When the subject of vacationing comes up, a large number of parrot owners reveal that they don’t travel because they are afraid to leave their birds. Either they don’t have anyone they trust to care for them, or they are afraid that their bird will have disowned them by the time they get home.

Today I am going to try to talk you out of that thinking...

When people contact us about problems with their birds, one common (and notable) element is that most people are very surprised to learn that their relationship with their bird isn’t what they thought it was. They explain their once friendly and interactive relationship and now, suddenly, their bird wants nothing to do with them. They are always reluctant to believe you when you assure them that none of this happened suddenly.

No matter what bird sites you ...

Q: I travel frequently because of my job and lately I have been feeling guilty about leaving my bird so often. Do you think this will cause her to become unhappy?

-Monica, B., San Diego, CA

A:   The answer depends mostly on your situation, but also on your bird’s personality. You haven’t given me much information, so I will try to look at this from different angles.

If you live alone and have made arrangements to have someone come ...

The domestication of animals is something that humans have done through breeding for millennia to manipulate animals with the intention of creating ones that are used for service or companionship, that are suited to be in human society and are aesthetically pleasing.

Domestication is what we have done with dogs, which started out as wolves. Humans bred dogs together which both possessed qualities they wanted to carry on – from personality traits to size to coloring and markings. It ...

I was reading a thread on a parrot forum the other day that questioned if parrots have a need for routine. One of the posters took control of the discussion and went on to claim that it was very important to a parrot’s emotional health that you maintain a schedule and do things at the same time every day. She said this is what you need to do to keep your parrot feeling secure and comforted.

Most of the posters fell in line with ...

As my cockatiels get older, they are spending more and more time on their flat perches. I still provide a variety of standard perches for them, but their tired, old feet always head back to the flat perches before too long.

Flat perches gain a lot of points for offering comfort to my cockatiels in their golden years, but lose points with their constant need for cleaning. The beauty of the design of a standard perch, taken from nature, is that droppings fall from ...