Final 2013 Workshops - Sydney & Gold Coast

Just a couple of date claimers for my final workshops for 2013…

Workshop Title:  `The Training Toolkit’

Date: Saturday September 7th

Venue: Animal Referral Hospital – Homebush, Sydney.

Time: 9:00am to 1:30pm

Presentations:

• Session 1: The Training Toolkit
• Session 2: Nutritional Influences on Parrot Behaviour (Dr Stacey Gelis)
• Session 3: What’s in it for me? – Motivating parrots for training success
• Session 4: Training Troubleshooting – Tips for successful training and behaviour change management

Cost: $95

Registration Information: Please contact seminar@arhvets.com or phone 02 9758 8880 (Registrations close August 31st)

Workshop Title: `Annual Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Companion Parrot Workshop Day’

Date: Saturday September 28th

Venue: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary – Gold Coast

Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Presentations:

• 21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping
• Environmental Enrichment
• Diet Management
• Practical Handling & Body Language Interpretation
• Behind The Scenes – Free Flight Bird Show
• Behaviour Management
• Q&A

Cost: $135 ($95 for second household member)

Registration Information: http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/discover_more/programs/community_courses/companion_parrot_workshop/

`Hey - Get some education!!!'

The 80/20 Rule

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 Australian Birdkeeper Magazine 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.  

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.

The Tender Lovin’ Towel Hold

I was going to start this post off with `It never ceases to amaze me…’ 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…

`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.’

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.

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 (www.goodbirdinc.com) 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. 

Got a similar tale to tell? E-mail it to me - keeps me inspired to keep doing what I do.

Regaining trust with parrots - more about relationship building, reinforcement and respect - less about UFC towel holds.

Latest ABK – Correction

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…

The `Traditional’ model (built on dominance based approaches and limited application of positive reinforcement based learning) should culminate in the outcome statement `Establishing conditions that lead to dysfunctional behaviour and challenge’. Conversely, The `21st Century’ model culminates in the outcome statement `Establishing conditions that lead to functional behaviour and success’.

If anyone would like a PDF copy of the two models then please e-mail me.

Workshop for Sydney - September 11th

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...

• A 21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping
• Diet Management for Training & Enrichment of Companion Parrots
• Behaviour Analysis 101 - An Introduction to How Best to Understand Behaviour and Establish Lifelong Relationships with your Companion Parrot
• Non-behavioural Causes of Feather Plucking

There will also be a focused Q&A opportunity at the end of the day. Lunch and coffee break included!

Look forward to seeing you there :-) 

Stranger than fiction...

About a year ago I added a Nanday Conure to our flock, primarily with a view to having `Nandy' (yep - that's her name, full marks to me for creativity) provide some stimulation in our large flight for our Green-winged Macaw `Maya'. 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 - Aratinga Conures and Ara Macaws 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. 

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 Green-winged Macaw 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 Nanday Conure 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.

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!

Maya’s Training Diary – Accepting `Touch’

I’ve had an incredibly `full’ time over the past few months and one aspect of my lifestyle that tends to take an unfortunate back seat during busy times is focused training with some of my own birds. Kinda happens when you have a pretty demanding 22-month-old daughter and 3-week-old twins to take priority over `other’ stuff. Over the past couple of weeks (in between hospital visits to see `me boys'), I had a few windows of opportunity to work with my Green-winged Macaw `Maya’. Check out some older posts for the background with this bird. Thanks mostly to the inconsistency of my training time with her we hit a speed bump in getting some behavioural momentum in regards to stepping on to hands consistently without aggression. There were obvious behavioural indicators from her that suggested that I was more than likely setting myself and her up to fail if I stuck with the criteria schedule I had set. Sometimes when you are working with a really challenging bird and have reached stagnation in behavioural momentum towards a specific training goal it can help to change focus and work on something completely different that has a lower set of expectations and greater opportunity for success in order to build back the trust and momentum you were previously working towards. This is beneficial not just for the bird, but also for the trainer or owner to avoid the frustration that can settle in when you feel like you’re not getting where you want to go. The interesting dynamic with training animals is that it’s not just about reinforcement for the animal – the trainer needs it continually too to keep their own confidence and behavioural momentum progressing positively and maintaining that sense that they're succeeding as well. One goal I was keen to achieve was for Maya to be less sensitive to hands and hopefully even accept some tactile touch in the form of a head scratch. She had never allowed this – at any time in her life thus far, and certainly any attempt to put a hand near her head would absolutely result in an aggressive `jab’ to deter it from intruding into her personal space. It still does actually, but with some careful and patient training I can actually get some really cool tactile head touch without aggression. A big milestone for us and something that will hopefully pay off as another reinforcement option and a growing level of trust between her and my hands. The following sequence of images gives some insight into where we're at with Maya. I won’t go into elaborations as I’d like to do some writing on working with her for my ABK column next year. Good magazine that – go buy a copy! www.birdkeeper.com.au

Training the Trainers at Alma Park Zoo

I have been doing some consultative work with the team at Alma Park Zoo in Brisbane. They have recently acquired some birds that they are keen to display and develop some interactivity with. It’s been really refreshing working with a Zoo team that is super responsive and open to learning from an outside consultant – something that’s not always a hallmark of Zoo operations. For me it reinforces a really important element to `learning’ – it doesn’t occur within a vacuum. Sometimes you just have to open up and allow new ideas and outside expertise and experience to filter in and challenge your existing approaches, establish new levels of understanding or guide you in developing new ways of thinking. One key aspect of working with this particular goal set was developing `structure’ in the approach to implementing the management and training of the birds. If I could summarise using an acronym around that word `S-T-R-U-C-T-U-R-E’ what I was really keen to see the keepers working with those birds achieve it would be as follows…

Set the keepers and the birds up for success through understanding the nature of the animal and the laws of behaviour before establishing your expectations.

Teamwork generates collegiality amongst staff and creates supportive dialogue between keepers that improves training and husbandry results.

Respect for the body language and observable state of the animal you are working is vital in informing decision-making and setting training expectations.

Using positive reinforcement as your foundation for building a trust account with your animals and creating desirable lifelong learning experiences establishes the foundation for lifelong relationships

Criteria for success for both the animals and keepers need to be achievable, and are best located along a continuum that generates behavioural momentum through timely delivery of positive reinforcement.

Training is simply learning – it happens every time we engage with the animals in our care and with the peer staff we are working with.

Understanding the natural anatomy and biology of the animal you are working and setting the environment up to make shifting an animal from A to B as natural a physical movement for that animal as possible. 

Reflecting on training and being prepared to recognise areas for improvement not as criticisms but as opportunities to reach your goals.

Ending on a good note – always seeking to keep those training criteria achievable and knowing when to stop a session to set your next encounter up on a winner.

If you haven’t stopped in to Alma Park Zoo lately then it’s worth a visit. Best option is to take a picnic lunch and take advantage of the free barbecues onsite and great outdoor garden eating areas. Snags and Spider Monkeys – Who could ask for more? More info at www.almaparkzoo.com.au

I snapped a shot of this peacock displaying next to my car on my way out after my last consult at Alma Park Zoo - magnificent birds!!!

Latest ABK Magazine - Designing An Enrichment Aviary

As mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I have written a two-part article on outdoor enrichment aviary design for companion parrots as part of my regular `Pet Parrot Pointers’ column for ABK. The article series primarily shares insights into the design and construction of a new bank of aviaries I completed earlier this year. It answers a lot of `frequently asked questions' I often receive about how to go about putting together an outdoor enclosure for a companion parrot. The first part of the article is in the latest (Aug/Sep) issue that is available in newsagents now. Be sure to grab a copy!!!

Latest Issue of ABK – Barbara Heidenrich steps up for Pet Parrot Pointers

If you haven’t picked up the latest issue of Australian Birdkeeper Magazine from your newsagent then you should grab it while it’s there! Barbara Heidenreich has filled in for the Pet Parrot Pointers section of the magazine with an absolute cracker of an article on `Ten Common Training Mistakes’. It’s just such a beautifully put together summary of the things well all tend to do at times and what we need to be mindful of to ensure our training failures don’t become mistakes that break down the relationships we have built with our birds.

I’m hoping that every second or third issue of ABK will feature a guest Pet Parrot Pointers writer so that we can learn from a variety of passionate parrot keepers and trainers. I’m looking forward to this opportunity for sharing and learning with Australia parrot enthusiasts.

Pan-Pac Veterinary Conference

Last week I gave a series of lecture presentations, followed by a practical parrot training workshop, at the Pan Pacific Veterinary Conference that was held in Brisbane. Lecturing to veterinarians from a variety of interest groups within that profession can be a challenging task - particularly when it comes to discussing approaches and methodologies of behaviour consulting with parrots. I suspect that many of the traditional paradigms of thinking for the behaviour management of pet birds persist within the veterinary field. However, the group I lectured to really did seem to be wonderfully receptive to a more progressive approach that embraced Applied Behaviour Analysis and Functional Assessment of behaviour. I noticed quite a few `light bulb' moments occur throughout the day that served as great positive reinforcement for me.

Whilst I am certain that the vet group came away from the day with a lot of great, practical, information and advice - I certainly came away with a deeper appreciation for some of the time constraints that our veterinarians face in their clinic consultation work. What blew me away was that for many of the vets I spoke to informally during the day, a standard consult time allocation was just 15 minutes. Not a lot of ground you can cover in that amount of time if we're talking about the complexities of parrot behaviour! There was a strong sense that dealing with discussions on parrot behaviour with clients was too overwhelming and time consuming. It challenged me to come up with ways to support the vets in being able to deliver small, but potent, pieces of information on behaviour to their clients. For most of them, I think the criteria for what they might consider success in working with a client on parrot behaviour issues was too high. Just as we see when we raise the criteria for our birds too high, too soon, with our own expectations of ourselves we often see a loss of behavioural momentum and a diminishing of opportunities for learning if we fail to recognise the small approximations of achievement that we make before the end `goal' is reached. It truly was a great opportunity for me, particularly coming from outside of the veterinary community, to work with such a great group of professionals. My sincere thanks to Dr. Deborah Monks for organising the opportunity and to Dr. Melinda Cowan and Dr. Kim (Sorry Kim - I didn't get your surname!), for helping with all my `gear' and birds. A very special thanks, to Phil Ghamraoui who helped as a second trainer for the practical session. Finally - thanks to my `teachers' for the day - PJ my Black-headed Caique, Lola my Yellow-crowned Amazon, and a gorgeous little Meyer's Parrot that I will talk about in a future post.

Parrots with Gambling Problems...

Undoubtedly the greatest frustration I encounter in working as a behaviour consultant with parrot owners is that when it comes to accessing support and advice, I’m most often seen as the `last resort’ rather than the `first resort’. It’s difficult to explain to people what the potential consequences are when the response pathway for working on problem behaviours follows a whole bunch of old school thinking, homespun remedies, or intervention programs that completely fail to appreciate exactly what behaviour and learning are all about. Let’s be honest though – we live in a society that demands `quick fix’ solutions. I often use the `drive-through, take-away’ approach as the analogy of choice as it encapsulates well how we tend to go through life looking for the most convenient, least hassle, quickest, and cheapest solution to our problems. Hence why the popularity of a range of well-marketed online behaviour and training products and `solutions’ can be so appealing. It’s also why there is a proliferation of chat boards, discussion groups, and online forums for parrot owners – all providing a quick, convenient, and most importantly `free’ access point for the struggling parrot owner to find answers to questions that can be super complex at times. The dilemma for someone like me is that by the time I see the client in the consult room or in their home, I’m trying to clean up a dropped meat pie – it’s just a darn mess! I have a tendency to use a little saying that I learnt from Avian Trainer, Steve Martin - `Set Up for Success’ - in my approach to working with birds and their owners. Problem is, I’m usually the one who is the least set up to succeed. What got me really thinking about this was an article in the latest issue of the IAATE magazine `The Flyer’. The article is titled `Behaviour Fundamentals: Filling the Behaviour Change Toolkit’. It’s an absolute gem, written by one of my great mentors – Susan Friedman PhD. Here’s the final paragraph to ruminate on…

`One mystery that often surrounds problem behaviour is its very persistence. People may have a litany of failed behaviour-change programs by the time they turn to behaviour analysis for help. As they wade through the personal recipes of one Internet charlatan after another, people don’t realise that, with each failed attempt at behaviour change, the window of opportunity closes a little bit more because the problem behaviour is intermittently reinforced. Intermittent schedules of reinforcement build persistent gamblers, willing to behave again and again, without reinforcement, for that one jackpot that inevitably occurs. There should be nothing casual about intervening on an animal’s functional `misbehaviour’. Each intervention should start with a careful functional assessment, and the intervention should be designed to meet the needs of the animal, using the most positive, least intrusive methods. The greater our knowledge of the scientific principles and procedures of learning and behaviour, the more effectively we will meet the needs of the animals in our care.’

Don’t feed your parrot’s gambling habit. When problems start to surface, get support, advice, and a behaviour change plan worked out that uses an approach based on the science of learning, and the art of building a lasting relationship with your bird. Quick fix solutions are for gamblers – effective behaviour change takes work, commitment, and consistency of reinforcement schedules. Most importantly of all - it requires partnerships, between you and your bird, and sometimes, a consultant willing to walk the journey with you - not just serve you at the drive through.

Maya's Training Diary - Step Up Critique

I was fortunate enough to have my good friend and brilliant photographer Peter Odekerken stop by yesterday to take a few images. If you're unfamiliar with Peter's work then check out his website at http://www.parrotimages.com.au He will be lecturing on parrot photography at the Parrots 2010 Convention in Brisbane on the first weekend in July - be there good feathered people!

What was great about having Peter take some snapshots is that his camera is able to take up to 9 frames per second, allowing me to analyse the minutiae of what's going on when I'm working with a bird. As I discussed in my previous training diary entry about `Maya' our Green-winged Macaw, this is a bird that is highly averse to hands and is significantly lacking in trust towards humans. She was almost completely parent raised and had to endure an 8 week period of being force fed via gavage tube whilst being weaned due to her parent's deserting her nest. As you can imagine, daily restraints and force feeding episodes completely eroded this birds acceptance of hands. We've been rebuilding the trust account with her, slowly, and at her pace. It's been a remarkable learning experience and a very good opportunity for me to get back to being challenged in regards to the clarity of my antecedent arrangement, communication, reinforcement delivery, and most importantly - `patience' when training.

Here's a couple of cool things I picked up when looking back at the images Peter took...

Firstly - what's wrong with the picture below? Note the posture of Maya upon the presentation of the hand cue as I am getting ready to request a step up. A keen trainer will notice that she's leaning slightly away from the hand, is extremely upright, and her foot is held up more defensively rather than a desirably relaxed position. Her body weight is shifted away from the hand rather than towards it, thus taking any possible momentum towards a step up out of the equation. Acknowledging these subtleties in body language is what sensitive training is all about. What many owners are inclined to do is to continue with the cue, possibly coerce the bird into stepping up, and as a result, achieve the goal without their being a true `choice' and decision making process afforded to the bird. I backed out, allowed her to re-perch, relax, re-evaluate, and hopefully present some more confident body positioning upon the presentation of a new cue.

Now have a look at the next image below. What's wrong here? The body positioning is better and the weight shift is more indicative of confident movement towards the hand but... that hand position is all wrong. The last thing I want Maya to do is to place her right foot at the end of my hand and leave no room for her left foot to follow. This is a bird that has zero tolerance for an unstable perching surface - particularly when that is a human hand. Time to remove the cue before the foot touches the hand, reinforce the confident movement towards the hand and rebuild the momentum by repositioning my hand to better set her up to succeed in achieving the goal of both feet on my arm.

The image following shows where I needed her right foot to be placed - on my wrist and thus allowing plenty of room for her left foot to follow and fall into position for a comfortable step up.

As you can see, she's building her confidence week by week. Parent raised Macaw folks. Very humbling.

New Education & Training Initiative at BBEVS

We are now offering special `Hands-on' sessions at the Brisbane Bird & Exotics Veterinary Service Parrot Behaviour Consult Clinics. These sessions will offer an opportunity for people interested in owning a parrot, but who have not yet made the leap, to develop an introductory understanding of the essentials of new parrot ownership. The consult will cover a discussion of enclosure, diet, and enrichment needs of companion parrots, an overview of the essential resources required by the new parrot owner, and an opportunity to develop some basic `hands-on' handling and training skills with one of our parrots. Clients will also be able to fire away with questions on selection, acquisition and suitability of parrots as pets. This will absolutely be the best point of access to information that will hopefully set the prospective parrot owner up to succeed. Most of you reading this will already be parrot owners so... I am hoping that if you are communicating with anyone interested in taking on the challenge of a parrot as a companion animal (and if they live in SE Qld obviously!), then please refer them to this service - it can really make the difference for people making an informed decision. If you are a breeder, then why not value add one of these consult sessions in as a pre-purchase service. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this service and/or would like to make a booking for one of these `pre-purchase' clinic consultations then please e-mail me directly via jim@pbec.com.au to discuss your goals so that I can tailor our session as directly as possible to your needs and situation. The sessions are available only on the third Saturday of each month at Brisbane Bird & Exotics Veterinary Service - Macgregor, Brisbane. To add to the incentive - You can also select from one of the parrots below to use as your `trainer' bird!!! (There may be times when one of these guys isn't available but just get in touch and we'll see what we can organise ☺).

Our `Trainer' birds...

`Lola' - Yellow-crowned Amazon

`PJ' - Black-headed Caique

`Wobbles' - WA Galah

`Nandy' - Nanday Conure

`Maya' - Green-winged Macaw

`Alphonso' - Yellow-naped Amazon

Hobart Companion Parrot Workshop

WOW!!! - What a small but super bird nerd crew we had down there in Hobart, Tasmania this past weekend for a full day of learning about the behaviour, enrichment and training of parrots! I'd like to wholeheartedly thank Lisa Kearney for organising this event - her commitment to providing these opportunities for delivering education on the keeping of parrots to the community is stellar! Thanks also to Lisa's partner Jim (good name that ☺) who was our dedicated `chauffeur' for the weekend and made sure that I got to where I needed to be to teach and have some fun with Hobart's most dedicated parrot keepers - Lisa, Cheryl-Lee, Mark, Michelle, Jill, Joseph, Katherine, Brett & Theresa. Thanks for being such a fantastic and enthusiastic group of students and hanging in there for 7 hours of learning, chatting, networking and fun ☺

Cheryl-Lee and Mark were able to bring 3 of their flock to the workshop for me to do some demonstration work with. `T-Bird' the Blue & Gold Macaw, `Tonka' the Alexandrine, and their newest addition - a gorgeous little Green-cheeked Conure (whose name escapes me - sorry guys!). Some pics of these birds can be seen below this post.

Folks - if you want to experience this day and take your understanding of parrots as companion animals to the next level then please join us at our next workshop event - this time in Melbourne, Victoria! To access details and to register (be quick because we do cap numbers), just get in touch with Lisa Kearney via owner@friendlybirdinn.com.au or drop me an e-mail at jim@pbec.com.au and we'll hopefully see you there. The date set is Saturday April 10th - 9:30am to ~4:00pm. This is the most thorough and comprehensive workshop experience of its kind anywhere in Australia and perhaps the only real `professional development' experience available for parrot owners to enhance their level of knowledge about parrot enrichment and behaviour management.

The very cool `T-Bird' owned by Cheryl-Lee and Mark...

Working with T-Bird on stepping up and down without him using his `beak'...

A very chilled out bird indeed - Tonka the Alexandrine...

Our dedicated workshop participants - hopefully they're all awake in this photo ☺

Welcome to the PBEC Blog...

Time... Don’t we all wish we had a heck of a lot more of it? The fact that I’m only just now writing a `first Blog’ for the PBEC website, more than 6 months after the site went live, is a pretty good indication of just how time poor I am these days. This was actually supposed to be a kind of `take it easy’ year for me – you know how those New Year’s resolutions go, a few drinks and you’re waxing all nostalgic about the days when you took the time to surf more, go birdwatching more, walk the dogs more, hang with the parrots more, sit around and do absolutely nothing more! I had planned from that moment to make a commitment that 2009 would be a year to focus solely on teaching, parenthood, delivering just the one parrot workshop, and finally putting a serious dent in a book project that I am desperate to complete. As the year has unravelled though, it’s turned out to be busier, more demanding, and at times more challenging, than my pathetic little effort at `commitment’ to the simpler life could possibly allow. Through it all though, the first six months of 2009 have offered some of the richest and most positively reinforcing times for what I do as a parrot educator. Right now I’m super inspired to keep the behavioural momentum flowing and share some insights from more than 15 years working with parrots via the words found here. Hopefully from time to time that sharing will be of benefit and interest to you, the reader or casual observer of what’s going on in the parrot world. At times it might also be challenging but hey, if you don’t appreciate a good challenge then you probably wouldn’t own a parrot right?  Even though I’m still getting my head around exactly what a Blog is all about, I plan to use my energies in this forum to cover a fairly diverse range of issues, food for thought, and personal comment related to life working with parrots, bird owners, and doing my best to be an exponent of positive reinforcement principles. Better late than never? I hope so ;-)