By Emily Sharp

If you have a bird, there is a chance that you may be giving it too much phyiscal affection. Yes, there is such a thing as too much love, especially with birds.

Imagine being a bird in captivity, where an entirely different species than your own is gawking all over you. It doesn’t feel natural for them, and it certainly doesn’t build a trusting relationship. Birds need their own space in order to feel safe. Being too touchy-feely with a bird can be smothering and uncomfortable. In order to build a trusting relationship with your bird, focus more on using positive reinforcement to teach other hands-off type activities.

Using positive reinforcement with your bird for behaviors that you wish to increase (think of different training exercises) is much more satisfying for them. In training, parrots are using similar thought processes as they would in the wild. This gives them a vital element of mental health while they learn new concepts. Providing training opportunities using positive reinforcement for success is giving them recognition for their accomplishments, while respecting their intelligence.

I know it is difficult to avoid over cuddling your parrot, but it’s something we must do in order to give birds a satisfying life in captivity. If your bird notices the lack of physical contact, I’m sure it will have even more appreciation for you because you are respecting its needs.

Emily lives in South Carolina.  As part of a school project, she fostered Cupid for Phoenix Landing. She taught Cupid many skills and tricks using positive reinforcement, and realized that one of the best ways to build trust with a parrot is to do things together that don’t always involve touching, which can make some birds uncomfortable.  Emily has recently been accepted to work with the Blue Throated Macaw Conservation Project in Bolivia.  We thank her for her dedication to wild and captive parrots!  

Here is a video that Emily made for her project:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0shOapmOavpMHF6VllaUk1UY28/view