[Franciscus]

I have been a member of the Ottawa Parrot Club for about ten years and we have had all kinds of meetings. Some of the ones that did not cost the club were ones where members showed tricks they have taught their birds, movie nights (Paulie, Parrots-Look whose Talking,....) We had members show photos of aviaries they built, along with explanations how to. It may also be a good idea to have more experienced members put together a talk about "bird care basics" for new members. It may be of interest to people who have been living with birds for a long time too because they may learn something new, or perhaps a round table discussion could take place in which they could get involved. We have had a meeting in a park, with properly restrained parrots of course. Unfortunately I could not attend that one as I had to work that day. Toy making workshops are always popular as well. What we usually do is someone puts together kits for the club to sell at that meeting for folks to assemble at the meeting. You could also invite a local avian vet to come give a talk. In my opinion they should do that for free as they can get business out of it. The topic could be on how to recognise illness in parrots, or on one or more parrot disease.