AFA Conference 2005. Miami, FL

The AFA is the American Federation of Aviculture. The 2007 conference is being held in LA. Some of the key topics were: *Parrot Welfare Organizations by Julie Murad. *Video and talks about wild parrot populations in the US. *The Spix Macaw project by Loro Parque. *Legislative status on parrots held in captivity. *Parrots International's Saving the Baby Blues. *Going to Parrot Jungle Island. *Great Banquet and Vendors to talk to. *Meeting great personalities such as: Susan Friedman, Mattie Sue Athan, Susan Clubb and Melissa Kaufman, among many others!

Lecture about the Spix Macaw Project at Loro Parque from Matthias. Meeting new friends. Susan Friedman gives big smiles at Banquet.

Eclectus flies to friend Karen at Parrot Jungle Island.

2006 RAW Conference--Galveston, TX

Presented Paper about Fish Enrichment, a controversial topic at the time. Presented data on how active enrichment activities such as curtaining tanks, gating systems, addition of novelty items to toss around or tug at significantly reduced aggressive behavior between tankmates despite increased population size over time. Another paper presented discussed target training sharks which was fascinating! "I don't know why the shark's behavior of laying at the bottom of the tank changed, but they stopped laying on the bottom of the tank everyday when we implemented this program."

Inside the Rainforest Exhibit at Moody Gardens. I was 7 months pregnant at the time! The Rainforest Pyramid. Despite being all about fish, I had to go hang out with birds!

Moody Gardens. Sponsor of the RAW conference.

IAATE CONFERENCE February 2007, Tacoma WA

This conference was PACKED with tons of information about a wide variety of birds, not just parrots. Have you ever heard the phrase, "wise old owl"? Simply not true. Some of the highlights were: *Choosing the right candidate--how to select the best representative for the task at hand. WOW! *Designing a variety of shows to appeal to audiences. *Dr. Darryl Styles lecture about the current status of Avian Influenza. *Sid Price's lecture about removing the "constructs" like aggression and look at the behavior like hitting the glove hard and how to rethink the training process. *Andy Hall's Fundamentals of Applied Behavioral Analysis or ABA. *Going behind the scenes at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium! *Sharing ideas and techniques among collegues including great workshops! *The banquet!! Eat all you want!

Everyone who attended this year's conference. Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's view of Mt. Rainier. Sponsor of the 2007 IAATE conference. Training 101 workshop presented by Barbara. The Training Game--be trained without words!

APRIL 2007 Parrots International Conference. UCLA, CA

I have been very lucky to have attended so many great conferences.  Parrots International should be one everyone attends every year!  Their conference was packed with everything to know about conservation of wild parrots!  I will make  Parrots International a regular destination.   This year's theme was about Blue Macaws. So, hyancinths,lears, spix, blue throated macaws were the focus.    Many, many great speakers.  My favorites included: Dr. Yara Barros--her talks about the many efforts the Brazilian government is doing to support various parrot programs.  The most critical program being that of protecting the Lears Macaws due to damaging corn.  Dr. Donald Brightsmith--looking at the overall trends he has seen over the years of data at Tambopata Research Center which showed how extensive birds range over the course of a year. Dr. Susan Friedman--Her talk on behavior and how it can easily correlate with recovery efforts.  For example, she used the Lear Macaw problem and trying to identify what is causing the behavior to begin with and then how to substitute a more desirable behavior for them. Dr. Darryl Styles--a reiteration of what I learned about Avian Influenza at IAATE.  It was packed with even more detail on how the virus works, how it started, its current state. Dr. David Waugh--about the various efforts Loro Parque sponsors and then their facility!  WOW! I gave them a Parrot Pocket or two to try out!

Great lecture that tied in behavior with conservation by Susan Friedman! I just love her! It was great seeing Don again! I hadn't seen him since 2002! My roommates Hieidi and Diane Starnes(NPRPF).

2008 Houston Parrot Festival.  Houston, TX

The Houston Parrot Festival is sponsored by NPRPF--National Parrot Rescue and Preservation Foundation.   The best part about the festival were all of the great festivities surrounding a bunch of great speakers: Dr. Rebecca Fox--cockatiel "love" why personality matters! Dr. Ian Tizard--panelist about PDD.  Dr. Debra McDonald--about avian nutrition.  Especially a lot of insight about Vitamin A excess and deprivation in common foods. Barbara Heinreich--reinforcers and creating motivation.   Diane Starnes is the VP of NPRPF and was my roommate at Parrots International.   Some of the fun things:  an auction, a daily birdy raffle where I won a stained glass parrot, talking to all of the vendors and there were ALOT!

NPRPF knows how to decorate and party like a parrot! What a great idea to have any question asked by the audience to the complete panel of speakers. Hiedi from Gabriel Foundation was so much fun! Truly, I made a great friend! Smiles smiling at NPRPF We had nearly everyone who loves parrots in WA in TX at once! This was my last time I saw Smiles.

2009 Houston Parrot Festival.  Houston, TX

The Houston Parrot Festival is sponsored by NPRPF--National Parrot Rescue and Preservation Foundation.   It should be important to note that I plan on attending NPRPF and PI each year as I can.  These are both tremendously valuable conferences that go to good causes.   This year at NPRPF, the speaker selection was great!   STEVE MARTIN:  His video and lecture was so moving, he got a standing ovation.  He emphasized how we need to be as positive as possible with our interactions with parrots.  He paid particular detail on how minute an aversive stimulus can be and then how to avoid them.  How having a flighted parrot allows them to have even more choices. SID PRICE:  The definitions of the science of behavior and then applying the science to moral choices of training.  He included my question of 100% response in his lecture and was very interactive. BRIAN SPEER:  Wow!  I wish he would teach all vets how to think about the behavior of the animal as well as the clinical neccessities. He is a very personable person and discussed how he feels that even wing and nail trims are not the mundane procedures we perceive.   It is really special to meet up with the "Washingtonian Clan" and stay together.  There are a lot of Washingtonians represented at NPRPF each year.  Sue's friend, Peggy, brought out birds in the lobby for our bird fixes.

2009 AAZK/ICZ Conference.  Seattle, WA

I was privileged to speak at AAZK, the American Zookeepers Association, that was held in Seattle this year.  The topic was about Fish Enrichment  and it received great reviews.  I met people from ALL OVER the world! South Africa Netherlands Australia Ireland Canada Indonesia Philippines Japan To name a few... We attended great workshops like The Bushmeat Trade Enrichment Back the Basics in Training Robin Shewokis was also there and it was great seeing her again. We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Seattle Aquarium AND Woodland Park Zoo.   It was wonderful to meet fellows in the profession of keeping animals and  to help causes such as Polar Bear International (PBI) and SaveNature.org.   Keep up the great work!!