How do YOU play with your parrot?

[Shannan]

So I was reading the post that someone asked about how to play with a parrot and it got me to thinking (and crying) about all the fun "games' I used to play with Walter so I was wondering what fun games does everyone have with their birds. (I loved the one about Pasha flipped over on his back playing), What are some others? Walter used to love to go back and forth with different sounds. I would kissy kiss, he would kissy kiss and then add a different sound and so on until it usually ended up with a laughing sound or a "shhhhhhhh" because we got too loud with our light saber and Star Wars sounds. Walters favorite game was tag. I would go to move him from his lower cage to his higher cage (or vice versa) and he would run to the side of his cage where it was harder to get him. Of course if I was too slow he would look over his shoulder to make sure I was "chasing" him. We had so many little games that we played and I was wondering what others do.

 

[Xoetix]

As long as I’m whistling “If I Only Had a Brain,” Tteok doesn’t care what we’re doing. I’m not sure what that says about him

Pudge still doesn’t have flight feathers yet, so his favorite game is to flutter himself as far from me as possible, and then wait for me to “fetch” him.

Burt’s favorite game is feeding Pudge. They’ve gotten to be so freaking bonded.

Isadora has started hanging herself upside down on the side of her cage and then flipping herself up with so much force that the cage shakes and makes me react “funny” so she does it again

 

[Toy]

JaKhu (B&G Macaw) loves to play on her back. I'll give her a small stuffed animal, a ball, etc. She bites it, shakes it, swings it around & tosses it. I also hold her on her back, by her feet & swing her. I get down on the floor & roll her over all the way. I tried teaching her to hop, but she's not got it yet, so she sort of skips. I tried to teach her to do a head stand. She only got part of it. She puts her head down, then rolls over. Her dance is to sway back & forth real fast. She sticks her tongue out for me to tickle. She will do wings up part way & then I pull her wings open full. She ripped open Christmas presents that were hers & my dogs & ran around the room attacking toys. She took a plastic jingle ball & swung it around with one foot then she banged it on the floor several times, while still holding it in her foot, before tossing it. She also plays chase on top of her cage. In her cage she swings from any hanging toy by one toenail, attacks all toys & shoves small balls thru the cage bars (broken weld), sticks them in her water & tosses them across the cage, etc. She's pretty much non-stop playing, except when she's preening, eating or sleeping. She will chose 2-3 words (example: hello, back-up, step-up) & repeat them over & over for a good hour or more. One thing I'm trying to break her of....she grabs those fine body hairs on my arm, back, etc., & yanks it out in the blink of an eye. I don't know how she can see those fine hairs, but she does.

Outsiide in the aviary (spring to late summer/early fall) I put her on the boing & give her a good push, several times. My birds will climb all over the aviary, hang out on perches, swings, boing, orb, net, play with toys, etc. for 4-5 hours, weather depending.

Jengo (CAG) we do a lot of back & forth contact whistles, words, phrases, etc. I can swipe her beak a few times, otherwisse it's hands off. I ask for a kiss & she gives me beak kisses & makes kissy sounds. She'll do wings up, dance (she bobs her head). She also plays chase on top of her cage.

Jasmine is super hormonal if I get close to her, so from across the room I'll ask her to dance & up goes her crest & she bobs up & down real fast. She also does wings up.

 

[Mizzely]

Ripley and I whistle tunes back and forth. He tries to copy me and I try to copy him until we are both laughing. It's one of his favorite things to do.

 

[Emma&pico]

We do tricks for treats turn around flip wave etc
recall to different rooms upstairs
bath time in a bowl I’ve got to bath my fingers too
they help me make toys or tidy up there room sitting on my shoulder or climbing all over me
Indie likes to hide in curtain I say where’s indie she tweets then pops out
Indie and pico loves chasing a bell around floor I roll to them try to get them to fetch it back but they are having none of it at min
I just love sittting in room watching their little fun flock to be fair

 

[sunnysmom]

Elvis and I play catch twice a day. LOL. He LOVES it. The tiels really just like whistling back and forth, although I always say that I going to start target training with them. It's on my New Year's list of things to do.

 

[Tyrion]

Tyrion and I play get cha ..toes..wings..foot ..beak he loves it so much he hoots and makes all sorts of noises

 

[Icey]

Frankie (macaw) loves to play catch with me. He loves getting his feet tickled when he's on his back. We play lots of silly sing song games as well as peekaboo. If I whistle, he will whistle back or start humming and dancing to silly songs with the head bops.
Dolly (my umbrella cockatoo)
loves to dance when I sing to her. She loves to play peekaboo and scurry under a blanket when I "find" her.

 

[aooratrix]

Simon, my hyacinth, likes me to pet him and open pinfeathers. After we've been at it awhile, he likes to reach his left foot up and hold his face, eyes closed in bliss. However, this is a prelude to an attempted grab of my fingers so he can mouth them. He doesn't bite (outside the cage), but he can get excited and squeeze my fingers harder than I'd like, so I avoid that. He loves for me to mirror his blinks and dramatic head movements while saying what sounds like "HUH." He can do this for HOURS. He also enjoys when we walk into the living room, and I launch him towards one of the stands. I count to three, and he crouches and spreads his Rodan-like wings in anticipation. Boy, does that big boy move some air when he flies.

Morgan the DYH likes me to sing partial lines for her to finish. For lap time, she loves me to skritch her cheekbones and rub her tongue. It's weird, but hey, she's a parrot. This July will be 28 years together, so I'm willing to accommodate her...within reason. She also likes to be "quizzed" on her repertoire, but she's not reliable on matching the right sound with the request. For example, she can do a chicken and a rooster but will mismatch them. I think she does it on purpose to be obstreperous.

My little minions (2 goldens) play on my chest with a "necklace" I made out of plastic chain with natural toy parts attached. Chip plays on his back attacking one part at a time with single-minded determination and then slides down my chest, trusting me to catch him. Charlie flies back and forth between me and my mom. He pretends he's innocent, but he likes to work his from her lap to her face, so he can try to pinch her glasses or ear rings. They are like feathered monkeys. They're probably like caiques, but I don't have a lot of experience with them.

 

[Xoetix]

Simon, my hyacinth, likes me to pet him and open pinfeathers. After we've been at it awhile, he likes to reach his left foot up and hold his face, eyes closed in bliss. However, this is a prelude to an attempted grab of my fingers so he can mouth them. He doesn't bite (outside the cage), but he can get excited and squeeze my fingers harder than I'd like, so I avoid that. He loves for me to mirror his blinks and dramatic head movements while saying what sounds like "HUH." He can do this for HOURS. He also enjoys when we walk into the living room, and I launch him towards one of the stands. I count to three, and he crouches and spreads his Rodan-like wings in anticipation. Boy, does that big boy move some air when he flies.

Morgan the DYH likes me to sing partial lines for her to finish. For lap time, she loves me to skritch her cheekbones and rub her tongue. It's weird, but hey, she's a parrot. This July will be 28 years together, so I'm willing to accommodate her...within reason. She also likes to be "quizzed" on her repertoire, but she's not reliable on matching the right sound with the request. For example, she can do a chicken and a rooster but will mismatch them. I think she does it on purpose to be obstreperous.

My little minions (2 goldens) play on my chest with a "necklace" I made out of plastic chain with natural toy parts attached. Chip plays on his back attacking one part at a time with single-minded determination and then slides down my chest, trusting me to catch him. Charlie flies back and forth between me and my mom. He pretends he's innocent, but he likes to work his from her lap to her face, so he can try to pinch her glasses or ear rings. They are like feathered monkeys. They're probably like caiques, but I don't have a lot of experience with them.

Why don’t you post more photos of your birds?!

 

[Shannan]

Simon, my hyacinth, likes me to pet him and open pinfeathers. After we've been at it awhile, he likes to reach his left foot up and hold his face, eyes closed in bliss. However, this is a prelude to an attempted grab of my fingers so he can mouth them. He doesn't bite (outside the cage), but he can get excited and squeeze my fingers harder than I'd like, so I avoid that. He loves for me to mirror his blinks and dramatic head movements while saying what sounds like "HUH." He can do this for HOURS. He also enjoys when we walk into the living room, and I launch him towards one of the stands. I count to three, and he crouches and spreads his Rodan-like wings in anticipation. Boy, does that big boy move some air when he flies.

Morgan the DYH likes me to sing partial lines for her to finish. For lap time, she loves me to skritch her cheekbones and rub her tongue. It's weird, but hey, she's a parrot. This July will be 28 years together, so I'm willing to accommodate her...within reason. She also likes to be "quizzed" on her repertoire, but she's not reliable on matching the right sound with the request. For example, she can do a chicken and a rooster but will mismatch them. I think she does it on purpose to be obstreperous.

My little minions (2 goldens) play on my chest with a "necklace" I made out of plastic chain with natural toy parts attached. Chip plays on his back attacking one part at a time with single-minded determination and then slides down my chest, trusting me to catch him. Charlie flies back and forth between me and my mom. He pretends he's innocent, but he likes to work his from her lap to her face, so he can try to pinch her glasses or ear rings. They are like feathered monkeys. They're probably like caiques, but I don't have a lot of experience with them.

Play time at your house sounds like so much fun!!!!!

 

[aooratrix]

Why don’t you post more photos of your birds?!

Meh.

 

[aooratrix]

Play time at your house sounds like so much fun!!!!!

It can be! The goldens are VERY messy. I can see where their metallic voices could be annoying, but they don't bother me. They don't hit the pitch of a sun, which is like an icepick to the brain to me.

 

[Wardy]

Mojo likes to dance this can be either listening to music or Tracy singing or me doing a sort or rythmic type beat i cant sing and she dances away i feel love by Donna makes her go crazy and she loves Kate Bush with the exception of Baboshka that makes her go crazy.

Mojo's new favourite game is the back of the couch run she runs up and down the back of the couch with one of my hands chasing her before the other starts to block her we get to the end of the couch and the blocking hand becomes the chasing hand etc.

KiKi doesnt really play yet with her humans

 

[Emi]

So I was reading the post that someone asked about how to play with a parrot and it got me to thinking (and crying) about all the fun "games' I used to play with Walter so I was wondering what fun games does everyone have with their birds. (I loved the one about Pasha flipped over on his back playing), What are some others? Walter used to love to go back and forth with different sounds. I would kissy kiss, he would kissy kiss and then add a different sound and so on until it usually ended up with a laughing sound or a "shhhhhhhh" because we got too loud with our light saber and Star Wars sounds. Walters favorite game was tag. I would go to move him from his lower cage to his higher cage (or vice versa) and he would run to the side of his cage where it was harder to get him. Of course if I was too slow he would look over his shoulder to make sure I was "chasing" him. We had so many little games that we played and I was wondering what others do.

i think i was the one asking

 

[Emma&pico]

i think i was the one asking

Some lovely ideas for you

 

[Shannan]

I am so glad that everyone is sharing their stories. It warms my heart that there are so many ways to interact with the birds. I can also feel the love and fondness for the memories in the posts. It also give me new ideas to explore should another bird end up in my life. @Emi I hope it give you some good ideas as well. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Emma&pico]

I am so glad that everyone is sharing their stories. It warms my heart that there are so many ways to interact with the birds. I can also feel the love and fondness for the memories in the posts. It also give me new ideas to explore should another bird end up in my life. @Emi I hope it give you some good ideas as well. Thanks for the idea.

be one lucky bird when you do