E.2 - Putting the pieces together | Understandingparrots

You have already practiced describing what parrots are doing with different body parts in exercise 1, akin to learning the alphabet. Now it's time to start looking at the whole bird at once, and seeing how those letters can be combined in to words. As you go through this exersice, try to keep in mind that we are practicing our observational skills - the point is not (yet) trying to figure out what is going on in the images. Try to set thoughts about the meaning of your observations aside for now; simply practice observing and describing what you are seeing, not what you think about it. Keep the tables from 2.3 in mind (use your verbs, avoid labels and constructs!) and feel free to use the parrot observation checklist as a reminder of what to look at and for.

A great way to learn how to spot new details and differentiating between similar sets of body language is comparing images or videos of parrots doing different things while teasing out what sets them apart, and what is similar. Practice looking at the image pairs below and write down what body language you can spot that is similar, and what is different. Feel free to use the observation checklist as a guide and make sure to write your observations down, either in the box, a separate document or on a piece of paper. Once you're done you can compare your notes with the suggestions below the slides.

(This section is still a work in progress, check back soon!)