Heckled By ParrotsBlue Sky WritingFalconryRebecca K. O'Connor

Examining, Surviving and Loving life with Parrots

Upcoming Events — Catching Up

As soon as I carve out some time, I’ll get the blog back on schedule. I miss you guys!! I could use some jokes, tips and camaraderie. It’s been a little hectic here around “Sunnybrook Bird Farm”.  I’m knee deep in Lory & Lorikeet books, which is fun, I LOVE those little brush-tongued clowns. It’s a little hectic though when you also have a day job. (Gotta keep those ducks and their habitat protected!) Keep an eye on my word meter in the sidebar to see what kind of progress I’m making on writing the manuscript.

I’m also in the middle of wrangling a weekend and vacation time book tour around LIFT, my falconry memoir which will be out this fall. I hope you will all check out the book and that I’ll get to meet lots of new people and “virtual” friends in person. It’s scary having something so personal coming out for the inspection of all, scarier even when its a love song to your spirituality…which for me happens to be a life journey led by birds. Deep breath.

So keep watch on the events page as well. So far I’ve got trips coming up to Minnesota, Virginia, Missouri and Arizona. And there’s always room for more!

Friday’s Favorite Feathers

LOL Parrots—  Gotta love it!

Friday’s Favorite Feathers

Maybe I’m a little sick…but this just cracked me up!

Deadly Parrot Eviscerates his Victim

Deadly Parrot Eviscerates his Victim

Paleolithic Parrots

Bones from the Beginning?

Bones from the Beginning?

Okay, actually it’s a cretaceous parrot, but paleolithic parrot has a better ring to it.

Word on the street is that a parrot-like dinosaur has been discovered in Mongolia, at least, according to the UK Telegraph.

“Features of the dinosaur included a near perfect skull, strong jaw muscles and a powerful biting and crushing bill - showing that it evolved structures like those in today’s parrot.”

If you had any doubts about the dino-DNA in your personal pterodactyl, maybe now is the time to accept your fate in a world reclaimed by the “terrible lizards”.

Bring Your Parrot to Work Day

Bruce the terrier tried to bite off more than he could chew, racing up a tree after a squirrel and finding himself 50 feet up with no easy way down according to the Daily Mail in the UK.
The poor pooch was so precariously perched that the only solution was call a tree surgeon with the appropriate gear and experience to spike his way up to the rescue.

In my book anyone whose willing to spike their way up a tree with a chainsaw for their day job is a maniac to begin with, but the oddity doesn’t end there. Mick Hickley has a constant companion, his Amazon, Sammy. And Sammy, came along for the ride.

Be sure to click on the link and check out how high up they were in the other photo…

Whoa. Seriously, I love it when I see happy parrots going to work with their human companions, but a tree surgeon? That’s some serious parrot dedication. And perhaps a wee bit dangerous. But then, I used to take my Senegal, Loki with me to serve papers fifteen years ago when I was a process server. Imagine my conversations…

“Are you John Smith?”

“Yes. Is that a parrot on your shoulder?”

“Yep. And here’s your divorce papers. Have a nice day!”

Loki does love a good adventure and you can get away with a lot when you have a parrot on your shoulder, but if you’re going to bring your parrot to work, it’s probably best if you work in an office… just sayin’…
Anyone else bring their avian companions to work?

Friday’s Favorite Feathers


YouTube -  

Friday’s Favorite Feathers

funny pictures
moar funny pictures

Hat tip to my good friend PV for sending this to me!

Singing in the Rain

Riamfadas first shower by Shan Lung courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing on Flickr

Riamfada's first shower by Shan Lung courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing on Flicker

Several days of thunderstorms have caused my bird’s waterbowls to be suspiciously empty the last few days. I suspect there’s been massive bathing parties while I’m at work, so I’ve left bathpans at the bottoms of their cages…not that they’re being used…  Apparently, there’s something irresistable about bathing in the drinking water.

Even the grey, shunner of unwanted water loves to get down in his water bowl. He also enjoys sitting in the shower and getting the occasional spritz, but mostly he likes to choose his own bathing moments. The Senegal and red-bellied are more likely to go for a good soaking, but Ty has his doubts about the necessity of bathing.

Every parrot is different though. Take for example this little guy here, with his head upright, neck stretches, eyes not quite completely round, he looks pretty okay about his shower. I’ve heard many grey owners, however complain that this is never the case with their own birds.

So should you make a bird who won’t bathe wash off the dust? Do birds need baths or not?

There’s no doubt that the bathing is a healthy habit. Feathers have a lot of detritus lurking in their layers and a good bathing washes the unwanted and unhealthy away. Rainforest parrots, who would be subject to frequent soakings in the wild whether they were willing or not, seem to be the most amenable and even joyful about a bath. Perhaps greys, who frequent a dryer habitat just don’t embrace a cloudburst in quite the same way. And on top of this, every parrot is an individual and the sum of their experiences. Some birds don’t find bathing a joyful experience and it only takes one bad experience with a misting or in the shower to shift this attitude toward pure hatred. All the same, baths are good. Should you make your bird bathe though? Absolutely NOT. The good news is that you CAN train you bird to happily take a shower.

How to Train Bathing

Start with a spray bottle set on a fine mist and introduce bathing slowly. Mist away from your bird, if he sits calmly and unconcerned, say “good” and reward with a treat. Mist a little closer and do the same. Continue until you are gradually rewarding your bird to sit calmly as the spray get closer. If at any time your bird looks uncomfortable or leans away from the water, back off and start from the last position he was comfortable in. You want your bird to learn that water is a positive and that sitting calmly gets him a reward.

Once you are right next to your bird with the sprayer, continue spraying and hold a treat where he can only get to it by getting into the mist just a tiny bit. When he leans in say “good” and let him have the treat. Make sure the “good” coincides with leaning into the water. This is the behavior you are rewarding. Then gradually ask him to go a bit further every time. Once he seems comfortable stepping into the spray and then getting a treat, stop holding the treat out. You want him to understand that the cue for stepping into the water is you spraying. You can show him the treat, but see if he will step in without being led. (You can always go back a few steps and lead him in if he doesn’t get it or forgets.) When he does step into the spray on his own, praise and reward.

From here you can approximate by lengthening the time in the spray and the number of times you spray in similar small steps until you’ve trained your bird to bathe. This may take one session or several months, but it’s worth the effort. Because he has made the decision on his own to walk into the spray for treats and because bathing has been paired with positives, a treat, or even just your praise and excitement if he isn’t interested in food, bathing itself will be a positive and welcome experience.

Good luck with your bathing beauty!

Friday’s Favorite Feathers


Parrot
Originally uploaded by thelastminute
If you love this as much as I do, be sure to go to the Flickr page and comment on it!

By Duncan Rawlinson

www.TheLastMinuteBlog.com

Top Five Dangers Inside of the Cage

This is always my least favorite discussion when it comes to new parrots, mostly because I think we get carried away. People slip and hit their heads, killing themselves in bathtubs and on stairs, but we all still have bathtubs and most of us still use stairs. Accidents happen and being overly paranoid doesn’t always stop them form happening. Here are a few really common things to look out for, but mostly, my advice is to just use good judgment, common sense and supervision. Your parrot will be fine.

  1. Zinc poisoning
    Watch out for galvanized quick links.

    Watch out for galvanized quick links.

Zinc is poisoning to parrots and can be ingested through metals that have been galvanized. The level of toxicity can cause feather plucking, gasteric distress or even death, depending on how much zinc gets in the bird’s system. Read more about it here.

2. Frayed rope toys

Easy for a parrot to get a toy caught and many a bird has lost a toe this way. It’s even possible for a parrot to get her neck wrapped in strings. Keep an eye on all materials that have the potential of fraying and leaving dangerous strings.

3. Choking

Watch out for anything small enough to swallow or to break down into pieces that can be swallowed and obstruct the throat. Some parrot will destroy things regularly without swallowing the bits, but others are a danger to themselves. Keep an eye on your parrot with new toys.

Glade oil candles should be kept away from bird cages.

Glade oil candles should be kept away from bird cages.

4. Toxic fumes (from air fresheners, scented candles, Teflon, etc.)

Lots of things we put in the air are bad for us. And many of stories of dangers are overblown. However, as a rule of thumb, if it smells strongly to you, don’t put it or use it near your bird’s cage. (which the exception of over-heated teflon which doesn’t smell, but rapidly kills birds) And if it seems dangerous to your bird…well, there’s a reason why they used canaries in a coalmine. Maybe you shouldn’t have it in your house in the first place.

5. Poisoning (feeding poisonous or moldy foods)

Feed fresh food from dependable sources that don’t use pesticides. Be especially careful with fruits that bugs find really tasty, like strawberries, raspberries, etc.  Buy organic.