When I was a child, I used to worry about what happened to birds when it rained. I’d lie in bed at night, listening to storms wondering how birds kept warm at night if they got wet? I figured they’d find a sheltered perch and ride it out but as perches are branches and branches move in wind and wind happens in storms, I’d still wonder how they did it?

When I was older, I started attending wildlife ...

A bit over a month ago, I did a post about how a heat source helped stabilise my elderly galah when he suddenly fell ill. He had a minor infection, which he has recovered from.

Unfortunately though, there was a reason that a minor infection was such a major problem. A normal bird, would have coped with a minor infection a lot more easily – the fact that he didn’t showed that something else was going on.

It has been ...

I did the tourist thing on the weekend. I live in Melbourne (Australia) and was entertaining an interstate visitor over the weekend. My friend just happens to be another bird person – so we thought it might be fun to have a look at Healesville Sanctuary while he was here.

Healesville Sanctuary is unusual because it focuses on Australian natives. They have some really worthwhile conservation campaigns and breeding programs. This is a fantastic place to visit ...

When you decide to spend your life enslaved to a pet bird, you’re not doing it because you like their ‘chewed-on style’ decorating help. Usually it has something to do with you actually liking birds. Not surprisingly, bird people have a tendency to not just welcome wild birds into their garden, but to actively encourage them to show up.
Which brings me to the controversial topic of feeding wild birds. You might think it isn’t ...

Hi, my name is Chrissann Nickel, also known as “The Toucan Lady” from Adventures in Toucanland. I’ve been a big Bird Tricks fan for about a year now, shortly after I adopted my three adult Toco toucans – Paco, Paz, and Pepe (otherwise known as the “Three-Cans”) in June 2011.

I am really excited about this new blog series we are beginning, sharing the successes of others who have overcome behavioral problems using the Bird Tricks training program. I ...

There’s a common misconception that working in wildlife rescue means working with lots of amazingly cute and cuddly animals. Unfortunately, the real situation is quite different. A LOT of wild rescue work results in the animal being euthanised because they’re usually extremely ill before they come to someone’s notice for rescue.

Not many photos of dead animals make it to the media and no decent rescuer is going to be stressing out a seriously ill ...