Last year, for the first time in over 10 years my husband and I decided to put up a Christmas tree. We bought a small live blue spruce. But we no longer had any ornaments, having long ago given them away to family and friends. Having 7 wonderful parrots who share every aspect of our lives, and who are very inquisitive and mischievous, we knew that whatever we choose to decorate our tree with would have to be parrot safe.
I found some very cute Christmas/Winter themed rubber duckies, then collected an assortment of other toy parts, plastic rings and stars, wood disks and blocks, birdie bagels, beads and bells, that I had left over from varoius toy making projects.
The first step is to cut a small hole in the top of the duck’s head, and another center bottom of the duck.
Tie a loop in one end of a length of poly rope (or cotton, hemp, leather, or stainless wire).
The size of you loop will depend on the type of tree branch you will be placing it on. If you want to make these as just bird toys, make the loop only large enough for a quick link to pass through.
I find that using a small pair of needle nose pliers or long tweezers will greatly help with threading the rope through the duck.
Snug the knot to the duck’s head, with the short end of the rope tucked inside. Now thread your choice of toy parts for the duck to sit on. Make this as simple or as intricate as you like.
In this example I tied a bell onto the bottom, then threaded the tail of the rope back up through the bead before trimming, this eliminates an exposed cut end.
Here are some of the finished ornaments.
And the decorated tree.
Merry Christmas to All!
A Bird's Best Life 
Wow Laura you never stop planning and educating us. I always enjoy your ideas and although they may not look quit like yours, you do inspire me to get busy and make more toys and foraging challenges for our flock. Christmas is a great time to clean out my re-cycle toy parts drawer! Our most recent foster is a young Senegal and he loves the rubber duck from one of your previous projects. He is due for some new toys and we will have fun working on them together.
Wishing all a warm Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I haven’t put up a tree since the kids left home. This idea of yours has truly inspired me. I showed it to Jerry and he’s even agreed to try it next year. Thank you so much for sharing this Laura. What a great idea! – Kris
Glad you liked it Kris!
Here’s a tip, go check out the garden centers now. The live Christmas trees will all be marked down. And if you get your tree now, you will have a whole year to insure that no pesticides or chemical based fertilizers are used on it, so it will be as safe as can be!