Congo african grey and rosebrested cockatoo

The best way to learn is by example.

Birds, both wild and captive, use this method of learning often. Typically, having something to use as a template, which can be referred to often, teaches most effectively – especially when there is a lot of information to absorb.

For example, going to the vet when my bird was sick used to be a completely stressful experience for me. Before I started to have an understanding of avian illnesses, and long before I found an avian vet (before I ...

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Scarlet macaw photo by artst.com

Q: My son recently moved back home and he gets in late from work and turns on the television in the family room where our african grey is sleeping. My grey has been nippy lately and I wonder if it’s because he’s not getting enough sleep now. How much sleep does my parrot need? – James K., Providence, RI

A: During the first few years that I had my first parrots, cockatiels, I kept them in my bedroom with me. Very often I would retire to ...

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A bit over a month ago, I did a post about how a heat source helped stabilise my elderly galah when he suddenly fell ill. He had a minor infection, which he has recovered from.

Unfortunately though, there was a reason that a minor infection was such a major problem. A normal bird, would have coped with a minor infection a lot more easily – the fact that he didn’t showed that something else was going on.

It has been ...

Cockatiel

I can barely remember a time when I didn’t have cockatiels – they are one of my very favorite parrot species. As long as I have kept them, however, I have dealt with their night frights – a sudden disruption to their sleep that causes them to thrash in fear in the middle of the night. (Night frights are not limited to cockatiels, but they seem to be the species which suffers from them most.)

It’s a frightening experience for us too – the house is completely quiet and, suddenly, ...

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Anna Sloan, from the Macaw and Cockatoo Rescue of New Mexico, builds alexandrine, Roo, a go cart to help correct splayed legs

I overheard this conversation in the pet store the other day: “So I was at this bird rescue place the other day with my sister because she was thinking about getting a bird. And she was all ready to hand over $400 for this raggedy looking bird. Thank God I was there to stop her! They get these birds for free and then they turn around and charge a ...

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 ...