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New Parrot & Books for a Beginner

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Re: New Parrot & Books for a Beginner -- Posted by Peter M on 06-21-04 22:50

Hi Gloria,
and thank you for a most usefull posting. You actualy answered my
questions! I will deffinately follow up onthe clicker training. I
allready used "dont shoot the dog" by Karen Pryor for my dog Sasha.
It is un beleivable how willing she was to respond to the training.
She used to offer all her learned behaviors in the off chance she
might hear that cliker sound... you had to be there to see it. Sasha
is a retreiver mix and has a big appetite for treats... I'll let you
imagine how eager she is. :-) Could be very interesting to work with a
parrot.

Yes I'm beginning to see a patern here with Jardines. They seam to
like to test people with theire beeks. I am still researching the
subject. Have to find local breeders and start visting to take
adecision.

Just out of curiosity, can you share with us what is your background?
Your intership is for a degree of some sort, or some professional
training? I am currently just lookning into it as a hobby. I studied
in computer science, never finished and now work for a bank.
Interested in animals in general but started with dogs and now am
exploring parrots. Might consider going back to school maybe in a
related field. Just hunting for ideas at the moment.

Again thanx for the most relevant post and hope to hear from you soon.

Peter M.

"Gloria Carr" wrote in message news:<0qTAc.6922$bs4.1886@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>...
> "Peter M" wrote in message
> news:21e65511.0406172007.627c9915@posting.google.com...
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I am considering getting a parrot and have been told that Pionus
> > Maximilian, Poicephalus Jarddine's and Poicephalus Brown heads are all
> > good natured and relatively quiet. If I understand correctly,
> > Jardine's and Brown heads are less nippy or nervous of the
> > poicephalus. And that the Pionus is very easy going, apparently very
> > innactive, compared to the other two. Based on your own experiences is
> > that accurate? What other differences exist? Out of the three witch
> > would you recomend?
>
> Depends on the bird. Personally every single Jardines I have ever handled
> bit the crap out of me, even the ones that were ok with other people. (on
> the other hand I get along great with most of the other Poicephalus
> parrots). Most pi's tend to be somewhat reserved, but I have seen a few who
> were very outgoing and vocal. I personally think that Poicephalus parrots
> tend to be a bit more nervous then pionus. Since these guys are all about
> the same size and price range (more or less) I recomend going to various
> breeders, stores, rescues, etc and start looking at individuals of the
> species you are interested in. There is no way to garuntee personality by
> going by the species describtion.
>
> > Matie Sue Athan
> > -Guide to Companion Parrot Behavior
> > -Guide to a well behaved parrot
>
> I think she also has a book about the Poicephalus parrots, and I know she
> has one about Quakers. Note: Barrons, the company that publishes her books,
> roughly divides into two groups, 'Good' Barrons and 'Bad' Barrons. 'Good'
> Barrons are published much more recently and as a general rule are much
> thicker then 'Bad' Barrons. I would recomend anything by Matie Sue Athan,
> and her books definately count as 'Good' Barrons.
>
> The first book is IMHO the better of the two. The second was published much
> earlier, and even though she updateded it, it still is not quite as in-depth
> as the first.
>
> > Bonnie Munro Doan
> > -My parrot, my friend
> > -Parrot Training: A Guide to Taming and Gentling Your Avian Companion
>
> Personally I did not find My Parrot, My Friend to be at all helpful. I
> haven't read the second one.
>
> > Sally Blanchard
> > -Companion parrot handbook
> > -The beak book
>
> Both recommended. The first is a good all-around book for parrot owners, the
> second is geared specifically for problem biters. The first is a bit pricy
> (the result of private publishing, I assume) but both have a place in my
> library. You'll notice that Sally and Matie Sue take slightly different
> approach to keeping parrots. It is very useful to have different opinions
> and ideas when working with parrots, they are wild animals and there is no
> one true way when it comes to them.
>
> > Liz Wilson
> > -HANDBOOK OF AVIAN ARTICLES - Volume I
> > -HANDBOOK OF AVIAN ARTICLES - Volume 2
>
> These articles are interesting, but not glued together into a coherent
> whole. If you want to spend the money on them then go ahead, otherwise I
> just buy the magazines she publishes her articles in.
>
> > Layne David Dicker
> > -Parrots, parrots, parrots
>
> Same as above.
>
> Other suggestions:
>
> Clicker Training for Birds by Melinda Johnson, published by Karen Pryor.
> Clicker Training is used by most proffessional animal trainers, zookeepers,
> etc as an effective way to train animals. This book is geared toward the pet
> bird owner.
>
> I also reccomend The Parrots of Telegraph Hill. This book is about the wild
> conures living in San Fransisco, and it is a facinating read (even if the
> author is a bit flaky in a burned-out-hippy kinda way). There is also a new
> book out about the Spix Macaw, one of the world's most endangered birds.
> (the book claims that they are the most endangered, which isn't exactly
> true, currently I am interning at a facility that is breeding a species even
> more endangered, if you go by the numbers that is!) Whenever possible I try
> to get my hands on any book that is about wild parrots and their behavior
> (or wild birds in general *g*).
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Gloria
>
> > Peter M

Re: New Parrot & Books for a Beginner -- Posted by Gloria Carr on 06-23-04 06:37

"Peter M" wrote in message
news:21e65511.0406211850.3cd2b53e@posting.google.com...
> Just out of curiosity, can you share with us what is your background?
> Your intership is for a degree of some sort, or some professional
> training? I am currently just lookning into it as a hobby. I studied
> in computer science, never finished and now work for a bank.
> Interested in animals in general but started with dogs and now am
> exploring parrots. Might consider going back to school maybe in a
> related field. Just hunting for ideas at the moment.

I'm currently interning at a facility that is breeding endangered Hawaiian
birds, including the Hawaiian Crow (currently numbering 39 adults and
juviniles, not counting this year's babies). It is interesting work, even if
it is mostly cleaning. Handraising these guys is a little bit differnent
then handraising a pet bird, after all we DON'T want them to imprint on us,
as we want them to breed.

After this I plan on getting a B.S. in biology and becoming a zookeeper,
probably a bird/reptile keeper even though they are at the bottom of the
keeper food chain. (Elephant keeper, 'Marine Biologists', and those
goddamned Giant Panda keepers are at the top, if you were curious) Before
this I worked for a lady who handraised parrots and made and sold parrot
toys, worked at a petbird store for three years, and volunteered in a bird
of prey show program at my local zoo for four years, and worked one summer
there in the Retail dept selling nectar cups in the Lorikeet exhibit. I've
also worked with breeding endangered butterflies.

All in all I've had over eight years working with (not just keeping) a
variety of birds, starting from when I was sixteen. I'm not an expert by a
long shot, there's lots of people on this ng who've had much more experience
then I. But I sure do love these guys.

> Again thanx for the most relevant post and hope to hear from you soon.

Eh yeah, topics tend to drift quite quickly here, best thing to do is to
simply keep asking the same question in differnent ways until someone
answers.

> Peter M.

Gloria

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