For many bird keepers, tame birds are the ultimate pleasure. Imagine having a Gouldian finch land on your finger, a pet canary take food from your hand or a society finch snuggle near your collar. With sympathy, knowledge and patience, you can tame most small birds and enjoy a unique relationship with them.

Communicating Verbally and Visually

The ability to tame small birds depends on being able to communicate with them, because they must understand that you are not a threat before they will trust you. To accomplish that, you have to communicate your intentions through voice, behavior and appearance.

Birds rely on sounds for survival. They become accustomed to certain sounds that they learn are safe, while unfamiliar sounds trigger alertness, caution and fear. Since predators approach silently before lunging at their prey, birds fear sudden noises and movements, so it should be clear that birds appreciate hearing you approach from a distance. As you approach, make the same sounds each time. It doesn't matter if you talk, whistle or jingle your keys, as long as the sounds are consistent each time you visit.

When birds communicate with each other, they use tone of voice and loudness to clarify meaning. Drawing on this, you should talk to your birds in a soft, reassuring voice and avoid sudden, loud noises. Your behavior is also an important part of communicating with small birds. Use actions and body language to communicate nonthreatening intentions. Move slowly. Since small birds are most comfortable if they can perch approximately at your eye level, be sure cages are put on stands. Avoid working above your birds' cage, since this makes them uncomfortable.

Spend time sitting quietly with your birds and allow them to become accustomed to you. Initially, they may hop to a top perch, sit silently and try to hide, but soon they will accept sharing the room with you.

As the birds become accustomed to you and become more trusting, they will begin acting normally - hopping from perch to perch, eating, bathing and interacting with their companions. My blue-capped waxbills and red-cheeked cordon bleus have responded to this very well, and just by spending quiet time with them, these birds became trusting enough to solicit treats when I enter the room.

Your birds would probably like you to look exactly the same each day. Wearing the same suit of feathers daily, birds have no reason to understand significant changes in clothing or hair style. In some cases, birds even learn to identify people primarily by the clothes they wear. Considering this, some bird keepers wear the same shirt every time they visit their birds. While this is not necessary, you should avoid outfits that seem to disturb your birds. For instance, I do not wear bright red sweaters, which sometimes upset my red finches. I also avoid wearing hats, which most of my birds object to.

Taming Techniques

It is fairly easy to build a relationship with small birds if the birds receive daily liberty, which encourages them to trust you by interacting peacefully with you in your space. Ideally, you should release birds at about the same time each day and teach them to return to their cage or flight on their own. Most small birds learn this quickly and seem to look forward to their daily outings. Pet canaries, in particular, hop to the cage front and call when they hear their caretakers approach.

Before giving liberty, finches must feel completely at home in their cage or flight, so be sure they have lived in their present enclosure for a few weeks before letting them out. If you release birds before they are accustomed to their quarters, they may not even try to return, because they may not consider their cage or flight as home. Most importantly, be sure that the environment is completely safe for small birds before giving your pets freedom.

While you prepare for your birds to have liberty, spend time each day talking softly to them and watching them to learn their favorite treats. You will also want to observe how your birds convey intentions through their body language, because this will help you during taming sessions.

When everything is ready, open your birds' cage door and run a long perch from the back wall of the cage, through the open door and into the room. Be sure the perch is secure and that it extends 8 to 10 inches into the room, because finches often want to hop out on the perch to see if the room is safe before they leave their cage. This perch must be highly visible, because it will also be used for landing.

While the birds are checking out the open door, wait quietly on the other side of the room. Allow your birds to come out on their own. If your birds fail to come out after 30 minutes, or if they seem very nervous with the door open, close the door and try again the next day. Usually, finches are much more eager to come out on the second try. After the birds have come out of their cage to fly around once, they are much more confident and able navigators on the second outing.

When the birds leave their cage, they need at least one inviting place to land, such as another cage with a visible landing perch, a small tree or a small T-stand. If no landing spots exist, finches may end up with their beaks pressed against the wall as they cling to picture frames. Your birds' landing area can contain a treat cup or a bath, but keep the main food cups in the birds' cage, so they are encouraged to go back to eat and drink. Place papers under the landing area to make cleanup easy.

While your birds are at liberty, talk softly to them from time to time, and offer them occasional treats, but save their favorite treat for their cage. When it is time for your birds to go home, place a special treat inside their cage in a highly visible spot. Millet spray, seedling heads, live food or greens are good lures to encourage small birds to return to their cage.

Your birds should learn to return to the cage on their own, although you may have to net them in the beginning. Quickly, they should learn that they have to go home to avoid being netted. When you need to catch the birds, reduce the light in the room until you can see, but your birds cannot, then scoop them up in a net and place each one on the floor of their cage. Avoid grabbing them with your hands unless it is necessary.

In a few cases, birds repeatedly refuse to go home willingly. If that happens, examine their cage, because birds rarely want to return to an uncomfortable cage. Even tame canaries are unwilling to hop into cages that do not look safe, secure and roomy.

With practice, finches can learn to respond to a few simple commands. Although finches are rarely as compliant or as easily trained as the family dog, they can be taught to associate words or phrases with actions. For example, you can teach small birds to come When called. With consistent reinforcement, my canaries learned to come when I call them. My button quail also learned to come when I repeated his name ("Tumip, Turnip, Turnip") and wiggled his live food cup. This was very easy to accomplish, since button quail use a special call to entice mates or offspring to come and accept food that has just been found.

Although it is more difficult, you may be able to teach your birds to go home on command. I have had fairly good results teaching some of my finches, especially my Peters' twinspots, to return to their cage when I tell them to, "Go home."

To begin, attract your birds' attention by giving a simple command, calling a bird's name or, if needed, snapping your fingers. (I use finger snapping when it is difficult for a bird to hear me, or when a bird ignores me because it does not want to go home.)

Once you have your birds' attention, repeat a simple command, such as "Go home" or "Home," while moving your eyes deliberately from the birds to their cage. Then, move your head and point your finger back and forth from the birds to the cage. Initially, your bird may not understand finger pointing, so you also have to point with your eyes. This is a kind of sign language many finches learn to understand.

Start with the birds between you and the cage, so they have a direct path to their destination. If needed, walk very slowly toward your birds to encourage them to fly to the cage. When they return home, close the door, speak to them softly and let them settle down to eat their favorite treat.

Teaching birds to return to their cage on command requires patience. Remain gentle with your birds, no matter how much they tax your patience, and they will! I have read about a tame canary that hides under the couch when it doesn't want to go in its cage, and when my Peters' twinspots are not in the mood to go home, they slowly hop a few steps, rather than flying home quickly. After each set of steps, the birds stop and see if I am really serious about sending them home.

Once your birds have learned the routine and are used to spending time with you, consider training them to land on a stick. Approach a bird slowly and gently, speaking in a soft voice. Place the end of a long stick near its belly and push gently, forcing the bird to hop up. If the bird hops onto the stick, stand still and speak reassuringly, using a very soft voice. At first, the bird may not stay on the stick for long, but with repeated efforts, many finches learn to accept a stick and will allow you to carry them to their cages on it. Once you achieve that, you may want to shorten the length of the stick and eventually use your finger instead.

Be patient when stick or finger taming small birds. Taming is stressful, so work in short sessions daily (perhaps 5 to 10 minutes each), and make three to four attempts to stick or finger tame in each session. Do not push your birds, or they will feel harassed, which will reduce your chances of success. With patience and gentleness, though, finch keepers have had success stick or finger taming a variety of finches, including green singing finches, Goulds, zebras, societies, cutthroats, Java rice birds and canaries.

It is easier to teach small birds to take food from your hand. Extend a clearly visible treat from between your fingers. (After the birds accept treats from your fingers, you can try putting the treats in the palm of your hand.) It is fairly easy to build a relationship with small birds if the birds receive daily liberty, which encourages them to trust you by interacting peacefully with you in your space.

Approach one of your birds quietly and patiently. Slowly move your hand closer to the bird, stopping when you think you have approached as close to the bird as you can. Be patient and let the bird come to you - do not appear to chase the bird. Talk softly to the bird and wait. At first, your bird will probably reject the treat. Eventually, though, it will be tempted, and this bird's example will probably encourage other finches to approach the treats.

Once you achieve taming success, you must be consistent and continually reinforce what your birds have learned. After your birds begin eating from your hand, continue feeding them from your hand to reinforce this behavior. Follow a regular routine, keep up the training and continue spending time just visiting with your birds.

Captive-bred birds are usually more willing to accept human companionship than wild-caught finches, which rarely become tame and trusting. When buying domestically bred birds, be sure to acquire young birds, which will be the best training subjects.

For bird keepers who want to begin taming small birds, canaries are the clear choice. Thoroughly domesticated and accustomed to captivity, canaries are trusting, steady birds that make wonderful pets. Although males are often chosen for their song, both males and females can become tame members of the family.

Moonbeam, my first canary, learned to come when she was called, to go home at bedtime and to take food from my fingers. In fact, most of the canaries I have kept have received liberty and learned to return to their cages each night on their own. Once accustomed to this luxury, my canaries began greeting me each day with chirps that reminded me that it was my job to open their cage doors. Clearly, canaries quickly learn to communicate with people. When this occurs, all the work of taming is worthwhile: We become more than just owners or custodians; rather, we begin to share in our birds' lives.