ARN looking for facetime

[HSRivney]

Mine definitely recognize their cockatiel buddy on video calls and voices of people they know.

@HSRivney I'm hoping to get a hand me down old iPhone to see if Cotton would be interested I bet he will!

I also took really really slow steps toward interacting, and now a little over one year Cotton will take treats from my fingers, and stays pretty calm when I approach him. He is still VERY anxious about being touched or "caught" so vet visits tend to undo progress, but I'm a bit ahead this year compared to last, so over time I think we'll keep moving forward.

I haven’t found Ringo a FaceTime buddy, but he is getting board with his video playlists. I changed them up and it reanimated him. I think he’d enjoy visiting Cotton so let me know!
Thanks for sharing your progress. It’s been almost a year here. He will touch the treat in my hand but won’t take it. If I leave the treat on the platform with his iPad running Ringneck videos then he will sit there with his ‘friends’ and eat it in front of me.
Been using a tail feather as a ‘target’ but he prefers the treat. He’s molting so I’ve backed off a bit to lower his stress.
Been busy with a sparrow orphan, sorry to be AWOL.
🦜

 

[HSRivney]

How would a parrot know the difference between watching an up close video of an interesting bird vocalizing and doing a face-time with another bird? The face-timers won't actually have a two way conversation, will they?

Actually, they do. So they probably need to be the same species to understand each other's body language and vocalizations.

 

[Zazu4234]

Taking a stab here. I rescued an emotionally neglected male ARN last year. He doesn't talk, step up, take food from your hand, eat when anyone is within 5 feet of his cage. This is AFTER I've been working with him for 10 months. I've changed his diet, allow him to fly the house once or twice a week, he gets fruit and Roudybush. He loves his mirrors, so I put an iPad in his cage and set it to YouTube playlists of other ringnecks. He LOVES the babies and snuggles up to them, sings to them, taps the iPad all the time. He's figured out how to keep tapping it to get to the video on the list that is his favorite(s).

I recently heard of an experiment where humans trained birds to ring a bell when they want to video chat with another bird, and they are pretty good at face timing! If anyone has a lonely, or not lonely, African Ring Neck, who could face time with mine for a bit a couple times a week, perhaps our birds could become friends? The most I can get him to do is not bite me when I work the iPad inside his cage, and touch (only touch) a fruit treat before he jumps to the back of his cage and waits for me to put it in the bowl. I'm told this is a big improvement from where he was. It's just sad! I know he's lonely and needs company, but he doesn't want it from me.

Anyone who might want to try this? Here he is with the iPad in his cage. View attachment 51258

I have a 4 month old indian ringneck and hes pretty lonely as well and he doesnt have fun in-front of a mirror but lovessss when he hears other birds. My bird would love to facetime with your bird. We should set up a play date!