tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27632886213838039222024-03-13T22:42:57.814-07:00Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment ConsultationsJim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-47998432133464049172013-08-17T15:46:00.001-07:002013-08-17T15:46:35.732-07:00Parrot Safe Wire Mesh<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuPqwBpGt9HWy2aHfLXNCBDRGCsR4GIx-jZtzjvx5RceUPASTy7L3h4gHomr8qzQzrhdECooX27NMPcRQ59HgCFgITlwe-691JqrjS6j2peFNDJ0CePw30KjHnLwrZT_MfhR2bU01lEC7/s1600/wire_supplier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuPqwBpGt9HWy2aHfLXNCBDRGCsR4GIx-jZtzjvx5RceUPASTy7L3h4gHomr8qzQzrhdECooX27NMPcRQ59HgCFgITlwe-691JqrjS6j2peFNDJ0CePw30KjHnLwrZT_MfhR2bU01lEC7/s320/wire_supplier.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the biggest issues we have had here in Australia over the past few years is the supply of `parrot safe’ wire mesh suitable for outdoor enrichment enclosures and breeding aviaries. Previously we could always depend on the Australian made product `Waratah Weldmesh' for its consistent quality and lack of solder `dags’ on the mesh joins. It was a great, reliable and totally safe product. Unfortunately when production of that mesh ceased many birdkeepers were left with the only option of inferior imported mesh. These products were at best poorly made with welds that would quite easily snap and at worst full of those lethal solder dags at the weld joints that parrots have a tendency to snip off, consume and develop potentially fatal heavy metal toxicity.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thankfully, a new, `bird proven’ and totally safe alternative is now available. The product is being imported from Italy by a good friend of mine who is a birdkeeper and has used the mesh in all of his aviaries with species ranging from Black Cockatoos to small lorikeets to Australian native grass parrots. The product is called `Esafort’ and you can find out more information at the following link…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thewiresupplier.com.au/category/products/aviculture/">http://www.thewiresupplier.com.au/category/products/aviculture/</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My recommendation for most outside enclosures that will house parrots is to use 12.7mm x 12.7mm – 1.05mm mesh. Give the `Wire Supplier’ a call via the contact information that can be sourced through the link above for additional advice on the most suitable mesh for your needs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are aware of any other proven wire mesh product that is safe for parrots then please let me know and I will post it here.</span></div>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-32992039916394849902013-08-04T03:22:00.000-07:002013-08-05T17:09:31.769-07:00WPT Podcast<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back in 2012 I was asked to record a `podcast’ with <b>Charlie Moores</b> from `Talking Naturally’ based on one of my Q&A replies on the World Parrot Trust `Ask the Experts’ resource. Charlie is an amazing guy with a serious passion for wild birding and it was a great experiencing `Skyping' with him to put this little media piece together. Take the time to check out his website at <a href="http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/">http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/ </a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The conversation topic was <b>`Keeping Parrots Flighted’</b> – something very important to me </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and a potent motivator for</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> my work as an educator of companion parrot keepers. The podcast is now available online via the new section of the World Parrot Trust website dedicated to a range of podcast recordings. I can thoroughly recommend taking some time to tune in and listen to all of the podcasts available over a cuppa (or whilst reclining back in bed with the iPad firmly in lap as the case may be these days!) You can check out the podcast via the following link…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/podcasts/">http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/podcasts/</a> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have even more spare time on your hands then you might like to have a read of the original musings on the matter of keeping your parrot flighted, as well as my other contributions to the WPT Q and A initiative via…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/author/12012">http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/author/12012</a></span></div>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-65213736471232781932013-08-04T02:55:00.000-07:002013-08-04T02:56:57.014-07:00Final 2013 Workshops - Sydney & Gold Coast<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just a couple of date claimers for my final workshops for 2013…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Workshop Title: `The Training Toolkit’</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Date:</b> Saturday September 7th</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Venue:</b> Animal Referral Hospital – Homebush, Sydney.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Time:</b> 9:00am to 1:30pm</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Session 1: The Training Toolkit</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Session 2: Nutritional Influences on Parrot Behaviour (Dr Stacey Gelis)</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Session 3: What’s in it for me? – Motivating parrots for training success</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Session 4: Training Troubleshooting – Tips for successful training and behaviour change management</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $95</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Registration Information:</b> Please contact <a href="mailto:seminar@arhvets.com">seminar@arhvets.com</a> or phone 02 9758 8880 (Registrations close August 31st)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Workshop Title: `Annual Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Companion Parrot Workshop Day’</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Date:</b> Saturday September 28th</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Venue:</b> Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary – Gold Coast</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Time:</b> 9:00am to 4:00pm</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Environmental Enrichment</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Diet Management</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Practical Handling & Body Language Interpretation</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Behind The Scenes – Free Flight Bird Show</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Behaviour Management</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $135 ($95 for second household member)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Registration Information:</b> <a href="http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/discover_more/programs/community_courses/companion_parrot_workshop/">http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/discover_more/programs/community_courses/companion_parrot_workshop/</a></span></div>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-65772314004998616582013-07-05T20:24:00.001-07:002013-07-05T20:24:07.069-07:00The 80/20 Rule<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNhCrCmfWzOTaCAznlibHZmqYvIsa-0zkalod2K3H2oeCcgibshUHU-Bo9j7o7qRf5iCTFO3DeUA51aYPTFJW6yFMT_aVfkmbS9mDYlWnSe6wB9WpVFZ-nVOvaEVMzy12a_5zB6aeuXtl/s1600/8020rule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNhCrCmfWzOTaCAznlibHZmqYvIsa-0zkalod2K3H2oeCcgibshUHU-Bo9j7o7qRf5iCTFO3DeUA51aYPTFJW6yFMT_aVfkmbS9mDYlWnSe6wB9WpVFZ-nVOvaEVMzy12a_5zB6aeuXtl/s1600/8020rule.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my last post I talked about some simple options for foraging foods that can encourage parrots to spend more time feeding in functionally relevant ways that match how these little guys are biologically built to behave. A few years ago I published an article in <a href="http://www.birdkeeper.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Birdkeeper Magazine</a> that discussed the disparity between variability vs predictability in a parrots daily experience set in captive environments compared to natural environments. It’s what I call the `80/20 rule’. No hard and fast science here – just an anecdotal generalization of activity budget and what a parrot is likely to experience on any given day either in the wild or as a pet in someone’s home that is simple enough for everyone to get the picture that life in the wild is a heck of a lot more variable than life in the living room. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The simple equation suggests that a parrot in the wild is likely to have a high degree of variability (that’s the 80%) and low degree of predictability (that’s the 20%) in its daily experience set. Conversely, the captive parrot is likely to experience a low degree of variability (20%) and high degree of predictability (80%) in its daily experience set. This sets up the challenge to address the disparity and bridge the gap in that 80/20 ratio between predictability versus variability. It’s the key to long-term behavioural success in our birds. A simple way to start is to categorise all of the experiences your parrot has in a day – eg, feeding, bathing, social interaction, exploration, out of cage, in cage, on playstand etc. Think of alternative ways that each of those experiences can be presented and how you can reduce their predictability on a daily or even weekly schedule. In the next post I will illustrate one super simple way that you can make change the norm. Change and Choice – two great words to keep in mind when setting the environment up for your parrot to succeed and doing something proactive about that 80/20 rule.</span></div>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-43836193071269820822013-07-05T20:09:00.000-07:002013-07-05T20:09:38.177-07:00Five Fab Foraging Foods<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After nearly 20 years of daily parrot feeding I seriously still get a buzz from seeing my birds getting stuck into the fresh food that I prepare for them daily. Cleaning and re-perching, yep - that's a chore, feeding - definitely not. I have written about the value of foraging foods in a number of past blog posts but I wanted to revisit the idea with `5 Fab Foraging Foods’ – stuff that anyone can grab from their local produce and supermarket that get parrots working for food in ways that better replicates the functional foraging behaviours we observe from them in the wild. </span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fresh Figs</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> – Expensive little fellas but packed with gooey goodness. These represent everything that is good about a true forage food – inedible external layer hiding seed filled fleshy delight with the right texture to appeal to most species. A nice idea is to use a knife to `score’ the outside and just feed whole to let them do the rest of the demolition job on it. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sugar Snap Pea</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">s – Another pricey piece of produce but again, a great replicator of nature’s parrot perfect packaging that demands some work and perseverance to get beyond the fibrous pod and into the peas inside. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Passionfruit</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> – As with fresh figs, the best way to feed these to motivate work is to score the fruit casing with a knife and let them do the rest. I actually find that my birds don’t seem to eat much of the passionfruit at all. But the sight of an obliterated mess of purple and gold tells me that they whilst there was probably no nutritional value to be gained they had plenty of fun doing `stuff’ other than making noise and pulling out feathers.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chillies</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> – Parrots lack the capsaicin receptors that result in us humans experiencing the sensation of `heat’ when eating peppers. Packed full of vitamins they can be a great addition to the daily diet. In all the years I have been feeding parrots I have seen every variation on the theme when it comes to consuming foods like chillies. Some eat the flesh, some only eat the seeds, some show little interest. Worth persevering and trying different colours as well to pique their interest. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seed Sticks</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> – Yep, not kidding. I’ll probably be lambasted by all the Parrot Police out there who want to rave about ridiculous restrictions on feeding anything not derived from ritually blessed organically certified soils of the hippy hinterland or picked from trees facing the mystic light shards of the northern summer solstice. But seriously, these humble little original bird treats are cheap, convenient, novel fun – especially for parrots that rarely get exposed to seed in their regular diet. In most cases very little is actually consumed and they really can be a highly effective redirector for destructive behaviour – particularly useful to have handy when you need a little quiet `busy’ time from your parrot. Just be sensible with the stick selection and the way you use them; choose the varieties with minimal sunflower seed, avoid the wire stick versions and only use the type shown in the pic above (Trill and Bird Munchies are best), only provide with a purpose (not as a substitute for the more nutritionally beneficial items of their daily food intake) and present for short windows of opportunity to access instead of leaving them in the cage for extended periods of time.</span></li>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-88809033505505181342013-07-02T19:53:00.003-07:002013-07-02T19:53:41.164-07:00Education - The difference between poverty & prosperity<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the past few years my education efforts in the field of parrot behaviour have been almost solely focused on writing for Australian Birdkeeper Magazine and delivering workshops for both Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment Consultations and my new workshop co-initiative `Behaviourtects’ with my good buddy Nicholas Bishop. My client consultation work has become increasingly more difficult to maintain with an ever increasing set of competing priorities. What I am really passionate about are my workshops. These are incredibly rewarding experiences and the opportunity to teach to a group of passionate parrot people quenches my thirst for educating others. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Research tells us what should be obvious - education is the number one influence on poverty or prosperity in the human condition. Likewise, it is our education levels as parrot owners that make the difference between our parrots living impoverished or prosperous lives whilst in our care. Parrot owners that actively engage in a life-long approach to continuing education of themselves are undoubtedly better equipped to offer their birds the enriched captive life they deserve. Even though I have been a parrot keeper for nearly 20 years and taught parrot owners for more than ten of those through my writing and workshops I consider myself a professional learner first, teacher second. I still attend workshop opportunities as a student and keenly listen to the anecdotes of others to embellish my own experience set with theirs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These days, most people look to the Internet as their primary learning environment. If you’re lucky you will find the good stuff early in your search. There’s plenty of gold out there if you start with the links below. If not, welcome to a whole world of poverty stricken thinking, most of which rears its ugly head in those great information shantytowns – the parrot discussion forum or the Facebook parrot whatever group. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My advice - If you really want to deepen your education then there is no substitute for an immersion experience via workshops, conferences or conventions. If you can’t make a workshop then be sure to check the following sources to ensure your understanding of the behaviour and enrichment needs of your birds is going to prosper and not languish in poverty…</span></div>
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<li><a href="http://www.naturalencounters.com/pressRoom.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writings of Steve Martin – Natural Encounters Incorporated</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://behaviorworks.org/htm/articles_behavior_change.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writings of Dr Susan Friedman PhD - Behaviorworks</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://learningparrots.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writings of Hillary Hankey – Learning Parrots</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.goodbirdinc.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Book and DVD Resources from Barbara Heidenreich – Good Bird Inc</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://parrotenrichment.com/blog/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Parrot Enrichment Ideas – Kris Porter</span></a></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj48vVg30TsrNzKKfLT5zyzhDUCQstHFWu8VlksY4uVfFqL6tm6IoS-1pOhge_JNfH36EAu6Pj2vMxSE97LpZDZJT9-0qK34ZbDhyfz9QB4YbN9c008_ZCCmKcZ8zk6vaXXu5-dmIwFXu_I/s667/bonita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj48vVg30TsrNzKKfLT5zyzhDUCQstHFWu8VlksY4uVfFqL6tm6IoS-1pOhge_JNfH36EAu6Pj2vMxSE97LpZDZJT9-0qK34ZbDhyfz9QB4YbN9c008_ZCCmKcZ8zk6vaXXu5-dmIwFXu_I/s1600/bonita.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Poverty or Prosperity? Education makes the difference</span></td></tr>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-21552195941844185852013-07-02T18:31:00.003-07:002013-07-02T18:36:05.491-07:00Quick Update...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The past 5 years have been an amazing time of change with the addition of three children and an ever-increasing set of work responsibilities. I have recently decided to remove my old website completely and now my website address will redirect to this blog site until I develop a replacement site. That will hopefully happen this year but until then, parrot enthusiasts can keep in touch via my various blog ramblings at this site. To keep things happening my plan is to upload a new blog post each fortnight (twice a month), something that I haven’t been able to allocate the time to do successfully over the past year but will endeavour to do so now. Check in every second weekend and hopefully there will be something new to read or an interesting link to share.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My main distraction over the past few years has been my focus on being `present’ with my family. I take that responsibility as being my most important in life and it certainly gets prioritized over my education work for bird owners. The upside for me is that my twin boys are starting to `help out’ with the bird round. Archie in particular really likes following me around and loves to be given little jobs to do – his favourite being to place the afternoon fruit chunk in each of the lory aviaries. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Parrots and children can be a volatile mix. Whilst I don’t consider most parrot species to be suitable companion animals for kids, perhaps the more appropriate reality is that most kids aren’t really suitable carers for parrots (actually – most adults are probably worse but that’s for another time). There are a few exceptions but my experience definitely suggests that aside from the time period when a parrot is very young and very confiding, most become increasingly less tolerant of the variability in behaviour of small children. Of all of the parrots in my collection, most display aggression towards my three kids as they wander around the aviaries and some; the Amazons and Macaws in particular, are simply dangerous. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My goal is for my children to grow up appreciating wildlife so I want them to have the most positive experience possible and to learn the importance of respecting all forms of life. To ensure that those experiences build confidence, engagement and wonder it’s definitely a `hands off’ situation while the kids are young. As they learn about how animals communicate with us through their body language they will hopefully develop the sorts of decision-making skills that ultimately make the critical difference between success and failure in their animal encounters. What an awesome responsibility it is to guide them through that learning journey!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Archie on the afternoon rounds serving up a fruit chunk for the Black Lories - his favourites</span>.</td></tr>
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Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-58832074755601960642012-07-01T02:44:00.003-07:002012-07-01T02:46:39.861-07:00Consult Diary…<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to prioritising family time these days I decided to take a break from doing consultation work, other than the occasional phone consult. Every now and then someone on the Sunshine Coast will contact me and given that it’s local I sometimes make exceptions depending on my schedule. I had recently had a phone consult with a local client and given the nature of the problems faced there was a need to follow-up with an in-home visit. I’m glad I did as it certainly made a significant difference on a number of levels. I’m not going to get into specific details as I take the confidentiality of working with my clients seriously. What I can do in this forum however is to share some of the general learning experiences, philosophies and approaches used in some of my consult sessions so that reader’s can hopefully benefit as well. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the case of my most recent consult there was plenty of food for thought that we can all find value in reflecting on. I’m going to elaborate on three of these over the next three posts (including this one). Let’s start off with…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Want behaviour change? – Get that environment right</i></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you do in-home consultation work you get used to being prepared for anything. I’ve pretty much seen it all – the very good and the not so very good. One thing you need to be prepared to do is to sometimes throw out Plan A (your original pre-consult goal set) and switch to Plan B. Plan B rarely actually `exists’ – the other (and perhaps more appropriate) term for it is `Wing it and work with whatever is in front you in most need of changing’. What starts off as - `<i>Yeah – let’s see if we can get together and work on that step up behaviour!</i>’ quickly gets shelved in favour of - `<i>Umm – let’s see if we can do a renovation rescue on this here cage so the little fella doesn’t have to perform a Cirque de Soleil routine just to get anywhere near your hand</i>’. In almost every in-home consultation I have done over more than 10 years of going into people’s homes to help them with their parrots I can’t recall a single one that didn’t start off with some necessary improvised goal setting re-directed towards environmental change. In my experience, the most potent precursor to the establishment of behavioural issues with parrots that are incompatible with harmony in the home lies firmly and squarely in poor environmental arrangement. The absolute bottom line for achieving any behaviour change goal is that the starting point for success is in environmental change. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So…What’s often wrong with these environments? It varies – anything from completely inappropriate housing, improper perching, inadequate enrichment, excessive exposure to aversive stimuli, poor diet management, improper handling – the whole suite. Therein lies the dilemma if you are working with a client in an environment where just about none of the right boxes are ticked. Where do you start? This is where the skill of consulting is much greater than just theoretical understanding. Being able to determine what your client actually has the capacity to achieve both financially and motivationally is critical. There is no greater waste of time than instructing a client from an authoritative stance and setting up what amounts to a list of demands for what you might know are `ideal’ but in reality may never be achieved by the owner. <b><i>The concept of `approximations’ is just as relevant for goal setting with clients as it is with their birds – a very, very important idea to keep in mind as a consultant.</i></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can be a real challenge to think on the spot when consulting and come up with contingencies for situations that are outside of the scope of what you were mentally prepared for. Be prepared to set aside the more explicit expectations of the client which, in the client’s mind, most commonly starts with `<i><b>I want the bird to do this…</b></i>’ and redirect their thinking to where the foundations of behaviour change really need to be addressed first – which should see a mindset shift towards… `<b><i>To get the bird to do this… we first need to have an environment that looks like this…</i></b>’ That approach will ultimately make the difference between success and failure whilst (perhaps most critically) elevate the level of `ownership’ of the problems and the solutions to the client – not the consultant (I’ll reveal more on that in the future). Overcoming challenges in confronting situations is exceptionally rewarding – particularly knowing that you probably achieved more in your time with the client by taking a step back to go two forward. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, next up over the next two posts I want to go into some detail on the following little reflections… </span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Buyer Beware – Hand raised is all in the interpretation of the term</i></b></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Trust Account Bankruptcy – Happens long before you’ve called in the receivers</i></b></span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll post each of these over the coming weeks so keep checking back in ☺ </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzPa8e2oc7M1cE1Zjd1At0QqFWGT1fH-150jUSUmSmFbySsJyO7y0A7JtzTAYpnJ03RAbCSKOSbkyAOz0hylT099BT5hC4UfPnYLuwCLEpaM0AvMC6FL87I_KTfdu4QqGWXX4fxiwGydW/s1600/gus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzPa8e2oc7M1cE1Zjd1At0QqFWGT1fH-150jUSUmSmFbySsJyO7y0A7JtzTAYpnJ03RAbCSKOSbkyAOz0hylT099BT5hC4UfPnYLuwCLEpaM0AvMC6FL87I_KTfdu4QqGWXX4fxiwGydW/s320/gus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What's going to be more important during a consult session for this guy - A `Bird in the hand' or an `Environmental Makeover'? Sometimes the most important focus for achieving goals with clients requires a one step back approach to get those all important two steps forward. The `step back' is where consideration of the environment and the necessary antecedent arrangement to set the bird up for success is achieved.</span></span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-85928008711185871262012-07-01T02:38:00.000-07:002012-07-01T02:38:01.354-07:00More Food Prep Tips…<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like just about everyone else in these crazy times we live in, I lead a typically busy life and am therefore constantly looking for ways to minimise time spent on the `work’ aspects of parrot ownership whilst maximising time spent on the `play’. Food preparation has always been a bit of both work and play for me. I actually really enjoy thinking about the three pillars of effective diet management (Composition, Presentation and Timing of Delivery) and get a bit of a kick out of the aesthetics of it all when I put together a veritable smorgasbord of culinary curiosities for my flock. I have to admit though – getting the time to do that in-between my intense career demands, family needs and extra-curricular pursuits can be a challenge. It’s especially time consuming when you have more than one or two companion birds. Our flock fluctuates between 12 and 15 birds depending on what’s happening here so preparing food and feeding out can definitely become time intensive. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had always shied away from pre-preparing fresh food in advance and utilising cold storage until I watched Pam Clark and Kris Porter’s excellent DVD `Feeding Our Parrots Well’ (see review – <a href="http://parrotconsultations.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/feeding-our-parrots-well-new-dvd.html">http://parrotconsultations.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/feeding-our-parrots-well-new-dvd.html</a>). Usually the problem you get is that fresh food doesn’t last well when sliced and diced to the small size I prefer but Pam’s technique layers the foods in such a way that it maximises freshness for the few days it gets stored. I took that onboard and what I do is stack the airlock Tupperware containers such that the final layer is frozen peas and corn. This tends to create a blanket layer that is already frozen/chilled on top of the rest of the fruit and vegetable mix and seems to aid significantly in keeping the rest of the contents fresh for up to 3 days in the fridge. In a good airlock container you get a nice `esky’ effect. It takes me only a fraction longer to prepare 3 days worth of fruit and vegetable mix at a time. I then allocate 1 portion of that for that mornings feed and store the rest for the following two days. I’ve gone from doing fresh food prep every night or morning to every third day. Less time on `work’ – more time for `play’.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Using good quality, airtight containers, layering fresh food and placing frozen peas and corn mix as the top layer significantly helps to keep cold stored diets fresh for up to 3 days.</span></span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-77521374517898210882012-06-25T20:00:00.001-07:002012-06-25T20:10:52.857-07:00Bush tucker...<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it comes to the diet of my parrots I’m definitely always keen to learn more about the best approaches to the presentation, timing of delivery and composition of their daily food intake. It seems that no matter how many years I have kept parrots for, I find every aspect of feeding them to be a source of continual learning. On one of my recent ventures to the supermarket I came across `Okra’ (Scientific name - <i>Abelmoschus esculentus</i>). It reminded me of the sort of elongated, bean like pod that I have seen footage of South American parrot species feeding on in the wild. I asked an employee who was dutifully stacking the Granny Smith’s nearby what it tasted like. The response wasn’t favourable – which got me even more excited given that my birds tend to eat stuff I normally turn my nose up at anyway, a good indicator that I might be on to a winner here (<i>admittedly – I am better at dishing nutritional advice for parrots rather than taking said advice onboard for my own diet!</i>). Taste potential aside I figured I would give it a go – I was intrigued at what the reception might be from my birds. I have to add here - Let’s keep in mind that Parrots are reported to have less than 500 taste buds compared with the nearly 10 000 in humans, hence a poorly developed sense of taste which might explain why, in reality, taste probably has little or nothing to do with feeding preferences. Might also explain why they happily chow down on some pretty cardboardesque foods we feed them without too much fuss. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back to the Okra… The cool thing about the Okra pods is that they are loaded with seeds but encased in a tough, fibrous pouch. I like foods like this that combine all of the nutritional value we are keen to expose them to but also come packaged in their own `nature made’ enrichment package that requires some work and effort expenditure to penetrate to get into that seedy centre (the place where the seeds are found – <i>not the red light district of your local capital city</i>). Your parrot isn’t interested in the exterior and if the interior of the food is enticing enough, presenting it to them whole is a great way to increase the duration required to feed and to stimulate some highly desirable, functional behaviour. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Okra was a hit with just about all of my parrots. They relished the opportunity to tear into the bounty of seeds within and it definitely added some interest value for the few days that it was available. It provided a timely reminder to me to keep trying out new things with the feeding of my birds. It’s incredibly easy to get stuck with routine feeding and fail to keep things variable. More variability – less predictability, the key mantra for successful environmental arrangement of parrot enclosures!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Okra (<i>Abelmoschus esculentus</i>) Like Crocodile Dundee once said... <i>`You can eat it... but it tastes like s@#t'</i> Darn good enrichment food for your parrots though!!!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-3245111441634810782012-06-25T19:55:00.002-07:002012-06-25T19:55:17.867-07:00Interpreting Parrot Body Language – The sum of its parts<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being mindful of the body language presented to us by our parrots has certainly become a prominent element of our approach to successful behaviour management over the years. A considered evaluation of what your parrot is `telling’ you via the overt presentation of posture, feather positioning and movement prior to engaging with the bird sets you up for success with a starting point for your criteria for interaction. At least it should – <i>in theory</i>. The problem that most inexperienced parrot owners encounter is that correct interpretation of the meaning of body language indicators really requires an evaluation of the sum of their parts. The mistake most often made is firstly to ignore the environmental context within which the bird is being observed and secondly to focus on the most overt component of the bird’s display whilst being unaware of the less overt indicators. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take the classic cockatoo crest raise as an example. We observe this overt display in a range of different environmental contexts to communicate a variety of different messages. So how do you know whether a cockatoo raising its crest is `excited’, `amorous’, `aggressive’, `fearful’ or any other reasonably associated construct? Well, check out what else is going on. Is the crest raise paired with… <i>Wings spread or tucked and relaxed? Movement away or towards you? Tightening of body contour feathers or relaxation of body feathering? Tail fanning or a relaxed tail? Pinning of the pupils or `sleepy’ eyes? Beak open or closed? Head flicking? Head lowering? Rubbing of beak on the perch?</i> – I could go on but you get the picture! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check out the image below. Do a little `count’ to see how many different overt body language indicators you can identify. It’s a cool thing to do to sharpen your observational skills. Ultimately we are still going to be left short in being fully empowered with a clear understanding of what this guy is communicating to us because the problem with a still photograph is that it doesn’t give us all of the really important information – the environment, the movement dynamics of the bird and the history. Pairing observations with experience from the past sets up the thinking… `The last time I saw him do that he followed up with…’ An empowering and informing thought process. Still fun to play a bit of `identify that body language indicator’ with the pic below though ☺ BTW – If you want to learn more about interpreting parrot body language then you have to get the best resource available for keen learners… <a href="http://www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-dvds.html">http://www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-dvds.html</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">How many different observable and measurable elements of body language can you identify?</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-22750431365671431502012-06-25T19:50:00.000-07:002012-06-25T19:50:57.257-07:00Responsible screening met with irresponsible attitudes<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently received some correspondence from a good friend of mine who is (in my opinion) one of the most responsible and dedicated breeders of Macaws in Australia. The communication stream presented below starts off OK but quickly disintegrates. Personally I have zero tolerance for people who not only want to buy Macaws as status symbols and stick them in an indoor cage all day with the radio on, clip their wings, only let them out for a couple of hours in the evening and think that’s going to be kosher for the largest and undeniably one of the most environmentally challenging groups of parrot that we keep as a pet. Here’s the transcript…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Buyer Enquiry:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Hi, I am interested in a baby hand-reared Blue & Gold macaw. I have kept a lorikeet for several years and loved the experience. I would sincerely love to be a macaw parent. Can you reply with some pics of the baby’s parents? I am after a good talker and was told that a male is better generally for this. Does it make a lot of difference with Macaws?</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Breeder Reply:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Hi, can you tell me what you are looking for? Pet or breeding? Will you clip wings and keep indoors and what will happen when you are at work all day? These babies are not sexed yet as they are too young so am not sure if I will have a boy. There are only 2 not yet spoken for. Parents are currently in the nest with their baby, which they will bring up through to 8-9 months old so taking a photo of them is not possible. They are large birds and consistently produce beautiful young. Let me know your intentions re housing etc asap if you want to secure one.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Buyer’s Response:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Hi, I plan on clipping wings and keeping indoors all day. For my last bird I always left a radio on, kept the room well lightened and placed a small fan on one end of the cage if he got hot during the day. I kept loads of toys and a bath in the bottom of the cage for him, he never got bored or plucked feathers etc. I am looking around now for very large cages, and intend on letting him out of the cage every night when I get home until its bedtime. How much would you need for a deposit on one, and how long before you could shoot through a pic of the parents?</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Breeder’s Response:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Hi, Unfortunately I will never sell to anyone who wants to clip wings and keep indoors all day. It is a very poor life for any bird and extremely cruel to one as intelligent as a macaw. They need to fly in the sun and the rain for quality of life. It is like locking a child in a playpen all-day and releasing for an hour in the evening when they want to sleep anyway. It is the reason why I only sell companion birds to WA so I can check they have an aviary and can fly. No bird should be alone and locked in and waiting for you to come home for time out of a little prison, it destroys the whole personality of such a intelligent bird. My apologies once again, I have a responsibility to these birds.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Buyer’s Response:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>(Name withheld), You are an incredibly sneaky woman, next time be more open and honest before asking such loaded questions. I will happily be positing this email chain online so everyone sees what your like!</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well bud – I’m pretty certain you didn’t have the audacity to follow up on your little threat there so allow me to post this online for ya so everyone can see what a complete jerk you are. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s summarise what the breeder’s expectations and conditions of sale were for their Macaws – <b>1) An outdoor flight aviary and 2) to be left fully flighted and not wing-clipped.</b> <i>Nothing more – nothing less.</i> A breeder of Macaws, Cockatoos – or any darn parrot for that matter has every right to find out what the future holds for the birds they breed and every right of refusal to deny a sale if they are unsatisfied with the response. The dilemma for responsible breeders who actually give a damn about the birds they sell as pets is that if they start the sale interface with <i>`This bird mustn’t be wingclipped and must have access to a flight aviary during the day’</i> it doesn’t take a genius to work out what any potential buyer is going to promise – even if they have absolutely no intention of following through. This breeder frequently encounters such retribution and threats and that sort of irresponsible, selfish attitude really makes my blood boil. Sorry folks – but the socially accepted attitude towards keeping large parrots in solitary confinement in the corner of the living room for 10-12 hours a day with a radio on is pathetic. What worked for the pet Budgie for the past 100 years in Australia doesn’t make it right for a Macaw – heck, it didn’t make it right for the Budgie either! Keeping parrots responsibly and ethically requires a better understanding of their needs than a `one size fits all’ approach. The sad thing is – I’ll bet my house that this guy just called up a different breeder, bought a Macaw without any screening and that thing is sitting in a cage, in the living room corner, staring at that undersized excuse for a birdbath, poking at the same old food it was offered every day since it arrived and waiting for that front door to open. You know what – I bet I get a call from this guy down the track. That conversation will start something like this… <i>`Hey Jim - I’ve got a problem with me Macaw. Every time I come home it screams out real loud and won’t shut up till I let it out of its cage. We bought it because we wanted a talker but it just yells. Can you fix it?’</i> Sigh…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Responsible breeders take an interest in the future of the birds they sell as pets. Buyers who want ornaments for their living room should investigate taxidermy - it's quieter and much less mess!</span></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-83862623112994839372012-06-25T19:43:00.000-07:002012-06-25T19:43:05.067-07:00The predictable unpredictability of new introductions…<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve lost count now of the number of times I have introduced new birds to a collection (either mine or others I have worked with) over the past 20 years of parrot keeping but I have done it enough times to be completely humble about the predictability of success. One thing I have learned is the total predictability of the <i>unpredictable</i> nature of how parrots will react towards new birds. Parrots, perhaps more so than many other wildlife taxa that we keep in captivity can be seriously difficult to integrate into an existing flock dynamic or even to establish a single pairing of birds with a view to breeding. I would like to share two important principles when introducing new birds – 1) Plan out every step of the release in advance and; 2) Have a back-up plan – contingencies are critical! A recent example of that was our attempt to integrate a male Blue & Gold Macaw (2 years old) into our Macaw aviary while he is residing here for a couple of months while the owners are overseas. The aviary that is home to two other Macaws – a female Green-winged (3 years old) and a female Blue & Gold (2 years old). I was very positive that our temporary resident would do OK – especially considering his confident temperament and being the same age as my resident female. My strategy was to do a major environmental makeover at the same time as the introduction and to delay the morning feed until after this. This would provide ample distraction for releasing the new guy from his pet pack into the enclosure and I hoped would minimise the attention he would attract. Basically I did the following… </span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Withheld the morning feed whilst the enclosure renovations took place</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Removed all existing perches in the aviary and replaced with new ones – in all different positions at different heights</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Changed the locations of the food bowl holders</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fully stocked the four different browse holders with fresh branches</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Added in a few new artificial chew toys</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Placed out a variety of food bowls with high value foods</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Released the new bird</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Observed the interactions from a distance (being present with imprinted birds can actually cause more problems – better to remove yourself from the equation)</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the aviary renovation was happening the `new guy’ was contained within his crate inside the enclosure. This allowed him to observe everything that was going on and for me to observe the reaction towards his presence from the other two Macaws. When the aviary renovation was complete I opened up the travel crate and allowed the male Macaw to come out as he pleased – which he did almost straight away. With all of the new distractions in the aviary my two birds were almost disinterested in the new bird and everything seemed to be going to plan. I placed the food bowls out and sure enough – my guys got down to the business of eating and destroying the fresh browse leaf and left the newcomer alone. At one stage all three were happily eating at the same time. I have to admit that at this point – I thought I was pretty much a genius and had finally perfected an introduction. Time for humble pie… </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of my two Macaws the one that I predicted would be most likely to be aggressive towards the new bird was my Green-winged Macaw. She is the dominant bird in the enclosure and has a healthy history of zero tolerance towards interlopers into her territory. Conversely, my Blue and Gold Macaw is a sweetheart and rarely if ever displays aggressive tendencies. Any guesses who turned feral on the new guy? My sweet B&G! She was just relentless. Whenever you are attempting such introductions you can always expect initial conflict. I can’t recall a time with all of the introductions I have done when that hasn’t happened. What you are looking for is a `pull out’ or `abort mission’ point where the aggression is observed to persist and isn’t isolated to simply driving off the new bird from a favoured perching position. You also want to observe signs that the new bird has the confidence to stand up to the existing birds and not back down too quickly. Parrots are very good at determining whether they have met their match in the aggression and physicality stakes and will quickly settle if a new bird is confident enough not to back off. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. I intervened a couple of times when things got too heated and as the afternoon drew to a close things did settle down a little. I allowed the three of them to remain together overnight but the disputes resumed first thing the following morning and I made the decision to pull the pin. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it comes to parrots – so often they stay true to that old adage – two’s company, three’s a crowd. That brings me to the contingency. Whenever you plan on adding a new bird to a flock, or on putting a pairing together of mature birds, always have a back-up enclosure ready to go in case they need to be separated. In this case, a fall-back aviary was ready, perched and it took nothing more than getting the new guy back into his crate and shifting him. Obviously if the intention was for the male Macaw to stay as part of the collection there are a bunch of other strategies we would work through over time with but seeing as he is here short-term it wasn’t going to be worth the time and energy investment – and the risk of compromising his safety unnecessarily. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humble pie eaten. Unsuccessful introduction complete. Back to a lower stress, more harmonious arrangement in separate enclosures ☺</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Ahh - if only the peace and tranquility captured here stayed that way!</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-73015786142563826192011-12-13T19:10:00.000-08:002011-12-14T16:13:32.883-08:00Parrot Feeding Strategies - Part 1: Free Feed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-JOiDEoZsT8m-lebWl-T2QWfApZYu6GR6TLx46V4ee6iTab1-ozbpS2ettbZjyCBOq7yVJV6EJOn_c5fQbxKlHkmf9zs1KVNKYVIjcWIjIbZ0a5ajNjrXO8v1bWe7Yn18335mPQpt8PN/s1600/bowls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-JOiDEoZsT8m-lebWl-T2QWfApZYu6GR6TLx46V4ee6iTab1-ozbpS2ettbZjyCBOq7yVJV6EJOn_c5fQbxKlHkmf9zs1KVNKYVIjcWIjIbZ0a5ajNjrXO8v1bWe7Yn18335mPQpt8PN/s320/bowls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was reflecting on my recent workshop day and probably the session that generates the most interest is when I discuss diet management for enrichment and training. One thing I love about this time of year is the abundance of seasonal fruits and vegies on offer for the birds. I thought this might be a good time share a few images and insights into how I feed my flock of birds. Basically I look at managing the daily food intake of my parrots in three different contexts...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Free Feed</b>: Where food is freely available in bowls. This feed strategy represents `low behavioural criteria' for access.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Enrichment Feed:</b> Where food is presented away from bowls and in contexts such as foraging toys, F&V kebabs, or scatter feed throughout the enclosure. This feed strategy represents `high behavioural criteria' for access.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Training Feed</b>: Where food that is isolated from free feed access is offered during hands-on training or handling sessions.</span></li>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this post I just wanted to touch on my `Free Feed' approach. A few tips to share...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cut all of my fruit and vegetables that are delivered as free feed into pieces no larger than pea size. This is very successful in not only getting the birds to feed for longer durations (rather than the `taste and waste' result when feeding large chunks) but also in being better able to work out exactly how much F&V they are consuming and to work their daily intake down to the point where I am not wasting large amounts of fresh food.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chillis are great for parrots! A lot of parrot owners aren't aware that parrots lack the capsaicin receptors in their tongue therefore they feel no heat sensation from eating peppers. Packed with Vitamin A - these are a great addition to the feed out.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I `shave' the head of broccoli and mix it through the salad as I find it's the only way to get some consumption of broccoli. Most parrots ignore it if you place it in as a chunk with the stem.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The peas and corn are just from a frozen pack - I thaw them out with warm water for a few seconds and they're good to go.</span></li>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To make free feed a little more variable always place 4 to 6 different bowl holders in the enclosure to give you options each day to change the position of where they need to go to access their food bowl.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically my aim is for my parrots (non-lorikeets) to be consuming about 50% fresh produce, 30% formulated pellets and 20% seeds and nuts as their daily food intake.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUp3ZjLmsrItQvsUZhyphenhyphenD0ZyxsxMWxF4kAnHLthfXHV3jh9RNKF_a2vr8g_AeBvxQY5os89YVmEkEjtHTvm4kvPclgP2cPMO7UAPj5YWE6-8Pb1XKhlZcm9Sc8fJXNPenfKVlvtK10y9WZ/s1600/fruit_veg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUp3ZjLmsrItQvsUZhyphenhyphenD0ZyxsxMWxF4kAnHLthfXHV3jh9RNKF_a2vr8g_AeBvxQY5os89YVmEkEjtHTvm4kvPclgP2cPMO7UAPj5YWE6-8Pb1XKhlZcm9Sc8fJXNPenfKVlvtK10y9WZ/s320/fruit_veg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The selection for today - Mango, Banana, Kiwi Fruit, Apple, Pear, Pomegranate, Rockmelon, HoneyDew Melon, Watermelon, Lychee, Snow Peas, Brocolli, Chillis, Peas & Corn. My parrots pretty much get this mix each day as part of their Free Feed.</span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBooOEJGLfDhv_ETzEyl58I_ZbD-gXUHg-9C5bVZUYyg4Q2rGJd5KYZKHkjgaY7HT65lnJOm-kkNfiPFvcQJncPwJ10FO1OvFmwrEJ-rjlmX83zBp8c2I_CUx_Sfrn4ixFhyEW2NlyLQZ_/s1600/fv_mix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBooOEJGLfDhv_ETzEyl58I_ZbD-gXUHg-9C5bVZUYyg4Q2rGJd5KYZKHkjgaY7HT65lnJOm-kkNfiPFvcQJncPwJ10FO1OvFmwrEJ-rjlmX83zBp8c2I_CUx_Sfrn4ixFhyEW2NlyLQZ_/s320/fv_mix.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My fruit and vegetable mix is always cut up into `pea' size portions and mixed into a salad for their Free Feed. This helps with monitoring intake, increasing feeding duration and reducing waste.</span></span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-81250948874912931422011-12-13T18:42:00.000-08:002011-12-13T18:42:27.773-08:00CWS Companion Parrot Workshop 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzLhDy02CnuDOx6HsvmVA32mIMe3nCptRylRYu4Q3uEBX-WBD6T21jSrWXlrsO-z3xoOcibfPHAvcRkMO-GDUzSYOZkTN3OhJ4DOvy3av4B6l0GMiWDApc9Q5ji93vuCS06K9xvIQuvlb/s1600/maya_foottoy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzLhDy02CnuDOx6HsvmVA32mIMe3nCptRylRYu4Q3uEBX-WBD6T21jSrWXlrsO-z3xoOcibfPHAvcRkMO-GDUzSYOZkTN3OhJ4DOvy3av4B6l0GMiWDApc9Q5ji93vuCS06K9xvIQuvlb/s320/maya_foottoy.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Long time no post!!! Well - I've been kinda too busy to get some posts up but hopefully over the summer months I'll have time to resume the ramblings here :-) To re-start things I just wanted to give a big thankyou to the participants at the 2011 Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Companion Parrot Workshop. This is an annual experience that I coordinate each year and last Saturday our 2011 class had an absolutely fantastic day of bird nerd immersion in all things parrot related. This particular class seemed to really take up the opportunity to acquire some enrichment products that we have available on the day courtesy of The Parrot Rescue Centre (</span><a href="http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.parrotrescuecentre.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). I took home a few things myself (thanks Zarita ;-) and I think I've finally found the ultimate `lasting' chewable toy for my Macaws. Zarita's partner Jamie Carpenter is the man behind the tools behind the `Natural Toys' that are made by PRC and one particular product - the `Natural Boing Large' has been a hit with Bonita and Maya since I placed it in their aviary on Monday. Nothing overly special about the Macaws getting something to chew up - the difference here is that it's Wednesday and it's still there! My Macaws generally work on the principle of <i>`the more expensive it is - the quicker we can destroy it'</i>. I sometimes kinda feel like I may as well open up my wallet and just give them a few 50's to chew up and get it over and done with (not that I ever really have 50's in my wallet these days). The Natural Boing though has been a winner - both for maintaining their destructive perseverance (a good thing!) and it's longevity thus far. Compared to the $25 bag of various foot toys that they turned into wood chip in less than an hour (seriously) these boings are better bang for the buck. If you are keen to get your parrots some enrichment products for Christmas then definitely go and check out the </span><a href="http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com/ubg/shop_home.php" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PRC Shop</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - they've got everything a parrot wants to see under their tree. Thanks to Zarita and Bella for the set up of the enrichment stand at the workshop!!!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBKHmZuiyecXzScWM8o6rcQx0ClHNaF3_lRcZD-ZYIL4Dmt1fXmKluyeOfpqrBajIY0JY51ysmqPSG6azawB0Cou9Qyb-jcV5vpH0Ee96WZRwrCikUtZysFrZTGzBIKEizjVmuoU4Yknm/s1600/bonita_boing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBKHmZuiyecXzScWM8o6rcQx0ClHNaF3_lRcZD-ZYIL4Dmt1fXmKluyeOfpqrBajIY0JY51ysmqPSG6azawB0Cou9Qyb-jcV5vpH0Ee96WZRwrCikUtZysFrZTGzBIKEizjVmuoU4Yknm/s320/bonita_boing.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Bonita getting stuck into her PRC Natural Boing Large - a ripper of an enrichment item for large macaws!!!</span></span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-43832708120873770512011-09-20T16:46:00.000-07:002011-09-20T16:46:54.419-07:00The Tender Lovin’ Towel Hold<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was going to start this post off with `<i>It never ceases to amaze me…</i>’ but ya know what? When it comes to hearing about really outdated and downright destructive advice given to parrot owners it really doesn’t amaze me - I've heard it all and keep hearing it. The tragedy is that bad advice is common advice – good advice is still the exception. The following is an excerpt from a recent e-mail I received that demonstrates the point I make fairly regularly here about the perpetuation of bad behaviour management information and improper handling techniques with parrots. The context is a 10-year-old Galah that has completely lost trust in human hands…</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>`We took him to (location removed – as tempting as it is to name and shame) and the handler there advised that this can be normal behaviour in male birds preferring a female owner. We were also shown how to use a towel to handle him properly and to scratch him on his head while holding him. Unfortunately he won't even let (name removed) scratch him then - he just keeps trying to bite him.’</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ahhh – the good old fashioned `Towel Hold’. That old chestnut. Love the way the parrot owner referred to the person giving the advice (and demonstration!) as the `handler’. Anyone getting visions of a burly kaki clad lion `tamer’/`bird whisperer'. I bet he had a multi-tool in a leather pouch on his belt too. Ahh... maybe that’s just my colourful imagination. Anyways - nothing like a relationship building session that entails wrapping your petrified polly in a towel like a big old carpet python and giving him some tender lovin’ strokes on the head to let him know that it’s all good in the hood eh? And all involved are still surprised at why such a strategy resulted in a parrot that wanted to bite them and still won’t go near them? I’m all for a good cuddle every now and then but I’m pretty sure if that involved being straight-jacketed and patted on the head repeatedly I’d probably develop a wee bit of an aversion to that experience after a while. Wouldn’t matter how many sweet nothings were being whispered in my ear. The above excerpt isn’t unusual. Last month I had another client who had purchased an Alexandrine from a pet store in Logan (Brisbane south) under the assertion that it was eating food fine and only give it some formula if it’s hungry (Huh? It was a 10 week old Alex!) and it would make a fine `friend’ for their existing pet Green-cheeked Conure (Wha?). No prizes for guessing the outcome there.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to note that not all bird stores fail in properly educating their staff on non-invasive, trust building approaches to behaviour management and sound husbandry information. Indeed, at my recent seminar day in Sydney, a prominent Brisbane bird retailer had basically their whole bird department team in attendance! Such a commitment to the professional development of retail staff is to be applauded (three cheers to Pet City Mt Gravatt and the staff in attendance – inspirational stuff! I’ll spend my hard earned there thanks). The problem is that proper staff training at bird retailers simply doesn’t happen outside of a few exceptional stores. The retailers can cry all they like about not being able to afford PD for their staff but I’m not sympathetic. It doesn’t cost anything to tell staff that instead of giving crap advice on behaviour and training they should instead refer the client to properly qualified sources. They stand to gain more from that person seeking out and obtaining information that actually `works’ and improves their relationship with their bird than potentially lose that client as a result of them implementing damaging advice and making the situation worse rather than better. With resources such as those produced by Barbara Heidenreich (<a href="http://www.goodbirdinc.com/">www.goodbirdinc.com</a>) easily available through multiple sources in Australia there’s a perfect opportunity to sell products that have sound advice rather than attempting to be the source of solutions that are a bad reflection of our past approaches to parrot care. That for my mind is a win-win approach – income generated for the retailer and a sense of responsibility for self-education placed back on the bird owner. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got a similar tale to tell? E-mail it to me - keeps me inspired to keep doing what I do.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnsN1yGktVMjo2syNIQQzeDbsKxqItme-2w2arDB4JnNiRQYx2d9M6QyUY_R6n_LRA_8c_mK_symjRB25jencWbREl_9iqoteeluGV0CznZy0wNh4xC14pwOy_tLJsmMVD5rCAOIKD578/s1600/galah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnsN1yGktVMjo2syNIQQzeDbsKxqItme-2w2arDB4JnNiRQYx2d9M6QyUY_R6n_LRA_8c_mK_symjRB25jencWbREl_9iqoteeluGV0CznZy0wNh4xC14pwOy_tLJsmMVD5rCAOIKD578/s320/galah.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Regaining trust with parrots - more about relationship building, reinforcement and respect - less about UFC towel holds.</i></span></div><div><br />
</div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-82651908048523188982011-09-20T03:39:00.000-07:002011-09-20T15:54:51.056-07:00Next ABK – New Series Starting<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After 34 issues of ABK magazine featuring the Pet Parrot Pointers column I have covered an immense amount of ground in regards to foundational thinking for change in the way we manage the behaviour of our companion parrots. Reflecting on that scope of information sharing, I decided to put together a series of articles for the next 6 issues that take a specific species or species group focus based on my first-hand experiences in the behaviour clinic. In this series I discuss some of the common problems presented by the focus species and offer some practical advice on why those problems are seen and how to best develop some strategies to help manage them. The pre-print copy I received this week of the graphic layout for the new series looks fantastic!!! I’m hoping that these are well-received and, over time, build a small library of species-specific information on companion parrot behaviour management. The first focus species is Rainbow Lorikeets. I’ll be looking at Eclectus Parrots for the second, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos for the third and Aratinga Conures for the fourth. Not sure about the 5th and 6th – that’s a long way off! You can subscribe at <a href="http://www.birdkeeper.com.au/">http://www.birdkeeper.com.au</a> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkC27slTB0KEBwWIkLZyop9Ty2VEd-zSwmRvqfa_rp1UyDRocval13fivvcJaT8LM_z2tPQMEBYxYzkBAu_s3IgGLU9NRGgtmZDH-SgE2CY4zTZWiJ5gDniUKc69ntjOOAHbvLO9pIyjOX/s1600/lory_casestudy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkC27slTB0KEBwWIkLZyop9Ty2VEd-zSwmRvqfa_rp1UyDRocval13fivvcJaT8LM_z2tPQMEBYxYzkBAu_s3IgGLU9NRGgtmZDH-SgE2CY4zTZWiJ5gDniUKc69ntjOOAHbvLO9pIyjOX/s320/lory_casestudy.jpg" width="258" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The above image is a snapshot of how each specific species discussion will be summarised in the form of a clinical `case study'. Looks pretty neat! In good news agencies second week of October.</span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-40783663541488090882011-09-20T03:34:00.000-07:002011-09-20T03:34:43.979-07:00Latest ABK – Correction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNtECJCcg-quC9zByeyvK0N5MP5mxhLf9oc6_-kTVC4MKpbKqsn0uAJhapzpM7oP3oZFNEF9vgm2MhbNcY2V1zoJHMiRqKEEZ5D-_Nf4Uuwj1fuHzzIYmNH5lMJ8YXBFd0mcm-MW3xESK/s1600/abk_sepoct_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNtECJCcg-quC9zByeyvK0N5MP5mxhLf9oc6_-kTVC4MKpbKqsn0uAJhapzpM7oP3oZFNEF9vgm2MhbNcY2V1zoJHMiRqKEEZ5D-_Nf4Uuwj1fuHzzIYmNH5lMJ8YXBFd0mcm-MW3xESK/s1600/abk_sepoct_11.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you grabbed the latest issue of Australian Birdkeeper magazine you hopefully had the chance to read my latest Pet Parrot Pointers article. The article compares and contrasts the `Traditional’ model of companion parrot keeping with what I consider to be the `21st Century’ model that we all need to start advocating. It’s the first time (anywhere) that such a clear comparison has been made and I’m hopeful that the underlying philosophical approach to our keeping of parrots as companions within the framework of the 21st Century model will replace the traditional approach set that unfortunately is the most common and persistent mind set applied today. One problem with the final print version in the latest issue of ABK is a significant error in the final summary note on each of the visual models. Each model flows into an `outcome’ – a critical statement. Unfortunately, the same `outcome’ statement was printed for each model – they should be different. For those of you who may have read the article, please consider the following as the `correct’ way it should have been presented…</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The `Traditional’ model (built on dominance based approaches and limited application of positive reinforcement based learning) should culminate in the outcome statement <b><i>`Establishing conditions that lead to dysfunctional behaviour and challenge’</i></b>. Conversely, The `21st Century’ model culminates in the outcome statement <b><i>`Establishing conditions that lead to functional behaviour and success’</i></b>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If anyone would like a PDF copy of the two models then please e-mail me.</span></div><div><br />
</div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-12530565101062211912011-07-13T17:45:00.000-07:002011-07-16T00:51:35.393-07:00Workshop for Sydney - September 11th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNQVgVKg9TeF9EELNmR48dvo00gazfCStKthb5-tE_NqlnpVlRCz-WHP8s2fXfUkWTT2mCnSgcTydLEOLxuTJneG8m4d1BRBxPOQU6Lk-DgLiVtQ_nhGisPyiDMS0fkU3VURwi9EfF8UN/s1600/pbec_workshop_blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNQVgVKg9TeF9EELNmR48dvo00gazfCStKthb5-tE_NqlnpVlRCz-WHP8s2fXfUkWTT2mCnSgcTydLEOLxuTJneG8m4d1BRBxPOQU6Lk-DgLiVtQ_nhGisPyiDMS0fkU3VURwi9EfF8UN/s320/pbec_workshop_blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had planned to only present the one workshop in 2011 - my annual gathering at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in December. However, I received a call a few weeks ago from Dr Stacey Gelis at the new Animal Referral Hospital in Sydney with the offer to put on a set of lectures as part of some opening events for the new clinic. It was too good an opportunity to pass up and we have scheduled a really great set of presentation for the delegates to experience. Registrations will be limited so I would recommend that if anyone is thinking about going to get in touch with ARH asap via seminar@arhvets.com to ensure that you don't miss out. Cost is $95 pp (includes morning tea, lunch and the opportunity to tour the new Hospital). The scope of the day will be as follows...</span><br />
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<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A 21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Diet Management for Training & Enrichment of Companion Parrots</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behaviour Analysis 101 - An Introduction to How Best to Understand Behaviour and Establish Lifelong Relationships with your Companion Parrot</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Non-behavioural Causes of Feather Plucking</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will also be a focused Q&A opportunity at the end of the day. Lunch and coffee break included!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look forward to seeing you there :-) </span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-42706870883269737352011-07-01T16:16:00.000-07:002011-07-01T16:16:18.170-07:00New FIlm on WA Black Cockatoo Conservation<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is going to be a really important film for generating awareness of the plight of Black Cockatoos in Western Australia. Looking forward to it being released...</span></div><br />
<object height="370" width="456"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NcAjZnnrQZo?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NcAjZnnrQZo?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="456" height="370" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-59637055953518595742011-06-26T02:12:00.000-07:002011-06-26T02:12:20.286-07:00Latest ABK Magazine - Managing Return to Cage Behaviour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWcatBMgXtmtPJiMH-FGhFOfNejNLk61X2bMXO7eXdFZE7vpD6vbqdHpacv4ytVrmoMUEBSX4FXgHn8ATRqAiG1HMohMmdjtW9ja6Pk95c9bQg-HYCIPTSPPseAxEcRcY6BbXDqZZlXmM/s1600/abk_jun_jul_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWcatBMgXtmtPJiMH-FGhFOfNejNLk61X2bMXO7eXdFZE7vpD6vbqdHpacv4ytVrmoMUEBSX4FXgHn8ATRqAiG1HMohMmdjtW9ja6Pk95c9bQg-HYCIPTSPPseAxEcRcY6BbXDqZZlXmM/s1600/abk_jun_jul_11.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you haven’t tracked down a copy of the latest (June/July) edition of <b>Australian Birdkeeper Magazine</b> then I would really encourage you to do so. In this issue we have a guest writer for the `Pet Parrot Pointers’ column – Chris Wyness from New Zealand. Chris and his wife Paula are very dedicated birdkeepers who have established a large flock of parrots with whom they interact with each day. Most of their parrots are kept as pairs or within a small species group and they benefit from an excellent 21st Century approach to their management and care. Some time ago Chris got in touch with me to discuss issues he was having with his Red-tailed Black Cockatoo `Zulu'. Over time, Zulu had become reluctant to return to his enclosure after the late afternoon/early evening communal flight time. Chris and I workshopped some behaviour theory, training philosophies and strategy approaches to help get Zulu back on track. Thanks entirely to the reflective, considered and positive reinforcement based approaches that Chris put in place he now has Zulu keen and eager to return to his enclosure each night. It's a really valuable read for all parrot owners (particularly with flighted parrots) and one that I am indebted to Chris and his wife Paula for sharing. If you have a good story to share about managing the behaviour of your companion parrot then I would love to hear about it. It may just end up helping others learn through your experience in the pages of ABK Magazine!</span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-34296282799245473972011-06-26T02:04:00.000-07:002011-06-26T02:04:08.935-07:00Aviary `Re-scaping'<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been a busy time over the past week with some major re-perching happening around the aviaries as well as an overdue re-substrating of the Macaw flight. I have a preference for `Decomposed Granite’ as an aviary flooring. It’s earthy in colour and texture, compacts hard, drains well, easy to surface rake and maintain and is perfectly safe for birds. Our only problem up here is limited supply and relatively high cost. The alternative, and one that I have used for many years (and many other aviculturists), is crusher dust. It has many of the same qualities as decomposed granite but in its normal form is a blue-grey colour and isn’t as aesthetically natural looking as decomposed granite. Needing to go with whatever was available I ordered a couple of cubic metres of crusher dust to be delivered and much to my surprise was greeted with a sensational looking `red’ variety. It looks fantastic in the aviaries and is just the same as regular crusher dust but its source material is a different type of rock. The images below show the difference. The top image is the new aviary flooring with the red variety and the bottom image is another aviary with the regular blue variety.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOak5oq-TSGn6GnyS7O8oQZXXp4CKNQD_aRcgpJsrK4MC7sCbsCMTGTFaQcJzryNfJ-QVgtrmU6Yx0WfIDP8SLOSabsCzbnEqB5AflhmdadPmWeFoKBZLv4T9jqTY6g5SY3McOdhyphenhyphenQwwQC/s1600/red_crusher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOak5oq-TSGn6GnyS7O8oQZXXp4CKNQD_aRcgpJsrK4MC7sCbsCMTGTFaQcJzryNfJ-QVgtrmU6Yx0WfIDP8SLOSabsCzbnEqB5AflhmdadPmWeFoKBZLv4T9jqTY6g5SY3McOdhyphenhyphenQwwQC/s320/red_crusher.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Macaw flight with `red' variation of crusher dust for aviary floor</span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OXh0Q6oHFJTYBnuqs-F1qK8rdh_87-JAFDa5PovxLQ9GZywIC0IgJkmX3zMce1eQ52-zFs9U1-vZpzHCwyhfsbCEPQkx4X3UjtPJFBqYbQDOGDJGlUO0KmEH8v9eF8NhbbvcR1dcW_o7/s1600/blue_crusher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OXh0Q6oHFJTYBnuqs-F1qK8rdh_87-JAFDa5PovxLQ9GZywIC0IgJkmX3zMce1eQ52-zFs9U1-vZpzHCwyhfsbCEPQkx4X3UjtPJFBqYbQDOGDJGlUO0KmEH8v9eF8NhbbvcR1dcW_o7/s320/blue_crusher.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Amazon flight with normal `blue' colour crusher dust for aviary floor </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-83649599196090871842011-05-18T22:47:00.000-07:002011-05-18T22:47:47.832-07:00Yellow... Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've posted previously about a red mutation African Grey breeding in South Africa - now it's time for an Australian example. Whilst I'm not a keeper of mutation parrots myself, pure bred (non-hybridised) examples of colour mutations in parrots are certainly fascinating from a genetics study. A buddy of mine recently bred a particularly stunning example of what happens when those alleles throw out something out of the ordinary. The image below is of a mutation <b><a href="http://www.parrots.org/index.php/encyclopedia/profile/yellow_tailed_black_cockatoo/">Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo</a> </b>(</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Calyptorhynchus funereus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). First bred in captivity in Australia? I'm not sure - I forgot ask! Too busy getting over how completely off the richter this thing looks compared to a `normal' version...</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGDOQVfjuyqzG_b3t_G-VJwCxphfuBfmwO3P6LLxfLFsRyXvepvInv7_N78eha8ljX_ra-JtdpD7UEZbyGsmRpWpuvUaNCJu0OcBVpyaGdGwuDu5i4bfaxUKkJR-Sgukg1htUpHY4UOq1/s1600/60448_153921227960474_100000277939959_373886_2203238_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGDOQVfjuyqzG_b3t_G-VJwCxphfuBfmwO3P6LLxfLFsRyXvepvInv7_N78eha8ljX_ra-JtdpD7UEZbyGsmRpWpuvUaNCJu0OcBVpyaGdGwuDu5i4bfaxUKkJR-Sgukg1htUpHY4UOq1/s320/60448_153921227960474_100000277939959_373886_2203238_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-39206048691807699652011-03-18T05:02:00.000-07:002011-03-18T05:08:46.838-07:00So...How far have we come?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45udH5aai0OH36tECDDhGUZuwDEB6mQgHd4W4fCCBWwbLnGU4UxF7VCzZ6FeuaQyvspb9PBH5Bx-RkC2Mmm9nmY3DQLwJJLyrFXDS1WsJmytrFSdndctvkN6Lhyphenhypheni_IhZ0y2uMPCo0DgvE/s1600/jim_pj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45udH5aai0OH36tECDDhGUZuwDEB6mQgHd4W4fCCBWwbLnGU4UxF7VCzZ6FeuaQyvspb9PBH5Bx-RkC2Mmm9nmY3DQLwJJLyrFXDS1WsJmytrFSdndctvkN6Lhyphenhypheni_IhZ0y2uMPCo0DgvE/s320/jim_pj.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the Parrots 2008 Convention I gave a presentation titled </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">`Taking the Next Step: Perspectives on the Keeping of Parrots as Pets’</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Pretty darn good presentation I thought. It was one of two presentations being given as concurrent sessions and a few punters stuck around to hear what it was all about. Either that or the other session just happened to lack the after lunch appeal of the worst timeslot of the day so they stayed put to ruminate and catch a few Z’s on the marginally better seating on offer in my room. Besides - why move when staying put means a shorter walk if you win something at the end of day raffle draws? If you ever get asked to do that post-cheap buffet lunch timeslot at a speaking convention do yourself a favour and make up some excuse as to why you can’t do it. It really is a killer. I’ve been stuck there a few times at aviculture conventions that I’ve presented at and I now feel I’ve paid my dues. I want to be upgraded to the post-jam scones and dry biscuits morning tea timeslot if I ever get asked again. At least at that time most of the delegates are looking at you with eyes like a possum caught in headlights thanks to the caffeine hit from the ubiquitous Caterer’s Blend International Roast on offer. Gives you the impression that they’re `into it’ even if they aren’t. Anyway, in that presentation I had a slide that used the question </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">`How far have we come?’</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in reference to our management of companion parrots. The slide featured a quote on parrot keeping from one of the early 20th century works on aviculture written by the Marquess of Tavistock, a British aviculturist who was undoubtedly ahead of his time. I have an original printing of his 1929 reference </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">`Parrots and Parrot-like Birds in Aviculture’</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It makes for a fascinating read when you consider that it was written almost 100 years ago – particularly when you read it in light of that simple question -</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> `How far have we come?’</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The answer, as I tried to give it during my presentation in 2008, is… probably not as far as we think we have. The following might serve as a 2011 example of how/why I think that’s still true.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About two or three times a year I find some time to check out various online parrot discussion forums to see what’s happening out there in the companion bird community – what’s topical, and what advice is being given for working on managing behaviour problems. I always assume that some quantum leaps will have been made concerning the way that both behaviour and the consequences being applied by parrot owners for their bird’s behaviour are being understood, and how the discussion community is approaching/supporting problem issues raised. There has definitely been some really uplifting integration of a lot of `positive reinforcement’ centered advice, thanks largely to the work of people such as Barbara Heidenreich. You can also come across some decent cracks at using behaviour science and operant conditioning terminology – no doubt as part of that wonderful cultural shift generated by the inspirational Dr. Susan Friedman. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, there is also a lingering lack of progress in either department. That in itself doesn’t usually concern me. Usually the most offensive posts on chat boards come from the person who simply lacks the education and foundational understandings to begin with. Can’t blame them – </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">usually</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. What does bother me is when posts that demonstrate a very clear lack of understanding about behaviour and how to best manage the behaviour of our parrots following a least intrusive, most positive hierarchy of strategies go unchecked by fellow forum members who are indeed reasonably well-educated and up-to-date with the latest information and teachings. I realize that for the sake of world peace, love, bed-ins etc that we’re all a little hesitant to start our own Middle Eastern conflict at `chataboutyourparrotproblems.com’. But sometimes ya really do shake your head at how some of the absolute crap that some people post is received and responded to. That brings me to the subject of this here Blog post. Here’s a little dialogue I came across from my most recent excursion into the land of such luminaries as `parrotluva78’, `ownedbyaparrot81’ and `IluvConures4eva’ (God I hate aliases. Just use your darn name people. Your parents thought it was a good one and besides, we all know you’ll only `luv’ conures until you become `ekkiegirl4eva’. Sheesh). For the following excerpts the bird name has been removed to protect the innocent parrot. Everything else appears as it was posted (I did fix some of the punctuation and grammar – couldn’t help it folks, teacher thing).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">`My parrot will NOT stop screaming!! He’s been doing it for the past 6 weeks!! We’ve squirted him, screamed at him, comforted him, loved him, gave him food, flicked his beak, said no, covered him up, put him outside, we've tried everything!!! He starts at 8am and doesn't stop till 8pm. I’m going to either throw him out the darn front door or sell the bastard!!!’</span></i></li>
</ul><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reply:</span></b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> `Well for a start you have reinforced his bad behaviour by doing everything you said you did. When he screamed you did something. To you it was punishment, to him it was attention.</span></i></div><i></i><br />
<i><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My suggestion would be to put ear plugs in for a while and make your whole family do it and maybe put him somewhere a little out of the way so everytime you come into sight it is not necessarily a reward to him. It might take a few weeks to curb this but honestly you have been reinforcing him without knowing it.</span></i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also if you can ignore him and literally not go near him when he is screaming then when he is quiet you rush over and praise him and give him treats, really lavish him, but you must totally ignore him when he is screaming. If you can do this you will also find his screaming will probably get worse for a while, possibly a few weeks, because he is not getting the attention of you or someone coming to his cage to do something exciting to him. He will almost certainly scream more and louder because it is not working anymore. But really try hard to lavish praise and treats when he is quiet even for a few seconds to start off with. You need to start in small steps and being quiet for say 5 seconds might be your first step and then gradually lengthen the time. It can work but it is going to take some time and patience and it will take for everyone in your house to work together.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing to think about... Has anything new happened, anything?? A new pet?? New furniture? New hair colour?? New nail colour?? Changed furniture around?? New toy/s in his cage?? Look back to when it started. Maybe there is a clue there as to what might have started it off.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But honestly squirting him or yelling at him, or covering his cage, or putting him outside all of these things is "someone coming to him and giving him some sort of attention". Even if to you it is punishment, to him it is attention and it is exciting and he "thinks" his screaming is working. Did that make sense at all???</span></i></span></div></span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well… not to me it didn’t. Obviously the person who wrote the initial post could probably do with some quality time away in rehab if they think that screaming at, flicking, squirting, covering up and sending the bird outside are reasonable responses to an unwanted change in their bird’s behaviour – regardless of how annoying it might be. Actually, rehab’s probably a reasonable proposition for anyone who would type that initial post for everyone on the internet to get a bird’s eye view of their insanity. Sure is a weird world we live in. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But how is this person supposed to learn just how potentially damaging those consequences for behaviour can be when the responses to such posts fail to properly explain the differences between reinforcement and punishment? Or the critical importance of the trust account between a parrot owner and their bird? Or how behaviour modification strategies with an antecedent arrangement focus are exponentially more effective than those that are too focused on consequences when it comes to our parrots? Or simply that being squirted, flicked, covered and yelled at is actually not the sort of attention a parrot is looking for at all! Can’t imagine I’d get too `excited’ about copping a flick or a squirt to the face every time I opened my mouth. Think I might actually end up pretty pissed off at the person delivering those little `punishers’. Whilst I’m sure the responder had every good intention – they really need to revisit `reinforcement vs punishment 101’. I'm kinda thinking that if I was that parrot that the `out the front door option' would be about the best one on offer. Says parrot to human... <i>`Just make sure you shut it behind you when you crawl back inside won't ya!'</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I won’t bother re-inventing the wheel here by going over all the alternative pathways that should be considered by someone dealing with an extreme noise issue with their bird. My advice on how discussion board users can better support one another in these situations was given in an older post (</span><a href="http://parrotconsultations.blogspot.com/2010/02/internet-chat-groups-good-for-ruffling.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Feb 2010</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). This time around I really just want us all to reflect on how we can achieve better behaviour management outcomes with our birds when we put aside our culturally ingrained compulsion to solely consider the consequences for unwanted behaviour as our magic, quick-fix strategy and instead really empower ourselves with some reflection on careful antecedent arrangement for achieving alternative behaviour first. Hopefully if the discussion board junkies start chatting in those terms I’ll fell a little better about the answer to that question - </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">`How far have we come?’</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763288621383803922.post-83100017017448473122011-02-28T02:47:00.000-08:002011-02-28T02:47:08.817-08:00Stranger than fiction...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOsfKweCFZsnVflvGN3CzUCPdJhb5URxPh7yCOxylB1iqtxejqUIs20A9s7JtfNlcjGmPiyuOzk1ztlBbA3mHCHqB3XuBLijBLEFbwkjKCfQslJjP6-7zx4cFZ5tT0zv7ZkROxV5jW-Dc/s1600/maya_nandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOsfKweCFZsnVflvGN3CzUCPdJhb5URxPh7yCOxylB1iqtxejqUIs20A9s7JtfNlcjGmPiyuOzk1ztlBbA3mHCHqB3XuBLijBLEFbwkjKCfQslJjP6-7zx4cFZ5tT0zv7ZkROxV5jW-Dc/s320/maya_nandy.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About a year ago I added a <b>Nanday Conure</b> to our flock, primarily with a view to having <b>`Nandy'</b> (yep - that's her name, full marks to me for creativity) provide some stimulation in our large flight for our <b>Green-winged Macaw `Maya'</b>. We obviously plan on pairing Maya up with a `real' Macaw sometime in the future (rather than a parrot that `thinks' it's a Macaw) but knowing that the two species groups - <b>Aratinga Conures and Ara Macaws</b> share many behavioural and biological similarities I took a punt on a little Nanday filling a social/stimulation gap for the big girl. I should qualify that the only reason such a plan was even feasible was the size of the enclosure. Integration of mixed species flocks can be loaded with problems but the ultimate variable that can set up success or failure is the enclosure size and the level of opportunity for the inhabitants to establish their own spatial comfort and access to their own resources. Sure enough, we observed plenty of aggression from the Macaw towards the Nanday initially but in every circumstance the Nanday was simply able to fly to an alternative perching area and the aggression didn't extend beyond displays and the odd squawk from the Macaw to let Nandy know that she wasn't welcome on the same perch. Over time we saw the spatial distance between the birds lessen and the level of tolerance on Maya's part increase. We also observed `mirroring' of behaviour between the birds. When one would feed, the other would do likewise - same for browsing, preening, drinking etc. All signs of comfort and acceptance of other birds in the environment. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the past 6 months the relationship between the birds took on another dimension. I walked out to the aviaries one day and caught a little `mutual' preening going on. Well, maybe not `mutual' - more a case of a <b>Green-winged Macaw</b> kicking back and being `serviced' by her Nanday slave. I've caught them a few times since and as soon as they see me they stop, move apart and start rearranging themselves like two sheepish teenagers caught in the act. It's very amusing to watch and although such situations are not uncommon in captive parrots it still seems to look completely ridiculous! Another variable was added to the equation about 3 months ago with the addition of a male <b>Nanday Conure</b> that we acquired with a view to pairing up with Nanday. That didn't go so well initially as both Maya and Nandy ganged up on the poor little guy. I removed Nandy from the enclosure as she was the main instigator in the aggression. We kept them separated for two weeks while the new guy gained his flight confidence and learnt the boundaries of life with a Macaw. We re-introduced Nandy and although she went back to being aggressive towards her `arranged' partner, she seemed less persistent and he was more confident in handling the situations. Over the past 4 weeks the Nandays have actually formed a very tight pair bond, interrupted only by a few daily `excursions' on the side when Nandy is summonsed by Maya for her daily grooming session. I took a quick snapshot of the two of them today. Unfortunately, as soon as I appear they separate but imagine that little green Nanday in the pic above up on the wire at head level with Maya giving her a going over - hilarious! Stranger than fiction? not really - this stuff does indeed happen fairly commonly in captivity. Pretty captivating nonetheless.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our dilemma now is that we have a pair of Nandays blatantly trying to breed (even without a nestbox). Hopefully we can work something out for Maya to have a replacement buddy now that her preening mate has found `greener' pastures elsewhere. Anyone interested in Nandays? I may have some babies this time next year!</span></div>Jim McKendryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164309603374965017noreply@blogger.com0