The cutest things on the planet may very well be (and not necessarily in this order): a baby cracking up laughing, kittens doing just about anything, and birds playing.  Some of the very best memories I have of my birds are of them playing, especially when it involves me.  There’s something so precious about watching the determination of a 100 gram bird tug on something twice its size, and the lengths they will go to to accomplish an nearly impossible task.  I am always on the lookout for things that will peak the curiosity of a nosy bird to inspire play.

Here are some things you can make quickly and inexpensively that can change and grow with your imagination, all of which work best with your involvement:

1.  Birdie tunnel (budgies/finches):
You can make this simple toy from a cardboard paper towel roll and two shoeboxes.  Remove the lids from the shoeboxes and place them open side up.  Cut a hole in one short side of each box just large enough for an end of the paper towel roll to fit through.  Connect all the pieces together with the paper towel roll in the center.  It will look like a dumbbell when you’re through.
I have a friend with 3 little budgies that spent hours with this toy.  Eventually she raised the height of the tube to the top of the box and created ramps and steps and climbing ropes for her budgies to reach it.  They went to great lengths to get to that tunnel,  they’d race through and start again from the other side.

2.  Birdie Maze:
Thesecan be both fun and interesting for your bird.  If you have smaller birds, budgies to conures, the  walls to the maze are easily constructed from Legos.  At first make the maze more of a winding tunnel and coax him through it with treats.  As he gets better at finding his way, make dead ends and false passageways that cause him to have to evaluate his moves.  If your bird is a cheater, and flies to the top of the wall to find his way, you can cover the top with a towel if he feels comfortable with that.
For the larger bird, you will need taller, more sturdy walls.  You’d have to have A LOT of Legos.  My daughter’s umbrella cockatoo, Abu, actually taught me this game while I was packing for a move.  She created her own maze from the cartons that were slowly overtaking the living room.  She had a ball.  I told a friend about Abu’s game.  This guy had the largest record collection I had ever seen and he used the milk crates he stored his albums in to create a maze for his amazon.  Last I had heard from him, he had still not returned his record collection to it’s original spot.  This game might not work well for some macaws because their tail is always dawdling two feet behind them.
3.  Play Mat:
What bird doesn’t have the time of his life trying to remove the buttons from your clothing?  Or trying to disassemble your jewelry?  The play mat offers all of those opportunities and more…
Take an old blanket and sew beads, buttons, bows and bells to it.  Or you could be a rebel, and use things that don’t start with a “B”.  You could use a towel and sew on plastic rings, keys, leather strips with beads, wooden cutouts and pretty much anything else you can think of that your bird would enjoy.  The fun for the birds seems to be in tugging on the items, just like the buttons on your shirt.  When you are done playing it folds right up for storage.  If  it becomes soiled, you can put it in a lingerie bag and machine wash it, depending on the durability of the items you have sewn on.
I had made one of these for the cockatiels years ago and this post inspired me to make another. I did make one for Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, a short time after he arrived to live with me.  His efforts were spent trying to fold it back up or dragging it around behind him by one of the plastic rings. I wasn’t yet aware of what a tyrant Linus was with toys, always trying to bend them to his will and make them do things they weren’t designed to do.  He had a good time, though, and that’s the point.

4.  “Greyzilla”:
I read about this guy somewhere who made a little city out of appropriately sized Legos for his African grey and made up this game called Greyzilla.  It was the grey’s role to come along to destroy and terrorize the city and all it’s tiny, little people.  It was the human’s job to portray the little Lego people running from Greyzilla and begging for their lives.  As Greyzilla crashed his way through town, he showed little mercy for the Lego-ites.  If I remember correctly, though, this compassionate monster tried to reassemble the city when he was through, although probably not to Legoville building code standards.  I can only imagine how much fun they must have had.

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“Using this ‘Real Speech’ system for only 15 minutes a day, teaches your parrot how to speak more words, phrases and songs than you can ever imagine. Even species that can’t talk will whistle your favorite tunes.” Click for more »

I had two days off in a row this week!!  I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you work in retail, believe me, it’s rare.  It feels like spring break.  I intended to tackle some projects that needed tackling.  I actually tackled two.  And they were, of course, bird projects.

New cage covers were desperately needed for Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, and the cockatiels, so I moved this to the top of the to-do list.  I went to the quilting section at the fabric store and bought about 2 miles of dark broadcloth.  Linus has a really big cage.  He also has a really big beak and had shredded his cover beyond usefulness.  He has a favorite side to his cage for sleeping, and there was so little fabric remaining on that side that he recently decided to move to the other side for a good night’s sleep.  I know this because his back-end has been positioned over his water bowl all night for about a week now.  I don’t think I need to say more.  I constructed the cover and attached it to the cage using grommets and quick links.

The cockatiels.  My sweet little darlings.  The only thing worse that waking up to the horrors in Linus’s water dish is waking up to the cockatiel’s belting out a tune at 6:30am when I worked late and got to bed at 1 the night before.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love hearing their joyous little voices.  Just not then.  I made them a darker cover to encourage them to sleep a little later.

I was so excited when I went to bed last night, new cage covers in place, knowing I could sleep until I woke up rested.  Well, that was the plan, until I woke up to my alarm clock buzzing at 6:45.  Apparently, I had set it the night before out of habit.  The good news is that I did not hear a peep from the cockatiels at 6:30…if that can be construed as good news.  Oh, and by the way, I came down stairs to find that Linus had torn a hole in his new cover, right at his eye level, and every movement I made was being monitored by a blue eye ring surrounded by black cloth.  Creepy.

Today’s project was toy making for the cockatoos.  Linus was pouting this morning as if to say:  “Mom, I have nothing to do with my beak.”  I was thinking how he found something to do with it earlier that involved his new cage cover, but kept quiet.  I went to the lumber store for a pile of 2X4s and cut enough 1″ pieces to fill a 10 gallon bin.  I drilled holes into each piece so they could be strung onto chains.  I made HUGE toys for both Linus and Theo, my goffins cockatoo, who didn’t even notice the wooden behemoth in her cage.

Linus was thrilled, though, and spent most of the day transporting bitten off chunks of wood to his stainless steel pail for further processing.  I noticed about an hour ago that he has managed to give himself a black eye, something he does several times a year in the course of going to battle with his toys.  Sometimes they hit back.  He has already gone through about 7″ of wood, or the equivalent of 15 boxes of toothpicks (if I were counting, or thinking about going into that business).  I guess we both had a productive day.  Next project on the list:  Easter baskets for the cockatoos, and Easter…boxes for the little guys.

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Watch a LIVE video demo of me taming our wild, biting Macaw, “Tiko.” (See how I handle “Tiko” as he lunges at me, screaming and biting — how I lovingly calm him down… and mesmerize him so much that he BEGS me to pet him with my BARE HANDS 5 minutes later!) Click for more »

Parrots are instinctively highly attuned to everything around them.  It is this awareness of their environment that keeps them safe from predators.  So it’s easy to understand why parrots are so quick to pick up on the energy levels of their owners and the home they live in. This is something we can use to our advantage and is just one more example of how having an understanding of a wild bird’s nature will help us with the birds we keep in our homes.

Have you ever noticed that when you stand in front of your bird and act silly and animated that he will start bouncing up and down on his perch and become vocal?  Have you observed that when you stand quietly and speak to him in quiet tones that he will turn his head to the side and listen intently to your words?

The energy level present in the home is often responsible for the behavior, or misbehavior, of our parrots.  If things have become too chaotic or noisy, sometimes all it takes to restore peace is a quiet chat.

When Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, decides the time is right for his afternoon vocalizations, I can nearly always quiet him by speaking softly to him.  Even when he is in  full-on scream mode, I can generally stop it by standing in front of him and continuing to speak quietly.  He may not be able to hear me over his own loud voice, but he can see me, and I figure he has to come up for air at some point.  My low energy gradually rubs off on him.

On the other side of that coin is instigating play.  For the parrot that tends to be a perch potato, some music and lively dancing and singing on your part might be just the things to get him moving, and exercising.  Sometimes birds are afraid of, or disinterested in, new things.  Since your bird trusts you, your enthusiasm with new things will make him feel comfortable with, and an excitement about, the things you introduce him to.  Once you tell him something is okay, it will be.

Talking to your parrot serves a number of purposes.  For the new parrot in the home, it is trust building.  Your new parrot can learn to feel relaxed with you as you continue to show him that you are a safe playmate.  As his comfort increases, you can begin to show him that you are fun as well.

Talking to your parrot can prepare him for events coming up in the future as well, such as your trip to Europe and his subsequent trip to the boarding facility, or any other big change that is approaching. Tell your parrot that a change is coming, but that it is a temporary arrangement and that everything will be fine.  Assure him that he is loved, and throw in how beautiful and good he is.  The more time you spend talking to him, explaining and reassuring him, the better prepared he will be for your absence.  I realize this sounds silly, and I can already see some eyes rolling, but this really does help, and I don’t know of a single parrot expert who doesn’t agree.  While they don’t understand your words, they will certainly take your tone to heart.  Somehow, this reaffirms your relationship with them and carries them through what might otherwise be a traumatic event.

In every case where a parrot that has the benefit of an owner that takes the time to talk to him, he will  feel included as a member of the household.  This improves your relationship with him, betters his life and will make him more family friendly.

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"Discover How New Training Techniques Can Finally Train Your Parrot To Entertain Himself Quietly… Even If Trying To Ignore The Screaming, Cramming It’s Cage Full Of Fun Toys, & Giving Him More Attention Has Failed Miserably!"  Click for more »