This is a post I made on /r/budgies about a month ago, but we've gotten a number of recent questions about taming birds, so I am posting here in hopes that my advice is helpful to folks. First, please meet Wallace and Charlie. They were rescued as adults about 7 years ago, and came to me untamed and with some issues. They are now tame, and they're really great little dudes. They're full of personality, very devoted to me, and we have a ton of fun together.

Note that I am describing my experience with budgies, but the training techniques I'm describing aren't necessarily specific to budgies, or even parrots. Things like positive reinforcement are broadly applicable and will work for lots of animals!

First steps

When you work with a budgie or another parrot, keep in mind that they are prey animals. Connecting with a large human isn't very intuitive to them. This is particularly true of pet store budgies, who have often never been handled until they're purchased. Leaving other birds and moving to a new environment is a huge adjustment in itself, too. We often underestimate what it takes to tame and bond with a bird under these circumstances. It is legitimately a challenge.

In my experience, they can often seem aloof until some communication starts happening, and I think it's possible to miss that these birds are incredibly intelligent. I know people often think that older parrots can't be tamed or bond with a human, but one thing to consider is that these birds generally have complicated flock dynamics, and they're pretty long-lived (even well-bred/well-cared-for budgies, when compared to their body size). There's no way these animals can't learn new behaviors or form multiple bonds throughout their lives. That doesn't mean that working with older birds won't be difficult, especially if they haven't been treated well in the past, but definitely don't give up on them. There is always hope.

When working with a nervous bird, reading their body language is key. If your bird is moving away, leaning back, hunching down, fluttering their eyelids, or otherwise looks uncomfortable, take a step back. They definitely pick up on that, and it makes a difference. It can help a lot not to stare, and also have some background noise. If your bird is scared when you approach, start by just hanging out near the cage and listen to music or watch TV. Your bird will watch you and learn. Talk to them, too. It helps a lot to have them in an area where you spend a lot of time (that's safe, obviously).

Your first goal is to give them a treat! It doesn't have to be directly from your hand, it can be a bite from the end of a long stalk of millet. It's fine if this takes time.

Clicker training

Once they start taking a treat consistently, you'll want to get a dog training clicker. To get started with clicker training, click at the same time you give them the treat. Take the treat away, then repeat. Do this for brief sessions several days in a row.

Give it some time, but eventually you'll be able to click the clicker and see them get excited. That means you can use the clicker to reinforce behaviors you want, because now a treat will follow the click. It's technically a "bridge" between the behavior you want to reinforce and the reward, but think of it as a form of communication. If they do something you want them to keep doing, click as soon as it happens. That can be approaching you, stepping onto your hand, etc.

Target training

The next step is target training. I use a chopstick for my budgies. It took a few days to get them used to having it around, so expect that to take awhile. However, once they're used to seeing it, you could even move it a little bit closer and click so they're rewarded. You don't want to make them too nervous, but you do want them to slowly start to relax around the target stick. Eventually you should be able to get the tip of the target stick near one of their beaks. In my experience, they will instinctively touch the tip of the target stick. When they do, click and treat. Do this for awhile, then see if you can hold the stick a little further away and let them reach for it. I use the command "target!" when I do this. When I say "target" now, my birds come running over to touch the target stick. I can move them between perches.

I was also able to help them get over their fear of hands by targeting them increasingly closer to and eventually onto my hand. If you do this, make sure you do other target training as well (i.e. just have the bird move around on top of the cage). If they're scared of hands, you want to be sure you're giving them a break from more challenging training and doing what's fun for them. Remember, this is just as much about bonding and building trust as anything else.

This will take awhile, so you have to be patient. You want to use all of this to build a relationship with them, so they trust you. Again, that means keeping an eye on their body language and taking a step back if they get nervous. They will learn that you give them space when they're uncomfortable.

It's a process, but all of it can be broken down into smaller steps, and that's what makes it attainable. Every so often you'll have an aha moment, but sometimes progress is gradual. I would take some videos of your birds so you can track their behavior over time. It can really help to look back and see how much they've changed and grown.

Final thoughts

• In the end, a lot of training is about reinforcement. I've seen lots of animals target trained, including crocodiles and cassowaries. These methods work really well.

• I mentioned patience, but I can't stress that enough. The best way to work with these birds is to set no limits but have no expectations. That's a weird mindset to be in, and it takes practice.

• Training sessions should be short. I recently worked with a parrot behaviorist (and if you're interested in working with her, I can direct you to her website). As part of our consultation, she had me take video of a training session with my birds. Before doing that, I would have told you my training sessions were 5-10 minutes. After, I'd say they're almost never more than 5. You can do more than one training session in a day, but you don't want to keep going when they lose interest. Ideally you'd end before that, on a high note.

• If you're working with a bird who is afraid of things, remember that you're not just teaching a new behavior, you're undoing a fear response. That takes extra care, because you have to be very mindful that you don't accidentally reinforce what they're afraid of. It's very doable, but you must be conscious of this.

• Please don't push on their bellies or do something else to make them uncomfortable to get them to step up. What you want is a bird who will approach your hand willingly. Pressing on their belly knocks them off balance and is not pleasant for them. It make take a little longer to target a bird over to you, but it's less stressful for them and it's better for your bond. In the long run, that bond is key.

• Diet is really important with these guys. For more info on my birds' diet, and some advice on picky budgies, see my comment here. This is important for their health, but also, it will make millet a higher value reward to them.

• Cage setup matters a lot, especially for them to get lots of enrichment and activity in the long run (which leads to a happier bird). Budgies are extremely active. They love to play and they move around a lot. They really need space, particularly since they're prone to issues related to obesity. For info on my birds' cage setup, see my comment here

I realize this is a ton of information, and I hope people find it helpful. Parrots can be challenging to tame and bond with, but they really are amazing animals. Of course, I am a real sucker for little budgies. I wish you and your birds success and happiness!