My new purple sneakers

I recently bought a new pair of sneakers. They are purple and I absolutely LOVE them. Ok you’re all going to think I’m weird. Who gets that excited over sneakers? The thing is – I’ve been wearing the same pair of sneakers for over 20 years. If you do the maths you will realize that this must mean that I got my old pair when I was a child. I’ll admit it’s a little scary that they lasted that long; ...

blue fronted amazon

I was shopping at my local bird store the other day following a large shipment of new toys. I wasn’t there for toys, but I went from shelf to rack to bin with a huge grin on my face because they were so adorable, and as they are made by a private party, unlike anything else in the other stores. It wasn’t long before I realized that my arms were loaded down with toys of various sizes, shapes and colors and I had already begun placing them in ...

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Cockatiel Tinky

Moving is just no fun. It doesn’t matter whether you are doing it yourself or hiring someone to pack and do all the heavy lifting for you, having your life in total disarray for even a short period of time is just maddening. Welcome to my world.

After searching, I finally found a place that will work for me and the birds. Even though I am the only human that will be in occupancy, I have five birds and four are different species which made finding the right space harder ...

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Albatross in flight. The blue sky of summer, nice for a while but continuing extreme heat takes its toll.

The summer we’ve just had in Australia has been a bad one. We’ve had extremes all over the country. One half is under water, the other half is melting and that’s NOW. It’s not even summer anymore, it’s supposed to be autumn here. Yet I’m slowly cooking here in a record-breaking heatwave that exceeds what we’ve seen since records began at ...

budgies

Q: My bird is sexually frustrated and tries to mate with my computer mouse or anything else about that size. Should I put a stuffed animal or something in his cage for him to get out his frustrations on?

–          H. Hirsch, Kettering, OH

A: This subject comes up several times a year. Many people are mistaken in their assumption that their birds are sexually frustrated and they wonder if they should get it a mate. In reality, doing so may actually make the problem much worse.
To explain ...

July 2012. Cocky Boy huddled under a heat lamp.

I spent most of last year wondering when I’d be writing a post saying that the worst had happened and my elderly Galah Cocky Boy had died from his heart condition? Every day felt like a battle and there did come a point where I found myself realizing that difficult decisions were coming. He seemed happier with treatment but his weight kept dropping. His body condition deteriorated with his decreased weight ...