photo from thescienceofeating.com

A friend directed me to a comment on another bird site that revealed some serious misinformation regarding oxalic acid. One of the posters listed off all of the vegetables she discovered that contained oxalic acid and recommended that they be discontinued in the diets of everyone’s birds based on concerns that have been circulating for years now. Oxalic acid is a term that is on the lips of many parrot owners and it appears to be only slightly less concerning to them than battery acid. So, let’s get ...

Vegetable smeared beak. The galah/rosebreasted cockatoo equivalent of a milk moustache. Merlin loves his food.

The only stupid question is the one that you don’t ask. I’ve heard that often enough and I’m not entirely sure that I believe it. Mainly because I once worked in a bookstore and was asked if we stocked books that had pages in them? Or the time that my mother asked me what the dishwasher was doing and I answered the dishes? Yes, I’m afraid there are stupid ...

Camelot macaws

I recently wrote a blog post that discussed how important it is to try mimic nature in the environment we provide for our birds. Being undomesticated animals so new to captivity that some of their their grandparents may have lived their lives in the wild, they will certainly appreciate that level of attention to detail.

But recently, I had a conversation with someone specifically about looking to nature for guidance in the parrot diet. It brought to light how very confusing this message might be – in fact, we actually ...

The only times I find myself getting annoyed with another bird owner is when I offer them advice and they immediately shoot it down: “you’ll have to come up with something different – my bird will NEVER go for that”. They insist on using words like “stubborn” or “scared” or “disinterested” to describe their birds. I find that these words often also describe them.

In contrast, my favorite owners are the ones who not only accept the advice they receive but also modify it to suit their ...

You're interrupting me preening, shove off.

There is a danger attached to writing the words “my bird is sick” and then putting that out somewhere on the Internet or on social media for others to read. Whether you want it or not, you’re going to get people trying to help you. That in itself is a great thing because it is a sign that people care enough to try. The problem is that some of the advice you can get from the Internet is ...

Morgy in her sleeping cage.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blogpost about my galah Morgy, who had just been diagnosed with serious liver issues. At the time, the exact cause of her liver issues was unknown. There was a large question mark over whether or not it was cancer or maybe fatty liver? A biopsy would confirm, but she was in no state to cope with that procedure. She was already on a good quality diet and so her only ...