Some of the criteria I immediately set when trying to choose a name for my Senegal Parrot were that the name had to be short, easy to pronounce, not a human name, unique, fun, and suitable for my bird. Personally I think it is kind of silly giving a pet a human name because talking about it would be strange. Imagine you name your bird John and then later you are telling your friend about how John bit you so you had to put him in a cage… Seems a bit weird because it sounds like a person did it or they may associate it with some other person they know by that name. So by giving your bird a unique name I think it is more suitable and really more fun as well.

I also opened the floor to suggestions from my family in case they came up with a good idea I missed. Eventually I tried to narrow the list down by discarding names that are too long, difficult, or unsuitable. I think some names I considered were Kermit, Kiwi, Jet, Floyd, Zappa, and Duke. Extra kudos to anyone who posts a comment guessing correctly what each of these potential names referred to.

Unfortunately none of these names clicked. They seemed ok but for some reason none of them seemed ideal. I was leaning to go with Kiwi but something just wasn’t right. I think someone mentioned this to my kid sister so she went around telling everyone about a bird named Kili, mispronouncing it as kids often do. Word of this got back to me and the name sounded perfect. It finally clicked. This was the right name for the right bird that chose me at the store. The name met all my criteria: short, easy to pronounce, unique, just right. Furthermore, earlier the same year I had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania so Kili it was. I should note that the way I pronounce the name is kee-lee and not killy (like willy).

Pet parrots can live for a very long time, sometimes 50 years or more, so make sure when you pick a name that it is really suited and you are absolutely sure this should be the name for it. Consider that your parrot is likely to try to say it’s name in the future because it will be a word it hears often, so make sure it is something that is easy enough for it to pronounce. Remember, naming your bird makes it your own so choose carefully and have fun with it.

Hi, my name is Michael and I own a 9 month old Senegal Parrot that I have owned for 6 months.

I have been fascinated by birds and airplanes since early childhood. I started with elementary bird watching and bird photography.

Above is a photo of bird photography in Kenya.

Also I have a Private Pilot Glider license and am currently just days away from taking the Private Pilot Airplane test. I fly sailplanes similar to how hawks and eagles soar on thermal and ridge air currents.  One time I flew head on with a pair of bald eagles and a juvenile not more than 50 feet away.

Above is me landing a Schweizer 1-34R Glider.

At first I bought a Cockatiel but it died shortly after I acquired it. I still suspect that it had come infected from the crappy pet shop I got it at. I strongly urge you to be careful where you buy your bird and to do your research or you may regret it afterward. During the time I had the Cockatiel, I knew next to nill about owning a bird so I scoured the internet for information. I didn’t even know you could teach birds much tricks but I came across the BirdTricks website and decided to get the Taming, Training, and Tricks DVD package. I listened to all the audio guides, read the ebooks, and watched the DVD which was very helpful. In the brief time I had the Cockatiel I was able to train it to step up, target, and almost got the flex but the bird died. Actually, just before the bird got noticeably sick I had ordered the small birds training course (with the flight training course) but the bird died with the course in the mail. I strongly considered returning it for a refund but decided not to, I instead decided that I would eventually get another bird.

I visited many bird stores and did careful research for my next bird purchase. Having watched several training videos by this point, I knew that I wanted something up from a Cockatiel because I wanted to be able to teach it all sorts of tricks and to talk but at the same time was constrained by time, budget, and living conditions. I narrowed my choices to a Conure, Senegal, or Mini-Macaw. I kept my mind open and would decide at the store. Unfortunately the people at the store were not particularly helpful although they were definitely the best bird store around. I ruled out a Conure when I saw how noisy and rambunctious they were. Next they were showing me a Hahns Macaw but it was the biggest scardy bird I have ever seen. Not only would it not come anywhere near me, it would panic and try to run away from the salespeople so I knew this was not the bird for me either. Finally I was given the last remaining Senegal Parrot to hold and right away I knew this would be the bird. It sat calmly on my finger and let me pet it off the start. There seemed to be a sort of connection right away. It felt like the bird chose me as much as I chose the bird.

Senegal Parrot

My background in birds is still fairly limited. I have a minor in psychology so I am very interested in all of the details of bird learning and behavior. In some ways my Senegal Parrot is my own little psychology experiment. Out of personal interest I have read an entire ornithology book, Irene Pepperburg’s Alex and Me, and several other bird books. I have nearly all of the birdtricks training series including: DVD Volumes 1,4,5,6,7,11, store ripoffs, parrot magic, countless audio cds, ebooks, and parrot magic magazines. I opted not to buy the Volume 2/3 advanced training DVDs because I already had the ebook for the same tricks from a different bundle. Having seen all the other DVDs and learned the methods used, I didn’t find the DVDs to be necessary and the written explanations were enough to work with.

In upcoming posts I will discuss how I named Kili, some of the tricks I have taught my bird, training diet tips, how I got my bird to stop biting other people, and much more.