Quaker parrot

Q: My cockatiel yawns a lot. Is that normal?

–          Coralynn F., Bedford, Ma

A:   Yawning is a bit of a mystery. The reasons for it are not really fully understood, but there are some plausible theories as to why we yawn.

You may have noticed that yawning generally takes place during periods of inactivity. One theory suggests that fatigue causes breathing to slow and yawning increases our oxygen intake.

Another theory says that yawning expands the lungs and causes them to flex, similar to the way we stretch our arms and legs ...

Umbrella cockatoo

I log into Facebook every morning to see what is going on with my bird loving friends. Most days I scroll through the pages quickly only pausing when something catches my eye, but I was stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of what appeared to be a cockatoo wading in soapy dishwater.

Because I know this particular party to be very responsible with birds, I was expecting a humorous story with an explanation for how this bird had gotten himself into this predicament. To my surprise, I learned ...

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Musk Lorikeet

A family went to a pet store and bought a bird. A cute little parrot that instantaneously became part of their family. A few weeks later, it was at an avian vet, in intensive care. The family was heartbroken when it couldn’t be saved. Turns out the bird had been hiding an illness the whole time. The vet told them that if it had been caught earlier, the bird could have recovered. If only the pet store had bothered to screen ...

Chronic egg laying in parrots

A few days ago, I noticed a strong odor coming from the bathroom. No human had recently been in there, so I felt the need to investigate the source. I found a fresh, poorly formed dropping that I could immediately identify as belonging to Theo , my goffins cockatoo, who is potty trained and will go to her cage or into the bathroom to relieve herself.

Theo’s appearance, weight and behavior were all normal, but knowing that there should never be any trace of odor from a ...

Morgy foraging on her zombie playstand.

In my last post, I mentioned that my Galah/Rosebreasted Cockatoo had suffered from something I called “learned helplessness”. I said how happy I was that she had taken possession of my new parrot stand because that’s a big deal when you have a bird like Morgy. A few people pounced on that and sent me questions saying that their birds also don’t play and should they be worried about that? How do ...

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Alexandrine parakeet

We are all very dedicated bird owners here. We not only care deeply for our own birds, but we care about everyone else’s too. I know that I find it very difficult to watch birds being mistreated and I have walked out of some pet stores in tears. I have lied awake at night thinking about a bird that lives half way around the world that I know might not make it through the night.

I think one of the hardest things we deal with as bird owner is coping ...

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