Rosebreasted cockatoo

I have kept parrots since the 80s. Back then, unless you were lucky enough to have a chance meeting with another bird lover, you were on your own. The only information available was at the library or in generic, manual style books on sale at pet stores, many of which were written by breeders. Any questions raised about captive parrot behavior would cause snickering – “They are birds, so they will fly and stuff.” Thank you for your words of wisdom.

Sometime in the late 90s, I was made aware ...

Not an Australian native – this is a feral/pest species found here; so not one that can legally be placed in a shelter and a vet would have to euthanise it.  Fortunately, I could reunite it with its parents.

Baby birds are one of the most common wild bird rescue situations that I deal with during the warmer months. At the time I’m typing this, I’m literally waiting for the night to end and daylight to come so I can follow-up on a case ...

Adult raven flying in to his nest (hidden in the thicker foliage) in order to feed his chicks.

There are few things that I enjoy more than watching wild birds go about their everyday business. Lately, I have been lucky enough to have a pair of ravens nest within metres of my bedroom window. Ok, sometimes we’ve had our disagreements (any wild bird can attack). Generally though, I’ve been very happy to have them around and have made a point of scaring local ...

Male Red Wattlebird with a beak full of insects. Notoriously territorial this one just swooped my pet dog and is about to get chased off by a raven.

It’s early spring in Australia. Deciduous trees are starting to turn green again, cherry trees are starting to blossom and cyclists are starting to look like they belong on a reality television program called “Aliens are here among us”. Or at least the smart cyclists do, the not-so-smart ones will be learning the hard way in ...

Rosebreasted cockatoo

Hi. Dr. Killjoy here. We just concluded another fun photo contest here at Birdtricks – congratulations to the winners of Parrots On Harnesses! Your photos were amazing.

I didn’t want to bring this up in the middle of the contest because I didn’t want to kill the mood. Since the photos being submitted were of events of the past, I felt this post could wait until the contest was over.

However, it is an issue which needs addressing: flying your bird on a harness is dangerous. There is no way around ...

It’s that fun time of year again (here in the Southern Hemisphere). You know the time I mean? The time when your visitors see your lorikeet doing a hormonal war dance on your ponytail and delightedly tell you how you should hold still because this is going to make the best YouTube video ever… Sometimes it’s hard to like Spring! It’s easy to see why people are desperately looking for ...