In my busy house, I often use diversionary tactics to re-direct a parrots attention. I always have what I refer to as "strategically placed clutter" on the kitchen counter. Usually it is a large bowl of parrot toy parts, a cardboard box, a crock of foot toys, a container of colored pasta and anything else I can think of that might divert the attention away from the task I'm trying to perform (preferably without parrot interference). I find if I rotate the items that I have laying around on the counter and the breakfast bar I can keep their attention focused on those areas, at least for a few minutes. Time enough for me to wash and chop vegetables or prep supper.
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Here is an activity that kept Zorba busy long enough for me to fix a quick supper. Many of my more successful attempts at diverting a parrot's attention away from what I'm doing are not planned. For this occasion, I happened to have an empty water bottle on the counter. I filled it with spare toy parts that were in a bowl on the breakfast bar and set it on the counter hoping Zorba might focus on the new item and keep out of my way. It worked!
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I had a tub of apples soaking on the counter in vegetable wash when my Buddy landed on the tub and leaned his beak in to get an apple. I removed the tub with vegetable wash and replaced it with a tub of clean water with some apples that had been washed and rinsed floating inside. Buddy had a great time bobbing for apples in the tub. This is an activity we've continued. When I'm preparing their salad mix, I will sometimes place vegetables in a tub of clean water for Buddy to play with. It's an easy to set up activity and one that he enjoys. Of note, this is an activity that should be supervised and may not be suitable for all parrots, especially smaller parrots that might fall in the tub.
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This is a fun little video for me. I have the most difficult time coming up with enrichment plans for the little birds. Somewhere in my internet searching I came accross a suggestion to offer leaf bathing opportunities.
I had placed leafy greens woven in the cage bars before for the parrots to chew on. But I hadn't thought of hanging wet leafy greens from the top of the cage. Watch what happens when I do. I'm not sure how much leaf bathing I got - but I definitely got interest and activity.
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