Desensitizing - Isn’t that what’s happening with violence on TV?

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | Aug 15, 2007

Or was it violins on TV that we're being desensitized to? Either way, desensitizing can be a good plan for your bird.  Taking care to note a bird's discomfort with a new toy and helping him slowly overcome that discomfort and gain confidence can go a long way toward encouraging play. It is very...

Enrichment? Isn’t that what they do to flour?

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | Aug 13, 2007

So why does it matter that Tao won't play with toys? Sometimes we just don't know what we don't know. That goes for animals too. You can give a parrot all the toys in the world, but if he doesn't know the joy of finding buried treasure, ripping up paper, or peeling pine into tiny chips then the...

Widowed Swan Soldiers On in Troubled Water - Los Angeles Times

Parrot Blogger: Mira Tweti | Aug 10, 2007

By way of introducing this story... I know Rupert's not a parrot but he is an Australian bird, as far as that goes, equally beautiful and exotic, and, he was quite exceptional as you'll see from the piece which, of all the things I've written is in the top three as a favorite. 

I wrote it for the...

Training to Play (Part II)

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | Aug 09, 2007

Nothing happens instantly when you are training animals. Or at least, things rarely happen instantly. Usually what you get is the overnight success phenomenon. The truth is that people who are "suddenly" successful have been slaving away—a hopeful rockstar singing in dive bars, an aspiring writer...