Congo african grey and rosebrested cockatoo

The best way to learn is by example.

Birds, both wild and captive, use this method of learning often. Typically, having something to use as a template, which can be referred to often, teaches most effectively – especially when there is a lot of information to absorb.

For example, going to the vet when my bird was sick used to be a completely stressful experience for me. Before I started to have an understanding of avian illnesses, and long before I found an avian vet (before I ...

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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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Cockatiel

I can barely remember a time when I didn’t have cockatiels – they are one of my very favorite parrot species. As long as I have kept them, however, I have dealt with their night frights – a sudden disruption to their sleep that causes them to thrash in fear in the middle of the night. (Night frights are not limited to cockatiels, but they seem to be the species which suffers from them most.)

It’s a frightening experience for us too – the house is completely quiet and, suddenly, ...

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Anna Sloan, from the Macaw and Cockatoo Rescue of New Mexico, builds alexandrine, Roo, a go cart to help correct splayed legs

I overheard this conversation in the pet store the other day: “So I was at this bird rescue place the other day with my sister because she was thinking about getting a bird. And she was all ready to hand over $400 for this raggedy looking bird. Thank God I was there to stop her! They get these birds for free and then they turn around and charge a ...

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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Timneh african grey

A couple of years ago, someone located here in the US asked me a great question: he wanted to know if his eclectus, a bird native to Australia, would display hormonal behaviors during the local spring season or by the one in its native land.

For those unaware, the seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres of our planet oppose each other. When it is summer in the north, it is winter in the south. Likewise with spring and fall. Spring actually occurs twice on our planet each ...

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