HOW IT ALL STARTED

ABOUT STEPHANIE

Stephanie’s enthusiasm for parrots began when her parents brought home Coco the cockatiel when she was 5 years old. Inspired by Coco, Stephanie became immensely interested in subjects ranging from paleontology to wildlife biology and zoology. Over the years, Stephanie’s scientific interests grew to include chemistry, and in 2016, she acquired her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University. Motivated by a curiosity for discovery, Stephanie went on to obtain her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University. During this time, Stephanie’s passion for companion parrots developed into one for avian nutrition and behavior science. Stephanie’s Ph.D. afforded her with critical thinking and research skills which she applies to parrot training. She promotes evidence-based training methods that are rooted in an understanding of parrot behavior and the factors that influence it. Stephanie utilizes a science-based approach to parrot training, enabling utilization of methods beyond pure positive reinforcement to effectively manage behavior.

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WHY SHOULD YOU TRAIN YOUR PARROT?

In training our parrots, we are developing a mutually understood form of communication that can be used to build trust and respect between ourselves and our parrots. The more we train, the more tools we are adding to our toolbox that can be used to address behavioral problems or even prevent them from arising in the first place. Through training, we will also be able to approach situations that would normally induce a stress, fear, or aggressive response from our parrots with a calm and confident attitude.