 My name is Marlene McCohen. This is Picasso, my mustache parakeet. I also have in this room Jersey, my umbrella cockatoo, who you can't see because she hates to be on camera. It's the weirdest thing. But if you enjoy, I'm going to introduce you. Just give me a second. But if you enjoy videos of crazy cockatoos throwing tantrums, dancing and singing, then you will see a lot of Jersey in my parrot video of the day. So check those out if you haven't checked out that playlist. I also have Vinny in here. I don't know why Vinny is mad at me for not introducing him because if you hear that crunching behind me, that is Vinny chewing up a box. And I also have my little dog Sandy in here today. So as you guys know, you never know who's going to make an appearance in the video. I had only planned on having Picasso in the video because I am in my new YouTube studio. Now, this is not what it's going to look like. This is just I went shopping and bought a bunch of stuff at home goods. I thought that like I would already start trying to use the room even though it's not set up yet. So I kind of just surrounded myself with a bunch of pillows and two ends. Like I'm not trying to be like having ends all over the place, but it's just worked out that way. And if you're wondering about all the pink, I thought that I would design my new YouTube studio with colors inspired by none other than my little Picasso who like right now would be a great time to show you Picasso up close. So you could see how the color scheme matches, but Picasso has decided right now to leave this video. So now all the birds are in a different spot because so do you mind showing them how beautiful and pink you are? Vinny just left Vinny. Come back. I had invited you into this video. Honestly, I tell you guys this all the time. I was so planning on sitting here and being like, guys, our community goals for 2018. Preparing, speaking and delivering. But instead, I'm dealing with this kind of stuff like two minutes into the video. Do you mind? Like where did you even find the cinnamon bun? Really? Oh, it's granola. Now, if I haven't already, I want to welcome you. This was not a good idea. It's a parent tip Tuesday. Okay? Is that fine? I am so excited today. Have you guys seen this artwork? There are two artists that I want to highlight right now because you know what? I think we need to start supporting local artists and I'm really, really pleased with their fan art. I've gotten so much great fan art recently as this channel is growing. I want to give some shoutouts to these artists and I want you to go follow their stuff. The first artist is Linz and she made this amazing, amazing jersey with a donut. It's like perfect. It totally embodies jersey. I love this picture. It's crazy. But what's even more exciting for those of you who follow me on you now and if you don't follow me on you now, you have to download the app and follow me because I'm able to guest you guys on the show. It's the craziest thing. I had no idea how fun this was until I started doing it. So I can literally have you guys and my birds on the show. So download you now because I'm going to be going live there often. Vinny likes it. But when we were on you now, we were talking about product and now I have the cutest merch ever. You are never going to find cuter merch than this. I mean, this is just the beginning, but you guys were asking about phone cases and totes and clocks and pillows and I have it now. So I put the link below. You have to check it out. Jersey with a donut plus the Stivers Anonymous. So check it out. I put some beautiful colors in there and I designed it all myself. Of course, the artwork is done by Linz and I'm going to put her link right here on Instagram for you to follow Linz and below I will put her Facebook as well. So go there and give her a shout out and let her know how amazing you think she did and there will be absolutely more to come. The next artist that I want to draw attention to is TV Furry. That's the Instagram account. TV Furry has been making the most amazing drawings and I don't know how, but knocking them out. There's already one of every single Burr and me, which, look, how cute is this stuff? Guys, this stuff is amazing. If you make any fan art and I haven't noticed it, please hashtag my name Marlene McCown because in the notifications go by so fast that sometimes I just don't see it. In light of the new year, I thought it would be a really good idea to start off 2018 talking about something very important. Something that you may have heard me talk about before and something that I will always talk about again, but this year I think it's going to be a really big year for this channel and I think it's going to be a really big year for us as a community to make changes. So for today's Parent Tip Tuesday, I want to welcome you to six ways to save a parrot's soul. I want you guys to become parrot heroes and I want you guys to help others become parrot heroes. Okay. Hashtag parrot heroes. And that's just one of the many hashtags that we are going to talk about today because together we are going to change the lives of birds. So let's start off this year making our goal in the year of 2018 to bring awareness to the lives of parrots, to those little souls that are all caged up and nobody to save them. We need to make a stand for these birds that are in cages and what I'm telling you is very important. Now for those of you, Vinnie agrees. For those of you that have birds of your own and little parrot companions, you know how amazing our birds are, but those of us who do have birds know that birds are not pets, they are companions. So that's why we need to bring awareness right here, right now, right here, we're going to do it. That's what you're saying, right? Yes, right? Right here, me and Vinnie are going to do it. Vinnie, you're doing so good by the way on my shoulder, even with the dog staring at you. For those of you watching my channel that don't have a bird and just love watching bird videos, let me tell you parrots are amazing. They're brilliant companions to have. And by the way, you can have them for the majority of your life. As great as that sounds, it can be a really, really big problem for parrots. We have a huge problem in this world with no awareness for the lives of birds in cages. I don't mean my birds that sleep in their cage at night or hang out in their cages when I leave. I'm talking about your friends and your family members and people that you know that you've been over their house and seen a bird in a cage that these people don't know what to do with them. People that got birds and they leave them in cages because the bird doesn't want to come out or they say the bird bites. A lot of people are horribly mistaken about how to treat birds. Sometimes people even think that they might want to get a bird because it would be a low maintenance pet for them and that couldn't be farther from the truth. My dog is low maintenance compared to every single bird that I have in this house. My dog is just sitting here chilling. Birds require a different kind of patience and interaction. Basically, if you don't want a two year old or you're not ready to have children, you're probably not ready to have a bird. I mean, look at it. This guy is talking and interacting with me right now. You have to interact back with a bird and you have to engage with a bird, which brings me to our second hashtag, engage, not cage. And I'm going to tell you exactly what we together are going to do with these things. We have to start making changes for all of those birds that were got on a whim, those birds that are locked in cages, those birds that their owners don't know what to do with them because they're quite frankly, not educated enough about them to know how to tame them and interact with them. I think in the most recent years, human beings have had so much awareness. There's so many people becoming vegan. There's so many people raising awareness for animals that don't have a voice. People are really trying to change and make this world a better place. However, I feel like birds are kind of forgotten in this area, not because there aren't people to adopt birds and take care of birds, but because I think a lot of people feel like, oh, there's a bird in a cage, and that's what is normal. And it's not normal. These are flighted little babies that shouldn't be in our houses to begin with. But since they are, we have got to give them the best, most freest life possible. That's true, he just said. Vinny is a genius. How would I have known that if I didn't rescue him? I would have never known. So this brings us to six ways that you can help save a parrot's soul today. Number one, get your parrot out of the cage. For you guys that watch my videos regularly, I'm sure you all have your parrots out of the cage you're interacting and you're here because that's what you want to do. And I just want to thank you guys because just knowing that so many of you watch my channel makes me realize how so many of you care about your birds. And I just want to point out one thing. As crazy as I thought my birds were going to be today, maybe I spoke too soon, Picasso and Jersey are sitting right there, not moving. It's like they just want this to be very serious and they just want me to get this word out. Also Vinny, he's not saying much of anything today and he's just staying on my shoulder. So take it from my birds who are listening very clearly today. This is a very important message. Oh my God, you are such a genius. Let's go, we're doing it. We're doing it. Thank you so much Vinny for that help. So what do I mean by get your parrots out of their cages? Of course, I don't mean let your bird fly free. I just mean you want to give your bird the best life that you possibly can within your house. So if you're sitting down having coffee right now, watching this video, be aware, where is my bird? Could he be sitting with me? Could he be on a play stand even if he doesn't like me so much? That's okay. It's okay for your bird to not like you. Sometimes Rocky is aggressive with me and you know what I say? I say you know what? I love you anyway. And that's how you have to be with your bird. No matter what, I will still include him in every single thing that I do. I will still bring him out. Vinny might even bite me sometimes and that doesn't matter. I'll still include my bird in everything that I can. You don't have to have the most kissy cuddly bird to make sure that he is outside of the cage living the best life that he can, which brings me to the second way to save a parrot soul. Share this video, not because I want you to share my content, but because I want you to help me bring awareness to these parrot souls that are caged. Nobody is saying it. Nobody is realizing that there is a problem that starts within our own homes. We all want to save the rain for us, but we have to save the birds that we do have in our house. And then we can move on to bigger and better things for our parrots and the parrots of the world. Not sure, but I think he's saying something good. So if you have a friend or a family member with a soul in a cage, please share this video. Share this. Vinny says share it. Share it because Vinny has a good life due to the fact that he's able to be out right now. Otherwise, right? Previous. So just keep that in mind. Not just with people that have birds, but with people that don't because there are voices in this world that are willing to speak up. And those are the kinds of people that I want to see this video and understand exactly what is going on in this world, which brings me to the third way that you can help save a parrot soul. And that is educate, educate, educate, remember a well thought out and well spoken point will go so much farther than attacking somebody who doesn't know. That's why I created parrot station because I realized pretty quickly that there is so much of a need for help with birds. And I can't possibly answer all of your questions. However, I was able to build a community of 40,000 people. Now, some people that are great with birds and ready to help you, hundreds of people are answering people's questions on parrot station. So if you're looking to be educated, go read the post, go learn as much as you can and transfer all of that knowledge. Remember when you attack somebody just because you may know better, they're not going to be willing to learn. It's very, very important. It's important that you take this stand on parrot station. And it's important that you take this stand in life when you're approaching somebody who you know has a parent. Now the next three ways that I've come up with to help save a parrot soul, I think are really cool ideas to bring awareness. And if you guys have any ideas too, please share them with me because I want to try to do everything that we can. So here is the fourth way to save a parrot soul. Make memes and educational posts. We have so many cute memes of birds doing funny things, of birds acting crazy, of funny little, what, hanging on paper. There are so many memes out there of birds looking cute, doing cute things, burbs, borbs, all of that. You guys are familiar with it. It's so much fun. But if you guys are talented in social media and you can help make memes, bring awareness to how many birds get rehomed. Bring awareness to how many birds spend their lives in cages. Bring awareness to how long parrots live. Bring awareness to how hard it is to own a bird and how much work goes into it. Bring awareness to how much you have to clean. Bring awareness to how intelligent they are. Bring awareness to how many homes a bird lives in before it dies. These kind of things are so important. People don't really know about them. So if you are like a meme machine, please make memes like that. Please educate the public and please use the hashtag engaged not caged. So I know that we are a big growing community. You can also hashtag me as well. Then I will know that I can share it on this channel and we can make a whole compilation of amazing memes to help with these birds. I hope to see thousands of amazing memes coming from you guys because that's what I think is going to help raise awareness. The next way to help save a parrot's soul is by offering to help your friends or people you know that have birds. This is actually how I learned so much about birds because I would offer to go over to someone's house and show them how to give their bird a better life. Show them how to give their bird better food. Show them how to bring the bird out of the cage. Sometimes I'd be able to go over and tame their bird in a matter of an hour and give them the luxury of hanging out with a tame bird from then on. It's really important because sometimes just offering your help can bring major awareness and also sometimes the people will realize that maybe the bird is a little bit better off with you and either way the bird will get a better life. I'm not saying go out and take everybody's bird. That's not what I'm saying at all. Vinny's apparently saying that. I'm just saying sometimes a bird is in better hands with someone who knows how to re-home, lace, and give the bird a better space to live. Now we're on to number six. A very important and I think very effective way to help save a little parrot's soul because we don't want any caged souls out there. Those of you with a big voice and also those of you with a little voice, speak about it. Speak about this issue to every single person that you can. Right Vinny? Tell them. Tell them about birds. Tell them about your birds. Tell them about your friend's birds. Tell them about what you heard me say right now. I want to tell you guys something funny. Today I called up Applecare because I wanted to replace my keyboard because you guys know Picasso ate it and I'm like, no, I don't have Applecare. I really just want to know how much the part is and she's like, well, are you sure? Maybe we could just give you a key and I'm like, no, no, no, no. I'm sure my bird ate the keyboard and she was like, what? And I'm like, yes, my bird literally ate the keyboard and she's like, really? Is he teething? And I'm like, nah, he does it all the time. And she's like, are you serious? And I'm like, yeah, he does it all the time. All my birds do it all the time. She's like, what are you talking about? Because she didn't know anything about birds and I don't blame her. She doesn't have a bird. How is she supposed to know that African grays are the third smartest animal in the entire world? How is she supposed to know that African grays can literally be presented with colors and blocks and tell you just like Alex, the African gray did, how many were blue squares or which key is bigger? If you haven't seen that, watch Irene Pepperburg and her work with Alex, the African gray, it's groundbreaking. And because of that kind of awareness, she has brought to the intelligence of birds. We have come farther, but we need to come farther than that. Everybody needs to know how intelligent these little beings are because if people knew that we are caging tiny little geniuses that can listen and respond and talk and dance, then I think people would think very differently about leaving their bird locked in a cage. So even though this is I want you to be loud. I want you to be proud. I want you to educate. I want you to speak up for these birds. I have something really cool that we can all do, which is kind of like the memes. This brings us to my third hashtag. I have a bird. I think we all need to hashtag I have a bird and follow it with what your bird does very specifically. So for example, I have a bird that won't go to sleep unless he watches empire at night. I have a bird that dances to gangster rap music. I have a bird that threw a tantrum because I didn't give her a donut hashtag. I have a bird that knows his job in life is to let me sniff him and he does it. I have a bird that gets jealous of my sister's boyfriends. I have a bird that peeked into his present while he was opening it because he was really excited about what's inside. I have a bird that talks to me and tells me he loves me. I have a bird that dances to skater music. I have a bird that gets really protective if a guy comes upstairs and tries to attack him. How are these birds so aware and so smart? I want you guys to hashtag I have a bird and follow it with all of the crazy things your birds do. You can hashtag this on Instagram. You can hashtag this on parrot station. You can hashtag this on Twitter and please hashtag my name or engageknotcage as well so that I know that we are together on all of this. So just like we talk about the dolphins and sea world, let's talk about the parrots. Let's take a stance for the birds that we actually have in our homes and can do something about. That's where we'll start and then you'll see where we end up. Let me know in the comments if you guys agree with me and if you're willing to help me take a stand. Let me know if you shared this video. I really appreciate it so much. I feel like I have a bigger responsibility to the parrots of the world now because I have such a large parrot group on parrot station and such a large following right here. So it's very important that we take steps together to make changes. I know there's so many of you that sit around and dream of doing big things so that you can help animals and birds and you can. We're going to do it together because I can actually engage with you guys and I can see your comments and I can see what you do. So I know this is a very impassioned video and I know that there's a lot to take in over here. I want to thank you guys for watching this video. I want to thank you for sharing it. Please subscribe, like, comment, watch the video over again. Don't forget to go down below and check out my merch of Jersey, the donut thief. I love this. I love this stuff. I want Jersey the donut thief everything right now. And when you get your merch, please hashtag my name and I will so feature it here on the channel. I'm really excited to see how you guys use it. I want to see your stuff. I want to see you wearing it. I want to see you carrying it. I want to see your school stuff with Jersey all over it. I mean, seriously, I had like unicorns and stuff when I was a kid, but that's not even like close to Jersey who I know and can see in real life. So exciting. Thank you guys so much. I love you. Bye. Say bye Vinnie.