” Just because tanks full of budgies in pet stores are labeled parakeets, the sales people tell you they are parakeets, pet supplies are labeled parakeets, does not mean that budgies should be referred to as parakeets and the other 100+ types be neglected.

The term parakeet refers to small long tailed parrots and you may already know a few kinds:

-Ringnecked Parakeet

-Alexandrine Parakeet

-Monk Parakeet (quaker parrot)

-Lorikeet

There is in fact an entire genus comprised of parakeets called Psittacula. But there are species of parakeets all across the parrot family.

Calling budgies parakeets has only led to an enormous level of confusion. In an email addressed to me a long time ago (when seeking to buy my first bird) a friend who owns a cockatiel wrote to me, “Parakeets are a little more fun and will like to come out and play around…some can be trained to talk and do tricks……..will recognize you.

Budgies are sort of like parakeets but better.” My friend had apparently heard of parakeets and heard the term budgie and since they sound completely different he mistook it for two different species of birds. He did not realize that one is a specific species and the other is a category to which that species belongs.

And believe me he was not talking about parakeets as a genera of birds because the rest of the email discussed specific types.

On this forum, people seem to be quite confused about the difference between budgies and parakeets as well. Someone posted, “A Parakeet isn’t known as a budgie in England, a Parakeet is like a small parrot, a Parakeet is all green with a red beak, native been India but found mostly in South East England.” This was probably talking about a Ringnecked parakeet but this person was confused as well.

I think that if everybody called the birds by their right names, there would not be all this unnecessary confusion. A Ringnecked Parakeet is a Ringnecked Parakeet and a Budgerigar is a Budgerigar.

Just because budgies are a type of parakeet is not a good reason to call them parakeets. Every time someone makes a remark about parakeets, that are actually making a blanket statement about over 100 species of parakeet.

If you want to talk about birds like the one pictured above (ranging in colors from green/yellow, blue/white, yellow, and white), then you should be saying budgerigar or budgie for short. If you want to talk about the entire subset of small, long tailed parrots, then by all means call them parakeets.

But just because most people are misinformed is no reason for educated parrot enthusiasts to continue to mislabel these birds. I try to take every opportunity to correctly call my bird a budgie (or budgerigar in full) and point out that it is not just a “parakeet” but one of many different parakeets.

You may have seen my previous post about my budgie going through a toilet paper tube. Well we took this trick one step further.

Now the budgie runs through a slinky as well.

This trick add on only took five minutes to train as he had already learned to go through various sized tubes.

This one is more exciting though because you can see the bird running through the slinky and because it can be bent in different directions as opposed to the straight tube. One time we let him run into the slinky and quickly bent the exit end and hooked it up with the entrance end and he kept going around in a circle a couple times till we let him out.

So if you have taught your bird to go through a tube, go ahead and try to find a slinky to add another trick to your repertoire without the effort of teaching a whole new trick. The bird should pretty quickly figure out that the slinky is just another tube to go through if it is already proficient at the tube trick.

Start by letting it run through a contracted slinky as a plain tube and once it figures that out, you can start expanding it for longer runs. If the bird isn’t picking it up, go back to the tube trick post and just use the same techniques to target the bird through the slinky. Please be careful and use two hands or get assistance for holding the slinky open.

If you let go of one end, it may spring shut and injure your bird. Be safe and enjoy.

As you may know, Kili, my Senegal Parrot has a bit of a biting problem.

Since I live alone, the parrot has not been well socialized to other people. So what I have been doing lately is taking the bird with me every chance I have to meet new people and see new places.

So this was an occasion where I had the boring task of driving someone to and from the dentist. Right before leaving I was brainstorming what to bring to keep myself entertained during the wait and what better companion to bring than my companion parrot? So I quickly tossed my parrot in the carrier and headed out.

During some point of the drive, I took out the bird and let her drive the car a little. Or we played birdie phone (I don’t think it’s illegal to talk on a bird phone yet). The rest of the time she enjoyed hanging out on my shoulder.

She’s very well behaved and I could let her sit on my the whole drive if pooping wasn’t an issue. I get worried about keeping her out longer than 10 minutes because I know there is one coming and I don’t want my clothes ruined while I’m out.

Back to the biting I mentioned. My bird can get bossy at home and particularly around her cage. Out on a trip though, she is an angel. She will let anyone and everyone pet/handle her so it makes things so much easier.

At home, she will often bite or scare my girlfriend but on trips like these I try to take the opportunity to let her hold and pet the bird because it is much tamer in strange environments.

While I waited outside the dentist office, I played with my bird and had her do some tricks for treats. Fun for me and fun for the bird. Sure beats sitting in the cage anyhow.

So next time you are not looking forward to having to drive someone someplace, think about taking your parrot with you for company.