"Never make a parrot do anything it doesn’t want to do." No way, it’s "Never allow a parrot to be in control." But I’m sure I read, "Parrots are partners not subordinates." Well, I was taught, "Humans must establish superior rank over their parrots." He said, she said, they said, we said. Will the real parrot behavior experts please stand up? The parrot owning community is in quite a state of confusion about how to best interact with our companion parrots. With all the contrary advice and argumentation, it’s no wonder so many parrots fail to thrive in our homes while we tear our hair out searching for solutions to biting, screaming and remodeling. When push comes to shove, do we shove or do we empower our birds to choose? If we empower birds to choose do we face certain parrot anarchy? In the face of such disparate opinions, there is no better arbiter than science.

It’s not that science can be relied on to always provide the Truth. We’ve all been jerked and pulled by the capricious findings of science too many times to be so naïve. I mean, until they make up their minds about chocolate, coffee and red wine, count me in.

I mean, until they make up their minds about chocolate, coffee and red wine, count me in.

Scientists themselves concede that a fact is only a fact until it’s replaced by a better one. However, what science does offer, far better than common sense, conventional wisdom and other ways of knowing, is a process of self-correction over time that is achieved by two fundamental activities – public, peer-review and verification of findings across independent groups of researchers. Thus, although what is known today may indeed change tomorrow, it is the very best, most reliable information available at this moment.

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