Recognising the early symptoms of illness in a bird can be extraordinarily difficult. Often when we realise a bird is sick, the small window to do something about it has already passed. To those who have discovered a love of birds, it’s a frustrating and scary thought.

When I last took my elderly Galah/Rosebreasted Cockatoo Cocky Boy to the vet, an observing vet student sat in ...

Scarlet macaw photo by artst.com

Q: My son recently moved back home and he gets in late from work and turns on the television in the family room where our african grey is sleeping. My grey has been nippy lately and I wonder if it’s because he’s not getting enough sleep now. How much sleep does my parrot need? – James K., Providence, RI

A: During the first few years that I had my first parrots, cockatiels, I kept them in my bedroom with me. Very often I would retire to ...

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Photo of quaker by Anna Sloan

Over preening is a feather destructive behavior. Sometimes a bird begins to pay too much attention to its feathers – in a way that seems unhealthy and obsessive. Generally, we observe this through changed preening behaviors.

For reasons that make no sense to me, over preening has a less ominous status as a behavioral problem than plucking. However, it is a precursor to plucking and very loudly states that something is wrong.

A couple of months ago I was in contact with a woman who ...

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When I wrote a blog post on cleaning tips, I mentioned the incredible staining ability of a red Dragonfruit. A few people commented wanting to know what a Dragonfruit was. I could relate to those questions as I could remember a time when I had no idea either. The questions have inspired me to share some of the weirder things that end up in my birds’ food bowls.

My favourite vegetable shopping experience was when a cash register ...

What is west nile virus?

West nile virus (WNV) is a disease that is transmitted through mosquitoes that have fed on wild birds that are infected with the disease. In Asia and Africa ticks also carry the disease, but there is no evidence of that in other parts of the world.

WNV was discovered in East Africa in the 1930s, but is thought to have been around for perhaps 1,000 years. Given reported symptoms and claims of many avian deaths just prior to is own death, some historians believe that ...

Stress bars are lines that run crosswise through a feather shaft illustrating that inadequate diet, high stress or illness (and subsequent medicating) was present during the time that the feather was being formed. They are areas of poor development that create flawed or weakened segments which make the feather vulnerable to breakage.

Stress bars are similar to what a geologist discovers as he studies the layers of the earth. Each layer tells a story about the conditions at the time the layer was forming. A geologist can tell if ...

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