The '60s was the "we" decade, the '70s was the "me" decade and the '80s was the "greed" decade. The '90s, it seems, has become the decade when we all retreat into seclusion, lick our wounds, re-read "The Road Less Traveled" and try to sort through the confusion of three totally contradictory decades. Of course, since the decline in the real estate market has left us way too broke to see a therapist, we continue to read self-help books. And it cannot be said that the rabid ingestion of mountains of pop/psych/lit hasn't made an impact on our vocabularies. People are pretty quick to declare that their slightly depressed neighbor is "a sociopathic, codependent misogynist with an eating disorder and low self-esteem. But, hey, maybe I'm just projecting." So, what does any of this have to do with birds? Well, one of the concepts that has emerged from this collective look inward is that of "quality time". (The concept of quality time emerged because so many of us were spending so much time looking at our lives that we had very little time left to actually live them.) As a behaviorist and former director of a parrot adoption center I am constantly being asked the psittacine question of the ages: "Just how much time do I need to spend with my parrot?" My usual (half kidding) response is, "Ask them, not me."
Generalities |
In general, here are few absolutes in parrot behavior. In dealing with an animal that is probably smarter than the person living next to your neighbor (think about that for a second), generalities will not apply almost as often as they apply. That having been said, let us recognize the generalities that will follow for what they are: the result of experience and a decent place to start figuring out the requirements of your particular companion animal. There are three kinds of contact that need to be combined to fulfill your bird's social needs: direct, indirect and ambient.
Direct Attention |
Direct attention is just you and the bird. Irrespective of your bird's handlability/tameness, if the bird is bonded to you then it needs your direct attention. This can mean anything from cuddling your bird under your shirt to just standing near the cage. But it must be just the two of you, with lots of communicating and eye contact. This means no reading, watching television or talking on the phone at the same time. This should be a special time between you and Tweetie. It is a time to reinforce your bond and to make your bird feel safe and secure. It should be a time that he can rely upon.
With my Moluccan, I have two specific times for direct attention...I picked one and he picked the other. He chose mornings. In his own subtle way, as only a Moluccan can, he let me know that he preferred that his day begin with 
some scratching. This is not to say that I drag my tired butt out of bed at the same time of the morning every day and cuddle him until my hand cramps. I would say that nine days out of ten, anywhere between 7 and 10 am, I will go into the birds' room and scratch Hitchcock for 2 or 3 minutes. That's it. But this is how he wants to start his day and he likes knowing that he can depend on me. Personally, I prefer to start my day with a shower, and my wife likes that I feel that way.
My contribution to all of this was evenings. Sometime around sundown, Hitch will want to head back to the cage to run back and forth on top and call in the flock. This lasts about 10 minutes after which he snacks, preens and naps until I come in. At 10 or 11 pm, with the room almost totally dark, we spend 10 to 30 minutes cuddling, scratching, talking quietly and, most importantly, breaking up those pesky new feather shafts on his head. This is an incredibly important time for him, and he can be a bit cranky on the mornings after our session was cut short by abject exhaustion. It is no less important to me since it reinforces the depth and extent of my commitment to this animal.
And, no, I don't take it too personally on those evenings when, just a couple minutes into our session, he climbs into his cage and closes the door behind him. Hey, sometimes I'm too tired, sometimes he's too tired. That's life. "Is that it?" I hear you cry. Well, as far as direct attention is concerned it is. 12 minutes on some days, maybe 30 on others, but usually a total of fifteen or twenty minutes. But read on.
Indirect Attention |
Indirect attention is also known as "scratching two birds with one stone." This is where you can read, watch TV, shave, swat flies or paste S&H Green Stamps into the hundreds of little books it takes to get some kitchen appliance that you will never use. (I know that they went out of business years ago. Haven't you ever heard of regression therapy?) The bird gets use of one hand and you are free to devote the other to the rest of your life. In the case of less tactile birds, it means keeping them perched nearby and sharing your attention and eye contact with them and your other tasks. Yes, scratching one bird with each hand is allowed here.
Now, here's the specific general rule: The total of Direct and Indirect Attention should be about 30 to 40 minutes per day. That's it. Can it be more? Sure, if your lifestyle permits you to plant your Umbrella Cockatoo on your chest from 5 to 9 pm every night, go for it. But don't plan on leaving town, getting sick, dying or ever having a human relationship again because you have not exactly raised an independent animal. Can it be less? Occasionally, but probably not regularly. Sure, each bird's mileage, or requirements will vary, but in order to fulfill every bird's needs he/she must bond and share, well, quality time with another being. Even if your bird seems so "independent" that he just wants to be left alone, he is probably not getting what he needs because he has not formed a sufficiently trusting relationship with you to allow that level of intimacy. Our Severe Macaw, Hobbes, was parent raised and wouldn't let us in the same room with him at first. Now he follows us around the house saying "Up. Up. Up." He needed as much contact when we first got him as he does now, only now he knows that it is safe to get it from us.
Ambient Attention |
Ambient attention is less us paying attention to the bird than it is allowing the bird to pay attention to us. Basically, this involves having the bird out of the cage (on a perch, playtop or gym), in the flow of traffic, with the ability to see and hear us going about our affairs. This is both a form of stimulation and a means of allowing the bird to feel as if he is a part of the family. Not that it can be avoided, but every now and then you should give a scratch, inquire as to the bird's health or offer a favorite morsel. Please keep in mind that even though this is the least labor-intensive from of attention that it is no less important to your bird than direct or indirect attention, possibly even more important. Birds are very social and intelligent animals and even with all the toys in the world, they are not going to be happy with just 40 minutes of socializing per day.
Recommended Daily Allowance of Ambient Attention: 3 hours. It should be kept in mind that food and fresh water should be available if your bird is going to be away from the cage on a gym, perch or play area for any substantial amount of time.
More Rules |
1. You should establish a basic routine for these activities, but try not to institutionalize it to the point of ritual. While a rough routine will make a bird feel secure, a ritual will result in insecurity when something prevents you from attending your 5:42 pm cuddling session.
2. With a secure, well socialized bird you should not be afraid to take a vacation, go out once or twice a week or leave the bird in the cage all day if you just can't deal with it. This is okay; it happens to all of us and we don't want a pet that won't allow us to have a life. However, if you are the type of person that has "I can't cope" days more than once every few months, or someone who travels constantly for work, or someone who spends their evenings looking for love in all the places, right or wrong, consider getting a house plant and not a bird. But you would be surprised at the number of calls that I get from people who think that a 9-to-5 job precludes having a happy parrot. It doesn't.
3. Don't fall into the trap of getting a "starter bird" to see if you really do have the time. Cockatiels need and deserve as much love as do Macaws. What winds up happening is that they find that they do have enough time and go out and get the bird that they wanted in the first place or they find that they don't have the time and the little bird winds up neglected, or worse. Look realistically at your schedule, analyze what it is that you want out of a companion animal and what you are willing to contribute to the relationship, spend time with birds and with people who have them and ask questions of non-financially motivated avian professionals. You shouldn't experiment with a life, however small.
4. Continuing with the previous thought a bit, even if this is not a practice bird, do not be fooled into believing that a Cockatoo is any more time consuming than an Amazon, Pionus, Poicephalus or any of the other allegedly "low maintenance" birds. ALL HOOKBILLS NEED YOUR COMPANIONSHIP TO REMAIN TAME AND HAPPY. Try lowering your maintenance on an Amazon and he will raise the rates on your health insurance. Just because most Cockatoos and Macaws need for Direct Attention is more tangible (scratching, cuddling, wrestling, preening) than many Amazons, Greys and the like, do not think that they do not also require just as much "contact", like perching on 
your hand, talking, head preening (yours or theirs) and lots of eye contact. Further, there is no truth to the myth that Budgies and Cockatiels are happy sitting in a cage. In fact, when neglected, smaller birds tend to lose their tameness faster than larger birds. Just because they can't bite as hard doesn't mean that they don't want to. Heck, the best talking bird in the world is a Budgie (he blew the previous record holder, a Grey, all the way back to Ghana), so it is pretty clear that they have a great capacity for interaction.
There are traits common to various breeds that will impact upon your decision of just what bird to get, but effortlessness shouldn't be one of them. It is not necessary to spend your every waking hour attending to your birds. If you can manage to work most of the Ambient and Indirect Attention into your regular schedule, the only time that you really have to set aside for Direct Attention is just a few minutes, a few times a day. Now, please do not take this to mean that, as an article in another magazine called them, parrots are "...the easy care pet of the '90s..." because they aren't. In fact, the level of commitment you must have to keep a parrot healthy and happy is far greater than is necessary for any other commonly kept companion animal. But you can have a pet bird and lead a normal life, assuming that you would have been capable of some degree of normalcy without the bird.
So, we can now all breathe a collective sigh of relief over the fact that we don't have to quit our jobs simply to keep our birds happy. In fact, with what my birds eat, I might have to take a second job just to keep them in blueberries. Of course, if I did take a second job, my birds would be severely neglected. Maybe they'd write a book about it: "Birds Who Love People and the People Who Abandon Them" or "I'm Okay, You're Cuckoo."
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