Both genders are identical in appearance, but it is quite easy to tell them apart, with a little observation. Male Bengalese are enthusiastic nest-builders, and love to display their prowess. Their favourite way to do this is to take a long piece of grass in their beak, and then to take it to a stretch of perch nearby a prospective mate.

She will usually be demurely pretending to ignore him - while he will commence an antic little dance, beeping an enthusiastic accompaniment while hopping up and down and waving his piece of grass as attractively as he can.

If done correctly, his skill, co-ordination, and enthusiasm will prove irresistable to his prospective mate. If he is successful, soon she will be inspecting his carefully built nest. It must prove acceptable before she will trim his homemade haven with feathers from both their breasts. Once she has, eggs will soon arrive.

They will both share incubation and rearing of the babies. Youngsters usually fledge around 20 - 25 days or so, but will continue to be fed by their parents til they are around 6 weeks or so of age - a far longer weaning process than many other small species of bird.

Often the hen will lay and begin to incubate another clutch of eggs when the youngsters from the first clutch are barely fledged, long before they are fully weaned.

Rather than chasing these youngsters away from their new clutch, as most species will do, many Bengalese pairs will allow their youngsters from the first nest to partake in the raising of their younger brothers and sisters. The older chicks carefully mimic their parents, and learn to feed and wean the new youngsters alongside their parents.

Bengalese have an endearing trait of perferring to sleep together at night - if all they have is a perch, they will all jam together along it, until 6 birds look like two. This habit quite probably is the trait which let to their being known as the 'Society' finch. I have seen a dozen Bengalese cram into an ordinary-sized wicker basket to sleep - from the outside, it looks like the basket is stuffed with a little ball of feathers.

Walk past the nest, though, and all dozen heads will pop out to check what's happening - they look like nothing so much as an odd, gentle-natured, multi-headed bird-beast!

The gentle, easy-to-keep Bengalese, or Society Finch, is a great bird for beginners, and a reliable standby for long-time bird keepers. Whether beginner or expert, this species is well deserving of attention by anybody wanting to breed finches.

Welcome to the Companion Birds ezine

For bird people who care.

Hello! Welcome to the eleventh issue of Flock Talk - I hope you like what you see! If you have comments, criticisms, or stories to share, please send them to Robirda

Please Note - due to a computer crash, all emails sent in response to last issue's 'Keeping Pets' article were lost. If you sent in a comment, and have a copy, please send it again - and accept our apologies - and thanks!

This is a very commercialized site, which nevertheless is loaded with great information and resources. If you can ignore the blatent advertising, you will find a lot of genuine resources here.

Although the site is a little confusing to navigate, you can still find quite a lot of reliable info - just remember that underlined titles are not links, and that each area of the site has its own navigation bar, different from those in other areas, in the left-hand column - so if you don't want to miss anything, you will find you must keep using your 'back' button.

The informational content of this site is the real prize. Once you have seen the articles and lists posted here, you might want to bookmark them, so you can find and refer to them whenever you want.

Feature Article

This issue features the continuation of Wilhelm's series of articles on understanding pet parrots. This one is about the art of learning to successfully practice one of the most basic interactions between you and your companion bird - stepping up. Successful establishment of this interaction as a habit smooths the path towards the the accomplishment of a mutually beneficial relationship between you and your pet.

by Wilhelm Kiesselbach

Teaching your parrot to step up is unquestionably the most important exercise in building a relationship with him. It is essential to remember that the pure act of stepping up is actually the least important achievement. Of far greater importance is the establishment of the mind set which causes the bird to step up on request.

A bird who steps up when requested, regardless where he happens to be, has found his place in his flock, and is secure in it. He will be far less likely to display the dreaded behavior known to parrot owners as 'domination'.

Working with an older bird who has never been properly taught to step up requires knowledge, patience, respect,consistency and understanding. Before you begin to try to teach him, you need to give him adequate time to become familiar with his environment. This could well take a few weeks - and please don't even consider trying to rush him!

Keep him in his cage, but visit the vicinity often - talk to him in a quiet voice, read to him, sing to him, and call him by his name frequently. Parrots are basically social animals, and curiosity and his need to socialize will eventually get the better of him.

Once you believe that he is comfortable around you, take a bare "T" stand, one with no toys or food cups, into a room with which the bird is not familiar and which is not yet a part of his known territory. Be sure that there is no audience and no TV - there must be absolutely no distractions!

Get your composure - you should not be nervous, frustrated or insecure. In a quiet voice issue the 'step-up' or 'up' command. At the same moment you voice your command, push your hand against his belly. The best position to hold your hand in, is with the palm vertical, the fingers held together and extended, the thumb folded flat, and the whole hand and wrist level, all the way to the end of your fingers. You will be offering him the top edge of your index finger.

The bird should find a steady and reliable 'perch', one which does not bounce or sway - so remember to hold your arm stiff, especially the first time - you are almost certain to be surprised at how much a little bird can weigh!

Once he steps up, praise him effusively, with as much happiness crammed into your voice as you can manage, then return him to the 'T' stand using the word 'down' - again, use lots of praise when he cooperates. Be enthusiastic and warmly praise him, and tell him what a good bird he is.

Repeat these exercises for about 10 minutes and be sure that you remain enthusiastic and responsive to him - the idea is to have FUN. He will not learn anything if you act like you are doing a chore - you want him to think you are playing a game together.

After ten minutes or so his attention span will begin to fade, and it will be time to quit while you are ahead. You should be certain that you never end a training session on a negative note, as the bird will remember and repeat it.

There will be instances when the bird refuses to step up. You must not let him get away with that. If he tries to bite, you have a number of options. But first, you need to know that it is extremely important to never initiate any exercise with the fear that he will bite, because then it is almost certain that he will.

The more comfortable and confident you are, the more comfortable he will be. If he acts aggressive and tries to bite, simply ball your hand into a fist and offer him the top of your fist, with the skin stretched tight and firm. There is no place for him to easily grab hold of your hand when held in this position.

Remember that there is a fine line between intimidating him and teaching him. Don't 'push' your fist at him, just hold it there, close enough so he can get his beak on it but not getting 'into his face' with it.

You are showing him that you are not afraid. He will eventually give up the thought - watch his posture and the positioning of his feathers and eyes closely, as his body language can tell you that, and more.

Once it has been established that you are not afraid of him, you (and he), are ready to try again. If he is still reluctant to cooperate, you may want try diverting his attention with the other hand or a toy while continuing to insist that he step up. He cannot 'walk and chew gum' at the same time - if he is otherwise occupied, there is a good chance that he will step up without realizing what has happened.

You should try to be very consistent in conducting these exercises, and try to repeat them at least twice a day.

Once the bird does step up, you must use the command every time you take him on your hand, irregardless of whether he steps up on his own, or not. The command must always be present.

If you have tried everything and he still will not step up, you may want try using a wooden perch that has been well sanded. Use that in place of your hand, when practicing step-ups. That really should be the last resort, however.

One essential point to be sure to remember - wearing gloves is a no-no. Every behaviorist I have heard or read very strongly discourages the use of gloves.

The reasoning behind this is actually quite simple. Firstly, a determined parrot can bite through any glove, and secondly, gloves make them uncomfortable. Wearing a glove is tantamount to admitting you expect to fail.

People who have younger birds will have the experience that a baby parrot willingly responds to the offered finger and steps up without a command. What many people do not understand is that the baby is instinctively responding to what he perceives as his stature in the social order.

The fact that he will step up without commands does not mean that a step-up command is not needed. On the contrary, you must use it diligently every time you interact with him. His being cooperative in stepping up only means that it will be much easier to train him because his need to dominate has not yet been fully developed. Have no fear, it will if you don't do your job fully and well!

Also, once the parrot has learned to step up for you, it does not mean that he feels the same about every member of the family. Each person in the family must go through these exercises with the bird, individually. The social order in the flock depends on that. Almost every bird can be taught, although it is true that in some cases it is more of a challenge than in others. Remember, parrots are instinctively programmed to be taught their position in the flock. If he fails to learn this lesson, it is not his failure, it is yours!

I want to emphasize here that a bird must be taught to step up inside the cage as well as outside. An important reason for this is because he will consider it to be his safe haven, his own territory. If he is allowed to refuse to obey the command inside the cage, in all probability soon he will refuse to cooperate elsewhere, as well.

You have to remember that stepping up is not merely an indication of his willingness to lift his foot. It has much wider implications regarding his perception of his social position in your family, which he considers to be his flock. When told to step up, he must do it, regardless of where he happens to be.

Finally, in the case of an emergency, stepping up on request, whether in the cage or outside of it, someday could well save his life.

No matter how much or how little time you have to spend with your pet parrot, successful step-up training is the simgle most important aspect of establishing a safe, happy, mutually rewarding relationship with your companion parrot.

by Wilhelm Kiesselbach
copyright Jan 21, 2001
http://www.nd.edu./~kkiessel/

Wild foods are a great source of entertainment for pet birds. One common wild plant which is well liked is that well-known pest of lawn lovers, the dandelion. It is a source of both great nutrition and great entertainment to our pet birds, as they can eat everything from the root and leaves to the flowers and seed-heads.

Another popular treat is the leaves or green seed-heads from the wild amaranthus, sometimes known as 'pig-weed' or 'coltsfoot'. The same is true of another plant which many a gardener will attest to spending hours trying to get rid of - it is most commonly called chickweed, and it is a culinary delicacy widely favoured and appreciated by all those who have tried it, whether human or avian.

If you want to go a step further, you can sow plants to grow specifically for your birds. Canary grass is quite easy to grow, and so are canola and spray millet - simply broadcast some seed in the spring, and stand back before they start growing under your feet! You can feed the greens, stems, flowers and seed-heads of the canola, and the green or ripe seedheads of the spray (also called 'foxtail') millet and the canary grass. If properly dried and stored in a cool dry place, they will keep for months.

Popcorn is fairly easy to grow too, and can be picked while still in the 'milk' stage to be given to your pets - you have not seen fun til you have seen a pet bird with his own small cob of fresh corn! Store some in the freezer for mid-winter treats, too.

"I was wondering what is the proper scientific name for canaries?"

My answer is;

"Canaries are members of the family fringillidae, that is, finches - their genus is Serinus, their species is Serinus serinus (or, European serin finch), of which they are a sub-species, properly known as 'Serinus Canaria'."

Well, I guess that's it for this time - hope everybody has a safe and happy time over the next couple of weeks! The next issue is due out February 4 - until then, may you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!

R C 'Robirda' McDonald
January 21, 2001
Vancouver, BC, Canada