I get asked a lot if I bring my birds in from their outdoor aviaries when it rains. Well, living in Florida, it rains almost every day at the same time and a lot more in the winter. It pretty much rains all the time! And honestly, it's a hassle to bring birds in and out, back and forth. Who wants to do that? I wondered how they would do the fir...

   Photos by Jamieleigh Location: Dawn Princess, Princess Cruise Lines Drinking: Swainson Toucan "Fiji" A few years ago on board Princess Cruise Lines, I was with my Swainson Toucan, Fiji. Now Fiji knew a few behaviors on cue but I hadn’t gone into much detail with her on any real tricks. I was happy just having her around.   She pretty much own...

I’ve seen and read people mistaking these three importantly different aspects of parrots and their plumage. Although plucking parrots can tend to look somewhat like those parrots going through a molt and sometimes the act of plucking can look somewhat like a preening parrot – all aspects are entirely different and it’s important to be able to te...

Photo by Dave Location: The Dawn Princess, Princess Cruise Lines Twins: Swainson Toucans "Meaka" and "Fiji" It wasn't always this way with these two toucans... A lady in Sandpoint, Idaho owned Meaka (left) and she was the same age as Fiji (right) who we got at six months old. Meaka stayed in a pet shop all day and was a very calm and sweet bird...

I was obviously trying to be really sneaky when filming this video of my Swainson toucan, Meaka, while she was making noise. So it's not the most fun video to watch as I wanted footage of her actually crying for people to see how different the body language is from a parrot's but you can't really so I failed at obtaining that. However, you can...

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Reno, Nevada Getting lovin': Swainson Toucan "Meaka" The question I get asked the most about toucans are, "Are they cuddly?" well, I think this picture says it all. This is my Swainson Toucan about a year and a half old at the time. She was always gentle and cuddly and would rub her head against you kind of like ...