Camelot Macaws, Blue Throated Macaw

Almost all parrot owners have heard that they should not allow their parrots to be higher than them, or above their eye level, because it brings out in them an innate need to express their dominance over us, and that we should never keep a large parrot on our shoulders for this same reason. I agree that we shouldn’t keep our bigger birds on our shoulders, but not because of height dominance issues. Logic tells me it is unsafe to have easily startled animal with ...

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All of our birds lived in the house with us until this past summer. We put 6 of the birds cages outside on two different decks. Our choice to do this was for the birds health. None were ill, they were lacking proper daylight and proper sleeping habits.

The oldest of my birds, the 35 year old Blue Front Amazon, Storm, spent some time earlier this year in Florida with Jamie and Dave Womach. During his time with them he had the advantage of spending time in an outdoor aviary at their house. He ...

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Congo African Grey Parrot

I was listening to the Ask The Bird Experts weekly webcast the other night.  Liz Wilson was speaking about how little we actually know about parrots.  After so much research has been done about parrots in the wild, there are very few questions that can be answered with absolute certainty.

I have complained in past posts about the fact that there isn’t a formulated diet that can duplicate a parrot’s natural one. This is because we really don’t know what they eat.  A field researcher can spend ...

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White Budgie

I was lying on my bed watching the History channel this morning, when Theo, my goffins cockatoo, toddled up to the side of the bed wanting to come up.  I swung my leg over the side of the bed and she hopped on my foot waiting for the elevator ride up.  She marched right up and took her usual spot on my chest, resting her head on my chin.

It was just a couple of minutes before I could feel all of her body weight on the side of ...

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Camelot Macaw

Your parrot’s feathers speak to its overall health.  A healthy parrot will have soft, vibrant and well-formed feathers.  Flaws in the feathering, such as discoloration are often a sign of poor diet or the lack of sunlight, but can also be attributed to illness and the subsequent use of antobiotics.   It can also signal serious organ problems or PBFD.  If you have noticed a change in your parrots feathering, you should seek the attention of an avian certified vet to rule out any significant health issues.

A good, varied ...

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