In keeping in touch with the avian community, I find more and more people who are coping with the heartbreak of their parrot’s feather plucking, barbering or mutilation.  The biggest problem with feather destructive behaviors is that we don’t know why it happens.  There are NO experts in this area, because, frankly, no one understands why they do this. There are people with a great deal of experience with pluckers who can recommend changes to make that they have seen good results with.  But ...

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Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot

This is a topic I have covered in past posts, but an email I received today convinced me that this is a subject that can’t be discussed enough.

In this email, a young woman that I knew in Austin, told me that her much loved sun conure, Mango, had died unexpectedly.  She included her phone number, so I called her to offer my condolences.  In the course of the conversation, I found that Mango had indeed been showing signs of illness, but her owner didn’t know how ...

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Blue throated macaw

Motion sickness is caused by disorientation.  When you are still and seated in a vehicle, but you can see and hear the world whizzing by, a confused signal is sent to your brain.  The inner ear knows that you’re moving, yet you are motionless.  The result is sweating, nausea, and vomiting.  Though it seems like a trick of the mind, it is very real and quite unpleasant.  Parrots, like people, can be affected during travel.

There really aren’t any rules regarding motion sickness.  Some are affected by it, others aren’t.  ...

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Blue and gold macaw, Military macaw

So many people I know are learning how to build things for their birds – from foraging trees to play gyms to outdoor aviaries.  Maybe it’s the economy, or maybe we’re just tired of paying extreme prices for the things we know are necessities for our birds, and can build ourselves.  I thought it would a great time to do a post about safe building materials and construction.  Here are some general guidelines to use:

Always use parrot safe woods and lumber. Remember the ...

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Quaker Parrot

This question came up on the birdtricks.com facebook the other day.  In order to answer this question, I think it is important for you to know what tea is and how it is sometimes used.  This way you can make an informed choice for your birds.

What is tea?

Simple enough! Tea is a beverage made by brewing the leaves, buds and twigs of  the tea plant (camelia sinensis) in hot water.  After allowing the tea to steep for a few minutes, the plant is strained out.  The longer you ...

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