Are Your Birds Getting Enough Sleep?

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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Why Do Parrots Do What They Do?


Amazon ParrotParrots are very productive creatures.  All of their daily activity shows purpose and a striving towards a goal.  There is nothing that they do that doesn’t benefit them in some way.  Foraging for food, preening, nest building all serve a clear purpose.  Even play is beneficial.  A young bird learns about the agility of its body.  It learns about defense, how to apply and withdraw force and builds its confidence.  Birds are very social beings, and play continues throughout adulthood.  And they perform other behaviors, ...

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Feather Discoloration

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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Vegetables in the Parrot Diet: Fresh vs. Frozen

Umbrella Cockatoo

I made an interesting discovery this week. I had planned to be away for five days starting this weekend, and my daughter was going to take care of the parrots for me while I was gone. Since she works full time, I decided to simplify things and buy frozen vegetables for her to serve to the birds. Normally, I buy fresh, often organic, with the exception of things like lima beans, which my birds love, and out-of-the-pod peas.

My plans were unexpectedly cancelled, and I was sitting on a freezer ...

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Molting Season For Parrots

There are feathers everywhere in my apartment, from little gray or green ones to large white ones. Do I mind this extra mess? Not even a little bit!  It signals the end of breeding season, which is a beautiful thing. Of course, the one rule...

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Parrots, Dinosaurs, And Lots Of Questions

Blue throated macaws

If you look at the skeletal structure of many dinosaurs, the link between them and parrots is a no-brainer.  Still, it took the scientific community forever to accept this as a possibility.  Down the road, it was proposed by a small group of paleontologists that some dinosaurs may have been feathered.  They were treated like lepers…until fossilized feathers were found among the remains of a dinosaur previously thought to be covered in scales.

The theory has been that parrots evolved from the theropod family, which includes the infamous ...

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