Kiki is a real talent in becoming one of the best Escape Artist. Don’t be surprise, she’s able to open the cage and free herself in less than 20 seconds. Totally no joke, I caught her on video this afternoon doing the stunt:

She still challenging herself in setting a record of shortest time to free herself. Not only is a challenge for her , but also a challenge for me and my mum, because we have to be extra careful to ensure the cage is fully secured with an additional lock/cable tie before leaving the home for work.

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Kiki’s attempt to lift open the cage door

All parrots are well equipped with their chewing and shredding capabilities, and my dear Kermit is no exceptional from the rest. I often named my two lovely, Kiki and Kermit as the “Incredible Shredders”.

I doesn’t have to get a paper shredder in my home office, to shred sensitive documents or mails. I can easily turn to my lovely angels and get them into serious “shredding business”. They simply love the task given with no complaints at all.

I’m sure the appropriate chewing or shredding activities will keep them busy and happy, at least for sure I know they won’t be bored.

Both my lovely angels have their own favorite toys. Like Kiki, she enjoys playing cottons twines and surprisingly she absolutely good in untying the thumb knots on the twines.

As Kermit, he’s seems to set his love for thick cardboards and papers. Especially empty paper towel rollers seem to be the most irresistible toys to Kermit.

Last Sunday afternoon, I was able to capture Kermit doing his stupid stint with an empty paper towel roller. He’s totally into the “shredding” game, once he was offered the empty paper towel roller. Seeing him burrowing in within the towel roller lying on his back busily shredding it away.

I can hardly resist laughing on the stupid yet funny stint he did, but it so fun watching him doing it. He sure does brought lots of laughter to family with his silly acts.

I wonder any of the parrot owners owning african parrots like African Grey or Poicephalus like Senegal Parrot, notice an eccentric behavior that the parrots have when they are young. Perhaps owners that only taken in the parrot at the age of one or two might not have notice it before.

Usually young African Parrots in their juvenile age, tends to build up a habit of scratching vigorously on the cage floor or kicking madly (similar like what you see a hamster does, kicking off the bedding). It may sound a little abnormal for a parrot to behave in this manner. My Senegal Parrot had this behavior for quite sometime, he started since young (even when he’s a baby in the brooder, he did that almost everyday and make a mess with all the beddings) but until recently he stopped.

I’ve ever read about an article from a parrot book addressing the issue. The experienced trainer reviewed it as a normal behavior for all parrots from the African genus referring those like Greys and Poicephalus (Senegal Parrot, Red-bellied, Jardines), and these parrots will grown out of doing it. Generally the habit will fade off as they start to mature. However, the habit can be discouraged by placing in more toys to keep them busy.

Like what most people always say:

“A Busy Bird is a Happy Bird!”

Earlier on I allowed Kermit to shred and play with his paper box, but soon he stopped the activity when he saw me taking out my gadget. Kermit gets really excited when he saw me taking out my Nokia N95 capturing this video. He’s just so happy and excited, roaming around, making all the funny mumbling noise and whistle, surprisingly he did the “Peek-a-Boo” again at video time 0:40.

To us a phone is just another daily necessity item, but to parrots it’s seem like a new toy. Perhaps it’s the recording red LED light emitted that drew Kermit’s attention. Just like kids, CURIOSITY, all they want is to investigate and try playing with it!

The frequency of Kermit saying “Peek-a-Boo” has gradually increased a lot. Every morning, he will say “Peek-a-Boo” with his low volume cute little voice, expecting me to remove the cage cover.

Although the increasing frequency of hearing Kermit’s “Peek-a-Boo”, but he still hesitate to perform the amusing mimicry in front of other family audience. He’s indeed a shy performer.

Below is the video clip taken in the morning. Kermit appears to say “Peak-a-Boo” at video time 0:08, 1:05 and 1:14 respectively.

Kermit is so motivated into saying “Peek-a-Boo” this days. The increased frequency of these words might be the results of a game that I play with Kermit everyday. Like what Kermit says, “Peek-a-Boo” is the name of game.

How to play the “Peek-a-Boo” Game?
I will cover Kermit’s head with a small handkerchief and gently removing it, surprising him with my version of “Peek-a-Boo”. Sometimes, I do surprise him with my “Peek-a-Boo” when he’s quiet and behaving well in his cage. That’s my way to let him understand that whenever he’s quiet, he can expect to play a game of “Peek-a-Boo” with me.

Whenever I start playing “Peek-a-Boo”, Kermit’s pupils will dilate, pining in and out, that’s a sign of an excited parrot. He definitely enjoys and looking forward for this game and stimulated him in saying “Peek-a-Boo”.

I noticed from the day I introduced the “Peek-a-Boo” game, the problems of notorious screaming and contact calls from Kermit seem to improve.

Related Post:
Kermit’s Mimicry: Peek-a-Boo

Howdy dear readers!

I knew that many readers running on Internet Explorer appear to experience some major issues like font readability and missing icons on Bryan’s Angels.

I apologized for the inconvenience caused by these problems. I’ve made the necessary amendments on the CSS style-sheets and optimizations on the blog. I do hope that the necessary changes have enhance your reading pleasure viewing on Internet Explorer.

However, I still recommend precious readers to use Firefox or Apple Safari for better reading experiences, as our blog is best optimized with the use of Firefox at the resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels.

Feel free to feedback to us on how we can better improve our blog. Kiki, Kermit & Me love to hear from you! Don’t hesitate to drop us a message under the Contact Page.

Many thanks & We Salute All of You!

Have you ever thought of why parrots love to wipe their beaks on their perches and other hard objects?

I happened to capture another a short clip of Kiki, my lovebird wiping her beak after a water bath earlier on. It’s really funny to see her doing it.

All parrots do this. It’s a normal behavior and a natural thing to do, usually happens after eating and bathing. Wiping their beaks on the perch will help them wipe off foreign objects (like food) that stick on their beaks. They also do that to wipe off excess water when their beaks are wet.

I had read before an article highlighting that wiping of beaks can be an indication to mark territory for some parrots. It usually happens when parrots are introduced to new faces and new bird in their area.

Never knew that such simple action of beak wiping can interpret so much meanings.

By the way, did you notice something at the end of the video clip, when Kermit, my Senegal Parrot in the background?

He doesn’t seem happy at all, because the food bowl on the play-stand belongs to Kermit. Furthermore, Kiki is happily rewarding herself with the premium seed mixes on the play-stand. You can’t blame him for giving the stare. Poor thing!

What a deliberately “hijacking” of the food bowl by Kiki. That’s really daring stint from her. However, indeed an adventure for a hot sunny afternoon!

Related Post:
Warmer Climate = Frequent Water Bath

The weather has indeed changed a lot due to global warming. Not only the entire human race has realize the changes in climate, but animals like parrots also notice the big difference.

The frequency of water bath taken by Kiki has seems to gradually increase from one to twice daily. It’s a natural instinct, that Kiki will dunk herself into the water bowl once in the morning and the other time in the late afternoon. I have to change her water bowl frequently, couple of times a day, to ensure she has clean water all time.

I happen to capture Kiki bathing in action during the late afternoon after her “tea-break” treats to premium seed mixes.

Kiki initially was water bathing in the water bowl at Kermit’s play-stand. Soon after she was chased off by Kermit, and she gladly returned back to her own ceramic water bowl continuing her water bath.

I’m sure the water bath helps to cool down the rising heat. Kiki must have enjoyed it.

Many of friends asked me how do I train Kiki and Kermit to be an ultimate performer? There’s no secret on how train them to be like one. Many parrot owners will suggest best to start training since young. Does that mean if I have a adult bird, the bird will never be an ultimate performer?

Many experienced trainers and even parrot books suggested to start off training from a young age. Frankly speaking, age is not the key issue to parrot training. Even an African Grey which is in its mid-20s is still learning new things. But it’s always good to start training early, as it’s one best method to prevent and eliminate behavioral problems.

When I got Kiki and Kermit, I started basic training as soon as they get settle down to the new environment. To date (based on 18th April 2008), Kiki had already mastered 14 parrot tricks and Kermit mastered 4 basic parrot tricks. That’s an achievement! Both of them are still learning new things, so I expect the figures to grow!

So start off quickly with some simple training like step-up command. This is the first basic command, that I introduced to my parrots when I first go them. Then from there, add-on with other basic tricks like Turn-A-Round. Always be consistent with your training and train daily.

It’s always good to allocate a specific time when to conduct training session. Both of my parrots have their own specific time for training, once in the morning and the other at the evening. I always try to allocate 2 training sessions per day, although the morning slots are usually optional. You can have training sessions as much as 3 per day of 10-15 minutes, but no longer that.

Conclusion, the golden words to the success in parrot training:

1. Start training early
2. Be consistent in training
3. Train daily
4. and Patience!

Good luck and happy training your parrots!

Related Posts:
Kermit’s First Basic Tricks Collection
Kermit’s Turn-A-Round Trick
Introducing Clicker Training
Clicker & Target Training for Kermit
Introducing Target Training
Kiki performing the Turn-A-Round Trick

During lunch, I was lucky to capture a sound clip of Kermit saying “Peek-a-Boo”. It’s so fun hearing Kermit repeating “Peek-a-Boo” and his voice is indeed cute. Although there are some limitation in clarity of Kermit’s mimicry.

Sound Clip of Kermit saying “Peek-a-Boo

Kermit started to utter “Peek-a-Boo” just weeks ago. He’s still mumbling and imitating funny noises like the telephone ringing. I’m very sure that his vocabularies will continue to grow!