Photo of african grey by parrotsancturay.co.cc

Just like people, parrots sometimes find themselves in a place in life where they have a hard time getting around. This might be the result of a deformity, an injury or the struggles of old age. And, just like people, parrots learn to adapt to their circumstances with a little help from those around them.

To most people it makes sense that a parrot hatched with a deformity would be better able to learn to get by. After all, it has never known any other way. But how could a parrot that lost a foot in an injury learn to adapt when everything a parrot does involves its feet? How could a blind parrot learn to navigate it’s cage without hands to guide him in the darkness?

The answer to these questions is quite simple: a parrot makes the difficult adjustment because it must in order to survive. And frankly, it is a lot easier for a parrot to adapt because they don’t suffer from bouts of self pity the way humans do. They don’t waste time or energy thinking “Why me?”, or considering “If only…” They see a task ahead of them and they get to it. The footless parrot plots out another means of getting from point A to B. The blind parrot learns to rely more heavily on its other senses.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t do everything we can to make the cage more practical for our special needs parrots. Our highest priority should be in the matter of safety. Until which time the bird recovers or has adapted to its infirmity, we must be certain they are not in danger when perching or moving around the cage.

Footless african grey photo by Anna Sloan

A few years ago, a friend took in two handicapped african greys. Shortly after hatching, their parents bit off their feet, for reasons no one will ever know. If I remember correctly, the breeder’s solution to the problem was a river and a bag of rocks, but fortunately someone stepped in and they wound up in the care of my friend. Each bird had a different degree of “disability”. One had remnants of feet, one had only stumps. They both needed special considerations for their care.

Obviously, the biggest obstacle was finding a way to offer comfort and stability in perching. Below is a photo of a starter cage that my friend modified to suit the needs of one of the birds. The cage is large enough to encourage active play, but small enough to prevent injury during a fall from any real height. Everything is padded for comfort, while offering help with balance. The climbing ramp is wound with rope to add traction for footless-ness.

Aside from the obvious special caging and perching needs of the greys, some unanticipated problems arose, such as how to confidently step up a footless bird. It is difficult for a human to be a stable perch for a bird with no toes to grasp fingers or wrists. This resulted in some trust issues as the birds struggled to feel secure when being held by humans, but it was sorted out with patience and diligence. There is more to tending to special needs than meets the eye but the birds did remarkably well and have since gone on to new homes.

Photo and cage modification by Anna Sloan

Recently, someone contacted me because her bird was going blind. She was very upset, but I explained to her that this was not the end of the world – for her or her bird. She sent me some video footage of her bird’s cage and in the end we decided to change nothing. Her bird had been in that cage for its entire life and was quite aware of where the food bowls were and how the perching was laid out. As its vision declined, the bird was showing that it was quite capable of navigating the cage without any problems.

I think one of the biggest challenges with having a special needs parrot comes from within ourselves. Very often, their physical shortcomings are a bigger deal to us than it is to them.  Birds are very reactive to the stress levels of their people, and wouldn’t it be ironic that while we fret over making their lives livable in the face of their handicap, that we are actually making it more tense with our own stress?

Photo of handicapped budgie by avianweb.com

Once we have tended to their health issues and to their safety, we really must learn to back away and let the bird take it from there. Their perseverence will astound you. It’s important that we don’t over-assist our birds. In doing so, we might take away opportunities for exercise, which might be somewhat limited anyways. Once your bird has adjusted to his new way of life, be sure to allow him opportunities to explore and play like any other bird. We want to help make life do-able without crossing the line to where it is sedentary or boring.

Two years… 730 Days… 17,520 hours… Countless Miles… No matter how you look at it, two years on the road is a long time!  Especially when you travel the country by truck and RV… correction; make that two trucks, and two RV’s, a flock of birds, magic props, motorcycle, and a house cat.  Driving separately from Jamie can be painstaking, but it does give me some time to reflect.  Not only on shows and future plans, but on training, and what I can do to become a better trainer.

Image Copyright Feld Entertainment 2010

I’m one of those people who is constantly in the pursuit of perfection.  Always trying to learn more, and always trying to become a better person and professional.  At many times, it’s to a fault.  These past two years have really given me the chance to realize how important it is to live in the moment.  It has also given me phycological insight on how to get my birds to reach perfection on and off stage.  After all, I’m hired to perform a 1st-class production with professionally trained parrots – and likewise, my birds are expected to be “1st Class Performers” as well. It would be hard to be “the best” if my birds would land in the rafters, or fly out the backdoor and disappear into the Vegas desert, only to be found a week later by strangers.  In my industry, there’s no room for errors.  Sometimes that can translate to a lot of pressure for my birds, after all they didn’t sign the contract, I did.  So I always do my best to reward their every moment.

October 30, 2011 finally arrived, and we performed our last show in Wilkes Barre, PA.  I had performed for five different Ringling Shows over that two year tour, and it was all coming to an end.  Aside from a huge sense of accomplishment, there was a strange calmness that suddenly overwhelmed me backstage shortly after performing Catapoultry with Bondi.  I looked around and realized… 5,000 people in an arena, sold out shows, TV, Radio, Print… it was all coming to an end in 73 minutes from that exact moment.  Surrounded by black curtains and 7-sets of birdie eyes staring at me through the dimly lit backstage, as if they could tell I was finally processing it all; I took each bird out, kissed them on the head, held them for a moment and thanked them out-loud for being there for me for the entire tour. The ups and downs, the tornados and snow storms, 20 degrees to 120 degrees – it didn’t matter, they had achieved perfection in nearly every show, night after night, mile after mile, audience after audience.

Fiji’s Last Show – Photo Mishelle Statford

It was when I picked up Bondi, who had been looking at me concerned the whole time, that a single tear made it’s way past my right eye, and was now slowly passing my lips.   I kissed her on the head, thanked her for giving her all, even on days that she wasn’t feeling well.  It was as if she and I connected more than ever.  She mirrored my mood through every phase of the tour, from being a rock star on stage, to the tender moments offstage that an audience and cameras never see.  When we lost Fiji, she completely shut down with me, as if she was mourning her loss through me.  And on October 30, 2011 she once again  understood my feelings and that this was her last show, and we could both go home and relax until our next journey begins.

Bondi Performing Catapoultry

I learned many things on this tour about life & training.  From the highest highs to the lowest lows, and yet one lesson stands out miles ahead of anything else I could ever possibly write.  A lesson that we should all live by, a lesson that keeps you moving when your down and constantly elevates you while you’re up.

“Always love your birds like it’s the last day you’ll see them, for they provide more to us than could ever be transcribed into any human language.”

I’m so grateful for everything they’ve given me.  Those of you who can truly relate know the exact feeling I’m conjuring when I say these words.  And those of you who are just now paving that path with your birds will soon understand the feelings that are impossible to put onto paper.

In our seminar DVD set, I talk about the Gypsy Experience as a means to training your bird.  It refers to my lifestyle – everyday a hundred new mile markers roll by, every night my birds are in front of more than 5,000 people.  Every day they experience different people, places, and things.  For a species that spends 80% of its day foraging for food and having to figure out new things, this is the next best thing to a magic potion for success with your psittacines.

Whether I’m traveling by land or by sea, I always try to “add value” for my clients by offering to do a free animal training seminar.  To my clients, I’m going above and beyond by doing more than they hired me for, and secretly I’m doing wonders for my flock!  They get to meet people of all ages and races.  The more you can expose your parrots to these new experiences everyday, the more confident they’ll be throughout their lives.  Additionally, it adds invaluable training time for them.

Inevitably, birds seem to think that a trick is completely different when you add a dozen (or 5,000) people into the equation.  It’s as if they do the trick perfectly on stage with full lights, sound, and pyro… but when you add applause into the equation it’s no longer the “pick-up-your-foot-and-wiggle-it-back-and-forth” command.  Similar… but now it’s the ”pick-up-your-foot-and-wiggle-it-back-and-forth-with-applause” command… totally different!  ;o)

If you can find yourself in a position to be able to get your birds in front of more than a couple people, do it!  It doesn’t have to be fancy, and it doesn’t have to be perfect.  That’s the beauty about doing an animal seminar.  You can educate people about your parrots, talk to them about training, and the audience can see them during the learning process.

I wanted to get Rocko in front of an audience, to test how he would respond.  The following video showcases that beautifully.  The angle isn’t the best, but due to laws we couldn’t include kids in the video without written consent from each parent.  Clearly that wasn’t an option, so we shot it from the side.  In this video you’ll get to see what it looks like when we’re training our birds a new behavior.  Sometimes it requires a lot of patience… I use these opportunities to get my birds ready for the big stage, socialize them, build confidence, and entertain/educate my audiences.

Enjoy Rocko’s first animal training seminar, and a sneak peak behind the scenes of my training.

As a professional performer who happens to work with parrots, I meet thousands of people each week and I get invited to a lot of parrot rescues because of this.  Now I know that most of the rescues I’ve been to sure meant well, but the fact remains that only a few are making a difference like Christy is at Zazu’s House Parrot Sanctuary just north of Seattle.

I was in the middle of loading my illusions into the arena in Everett, when I received a picture message from one of our tour managers.  She had taken a picture of a Hyacinth in a pet shop across the street from us, and told me it was “the most amazing shop and birds are out everywhere!”  She was right about it being an amazing shop.  I walked into Apollo’s Bird Store and struck up a conversation with the owner, Bunni.  You could tell instantly that she was a fan of birds and was willing to do anything to make sure they go to good homes.

Photo by Jamieleigh
Location: Bothell, WA
Pictured: Blue and Gold Macaw

It was then, that I first heard about Zazu’s House.  It was this mysterious rescue that I needed to know more about.  Bunni mentioned how the rescue lives off of donations and that once a year the pet shop holds a silent auction to raise money for Zazu’s House.  Last year they raised almost $10,000 which went towards the construction of a new building.  It was this drive that made me realize I needed to see this amazing place.

Within a couple days we had an appointment with the rescue, and we followed Bunni out while trying to make sure we got back to Everett in time for shows that evening.  When the gates opened up and we drove up to the estate, I was blown away.  This wasn’t just any old rescue, this was a heaven! 

Photo by Dave
Location: Bothell, WA
Macaw Haven Aviary in Zazu’s House

There were two sections.  One was for “special needs” and the other was for macaws only.

Since I choose editing video over writing to relay my message, I scheduled another visit so that I could film this incredible place, and share it with you.  I felt inclined to donate, and hope that if you’re in a position to do the same that you do so without hesitation.  Just watch the video above and you’ll soon know why.

Blue and gold macaw

In my opinion, one of the things that most strongly speaks to the intellect of a parrot is the use and reworking of the words in its vocabulary. Taking two unrelated words and placing them together to form another word or phrase with an entirely different meaning is the “recombining” of words.
Many birds have the ability to put labels to the things around them  Some words are the names of objects, such as a bell. Other words are adjectives such as colors, big or small, hard or soft. Birds have repeatedly shown a remarkable ability to correctly apply an appropriate descriptive label to a given noun.
In her work with the famous african grey, Alex, Dr Irene Pepperberg taught Alex to identify the substance of which an item composed. To simplify this question, she would ask “What matter?”  Alex would respond with: “paper” or “wood”, for example. In one test, one such substance was cork, a bottle stopper.
Alex was smart, and he was also a bird and so was familiar with a variety of nuts. He, by his own choosing, renamed the unshelled almond “cork-nut” and would call it only that. He also referred to an apple as a ban-erry. Dr. Pepperberg makes the assumption that this combination comes from “ban”ana, perhaps because of the similar color inside the fruit, and ch”erry” as both fruits share a similar shape and color on the outside.

This is the ultimate example of the recombination of words. Think, for a moment, about the brain power and creativity that goes into making that connection.

I have a friend whose african grey strung together this sentence on his own: “Wanna go big, red chair”. This was a request for a ride in the car, which is red, big, and actually does contain “chairs”. Someone else told me that their blue and gold macaw referred to meowing as “kitty song”. Pretty adorable, and smart.

Has your bird ever made the connection to put the name of an object together with an adjective, such as “ball” and “blue”, or “water” and “cold”?

pacific parrotlets

A questions that we often hear at Birdtricks is: “what is a good first bird to get?”. It’s a difficult question and one that I answer reluctantly. I will try to offer my opinion…

First, I want to say that I don’t really believe in “starter” birds. It is often said that a smaller bird is more suitable for the first time owner. I don’t entirely agree.

All birds are created equally. There is no one species of parrot that requires less care or commitment than the others. Every single species needs the same considerations to health and diet, enrichment and attention. In this regard, there is no diffference between a budgie or a hyacinth macaw. Basic care requirements are not minimized because a parrot is smaller.

Hyacinth macaw

You might ask yourself why a larger bird is more appealing to you. Believe me when I tell you that a smaller bird is every bit the parrot that a larger bird is.They are as intelligent, interactive and demanding  – they just come in a smaller, less intrusive package. A larger parrot is not a better parrot.

There are, however, significant logistical differences in the ownership of larger vs smaller birds to consider. Size is very relevant in the following areas:

Vocalization: It only makes sense that the larger the bird, the louder the voice. If your hearing is sensitive, or if you have nearby neighbors that own shotguns, you might reconsider getting a larger parrot (check THIS out).

Biting: As a new owner, you will find yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to adeptly reading your bird’s body language. If you harbor a fear of being bitten, and chances are you will be at some point, a smaller bird might be right for you. Birds can sense apprehension and some will use it to intimidate and manipulate you.

Housing: Do you have the space in your living room for a cage that is 3 or 4 times the size of your refrigerator? Don’t forget about the play stand.

Damage: The bigger the bird, the bigger the beak, the bigger the holes in your shirts/furniture/carpeting/doorways…

Sulphur crested cockatoo, blue and gold macaw

Certainly, there are species that are correctly defined as high maintenance, either behaviorally or in their special needs. For instance:

• The lory owner needs to be well educated about their unique diet and will need to find creative solutions to the “messes” they make because of their nectar-based diet. They don’t so much poop as squirt and the wall behind the cage will not fare well. Nor will closely placed furniture, or the floor, for that matter.
• The african grey can be overly sensitive to its environment, can be phobic, and will mimic every sound emitted in your household. This can be endearing, annoying and/or embarrassing. Dad will have to stop swearing like a sailor and couples will not want to keep their african grey’s cage in their bedroom. (A discovery some friends made when their bird replayed the audio portion of the night before in the presence of their dinner guests.)
• Then there’s the cockatoo who might be best served by an owner that has some serious experience in parenting, as they require someone who is adept at dispensing tough love to keep them from developing bad habits. Cockatoos always seem to be wanting things that are not good for them.They are constantly seeking attention. Sometimes you must deny them and it is difficult not to give in at times. It’s easy to make mistakes with them and many should have the number of a local rescue tattooed under their wing.(Some will simply come with the number 666.) Cockatoos are my favorite species, but this is a bird that I really think belongs in the hands of an experienced bird person.

Umbrella cockatoo

In the end, the answer to the question of which bird to get is more related to the person considering parrot ownership than it is to any parrot species. It boils down to what kind of potential bird owner you are, what your circumstances allow for and how tolerant you are to the behaviors that certain species are famous for. There is no patented “right” first bird.

I have watched people who wanted a macaw as a first bird do the “responsible” thing and start with small birds, eventually graduate to a medium sized birds, and finally get their macaw. The result is a house full of birds, all needing attention, when all they wanted originally was a single macaw to dote on. I think that people should get the bird they want, but ONLY when certain, beyond a doubt, that they are up to the challenge. Many new owners do very well with a large first bird. I have also seen people fail miserably with cockatiels, who are known for their friendly and compliant natures.

budgies

Know what you are getting into. Exhaustively research any species you are considering. Understand that ANY bird will be a huge, long-term commitment. Most importantly, be brutally honest about your limitations as a potential bird owner and don’t go for a bird that you aren’t able to give 100% to.