What is west nile virus?

West nile virus (WNV) is a disease that is transmitted through mosquitoes that have fed on wild birds that are infected with the disease. In Asia and Africa ticks also carry the disease, but there is no evidence of that in other parts of the world.

WNV was discovered in East Africa in the 1930s, but is thought to have been around for perhaps 1,000 years. Given reported symptoms and claims of many avian deaths just prior to is own death, some historians believe that ...

Stress bars are lines that run crosswise through a feather shaft illustrating that inadequate diet, high stress or illness (and subsequent medicating) was present during the time that the feather was being formed. They are areas of poor development that create flawed or weakened segments which make the feather vulnerable to breakage.

Stress bars are similar to what a geologist discovers as he studies the layers of the earth. Each layer tells a story about the conditions at the time the layer was forming. A geologist can tell if ...

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When you decide to spend your life enslaved to a pet bird, you’re not doing it because you like their ‘chewed-on style’ decorating help. Usually it has something to do with you actually liking birds. Not surprisingly, bird people have a tendency to not just welcome wild birds into their garden, but to actively encourage them to show up.
Which brings me to the controversial topic of feeding wild birds. You might think it isn’t ...

Sun conure

At some point in your parrot’s long life it is likely you will find the need to medicate against illness or administer a supplement of some sort. Before that happens, you should familiarize yourself with the procedure of giving medications to your parrot and understand what the lines and numbers on the syringe mean so you don’t run the risk of over OR under medicating your bird.

I feel that the appropriate syringe size for a parrot is 1cc. You can use a larger one if you like, but my ...

Umbrella cockatoo

So many people over the past several months have commented that their bird smells bad that I have been wanting to do a post on the subject. I held out only because I’ve been unable to get any particulars from the people complaining – where is the odor emanating from: Body? Breath? Poop? I’m still not sure what they were talking about.

But, the simple fact of the matter is, there should be no “odor” coming from your parrot. The different parrots have smells that are unique to their species, ...