GREY FISHER
How to convert parrot to a water bottle
 My 16-year-old blue-and-gold macaw messes up his open water bowl regularly with food and droppings, so recently I attempted to provide him with a water bottle. After two days I wasn't sure he was taking water and gave him his water bowl back and he drank like he hadn't had water for days. Are there any tricks to converting him?
-- Clark McCoy, Pleasanton, Calif.
 GOOD QUESTION! Poopy food bowls are every bird owner's nemesis. They are breeding grounds for bacteria, not to mention they're downright stinky sometimes! I have also known many birds who love nothing more than to make "soup". Some birds in our company take their pellets out of their food bowl and dunk them in the water bowl before they eat them, making me wonder if raccoons raised them!
If your bird's dirty bowls are getting you down, a water bottle is a great idea. You'll have to clean the bottle, too - disinfecting it at least once a week is ideal - but probably not nearly as often as you are cleaning the bowls.
It can be pretty simple to train a bird to use a bottle, actually. If he isn't afraid of the bottle, try the following. Touch the bottle to his beak and praise him. Quickly follow this with a reward. A seed, small nut piece, or a scratch on the head should do the trick. Do this several times until he connects the act of touching the bottle tip with getting the reward. Before you know it he'll be doing it all on his own. (Fortunately for you, macaws like to explore things with their beaks anyway.)
Hang the water bottle directly over your bird's water bowl. He should now know that touching the bottle gets him something good so when he sees it hanging there he'll be likely to go give it a try. However, if he's still shaky on the concept, try putting a dab of a peanut butter (unsalted, of course) on the tip of the bottle. As he is licking off that treat, he'll discover that water also appears there!
Reduce the water in the bowl but don't remove the bowl until you are sure he is drinking from the bottle. Even then, give him his bowl once in a while; a little soup never hurt anyone!
Grey Fisher is a trainer at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. Previously he was a trainer with Natural Encounters, Inc., a world-renowned organization that helps zoos all over the world train birds and many other types of animals using positive reinforcement.
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