Thank You!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, this is a good time of year to reflect on all that we are thankful for in our lives.

As I sit down to put together this weeks newsletter for our loyal readers and customers, I'm reminded how thankful and blessed we are here at The Perch to have the best customers (and friends) that a company could hope for.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week & we'll see you again here in two weeks!

- Joey and Tracy

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Holiday Cooking Safety Tips
by Tracy Woodson, The Perch

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we know that many of you prepare your kitchens ahead of time in anticipation of the big feast and family gatherings.

We’re including these holiday safety tips in an effort to help you plan for a safe and happy holiday season for both you and your feathered friends:

Your ovens’ self-cleaning cycle is known to emit fumes that be deadly to birds. Cases of bird deaths have been reported about this. Please DO NOT use your ovens’ self-cleaning cycle with birds in the home because it’s just not worth the risk. Also, DO NOT use oven cleaner sprays since aerosols in general can be lethal to your bird(s). We suggest that you search the internet for safer alternatives. Some of our message board members have suggested using baking soda and a scrub brush to clean the oven, others report using half a lemon dipped in salt.

As you are likely already aware, non-stick cookware and non-stick cooking utensils are also lethal to birds when over-heated. Although there is a great deal of controversy about PTFE’s (Polytetrafluoroethylenes) and whether non-stick coatings are safe around birds or not, there have been many cases of bird deaths caused by fumes when non-stick cookware became over-heated. Accidents can happen….such as leaving a stove burner on by mistake and leaving the room only to return later and find the kitchen full of noxious fumes. For this reason,

We strongly advise avoiding the use of non-stick cookware, non-stick cooking utensils, etc in your home if you have companion birds. If you choose to do so, please be aware of the risks involved.

It has also been reported that some cooking/roasting bags, often used around the holidays, emit toxic fumes that have caused the death of birds.

The avian respiratory system is extremely sensitive and we want you and your birds to be safe, healthy and happy during the holidays as well as throughout the rest of the year.

What Can You Do To Protect Birds from PTFE (Non-Stick Coatings) Poisoning?

1. At the first sign of illness, remove the birds to fresh air and call a veterinarian.
2. Check your household products for PTFE-coated surfaces. If your oven is self-cleaning, check to see if it is lined with PTFE. Contact the manufacturer to be sure.
3. Do not locate birds in or near your kitchen.
4. If you must use PTFE-coated cooking products, monitor them carefully to avoid overheating, provide good ventilation (turn off central air and open your windows), and dispose of cookware when it becomes damaged.
5. Do not use PTFE-coated heat lamps around birds for any reason; it just isn't worth the risk (Darrel Styles, DVM).
6. Spread the word to bird owners about PTFE's hazards!

Note: PTFE coatings are sold under the trade names Teflon, Silverstone, Fluoron, Supra, Excalibar, Greblon, Xylon, and others.

Read More Here : http://members.aol.com/rccouncil/ourpage/rccalert.htm#ptfe

Baby's Story
by Robin

For the last 7 years I have been battling a lot of health issues. One in particular, a rare form of arthritis called Psoriatic Arthritis. It’s very similar to Rheumatoid arthritis. What happens is your immune system goes haywire and your body starts attacking it self by damaging & inflaming the lining in the joints, causing pain and swelling. This leads to crippled joints, and disabilities. Normal day to day activities are very hard and the loss of ones physical heath is heart breaking, and mentally exhausting.. Symptoms include fatigue, painful joints, red hot swollen joints, and a slight fever. Also a constant overall achy feeling like having the flu. Arthritis is not just an old age disease, babies are born with this awful disease too. Today there is over 100 forms of arthritis.

The reason I am explaining my health issues to you all, is to help you understand the challenges I face everyday, and the love my Sun Conure, Baby gives to me, making those days better.

Baby entered my life 4 ½ yrs ago when he was only a couple weeks old. I didn’t know a thing about parrots, all I knew was I wanted one. I saw Baby in the shop and he was in a glass bin a long with some other Baby birds. He seemed to be the head honcho there, as all the other birds huddled around him for protection. I put my hand down in front of the class enclosure and Baby ran right over to me. Right than and there I just knew he was my match. My Brother-in-law made me look at all the other parrots, but all I wanted to do, was see Baby. I wanted Baby! So the owner said I could have him and I could take him home that night. He picked Baby up out of the bin, and handed him to me. Baby snuggled right in my neck and never moved a second, as I talked to the owner about his care. A fear had swept over me, because I had no idea how to take care of a parrot, and a baby one. The owner took me in the back room and showed me everything I needed to know, to feed Baby., and to take care of him. I had to hand feed him at that time, since he was so young. The food had to be a certain temp, and the water mixed just right with the formula, and than the hardest part was making sure the food went in the correct side of his mouth, and not in his air sac. Also I found out Baby loved to Bob his head, so I had to be careful that the syringe didn’t poke the inside of his sac. It was hard but I did it and I did it well. Every day , for four times a day this was done. Also I had to make sure his sac was empty before putting new food in it, because he could get bacteria infections, by putting new food on top of old food.

The next day, after I got Baby home, I became very worried. Baby started bobbing his head and making weird noises and looking up at me. After talking to the shop owner and explaining what Baby was doing he started laughing. I said, "What, why are you laughing?"

He said, "He thinks you are his mommy!" Well I was on cloud nine. Since than Baby and I have been inseparable. He lays on the couch with me, and cuddles under the blankets on days I feel sick. (He has also learned to mimic my arthritis flares) He scared the heck out of me one day, when he did that. Most of the time he will just sit with me, or watch me like he is looking over me, and protecting me. Sometimes I will fall asleep and he will come over and wake me up with a kiss, just to make sure I am ok.

Mornings are the hardest for me. It’s when the arthritis is at it’s worst. I have to get up to feed Baby. If it wasn’t for Baby, I don’t think I would get up. He gives me every reason to push thru the pain and stiffness, and get moving. I am always rewarded in the end, with whistles, and snuggles and kisses.

He is everything to me, I don’t know how I would make the days with out his kisses and cuddles, and his funny ways.

He also loves to watch TV with the family members. He loves to chase the ball on top of our pin ball machine. He even thinks the flippers are an enemy and tries to attack them.

He loves music. He whistles and gets excited when I play the guitar, or the piano, and he always has to get in the action by running across the piano keys. The sounds of the keys under his feet makes him laugh.

Oh yes, did I tell you he can laugh just like me. Yup, poor bird inherited my cackle. lol
Baby can also whistle the wolf call and the mail man says he likes coming to my house because it’s the only time anyone whistles at him. lol

Baby has also learned to pick up some bad habits like my husband sipping his coffee. Or someone chewing their food. He has also learned to get mouthy when he is doing something wrong, I say, "No". And he says, "No" back. BUT he still stops what ever he is doing. He fully understands what the word no means. I like the fact I don’t have to get up and get him, or yell, I just say No in a stern voice and he stops misbehaving and heads back to his tree area.

On the other hand Baby is a very loveable, people oriented bird. He loves it when people come to visit. (As long as they don’t touch his toys with out asking first.) He is also potty trained. He only goes in his play area. He will run back to his play gym/ tree when he has to go. I am very proud of him for learning that. He doesn’t walk around the house, he stays in his play area. He doesn’t try to fly. His wings are always clipped, so he just assumes he cannot fly. So, I don’t need to worry about him flying in a wall, or out the door. Also I don’t need to worry about him walking around on the floor, where he could get stepped on or hurt. I am his tree and I take him where ever he has to go. He is very happy about that.

Baby is also a healthy eater. One of the best things about getting a baby bird is you can train them from day one to eat healthy, and so many other things. I have Baby on a fresh fruit, veggie, and human diet. He must have an apple in his cage everyday, that‘s his favorite. He refuses to eat seeds, but does eat some nuts. He loves eating with us and he feels like he is just one of us, because he is included in dinner time, and all other family activities. (yes, he has to have his own plate.) lol
One morning he decided to get in my cereal bowl, and he flipped a corn flake in the air, that landed on his head. It was hysterical.

Baby is a caring, loveable, funny, entertaining, bird. He has touched my life in many ways. He is all I could ever want and hope for. He takes away my arthritis pain, and makes life a little easier for me. I never knew that a bird could do all the things he does. I hope by sharing my story, that other people can see past the feathers and into a heart that is so loveable, unconditionally.
This story is fully dedicated to Baby, and other birds who are looking for families to love.

Robin
New York

Robin is one of our "Super Moderators" over at ThePerch.net Message Board

Cooking with "The Mutt"
This Weeks Recipe - We're not sure what to call it...just a good "cooked meal"!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of 15-bean soup mix
• 1 cup popcorn, uncooked
• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 cup sweet potato, diced into large chunks
• 2 cups oatmeal

Soak the beans soup mix for 8 hours. Add popcorn and soak another 6 hours.

After soaking is complete, bring to a boil, after 45 minutes add brown rice and sweet potato, then 15 minutes later sweet potato. When all the water is gone, cool and put in freezer bags. Good for a meal once a week. I also use this with all my other fids. I just dice the sweet potato smaller.

Cooking with "The Mutt" is brought to you each issue by "The Mutt" & his Mom, Sherry...one of the Admins on ThePerch.net message board.

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The Aviator Harness & Leash (& DVD!)

Bird of the Week - Solomon

This is a dedication to my Solomon, our 65 year old Mexican Red Headed Amazon.

I first met Solomon about 2 years ago while I was a volunteer at the farm I now work at.

Since Solomon was a donation to the farm, they didn't have too much information about him. Apparently he was owned by an elderly lady who could no longer care for him. When I met him he had been at the farm for about 10 years.

What we did know for sure was that he was an older bird already dealing with many health issues. He has a bald spot on the back of his head, a few missing toes, and poor eyesight and hearing. He had lived in the main aviary for the majority of his time at the farm. During the last few years though he was having difficulty getting around and being outside was not good for him. Plus the other birds were starting to gang up on him due to his passivity. The staff brought him into the staff barn, into his own cage, and near a heater. On and off he had a cagemate in an elder lovebird 'Dolly'. (Solly and Dolly, I know, it's very cute).

The farm had been trying to place Solomon in home care for some time. Unfortunatley none of the staff had the time to care for him so he remained in the barn. I desperatley wanted to bring him home but at the time the place I was living had a strict 'no pets' policy.

In January of 2005 I fell in love with my fiance Shawn. Shortly thereafter we were living together and engaged! Little did he know his life was going to change big time!! I brought up Solomon to Shawn and he was a bit hesitant, but I worked on him and he said yes! Solomon was coming home.

Having Solomon was a HUGE learning curve for Shawn and I. Truly parronting. We quickly realised that his cage setup and cage itself was all wrong. His diet was wrong, and Solly wasn't looking so good. We took him to the vet right away and she told us that 1.He was around 65 years old and 2. He was very sick.

We immediately began an intensive medication program and he stabilized quickly. We learned he had cataracts and was nearly blind. We learned his hearing was going and that he has terrible arthritis in his toes.

I cried alot.

We bought Solomon a new cage, new perches made of soft rope and outfitted his cage in a completely orthopaedic manner. He has a heat lamp and everything is low to the ground. The bottom of his cage is padded so if he falls it won't be too bad. Right now Shawn is building him a sleeping platform with a ramp and lots of snuggly spots.

Now Solomon has his own TV/DVD player, he can listen to music (his favourite song is Barrett's Privateer's by Stan Rogers, and opera). He gets lots of healthy yummy treats, he loves corn, apples, lettuce, cucumbers, nuts, to name a few. He also has many new friends! Ms Peeps (lovebird), Louie (MRHA Amazon) and Harry (Gloster Canary). Louie and Solly are good buddies, they vocalize to each other often.

We take Solly to see Dr MacDonald every 3 months or so. He's quite the celebrity at the vet! She even lets him stay overnight for free!

Solomon has come a long way in the past 8 months. Solly has opened every door in our hearts and we are incredibly lucky and honoured to share our lives with him.

Solomon, you aren't just the Bird of the Month, you are the Bird of my Life.

We love you grandpa,

Mom, Dad, Peeps, Louie and Harry

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Cockatoos
by Sherry Johnson

Native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, there are over 40 species of cockatoo. These can be divided into two main groups – the white cockatoos and the black cockatoos. The most obvious external feature of any cockatoo is the erectile crest that raises immediately after alighting and when alarmed or excited. The strong, heavy beak of the cockatoo is used to crack large seeds but can also produce a powerful and destructive bite.

Consistent training from a young age will help ensure potential cockatoo owners enjoy a bird free of this destructive habit. reared The Red Tailed Black Cockatoos, when hand fed are generally less prone to bite and make better pets, especially for younger owners, for this reason. Cockatoos require an extremely dedicated owner who is willing to provide significant and meaningful attention to this highly intelligent species.

The lifespan of up to 120 years with some cockatoo species, make these birds a wonderful life long friend. They have great characters, a “cuddly” nature and enjoy physical interaction with their owner. Cockatoos deprived of this affection may become loud and develop unwanted behaviours.

These friendly birds are good talkers but also possess the ability to make loud screaming noises. For this reason, cockatoos can be a challenging bird to keep and therefore require a committed owner who is willing to provide continuing obedience training.

Diseases Common to the Cockatoo:

Psittacine beak and feather disease (Circovirus infection or PBFD) is a problem that is frequently encountered in the white cockatoo species. The black cockatoos are less susceptible to this disease. PBFD is chronic and incurable and results in poor feather growth and ultimately, complete feather loss. The beak is also affected and becomes fragile and does not repair itself. Due to its highly contagious nature to other parrot species, it is advisable to avoid any bird suspected of having this condition.

Cage Size

Cockatoos generally require an cage no less than four to six feet long by one to two feet wide. The best breeding results are achieved when one pair per cage is kept. The cage wire should be a heavy-duty grade, as cockatoos can easily chew holes through lighter grade wire. Similarly, the frame should be constructed of steel to avoid the birds chewing the structure away. Hollow eucalypt logs are best suited for nest boxes and should be approximately 30-40 cm in internal diameter and about 1m in length.

Cockatoos as Pets

These are magnificent parrots that require the nearly constant attention of a 2-year old. In nature, they are "bonding for life" and their love and dire need for affection makes them a HUGE commitment.

I adore cockatoos and luckily have the time that this species demands.

They would do well in a household with either one person there all (or most of) the time for companionship, or if there are several members in the household who provide attention to the cockatoo.

If you are very meticulous about your furnishings and are not willing to provide a big area for your parrot that is "bird proof", then you may not want to get a cockatoo or any of the other large parrot species. Cockatoos are known for their destructiveness.

Cockatoos that are locked in a cage a lot without a lot of interaction are likely to turn neurotic or even go crazy. Please consider that before getting a cockatoo.

What? I Can’t Hear You Over My Parrot!
Bird Vocalizations And How To Deal With Them
by Nikki Moustaki, Avian Care and Behavior Consultant

The saying goes that there are only two undeniable facts of life: death and taxes. Parrot lovers will attest to a third: parrots make noise, and it’s not always pleasant. Even the few species of parrots most known for their reticence can make an owner wish she had bought a fishbowl instead.

As I sit here typing these words into my laptop, Hope, my African grey parrot is doing his best rendition of a New York City fire truck, and Jesse, my Meyer’s parrot, is waging an ear-splitting battle with his banana-shaped wooden toy. Peace? Quiet? I don’t think so. If I had wanted a fire truck I would have gotten a fire truck. But, my birds are my best friends, and I figure that if they can tolerate me, I can certainly tolerate them.

Unfortunately, some bird owners aren’t as charitable—and some birds aren’t as intermittingly noisy as mine. You might have a bird that screams all day for no apparent reason, or one that swears with more verve than a drunken sailor. How do you get that darn bird to shut up? Most avian behaviorists and experts agree that the solution to excessive vocalization is not to get rid of the feathered thing that’s trying to converse with another parrot in Guatemala via the air waves, but by becoming informed about the way parrots learn and communicate.

What’s Normal?

The first step to enjoying a reasonably quiet household is to have a firm understanding of normal parrot vocalization. There’s no such thing as a quiet parrot. Living with a parrot is like living with a roommate—there’s not much you can do if he decides to sing in the shower or talk on the phone for hours—but at some point he’ll rest in front of the television or go to sleep.

“A healthy bird will vocalize,” said Bob and Liz Johnson, directors of The Shyne Foundation, Inc., A Free Flight Natural Habitat Sanctuary in South Florida, and the owners of 135 large, free flying parrots. The Johnsons have seen more than their share of birds given up for adoption because the owners felt they were too loud. “I have seen many cases where a bird, who appeared to be quiet in the pet shop or at the breeder, and was even quiet at first in his new home, was later given up because he became too noisy. Our first hyacinth macaw, a wild-caught fledgling 24 years ago, didn't make a sound for the first year of his life. He has subsequently made up for it!”

Fortunately, a healthy, well-socialized parrot performs its vocalizations in a general cycle, and not unremittingly, all day long. “Normal vocalizations happen early in the morning, around sunrise, and again at sunset,” said Phoebe Greene Linden, psittacine behavior consultant and co-owner of Santa Barbara Bird Farm (www.santabarbarabirdfarm).

“Additionally, my parrots vocalize upon waking from naps, as a greeting when I return from errands, in response to the ring of the telephone, and in anticipation of a warm dinner.”

Though the Johnsons can’t speak for the average household, they do find that their flock tends to be noisier early in the morning and late in the afternoon. “This is not to say that they are quiet the rest of the day,” said Liz Johnson. “Many are noisy in the habitat out of sheer exuberance. Almost daily, I run outside because one of the cockatoos sounds as if he is being tortured, only to find him swinging vigorously upside-down from a tree branch, screaming as only a cockatoo can.”

If you have a bird that’s vocalizing normally and you still think the racket is too loud, it’s likely that you chose a species known for its vocal superiority, probably a cockatoo, macaw, Amazon parrot, or conure. “I’ve heard it said that in the wild you can hear the large macaws coming from five miles away,” said Liz Wilson, a parrot behavior consultant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Macaws tuning up with gut wrenching, window rattling noise for five or ten minutes are normal. Birds develop the voices they need in their wild environment. Eagles have a tiny voice because they are solitary birds that don’t need to communicate over long distances. Most parrots are flock animals and have to communicate in dense foliage. Nature has designed a voice to fulfill the bird’s needs in a wild environment, and that means they will use it in a captive environment too.”

A parrot’s voice is one of its many means of survival, and as a prey animal, survival is its prime objective. Without that loud voice, a parrot would be in trouble indeed. “Grey parrots are highly social, highly mobile, and highly vocal animals that live in the rain forest,” said Diana May, a student of Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s, studying the behavior of free-living grey parrots in Central Africa for her dissertation research. “Because they expend a considerable amount of time and energy to calling, we can reasonably assume that vocal behavior is important to survival and reproduction. It makes sense that greys rely on acoustic communication because visibility is usually poor in the forest canopy. A silent grey in the wild would surely not survive.”

If your bird is vocalizing normally, you can be relatively certain that its survival instinct is functioning, an indication of a healthy bird. “Normally loud birds that are suddenly quiet could be in trouble medically,” said Wilson. “I got into avian behavior while working as a vet tech specializing in birds and having the horrible realization that when we cured a bird it could lose its home in six months. It’s a lot easier to live with a parrot that is chronically ill—once they get back the healthy and happy parrot it will start making normal noise. The owners never knew what it was like to live with a healthy parrot.”

They’re Your Ears

To a cockatoo, the sound of its flock screeching riotously is music to its little feather-covered ears. How can one person live happily with a screaming macaw and another go out of her mind listening to a pair of budgies chatter all day? “Problematic vocalization is in the ear of the listener,” said Layne Dicker, avian behavior consultant, from Los Angels, California. “We had a dusky headed conure that we thought was noisy until we got a cockatoo. I know people that think cockatiels are too noisy, and I know people that live in a house with twenty large macaws and don’t hear a thing.”

Understanding something about the basic vocalizations of a species you’re interested in acquiring before you acquire it will help you to maintain a noise level you can live with. Knowing something about your own capacity to handle sound is helpful as well. “People have very differing sensitivity to sounds,” said Wilson. “When I had doves they drove my husband crazy, whereas the intermittent Amazon yells didn’t necessarily both him. It was the doves’ constant noise that bothered him most. I know people that are aggravated by the nonstop chirping of a cockatiel. When we talk about quiet parrots, we are not talking about a quiet animal. We’re talking about a bird that’s quieter than the loud parrots.”

“Humans only notice things that aggravate them,” Wilson continued. “When the parrot screams its owners notice it. When it’s quiet, they forget they have a parrot. Parrots get ignored when they’re ‘good’ and when they are loud they get attention. Owners do the opposite of what they should be doing.”

How Much Is Too Much?

Just because your parrot’s vocalizations annoy you doesn’t mean that the vocalization is excessive. “Problem vocalizations are characterized as loud, repetitive, and devoid of meaning, except to convey unhappiness,” said Linden. “Problem vocalizations are often described as sounding ‘desperate’ and ‘unhappy.’”

“In my work as a psittacine behavior consultant, excessive screaming is one of the most common complaints people have about companion birds,” continued Linden. “Problem screaming indicates limited vocal skills that have been practiced to the point of obliterating other more pleasing sounds. Many times people try to eliminate screaming from a loud bird’s repertoire, but its better to modify screaming into varied and pleasing sounds than it is to try to eliminate vocalizations altogether.”

Liz Wilson concurs that a bird that’s screaming for hours is vocalizing excessively. The bird has somehow been rewarded for the screaming, usually inadvertently, and the owner must then figure out what the reward was and how to stop it. Wilson sees many clients that choose not to address the problem early, with disastrous consequences. “A woman called me about a cockatoo that had been screaming all day for seventeen years,” said Wilson. “She had only contacted me because she was being threatened with eviction and her neighbors weren’t speaking with her any more. People wait until they’ve gotten an ultimatum and a deadline, but it takes time for problems to develop and time to fix them.”

Intermittent Versus Persistent

For most parrot owners who understand that their parrot is bound to make some noise, it is the persistent loud vocalizations that tend to be more exasperating than the intermittent screeching. Sporadic screaming that’s considered normal vocalization should neither be acknowledged nor rewarded—the bird may become used to that kind of attention and learn that screaming is a good way to get you to do its bidding—though all screaming is a means of communication, and conscientious parrot owners make an effort to understand why their bird is screaming and if it has something to do with a problem in the bird’s immediate situation.

“If you leave the room the parrot is liable to make some noise to call you back,” said Dicker. “It perceives being abandoned by the flock or perceives that a member of the flock has ventured into unsafe territory. When a bird is alleged to have a screaming problem, you first have to look at what the bird is telling you. If the water bowl is empty, then it’s appropriate to vocalize. You don’t want to train your bird to be uncommunicative. Birds are vocal for a reason.”

The way you react to persistent screaming directly correlates to what the screaming is intended to communicate. “If a baby bird is screaming and it’s afraid, you have to answer it,” said Wilson. “If it’s an adult and it’s yelling orders, you have to ignore it. You can’t do anything to change excessive vocalizations unless you know what’s going on.”

Compounding The Problem

According to the experts, having two or more birds of the same or similar species will up the volume exponentially. “To the extent that birds recognize similarity and dissimilarity amongst themselves, the closer birds are in species the more they tend to amp each other up,” cautioned Dicker. “If you have a Moluccan cockatoo and a cockatiel, they are less likely to compound each other’s vocalization than two Moluccans, though this is a sweeping generalization.”

Having two bonded birds of dissimilar species creates the same effect. According to Liz Wilson, if you separate birds that like each other it only serves to produce more noise because the birds will call to one another. However, two unbonded birds that live in the same home may not have this same problem, depending on the relationship.

“For years I boarded two parrots for a couple—one was a grey and one was an Amazon,” said Wilson. “Their circumstances changed and they needed to rehome the birds. I was able to find the Amazon a home easily. They couple was concerned about splitting the birds up because they lived together for 18 years. It occurred to me that the birds never called to each other when I took them out of the room. I told the owners that I didn’t think the grey would mind, and that he might even be pleased. I was right. He blossomed when the Amazon left. He was finally out of her shadow.”

For multi-bird homes, the problem of excessive vocalization might be compounded by the birds’ inability to find a calm space. “In multi-bird households, a quiet area—a place where birds can retreat from visual contact with each other—often reduces vocalizations, especially when companion birds differ in personality, species, age, or gender,” offered Linden. “Sometimes, they just want to get out of sight of each other and these alone times are soothing. Many clients report good results when a screaming bird is given a visual barrier from other birds, especially when shy birds are housed in the same room as rambunctious birds.”

Polly Wanna Shut The Heck Up?

Most people that acquire a talking species are delighted when their bird begins mimicking the sounds of the world around it, but some owners aren’t prepared for the bird to talk as much as they do.
“I’m amazed at how many people have complained about talking,” said Wilson. “How do I shut him up? they ask. These are people that want an on and off button. They want some quiet time and their grey is babbling. Those people should have a radio that they can turn on and off, not a bird. I tell them how wonderful it is that their grey is so happy. If I can’t convince them how luck they are that they have such a happy bird, I fear for that relationship. Getting a parrot because you like its talking ability is like getting pregnant because you like baby clothes.”

If you have a species of bird that is known to mimic well, such as a grey, an Amazon, a budgie, or a ringneck, be careful what you teach it, or you might be sorry later. “Birds can take learned sounds and amplify them one hundred percent,” warned Linden. “One client of mine still bemoans the day he taught his sulfur-crested cockatoo to say yabba dabba dooooo.”

But don’t fret if your parrot has taken a not-so-nice word or noise and turned it into a booming roar that the whole neighborhood can hear. “There seems to be a ten-day period before a sound is extinguished when it isn’t rewarded,” said Wilson. “I used to board birds in my home, and a bird boarding might learn the sound of a macaw screaming behind a door at the other end of the house. If the owners don’t reward the sound when they take the parrot home, the sound will go away by itself in about ten days.”

What’s Your Part In The Screaming Party?

Your role in your parrot’s migraine-inducing screaming fest begins with the type of bird you choose. “Without a doubt, cockatoos take the volume prize,” said the Johnsons. “Our cockatoos are outside in our habitat and can often be heard a half mile away. Some amazons and some macaws can run them a close second. Noise seems to be relative, however. A wonderful rainbow lory was placed here because his former owners said he was too noisy. Here, among cockatoos and macaws, his sound is barely audible.”

The volume and “vibe” in your home may also contribute to your parrot’s volume. “I have a customer who has two sun conures and he came to me distressed because his partner couldn’t deal with their noise and he was about to give the birds up for adoption,” said Holly Hemmingway, owner of Parrots and Pups pet shop in the West Village, New York City. “He was at the point of tears because he’d had them for years. I told him to just lower the energy in his house. Just chill out. Over the course of two weeks he came in and he said that everything was better. The birds quieted down.”

“My responsibility as a pet shop owner is to tell customers that birds do scream,” continued Hemingway. “I carry a lot of poicephalus because they are quieter. If you choose a bird with a lower decibel level you will probably not have to end up making a chose between your bird and your apartment, because most of the time the loud bird looses.”

Training Yourself To Train Your Parrot

Timing is everything in telling jokes and parrot training, especially when it comes to excessive, loud vocalization. Even though a scream may seem like a “natural” vocalization, the amount of screaming can triple (or more) if the bird gets a “reward” for its behavior. “Learned vocalizations are always a function of positive reinforcement,” said Dicker. “The parrot learned it, you laughed at it, and so the parrot is going to keep doing it. It got a reaction. Frequently the learning and the reacting are the same—for example, swear words, because owners usually say them while they are excited. Parrots love energy.”

Hemingway concurs. “People are so quick to react to the screaming and that’s what the bird wants—a big drama. A negative reaction to a bird is as great as a positive one,” she said. “You can’t let the bird think he’s King Kong and has got everyone watching him on the Empire State Building.”

Praise for the right behaviors is far better than making a big scene for the wrong ones. Train yourself to disregard the unwanted vocalization and to begin replacing it with a wanted vocalization. According to Dicker, traditional “reprogramming” methods included simply ignoring the bird when it performs an unwanted behavior, but he suggests that it’s not enough. “Ignoring something is doing nothing, and the parrot can’t associate nothing with something,” said Dicker. “You have to give the parrot a behavior to replace the screaming with in order to obtain the same thing that it received from screaming. The thing I always recommend is to ignore the screaming and when the parrot is quiet for a short period of time, praise it for that, then raise the bar a little bit. Praise for two minutes of quiet, then three minutes, and so on.”

“Screaming is first, and foremost, a form of communication,” continued Dicker. “The bird is telling you something. Screaming always starts from a natural cause. The thing to do is figure out what the screaming means. When you deal with the reason for screaming, the bird should stop that type of screaming, but only if you deal with it quickly, before it habituates. Address the behavior while it is still in the communication phase and not in the parrot’s every day existence. Once it is, you have to figure out what the parrot is telling you and then you have to deprogram.”

Giving the bird things to do will help immensely with screaming. Bored birds are more likely to express their boredom vocally. “Some screaming birds seem to have the vocal segment of their brains stuck on wide open glut. All they do is scream,” said Linden. “These birds need to have their physical environments and schedules enriched to include lots of opportunities for athletic exploration, visual stimulation and general learning. Caregivers can help screaming birds blunt their obnoxious noises through the provision of adequate diets, lots of exercise, an abundance of busy work, and meaningful communication.”

If all else fails, a little diplomacy might help the neighbors to see that you—and your parrot—aren’t so bad after all. “When I moved into an apartment with my blue and gold, Sam, I introduced her, on hand, to all of the new neighbors and told them that if they heard a noise like a child being dismembered, this was the animal that was making the noise,” said Wilson. “I gave them all my phone number and told them to call me if Sam annoyed them. They never called.”

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