Large birds delight in picking up objects with their feet. They will grab almost anything that's large enough and carry it to their mouth. Activities of their mouth and beak add excitement to their lives whether it be eating or just chewing.

Initially, birds rely on their vision to select their food. Next, food selection depends upon the information they gain from their sensitive tongue, mouth and beak.

Their mouth then acts as a testing station, allowing them to ascertain whether or not the material in their mouth is a food or something to be chewed and dropped.

The upper and lower beaks act like pinchers to break things apart and then function as a vice to firmly hold the materials while their stubby tongue closely inspects it. Even gruels and pastes are inspected for granularity, texture, temperature, taste and overall familiarity. Not until birds have satisfied themselves that everything is okay will they accept the material they're holding as a food. When first introduced to pellets, parrots may be seen holding and chewing on pelleted food. It's only after acceptance of the "feel" of the pellets that birds will eat them. A person can become easily fooled because while birds may be chewing at the pellets, they still may not be swallowing them. A confirmation that the pellets are being eaten is a change in the droppings to a brownish color.

Sometimes birds waste their food. They may take a bite out of a large pellet and drop it or may use the large pellet as a chew toy and merely grind it up and drop it. If waste becomes a problem, it can be corrected by feeding a smaller sized pellet.

After birds have become accustomed to eating pellets they may prefer pellets to seeds.

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