A recent, last-minute trip out of town reinforced my appreciation for my friends. Despite already dogsitting for one sick dog and some personal issues of their own, they graciously let me drop my birds off at their house when I had to rush out of town on a family emergency. When I came back a few days later, my birds were happy to get home, but none worse for wear.
Mika in her travel cage
Contrast that with two birdsitting horror stories I heard about. In one case, a young woman left her flock of small birds under a friend’s care and came to find two of them missing upon her return. It turns out they had died and the friend wigged out and refused to explain what happened. Eventually, she confessed that the two escaped out the door and she had to catch them with a net… the experience so stressed the birds out that one died from a heart attack and the other sustained critical injuries. The second story was not quite as tragic, but also disturbing. Another woman left her macaw with a friend and when she got the bird back home, it refused to eat its bird food and was getting aggressive when asked to go back in its cage — something it had never done before. Apparently the friend had fed the bird nothing but pancakes with syrup and allowed the bird to roam around the house unsupervised when the birdsitter was gone. Now the bird expected to be fed junk food and wasn’t used to his routine of mid-day cage time anymore.
Both these stories underscore that you can’t just leave your birds with just anybody… even if it’s someone who “likes” birds. You wouldn’t leave your children with someone who isn’t mature enough to talk to you if something goes wrong, or someone who blatantly disregards your instructions regarding their health and safety. For the same reasons, you shouldn’t leave your birds with people you can’t trust to follow your wishes regarding your birds’ well-being.
When leaving your bird with a birdsitter, at the very least you should provide clear directions about:
Your bird’s diet (what food it gets and how much, what kinds of treats and how often, what foods are NO-NO’s)
Important safety precautions (no chemicals, no teflon, etc)
Whether and how your bird is allowed out of its cage (e.g., never go outside with the bird!)
When and how to reach your avian vet/ Signs of illness
And you should be able to expect your bird sitter to follow those instructions. Ideally, your bird sitter also likes birds and will pay lots of attention to them.
Don't let your friends feed your bird junk food. Photo by shesaleo licensed under Creative Commons.
If none of your friends like or are comfortable around parrots, consider lining up some birdsitting resources before you run into a last-minute emergency; when you’re stressed out and in a hurry is not the best time to start interviewing sitters. Start looking now.
While pet-sitters who advertise through Craig’s List and similar online classifieds might be fine, you should also consider other sources, such as recommendations from people you trust. Remember, a dog-sitter isn’t necessarily qualified to take care of your birds.
Some ideas for where to find a good bird-sitter:
Your local bird club. If you’re a member of a club, you can get to know other people with whom you can trade bird sitting services. The advantage is that you may not need to pay anything if you trade and you have the advantage of picking people you know and like personally. Phoenix Landing, for example, has a list-serve for sharing information with its volunteers and adoptive families, which also includes a database of members who are available if fellow members need a bird sitter.
Your avian vet. Vets usually know of pet sitters who come recommended by their clients. Some also offer boarding services.
Keep in mind that anytime you board your birds where a lot of other birds are present, you run some risk of exposing them to avian diseases. How big of a risk depends on the situation and may or may not be a calculated risk worth taking.
So, do you have any bird sitting horror stories? Or do you (and your birds) love your bird sitter? If so, where did you go to find people to watch your birds when you’re out of town?
I have to admit that one of the best byproducts of sharing my life with parrots, and starting this blog, is the relationships I’ve been able to build with other bird lovers. One of the people who I’ve been particularly happy to “meet” is Rebecca O’Connor, who writes the Heckled by Parrots blog and is probably best known to parrot owners as the author of the acclaimed book: A Parrot for Life: Raising and Training the Perfect Parrot Companion.
So when Rebecca sent me a review copy of her new memoir LIFT, I was beyond thrilled. Not only do I love books about birds, but I love books.
It turns out that her African Grey parrot only makes very brief appearances in LIFT, but I barely minded. You see, LIFT is an incredibly moving memoir combining wonderful story-telling with strong, personal writing. In fact, it’s so personal that I find it really difficult to write about it in any detail – this isn’t the kind of book that is well served by a plot summary.
It’s about falconry, but it’s not about falconry. It’s also about being a woman, having faults, learning to forgive, learning to trust and coming to grips with one’s past.
The author’s relationship with the bird is an allegory, as Rebecca learns to fly her peregrine and learns to let go of old hurts and inner demons; but it’s not just an allegory. For those who want more than introspection, there’s enough detail and building anticipation to really get you interested in the world of falconry. There were a few falconry terms and concepts here and there that could have been explained more clearly to a non-falconer myself, but overall I definitely enjoyed this glimpse into a world I never gave much thought before.
(As a bird owner myself, the passages where O’Connor describes losing and subsequently chasing her falcon across the landscape was particularly unnerving.)
O’Connor does an excellent job building tension, releasing it just a little at a time as her story of working with her first peregrine unfolds … all the while you can almost imagine yourself as a falcon chasing a lure, following it as the author spins it away from you again and again, until its time to resolve the conflict and you can devour your prize.
This is a book that can appeal to men, women, falconers, bird lovers, anyone who’s ever struggled to overcome a difficult childhood, anyone who’s ever struggled to master a new challenge, and people who like being afforded a glimpse into someone else’s life and passion. I finished this book in two long sittings — reading late, late into the night, much to the detriment of my functioning the next day. It was just that hard to put down.
In other words, I enjoyed LIFT and think my readers may too. Get LIFT at Amazon
Sally Blanchard’s Companion Parrot Magazine, Issue #72, is available as a FREE download. This 62-page, full-color online issue is chock-full of information, stories and pictures dedicated to the topic of parrot playtime.
We recently chatted with Irena Schulz, founder of the avian rescue Bird Lovers Only, which is best known for being home of Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo. Just over two years ago, Irena posted a video of Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys and this Medium Sulphur Crested Eleanora Cockatoo skyrocketed to viral video fame.
Irena estimates (between the Bird Lovers Only YouTube channel and other places that hosted copies of the video) that Snowball’s dance moves have been seen at least 15 million times (if not more). Together, they’ve appeared on Letterman, Leno, Ellen, Bonnie Hunt, Inside Edition, Good Morning America, Animal Planet, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and hundreds of other TV and news shows, plus commercials, scientific journals and blogs, avian magazines and blogs, and radio shows around the world.
Irena took time out of her busy schedule to do an interview and answer some questions about Snowball’s amazing rise to popularity.
Tell us how this all started – what’s the story of Snowball’s Backstreet Boys video?
Snowball was relinquished to us in August of 2007. The owner (a very nice gentleman) brought his favorite CD to show us how he likes to dance. We played the [Backstreet Boys] tune while Snowball stood on my arm and a few seconds after the song started, this bird boogied his feet off!!! He was kicking his feet way up in the air in time to the music, bobbing his head, swaying, headbanging, the whole nine yards….all on my arm!!!! So we had to film this. This was just too unbelievable.
We put it on our blog www.birdloversonly.blogspot.com around Labor Day of 2007. We did not have a You Tube account and did not think to place this on there. We just wanted to break up some of the boring, monotonous educational information that we were posting with a video of a bird dancing his heart out. If you go to our blog and search back…that original video is one of the first 2 or 3 posts on our blog.
It was first seen on our blog and that was emailed around. I didn’t generate this, I just put it on the blog. Someone or perhaps a few people saw this in an email and decided to put it on their You Tube channel. This generated even more emails…it traveled around the world. It looked as thought the initial You Tube channel user was from Russia, but it has since been taken down by You Tube (the channel was still there, but the video was taken off). That video had generated 5 million hits on their channel at the time it was removed.
Another You Tube user urged us to put up a YouTube channel of our own and put him up there…she had even helped us get started with creating one. So his fame was complete accident…we hadn’t even done anything to encourage this…it just happened.
What did you do once you realized it was going viral?
I realized it was beginning to go viral when I began hearing from famous people. The biggest shock came when I received a call from The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno in Sept of 2007. I thought it was a crank call at first, but soon realized it was real. Especially when I opened my email and found an email from the show’s producer. What did I do? I knew I was not in the driver’s seat so I just went along for the ride. I’m a very spiritual person and I believe that everything happens for a reason…and only God knows what those reasons are. So I don’t question it…I just go along with it.
What do you think made Snowball’s Backstreet Boys video so popular?
The fact that it was ridiculously funny. In a world of overwhelmingly sad news, people want something that will make them forget how awful their day, week, month, year, or entire life is going. They need a release. Snowball was their release. They watched his innocence, his zest for life, his enthusiasm, his appreciation for music, his child-like playfulness, and his self-indulgent bow at the end to show he knew it was a “job well-done.”
What kind of interest did the video generate in your organization?
Many tv programs, news shows, newspapers, etc came for stories and interviews. Although questions were asked about our rescue and we were happy to give details about how large of a problem the rehoming situation is with parrots, those pieces were always edited out of the story because everyone wanted to know about Snowball. So one can go back to your previous question…the reason why the “sad” part of the story was always edited out was because people wanted the “happy” parts. When you find a release in your life (something that will make you happy), why would you want to ruin it with sad news? And I’m sure that’s how all the producers, reporters, writers felt…they were coming for an enlightening, happy story…they wanted this to stand out amongst all the terrible news in the world.
We received an exponential growth in calls and emails from people wanting to relinquish their birds. And…people would apply to adopt a bird, come here on the pretense that they were interested in adopting a particular bird, then ask to see Snowball. Then they’d leave without adopting. Many people were coming here…some were upfront and honest about just wanting to visit Snowball since they would be in the area. Visitors came from all over the country.
When someone sees Snowball’s videos on your YouTube channel, they see a “donate” button next to them. Has this been an effective way to turn interest in Snowball into support for your organization?
Yes, having the donate buttons have helped. I’m not sure if I would call it “effective.” The economy is bad and people are just not donating like they used to. There have been some steady donors …they donate on a monthly basis. Most donate in order to receive Snowball DVDs, shirts, etc.
In the subsequent videos you’ve uploaded, have you tried to emulate his earlier success to keep interest going?
No, we never intended to emulate the success of the first video. In uploading videos of him dancing to other songs, we wanted to show that he does like more than just the BSB. And with time, he has created new dance routines which are shown in subsequent videos. We teach him nothing…he creates these moves himself. Snowball LOVES to dance. So why not let the camera roll while he’s having a great time? If it turns out to be an entertaining video, we place it on You Tube for all to enjoy.
Music is therapy to Snowball…Snowball is therapy to millions. The scientist in me (I majored in molecular biology and worked as a researcher) continues to videotape him to capture him analyzing a tune, or snubbing it because it’s beneath his exquisite tastes. LOL
The main reason we don’t “try” to emulate his first viral hit is going back to my spiritual beliefs. Everything happens for a reason. If he is to have another viral hit, it will happen by accident. If he does not have another viral hit, that’s fine too…that would mean that there is a deeper purpose for his increasing fame than just his entertaining videos.
What are some of the most interesting places where the videos have appeared/or where people saw it that you’ve heard about.
Where do I begin? We have had 3 different Japanese film crews come here to film for different shows. We had a crew come here to shoot a commercial for a company in Sweden. Honestly, he’s been in hundreds (no exaggeration) of tv shows, news programs, magazines, newspapers, and radio shows around the world. I hear about his video popping up on the Bonnie Hunt Show (three times), Ellen (four times)…these are separate occassions.
The silliest requests come from two programs that I turn down each time they contact us…America’s Got Talent and The Gong Show! I hear about his videos appearing on blogs, programs, etc weekly. Not everyone is familiar with Snowball, so when they do see his video for the first time, it’s all over the blogs again.
What are some highlights of Snowball’s rise to fame?
There are two categories of highlights that I would need to lump them in. One category would be the actual appearances or experiences of being on certain programs. I was very impressed with Mike from the Mike and Juliet Show when we were there. He was actually late coming on stage because he came up to talk to me before the show. He was a genuinely nice man…not full of himself as so many others can be.
After Snowball and I were on the Mike and Juliet Show, we broke to commercial and I was about 20 feet or so away from Snowball. Juliet was leaning towards Snowball, holding out her hand to have him step up on her hand. I saw the “look” in his eyes and he began slithering towards her. I quickly ran to scoop him up just before her hand was within striking distance. I’m sure she was not happy that I didn’t allow her to ‘play’ with Snowball, but what she didn’t realize is that I had saved her pampered skin from vicious bites if I hadn’t.
Another amusing highlight was being on Letterman when Dr. Phil was on. I remember walking out after our segment and walking face to face into him with Snowball on my arm. One would think I could find some profound conversation to engage with this man…instead “Oh. Hello.” came out of my mouth and that was it. He did say hello in response, but I’m sure he wondered why I breezed by him without even asking for an autograph. Answer: although Snowball was wonderful with me while appearing on these programs, he was very ready to attack others…hence, we moved on to an area where he could invoke the least damage. There are way too many highlights to go into over the last two years (almost), so let me touch on the other category of highlights that really mean much more to me.
Those highlights are the quality people that I’ve met and befriended through Snowball.
I have a great deal of respect for the individuals who have come into my life because of Snowball. I befriended some email friends…these people started out as fans, but we continued writing to one another out of pure enjoyment of one another. The researchers that I now collaborate with on Snowball studies are extraordinarily wonderful people…very humble, personable, humorous, and yet professional.
And there is one highlight which I have to mention that I hold a special place in my heart for. A girl who just graduated from the eighth grade in New York. She began writing in emails last summer. She addressed all emails to Snowball. I didn’t know much about her, but she didn’t write much and what she did write was very hard to understand. She misspelled many words so much time was spent just trying to figure out what she was saying. Her name is Abby. When I wrote back I would sign the emails “Love, Snowball.” One day her mother wrote to me from her own email address. She explained that Abby was autistic and did not relate well to people, but she related beautifully to animals. The email from her mother was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read. She thanked me for writing to her as Snowball because her friendship with Snowball had made a difference. So when I write to Abby as Snowball I ask how her grades are coming along and I praise her when she earns good grades. I will correspond with this lovely little girl for as long as she chooses. She introduced herself as Snowball’s #1 fan in her original email last year, but she is my #1 highlight.
What’s the best thing to have come out of this?
Two things. 1) I’ve been able to reach many, many more people regarding responsible bird ownership through educating them on their needs, habits, etc. 2) Snowball brought the plight of the parrot to the forefront. Because of him, people now know that there are bird rescues and sanctuaries and, hopefully, will not purchase a bird on whim to end up in one when they realize that they have a high maintenance creature on their hands.
What’s next for Snowball and your efforts?
Because I am not in the driver’s seat, I can only HOPE that as Snowball’s fame increases, so will my chances of passing some meaningful legislation to protect parrots and to build rehabilitation facilities so that we can ‘teach’ these parrots how to forage for food in the wild, how to avoid predation, etc so that they can one day be introduced back into the wild and live their lives freely. Cockatoos come here with what seems to be the most severe behavioral problems…some were not only aggressive towards humans, but other birds as well. These are the birds that need to be introduced back into the wild (whatever their closest habitat should be).
Scientifically, we continue running studies on him which go on to benefit us in learning more about human movement disorders such as Parkinsons. Luckily, he enjoys dancing and is very happy to dance on film for us. When he gets bored, we quit so this doesn’t turn into work for him, but to keep it enjoyable for him.
Thanks to Irena for taking time to speak to us about Snowball. If you’d like to support the Bird Lover’s Only Rescue, please visit http://www.birdloversonly.org/ and purchase merchandise or make a donation.
This was a fairly natural extension of retrieve and the ball in a cup. Once he knew to bring an object, getting him to put the ring over the peg was just a matter of learning the coordination.
You can see him try to “cheat” by lifting the same ring that’s already on the peg, rather than getting the second ring. I need to stop rewarding that behavior so it fades out (although it does amuse people quite a bit).
One that we’re still working on (it’s a hard one!): the shapes puzzle. This requires discriminating between different shapes, as well as a lot of coordination. It’s still a tough trick for Stewie and I often have to help him before he gets frustrated.
This is a very short video because Stewie started getting bored at this point and ended up just wandering around the cage trying to hand me the prop rather than putting it into the puzzle hole.
Lovebirds have a reputation for losing their “pet quality” when paired up. But this video shows that lovebirds can be handled, remain tame and be taught to do cute tricks like “shake hands” and “turn around” even if they’re part of a bonded pair.
The creator of this video credits Tani Robar’s videos as the source of her training inspiration.
Even if your birds are bonded to each other, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from lots of continued human interaction and training. It’s just one more way to make their lives fun and enriching
Check out this great video of African Greys and Eclectus parrots playing basketball - this video is making the rounds on bird message boards and might just be the next viral parrot video (alongside such classics as Snowball)
We recently helped Phoenix Landing launch a new blog to keep the parrot-lover community updated on new classes and events, enrichment ideas, avian health news, and of course announcements about Phoenix Landing and its many adoptable birds (the foundation has over 300 birds in foster care right now!).
But that’s not all. Phoenix Landing’s founder Ann Brooks waited until the blog was live to make a huge announcement about something really wonderful that’s been in the works: groundbreaking of The Landing, Phoenix Landing’s first adoption and education center and sanctuary. Please check out the new blog and read about preparations for The Landing, especially the part about needing volunteers and in-kind donations of some appliances to get the new center ready for the birds!
If you subscribe to the very popular Bird Talk Magazine (found at the check-out stand of every major pet store chain I’ve ever been in), you may already know the name of this month’s Best in Flock interview subject. Liz Wilson has been writing the “Parrot Psychology” column in Bird Talk Magazine since 2001.
Liz Wilson is a certified veterinary technician (CVT) and certified parrot behavior consultant (CPBC) who has been working with companion parrot behavior for over 20 years. In addition to numerous veterinary articles published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA), The Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery (JAMS), and the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine, she also wrote or co-wrote eight separate chapters in various veterinary textbooks.
In this interview, Liz talks about her experiences as a parrot behavior consultant, solving parrot behavior issues, and resources for people who want to develop better relationships with their companion parrots.
Best in Flock: Please tell our readers about your background as a parrot behavior consultant.
Liz Wilson: To make a long story a tad shorter, I have a bachelors in elementary education w/ a minor in psych. I taught elementary school, then worked with disturbed children and then did crisis counseling with adults (all of which proved very useful many years later). Then I bagged working with humans (I thought) and went back to school to become a veterinary technician. I’d owned all kinds of exotics including parrots, so it was a natural for me to specialize in avian and exotic animal nursing. After 20 years of that, I left veterinary medicine and started working on my own as a parrot behavior consultant. Incidentally, I do not call myself an avian behavior consultant as some of my colleagues do, as I know nothing about ostrich or penguin or hummingbird behavior. In my opinion, parrot behavior people calling themselves “avian behavior consultants” is almost equivalent to dog behavior consultants calling themselves “mammal behavior consultants.” (After all, there are almost three times as many bird species on this planet as there are mammal species!)
What exactly is an animal behaviorist?
Liz Wilson: Here in the USA, an animal behaviorist is someone with an advanced degree in animal behavior or ethology. I am not an animal behaviorist, as I do not have such a degree. This is why Sally Blanchard started calling our field “parrot behavior consulting” years ago – to stay off the toes of those with graduate degrees. Differences exist in other countries, I hear.
What does an animal behavior consultant do, and what do they not do?
Liz Wilson: An animal behavior consultant works with the gestalt of the parrot’s life – in other words, the entire environment and human society around the animal, as well as the animal itself. Therefore, 99% of my work is not actually with the animal itself – it is with the owner. An unlike veterinarians, animal behavior consultants do not proscribe prescription drugs nor do they make medical diagnoses.
What is the most common reason someone calls you for help?
Liz Wilson: Generally speaking, there is a glitch in the relationship with their parrot, preventing it from being truly fulfilling (because the bird is aggressive, screams excessively, whatever). They want to try to fix the situation instead of throwing the bird away.
What’s the most interesting case you’ve ever seen? How were you able to help?
Liz Wilson: Probably the strangest consult I did was an in-home I did with a “phobic” Amazon who wouldn’t let the owners near her. She’d panicked so badly at the sight of them that she’d damaged the tips of her wings by constantly flailing about. By approaching her in a totally submissive manner (lying on my stomach on the floor with my hands hidden), I discovered she wasn’t “phobic” at all. Instead, she came waddling over to me, flashing her eyes and cooing with pleasure. I realized from observing her that she had something wrong with her feet so she couldn’t grip. As a result, she’d hurt herself by falling repeatedly off the owners’ hands, so had learned to equate the humans with pain – hence the fear response. I referred her to an experienced avian veterinarian who was able to help. Eventually, the bird’s behavior returned to normal, with her playing and acting like an Amazon.
What’s the difference between working with birds and working with other types of pets?
Liz Wilson: I have never trained cats to do anything, and haven’t trained dogs in years, so that’s tough for me to answer from personal experience. However, dogs and cats are both predators, so their responses to the environment are quite different from prey animals like parrots. It’s a fundamental difference in psychology and behavior. As a result, it can be very difficult for a dog trainer to train a parrot. Switching from horses to parrots is easier, as horses are prey animals as well.
Is there ever a point where you think a “problem parrot” (or the relationship) cannot be rehabilitated and you advise relinquishing the bird?
Liz Wilson: Absolutely. Some people refuse to take responsibility for the mistakes they made – and we all made mistakes with our parrots! It’s entirely the parrot’s fault, not theirs – which is NEVER the case. If they won’t take responsibility, then they won’t change their behavior – and if they won’t change their behavior (which is usually accidentally rewarding the bird for misbehaving), the parrot won’t change, either. There are also some really untenable situations, like having an aggressive male cockatoo going after small children and putting them at risk. Most owner-parents are simply not able to deal with something like that. It’s also very difficult to teach people who think they already know everything. (I have on occasion interrupted owners who are telling me how to do my job, to ask them, “If you understand everything about what is going on and how to fix it, then why am I here?”)
There is a preponderance of “Get Your Bird to Stop Biting in 5 Minutes”-type of ebooks and video programs on the Web. Google anything related to parrot training and you’ll find self-described “bird whisperers” selling their “secret systems”. What do you think about these products?
Liz Wilson: It saddens me to see people with little or no experience with parrots or understanding of their psychology, trying to cash in on the problems that parrot owners can have with their birds. Simple rule of thumb is that it takes time to create a problem and it takes time to fix it. Anyone that promises a quick solution will be popular, as people frequently don’t want to put in the work to improve things. However, owners will gain no long term resolution with a quick fix. If you don’t address the reason for the unwanted behavior, then getting rid of that behavior won’t fix anything except temporarily. Problems will crop up again, as the core issue is still unresolved.
What resources do you recommend to people with pet birds who are exhibiting problem behaviors like screaming or biting?
Liz Wilson: There is a plethora of information out there in books and the internet, but people need to understand the basics to be able to evaluate how accurate the information is. I recommend a basic book like Blanchard’s “Companion Parrot Handbook”, and have heard excellent things about “A Parrot For Life” by Rebecca O’Connor. Books by Barbara Heidenreich are also quite useful. Out of curiosity, I did a search for the topic of “excessive screaming in parrots” and immediately got 188,000 hits – but keep in mind that not all those sources will be useful. That’s why new owners need good books like the ones I’ve mentioned.
What’s one question that you wish people would ask but never do?
Liz Wilson: A few owners have asked me this but unfortunately most don’t:
“What am I doing wrong and what do I need to do to fix things?”
I was just checking stats for our YouTube channel, and one of our videos has well over 25,000 views on it.
Which one, you ask? Of course it’s the one of Stewie screaming his little sun conure head off. None of the others come even close.
Okay, so my little video star isn’t nearly as popular as everyone’s favorite dancing cockatoo (with 3 million views!), but I still thought 25k views was pretty impressive
Welcome to my parrot blog, where I share insights with other and would-be parrot owners on ways to keep their pet birds happy. I'm not a professional trainer or avian expert; these are just my opinions, observations and insights based on my life with Stewie and Mika, and my efforts to do the very best for my birds. I also read voraciously and will share other cool stuff I find related to parrot ownership and training.
as the source of her training inspiration. 
If you subscribe to the very popular 
