How To Teach A Parrot To Wave

The way I recommend teaching a bird to wave is through capturing natural behaviours. In simplest terms, you click when your bird is doing something you like and want to see more of.

When a bird goes to scratch their head and they lift their foot to their head click and give them a treat, do this as often as you see them do it. When it gets to the point where the bird is begging you want to start giving them a cue, for my budgie I would bend my pointer finger up and down and say “wave”. Do this while they are begging click and reward. Eventually, you only reward when you ask for the wave.

Training through capturing is the only way you can train your bird all day, as it isn’t you trying to teach them something you are just trying to get a natural behaviour on cue. When teaching capturing it is very handy to have clickers scattered all over your house in places your bird may be out with you.