This page still under construction. If you have a link that you think should be included here, contact Kelly at AvMCKelly@yahoo.com

Resources
Below are some sites and organizations you'll find helpful.  If you have a link that you think should be included here, please send an email to Kelly at AvMCKelly@yahoo.com

 For more information on a variety of topics, visit here

Have a resource you think should be included here? 
Contact AvMCKelly@yahoo.com with your suggestions

Parrot Behavior Analysis Solutions - Excellent resource for behavior information (moderated in part by Dr. Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D.)  Highly recommended site to visit!!  This is a free service that will help you learn how to solve behavior issues (present and future) with your bird.  Also has a LOT of must-read articles on behavior.

BirdClick.com  Great website for training basics.  The chat list has been very helpful for many, many people and the articles that are on the chat group site are totally worth reading.  BirdClick.com says, "The Clicker Trainer's Goal: Authority without domination, Love without subservience, Respect without fear.   "Much like the law of gravity, the laws of learning are always in  effect. Thus, the question is not whether to use the laws of learning,  but rather how to use them effectively."   - Scott Spreat and Susan Rogers Spreat, "Learning Principles"

BehaviorWorks.org - The work of Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D  who has brought amazing advances in understanding of companion bird care, especially when it relates to behavior.    Be sure to check out the Living and Learning with Parrots class! 

Clicker Training - Karen Pryor's website.  Check out the great educational articles, as well as excellent training tools and blogs.

Good Bird, Inc.  - Barbara Heidenriech's website.  Any video or book she has created is well worth your time!  She has been training parrots for over 20 years.  From the website, "Good Bird™, Inc. was founded to address the growing interest in positive reinforcement training with parrots. It is so very exciting to see the changes that have been occurring in the area of companion animal behavior. We have watched dog training change dramatically as more and more people are discovering the sheer joy of training with positive reinforcement."

General Training Sites for Positive Reinforcement:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goodbirdgroup/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clickbirds/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BirdClick/

Raising Canine
www.raisingcanine.com This site offers a wide range of courses. You can participate in courses live or download recorded versions and listen to them on your own schedule.

 

If you buy only one book - make it:
A Parrot For Life
by Rebecca K. O'Connor. 

 

 

Good Bird!  by Barbara Heidenreich is also a fantastic book to have if you live with a parrot! 

 

 

 

Good Bird, Inc. 

Barbara Heidenreich has been working with birds for many years.  She currently has two delightful parrot books available; both deal with solving behavior problems using positive reinforcement. 

Also has a quarterly magazine available and DVDs about training your parrot.  She travels the world offering education and training seminars to veterinarians, companion parrot owners and zoos. 

 

 

Living and Learning with Parrots

This class is taught by Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D.  Susan is a highly trained and experienced behaviorist, and has been working with both humans and birds for many years.

This online class is essential for any bird owner, and may change how you look at and interact with your birds (for the better!). 

This class is highly recommended.  

The class is often full for several months out, sign up anyway.  Also, scouring the web to find when and where Dr. Friedman might be giving her seminar in person may be a good idea.

 

 

The Oregon Humane Society

OHS has been around for over 100 years helping Oregon's animals, and animals around the country.   While they may have more dogs and cats, OHS is also dedicated to caring for other pets like rodents, and parrots! 

Click here to see birds available for adoption through the Oregon Humane Society

 

 

 

 

Natural Encounters, Inc.

Steve Martin has been working with birds of all species for well over 20 years. 

The website contains tons of information, as well as some really great articles on a wide variety of bird related subjects (notably, training).  If you ever get the opportunity to take one of their bird training classes, jump on it!

 

Best Free Toy Book Ever - "This booklet is a great read for anyone who shares their home with a companion parrot.  The explanations are easy to put into action in your our home."  Be sure to download versions 1.0 and 2.0!!  Both are great!

 

 Busy Beaks  - online store with HUGE variety of toys at great prices.  Lots of educational materials as well.  Also carries cool parrotphenalia

 
Starbirds Enrichment Toys - great range of enrichment toys designed by Bonnie Jay (whose photography you may have seen in Bird Talk Magazine).  They carry a great cargo net that lasts, even with cockatoos.  It's a favorite for bird rooms across the country.  They also carry the Brainiac Block and the Seek-a-Treat toy, in various sizes to suit any species of parrot.

 

We have great toys at the clinic too!  The Avian Medical Center offers many types of toys and enrichment products here at the clinic for fantastic prices, often locally produced.  We pride ourselves in carrying 'toys with a higher purpose' that are designed to engage your bird, stimulating them physically and mentally.  Further, we make sure the toys we offer are ones that your bird will actually want to play with.  The best sort of toys are ones that your bird can destroy, right?  If they just hang in the cage, while Polly avoids them, then the toys aren't serving their purpose!  We encourage you to pick up a new toy or treat for your bird the next time you visit us!  Toys and activity are essential for the continued good health of your bird.  We have included some links here so that you may order toys online from a good source.