Mel Vincent

Mel chose to behaviourally focus on birds more than 15 years ago. With clients across the globe, she is easily one of the most experienced and knowledgeable bird trainers out there. Mel runs her own bird behavioural company Works For Birds and is well-known for her blogs and collaborative work with the international bird training company Birdtricks.com.

Having studied psychology at Melbourne University, she has always had an interest in behaviour.  Her animal behaviour journey started many years ago when she took skateboarding classes with her dog (the dog was more coordinated than Mel).

Having been very active in wildlife rescue work since a very young age, Mel changed her career direction after the Black Saturday Bush Fires.  It was while studying Animal Veterinary Biosciences at La Trobe that Mel realised she had a real passion and talent for animal behavioural work.

If you ask Mel what the most worthwhile qualification she has ever undertaken (and there a lot of them) she says hands down Susan Friedman's Professional LLA course tied the science of psychology together with animal training better than any other course she has seen.

An active member of the IAABC, ASZK and ATA communities, Mel is well-connected in the behavioural industry.

She is frequently sought after for public speaking and group training sessions.  A published writer, she has written regular columns for numerous magazines and newspapers.  She has written blogs for multiple websites, particularly focusing on her specialty of birds.  You may have seen her being interviewed in news articles on tv and has been called as an expert in multiple court cases.

Putting all that aside, Mel doesn't just stick to the behavioural side of things.  Competent with avian medicine, you will find her supervising anaesthetics and performing all normal veterinary nursing duties.

Mel hasn't always focused on the veterinary industry.  She has held managment positions in many large companies and has qualifications in both retail and general management.

As a practice manager, she has been instrumental in building the current clinical team.  She jokes that Dr Phil should never have left her alone with his credit card because she has a terrible habit of buying an infinite number of bird toys and has effectively converted reception into a high turnover pet store.  So much so that the clinic now runs an online pet store that specialises in bird safe bird toys!  It turns out that the rest of our staff are also obsessed with spoiling pets.

Mel maintains a close relationship with multiiple animal rescue organisations.  She serves on the board of Kiwi's New Life Bird Rescue and you will find her at most of their events.  Privately, she fosters an ever-changing collection of animals (usually the ones with high medical needs) until they are ready for adoption.  Mel is always heavily involved in organising or supporting numerous animal charity events.

At the clinic, when she's not performing management or nursing duties she's seeing clients.  Mel has a very large behavioural client base and sees clients both in person and virtually.  You can book to see her by calling the clinic or through our online booking system.

Mel's specialty includes working with some of the most difficult behavioural clients.  She has an unrivaled success rate when it comes to turning around plucking and self-mutilating behaviours.  If your bird is biting, screaming, overly hormonal or just needs general training - Mel Vincent is the expert you need.  She runs parrot school, chicken school, harness training and recall flight classes at the clinic.

If you want to keep up with what Mel is currently up to, or read some of her most recent blogposts, check out her business website worksforbirds.com.au you can also follow her business page on facebook or instagram.