IN AN EGGSHELL, Bell Plastics' bird toys are feather flappers. They have great parrot and people appeal - they’re fun for parrots to use and entertaining for people to watch their parrots use. Their smooth acrylic designs in popsicle colors look good enough to eat - and while not chewable, they lick like lollipops for birds who enjoy exploring with their tongues.

These toys, at least the largest ones, aren't cheap - they're for privileged parrots whose people drive Mercedes and Jaguars and live in Greenwich or River Oaks. (Liz Taylor's Amazon probably has a whole room full of Bell toys.) But when you consider size and features, they're priced competitively. They're sturdy and strong, easy to wash, and in almost every case here they sparked interest and exploration. So save your pennies and plan on splurging on one or two.

Bell Plastics sells dozens of acrylic bird toys and accessories (and a few standard rope and wooden toys). We took the following four, all acrylic, for a spin: a maze, an "activity center" with gears and dangling chains, a ladder, and a looping corkscrew perch with movable acrylic shapes appropriately called the rollercoaster.

Parrot-style slot machine
Lady Jane Grey, a particularly prissy African grey parrot, and often a royal pain, was shocked when she first saw the maze, a circular puzzle with colored partitions. She was equally horrified when I attached the rollercoaster to her cage. She devoted a day to careful study. And slept on her observations that night.

Peanuts were fun to wrestle out of the maze.

First thing the next morning, Lady Jane attacked the maze with a zealousness that was frightening to behold. First, she twisted and tugged at the nut and bolt holding it on the cage bars. Then she slammed the whole puzzle up and down on the bars. That completed, she attacked it from the top. She shook the entire contraption furiously until a peanut rolled into position under the opening and she snatched it triumphantly. Now she got it: Move the dial with your beak until the nut comes into position under the opening! She was delighted with this parrot-style Vegas slot machine because I kept putting in peanuts and she kept winning.

The rollercoaster perch was next on the grey's to-do list. She climbed it confidently, like a sailor going aloft, bashing the color shapes on her way up. She climbed down. Finally she settled on positioning herself on the top rung like a Titanic watch in the crow’s nest. This kept her entertained for quite a while. She returned to play with it everyday.

A hit: The rollercoaster.

Riding the rollercoaster
When it was time for Lady Jane to exchange toys with Bertie Marie Caroline, her blue-front Amazon step-sister, all hell broke loose. When I showed Lady Jane the new toy she was getting in exchange - the activity center - she just banged the bell in her cage harder, if that’s possible. She was so distraught over losing the maze, I couldn’t take it away. Bertie doesn’t like peanuts anyway so I decided Lady Jane could keep the maze. For now.

Lady Jane was not gracious about giving up the rollercoaster, either. But I managed to wrench it out of her beak and attach it to the inside of Bertie’s door.

Bertie took me totally by surprise. She slid down my arm like a fireman down a pole and attached herself to the fascinating new perch, climbing in and out of its rungs and pinching my fingers that were in her way. (She never bites.) She chortled and cooed as she climbed in and out. And wasn’t a bit self-conscious about her silliness.

I had to remove her from the rollercoaster so I could finish screwing in the nuts and bolts. She protested with eardrum-destroying squawking until I allowed her to return. She played with it contentedly for quite a while.

Then it was time to waddle down her new candy-colored acrylic suspension bridge-ladder to sit on top of the cage belonging to Watson, my white-headed pionus with limited vision. I had attached the ladder between the two cages and it came in handy to run back and forth across. Especially when Bertie had teased Watson and he was in hot pursuit.

The acrylic ladder is nicely flexible.

Lady Jane eyed the suspension ladder, but its rungs are a little too far apart for her African grey stride. She was happy to have her puzzle and demanded that the corkscrew perch be returned immediately.

Before I swapped it into Lady Jane's cage, Bertie had Bell's fruit-colored acrylic activity center featuring gears, knobs, levers and a lightweight pink plastic chain for a week. I was concerned she might snap the pink chain, but she didn’t even try. (I would substitute the chain with an acrylic one that would fit in better with the rest of the structure and could be yanked and bashed and pulled and pushed without consequence.)

I was surprised that Bertie didn’t experiment with the gears and levers and knobs on the activity center, but she may have when I wasn’t looking. She was distracted by the ladder, and she's a bit of a diva. I’m certain if she hasn’t tried the activity center in secret, she will eventually.

When I installed the activity center in Lady Jane's cage, she eyed it suspiciously and then just as a matter of principle pretended she wasn’t impressed. At this writing, several weeks after I installed it, she still had not warmed to it.

Durability means longevity
Watson the pionus observed the goings-on with great interest but did not participate. Pionuses are notorious for not playing with toys in front of people. Watson is no exception. You’d have to set up a secret video camera to catch him in the act. A few times he snapped at Lady Jane when she tried to waltz through his territory unnoticed to see whether she could get her claws back on the rollercoaster, now in Bertie’s house.

The activity center has not inspired activity - so far.

The ladder's rungs were too far apart for Watson, too, but that didn’t stop him from giving it a bite or two just to show it who was in charge. As soon as I can convince Lady Jane to share her peanut puzzle, I’ll let Watson have a go at it. Only I’ll fill it with walnuts, his favorite treat.

Overall, the parrots were pleased with Bell Plastics' toys. And so was I. The toys are so durable, at least with mid-size birds like mine, I doubt the issue of do-it-yourself repair (not possible unless you work in acrylic) will ever arise, and with the exception of the activity center, they held my birds' interest. My only serious complaint is that now I'll have to buy another maze and rollercoaster to stop the mayhem.

Bell Plastics bird toys, still relatively new on the market, are available in some pet stores. Prices quoted are approximate retail. For the widest selection, order a catalog by calling (800) 235-8265. At our deadline, Bell was still setting up its online store.

Dana Wilson is a freelance writer and film producer who worships the ground Bertie, Lady Jane and Watson walk on and the air they fly in.

ParrotChronicles.com

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