Photo by Dave Womach Location: Costa Rica Shown: Keel Bill Toucan  The only way to test for iron storage disease in toucans is to do a liver biopsy and when Dave and I did so with our Swainson Toucan years ago, we found she was very high in iron because when we first got her we were told she couldn't have tap water but that bottled water was ...

Photo by Dave Location: Musha Cay, Bahamas Shown: Toco Toucans   A toco toucan is one of my "dream birds" and I finally got to work with some! They were wild caught and sold as "hand fed tame babies" which they were clearly not. They turned out to be wild caught. My job was to tame them enough that they would actually enjoy human interaction fr...

While I shop for foraging toys all the time for my parrots, I got to thinking... what about my Swainson Toucan? Are there foraging toys out there for toucans, too? Well, they haven't said "specifically made for toucans" but I have been applying my parrot ones to my toucan where I can. Obviously, they have their differences, but I'm finding ou...

 Photo by Mona Location: Daytona Beach, FL Receiving a Kiss: Rose Breasted Cockatoo "Bandit" While giving a parrot seminar in Daytona Beach, Florida I realized how un-fun many bird owners tend to be. A very common question was, "My bird doesn't want to come out of its cage to be with me, why?" Now obviously, there can be a list of reasons for t...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Las Vegas, NV In Travel Cage: Blue Throated Macaw "Jinx"   Getting your parrot to go into a travel cage can be pretty rough sometimes... especially when you haven't done it except for to take your bird to the vet, which isn't the best experience of your bird's life...   My parrots are just fine going into their tra...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Reno, Nevada Sleeper: Swainson Toucan "Meaka" One of my favorite things about Toucans is how they sleep. This picture is of Meaka, a Swainson Toucan I adopted from a lady in Sandpoint, Idaho of all places. She owned a petshop there and Meaka's original name was Skittles. She didn't know her name yet, so I chose ...