Project Perry: The Next Best Thing to Being a Wild Parrot

African grey Stormy playing with rings inside grey aviary

One of the best parts about working for Birdtricks.com is the constant contact with other bird lovers. As owners, the learning never stops and we are always looking for new and better ways to improve our birds’ lives.

Out there, in the avian community, there are countless unsung heroes – rescues who go the extra mile for the birds in their care every single day, without much praise or much help, people who have gone to extraordinary lengths to create amazing habitats for ...

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Giving Your Parrot Too Much Freedom Can Be Dangerous

Cockatiel

My cockatiels were my first parrots and they were very patient with me while I learned how to be a good caregiver. I hated the idea of them being confined and they spent their days out of their cage intermingling with the humans. Most often, they were riding on a shoulder while we went about our activities but, as ground foragers, they would often make their way to the floor to explore.

I bird proofed the house as much as possible, removed electrical cords and any toxic substances from reach, ...

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What Works For Some Birds Doesn’t For Others


Blue and Gold macaw, Fid.

One of the main problems that I have had with my Blue and Gold Macaw Fid, is getting him to settle at night. He cries when I put him to bed, he cries again when I turn off the light, he screams in fear if anything disturbs him and he often wakes up and starts making a heart wrenching, hiccupping sob noise for no obvious reason.

In my last post on Fid, I ...

 

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Keeping Lorikeets


I didn't chew on it!

 

The corrosive powers of lorikeet poo are truly amazing. There are days when it literally seems to eat away concrete. More amazing though, is the way a lorikeet can aim on a 45-degree angle. They are quite capable of painting any wall that is near their aviary and often seem to be doing so intentionally. You hear people say they’re messy and I guess from the human perspective they are, but they do ...

 

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Is Your Local Parrot Rescue Really A “Rescue”?

blue throated and camelot macaws

I write this post reluctantly. I want to be careful not to cast doubt and suspicion onto the many great, reputable parrot organizations out there. I don’t want to scare you away from donating money or otherwise contributing to your local rescue, but I DO want you to take a look at it before you do so, and especially if you are thinking about relinquishing your bird.

In a previous post, I listed these criteria for a good rescue:

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Why It’s Important To Let Your Parrot Be A Parrot

Blue throated macaw

Knowing that I love to read, Jamie left some books for me that she had read while on the road. I want to share with you a thought provoking part of a forward (written by Stephen Fry) in one of those books titled “The Book Of Animal Ignorance – Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong” by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson:

“Animals all have this in common with one another: unlike humans they appear to spend every minute of every hour of every day of their lives being ...

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