How to Teach Ring Toss

What have the birdies been learning? Parrot Ring Toss!

A game where the bird just needs to put a ring over the peg. It's a simple concept but can be somewhat tricky to teach, especially if they aren't adroit with fine eye beak coordination.

Initially, my parrots had trouble gauging how to place the solid wood rings over the peg because the wood rings fit over the pegs tightly with little margin for error. 

So I started with a larger size ring. That's the key to teaching this trick. My parrots had to learn that they needed to place the ring over the stick, not simply drop the ring in the general area. By using a larger ring, my parrots had a better chance of actually tossing the ring over the peg and getting a reward. Watch Chaucer learning the trick with a large stainless steel ring below.

At the moment, Chaucer is still working on tossing the large ring on the peg. I'm slowly transitioning him to a smaller ring. Mr. Bubbles (no surprise) has learned how to use the small wooden rings. Watch his progression below.

Once he's mastered the ring toss completely, I'm going to teach him colors! More news on that later.