Teaching colors to a conure

[anaximander]

Greetings!

I've been trying to teach colors to my GCC. I put out 2-3 different colored balls and say the name of a color, like "blue." He gets a treat if he brings me the blue ball, but not if he brings me the red one. We've been at this for a while with minimal progress. To be fair, he has learned to pick up very subtle cues that I'm happy or unhappy with the ball that he's selected, but I don't think he's getting the part about the word "blue" corresponding to a ball of that color.

He is already very talented at color matching (putting a colored ring on the matching peg). He is also good with verbal commands--for instance, he will "turn around" when given only the verbal cue.

So I'm curious--is learning color names a thing that birds can do? Or am I asking too much of the little guy?

 

[onamom]

Greetings!

I've been trying to teach colors to my GCC. I put out 2-3 different colored balls and say the name of a color, like "blue." He gets a treat if he brings me the blue ball, but not if he brings me the red one. We've been at this for a while with minimal progress. To be fair, he has learned to pick up very subtle cues that I'm happy or unhappy with the ball that he's selected, but I don't think he's getting the part about the word "blue" corresponding to a ball of that color.

He is already very talented at color matching (putting a colored ring on the matching peg). He is also good with verbal commands--for instance, he will "turn around" when given only the verbal cue.

So I'm curious--is learning color names a thing that birds can do? Or am I asking too much of the little guy?

Yes, I taught my GCC Ona colors just like this! She knows blue, green, red, purple. I haven’t had a chance to write this up on my training thread yet, but here is what I did and my advice:

Reducing the amount of steps you are asking will help get to learning the colors faster - so you can take out the step of brining the ball to you to start.

Instead of asking your bird to bring the colored object to you, hold it up in front of him and have him touch it. Start with just one color only. Hold up the object in front of him and say the color’s name very slowly and enunciated. If he touches the object with his beak, reward and say “yes, (color name here)”. Keep repeating this until he touches the colored object when you hold it up and say the color. Make sure to use the same colored object at this step and don’t try introducing a new object of the same color just yet.

Now, repeat the above with a second color and you will find he catches on more quickly this time around.

Once you’ve taught two colors, hold both up side by side and tell him to “touch (color name here)”. Reward when he touches the correct one. After he gets it correct several times you will want to mix up which hand you hold which color with so he isn’t just picking the same hand each time.

Don’t expect him to get it 100% correct every time - it’s all part of the learning process. Some days he may get it mostly wrong but just keep being patient and practicing. This is how he will learn and mistakes are ok. Over time he will pick up on the verbal cue to go with the color and from there you can start introducing new colors and trying colors on new objects!

Here is Ona demonstrating:

 

[anaximander]

Yes, I taught my GCC Ona colors just like this! She knows blue, green, red, purple. I haven’t had a chance to write this up on my training thread yet, but here is what I did and my advice:

Reducing the amount of steps you are asking will help get to learning the colors faster - so you can take out the step of brining the ball to you to start.

Instead of asking your bird to bring the colored object to you, hold it up in front of him and have him touch it. Start with just one color only. Hold up the object in front of him and say the color’s name very slowly and enunciated. If he touches the object with his beak, reward and say “yes, (color name here)”. Keep repeating this until he touches the colored object when you hold it up and say the color. Make sure to use the same colored object at this step and don’t try introducing a new object of the same color just yet.

Now, repeat the above with a second color and you will find he catches on more quickly this time around.

Once you’ve taught two colors, hold both up side by side and tell him to “touch (color name here)”. Reward when he touches the correct one. After he gets it correct several times you will want to mix up which hand you hold which color with so he isn’t just picking the same hand each time.

Don’t expect him to get it 100% correct every time - it’s all part of the learning process. Some days he may get it mostly wrong but just keep being patient and practicing. This is how he will learn and mistakes are ok. Over time he will pick up on the verbal cue to go with the color and from there you can start introducing new colors and trying colors on new objects!

Here is Ona demonstrating:

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your advice!

 

[wrench13]

Colors are tough on parrots, as they do not see color the same way we do, they have extra rods in their eyes, so a yellow block is like super bright to them etc. Salty knows his colors wbut will often mess with me when we do color training. Some nites its 100% right, some he just purposely puts the color on the wrong place. over and over again! PFFFttt - training parrots .