Galah/Rosebreasted Cockatoo eating Eucalyptus Flowers

At the start of each year, I tend to reflect on the past. This year I’m asking the question: If you could go back in time to when you got your first bird, what is the one thing that you would tell yourself or wish that you’d known?

I used to think the answer to that would be “Birds don’t just eat seed” because I look back on the birds I had as a ...

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 ...

Have you ever blown an entire week’s wage on a new indoor cage for your parrot and then discovered that it sucks? I challenge anyone who has done that to refrain from complaining about it!
About 6 months ago, that’s exactly what happened to me. I decided to ‘upgrade’ my male eclectus parrot’s cage. Stainless steel cages aren’t readily available in Australia, so his old cage was a powder coated one. Unfortunately, they ...

I live with a Rosebreasted Cockatoo (Galah) who is at least 60 years old. Impressive considering that in the wild their expected lifespan is 30 years. I can’t tell you his exact age because anyone who knew him 60 years ago is now dead and that’s as far back has I have been able to trace him. What knowledge I have of his history, comes from the descendants of his ...