A Free behavior science Resource for you and your parrots
ABOUT TALONS TO TAIL FEATHERS
Emily, the curator
behind TalonsToTailFeathers.
I’ve thrown myself into the study of parrot behavior and training for as long as I can remember. Over the last twelve years, I’ve struggled as a parrot owner with the information available online. In my pursuit of more solid and reliable parrot care, briefly working in the zoo industry, and training to be a parrot behavior consultant-
I gathered amazing behavior science from many individuals along the way. What I've learnt radically reshapes how we approach living with parrots in captivity. My priority is making this knowledge accessible to others, and as healing for you and your birds as it has been for me and mine.
Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive Training
I’m passionately dedicated to redefining how we live with parrots by understanding their behavior through the lenses of biology, trust-based training, and true species needs.
Using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive training (LIMA), we can create practical strategies to help companion parrots overcome behavior challenges in our homes.
Marceline of TalonsToTailFeathers doing a flighted demo for a college zoology lecture
My mission is steadfastly committed to advancing positive parrot care and behavior solutions. I’ve created this resource as a gift to parrot owners and their feathered family members, hoping to change one person’s life and one parrot’s life at a time.
Marlow of TalonsToTailFeathers performing a voluntary nail trim
Along my journey, I’ve learned from experienced parrot behavior professionals, avian nutrition educators, and animal training teams. Collective wisdom, experience, and research from them all shapes how I approach training, problem-solving, and the day-to-day realities of life with companion parrots. This resource exists not only to help struggling parrot owners fix behavior problems in their homes, but to help guide parrots into having better lives in the homes that they dwell in, starting with how humans can guide behavior into acceptable outlets.
Why?
Now more than ever, sanctuaries and rescues are overflowing with parrots. Many of them surrendered not because their families stopped loving them, but because those families never had the tools to navigate the most common behavior challenges of captive parrots. A bird begins to bite, scream, pluck, or cavity seek, and the household feels lost. Social media echoes that if they can’t handle it they never should have gotten a bird in the first place.
With no clear path forward, many families make the heartbreaking decision to surrender a bird they deeply cared for, hoping they get what they need somewhere else.
When we have a resource readily available for bird owners to learn and apply practical, science-based behavior modification strategies- more people develop the skills to understand their bird’s needs and address the behaviors that so often lead to surrender. Parrots deserve to stay with their flock—their people, their routines, their social group. Even when things get hard.
We all face difficult seasons, and our parrots live them with us.
That doesn’t mean that you have to give them up—they can grow and adapt alongside you.
Relationships have good seasons and bad seasons- it doesn’t make you unqualified to be the best caretaker for your parrot. Keep troubleshooting- and keep learning! For them.
Trusted Resources & Bird Must-Haves
Find all of the products and resources I recommend, from research papers to unique cutting edge foraging ideas – I’ve compiled them all for you.