Fifteen Years of Ty's Tail

In honor of Ty’s sweet sixteen last week…

Note the gray-tinged feathers in the center, baby feathers.

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

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©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Fallen by Photobunny

I get asked a lot about how to tell if your parrots are plucking. Honestly, the most common time of the year I hear this is during the molt and it’s a fair question. Sometimes it seems the feathers come out all at once.

Dropping feathers is very normal and they can drop suddenly and in large numbers. Different species of birds molt differently. Most ducks drop all their primaries at once and become flightless. (That’s a big suprise when you’re training ducks to fly in a show, believe me.) They hunker down during breeding season and grow everything in all at once. Other birds like falcons and parrots, need to fly all year, so they drop the larger feathers one at a time so that they can continue to fly. The weather, time of year and available food can make a difference in when the molt starts and how quickly the feathers fall. Some years are slightly different than others, even with birds that are in a captive environment with steady “weather” and food.

Often the first thing to go is the down. There isn’t a feather to be seen and then one day, little puffy white feathers are everywhere. This is the first thing that might make you think that you’re bird is plucking. Don’t panic. Look for obvious signs that the feathers aren’t falling naturally.

• Are the feathers bitten off? Look for half-feathers that have been nipped off instead of falling off at the base of the quill.
• Are the feathers damaged? Look for feathers that are bloody or pulled out before they are fully formed.
• Does your bird have bald spots with no pin feathers coming in? Molting feathers are quickly replaced by incoming pin feathers when they fall naturally.
• Are the feathers all one shape. Look for signs that your parrot is pulling out feathers that are all in one area.

It’s also a good idea to look for overpreening, which can eventually lead to plucking. If your parrot has feathers that are worn or tweaked from constant attention, he may be over preening. If so, pay special attention to toys that give your bird something to occupy his time. Enrichment is key.

If there are tons of feathers falling and even if your bird is looking a little ratty, he may not be plucking unless your seeing the things listed above. If you’re not sure if the feather loss is normal, take your bird to the vet to check right away, especially if its been a while since he’s had a check-up. There are many medical conditions that can start a plucking problem and plucking can become a habit.

If everything is hunky dory, hang in there for the next few months while the feathers fly. (And invest in a good vacuum cleaner.)

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Parrot by Len Radin

If you love this photo as much as I do, click on it and go give the photog some love!

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Where do you shop?

Truth is that as convenient as Petsmart and Petco are, they don’t carry all of the things that bird lovers need. Besides supporting small business, there are a lot of good reasons to support your local bird supply store if there is one in your area. Sure you can order lots of things for your bird online, but the shipping adds up!

Places like The Bird Shop in Sacramento carry a variety of nuts readily availbale all year, pelleted diets by all the major and speciality companies as well as less expensive toys and a better variety of them. You can also shop for cages, supplements, perches as well as books and magazines.

Even better, you can find out what’s going in the parrot community locally of just hang out and talk parrots with folks who are not going to roll their eyes at you and walk away.

Where is your favorite place to shop for parrot supplies?

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©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Juliana Moore with Cockatoos

Everyone relishes a great love story, especially on Valentine’s Day. And sometimes, well, St. Valentine is for the birds!

Take this story for example from the Edmonton Journal.  

 A retiring undertaker told a story of an 84-year-old widow who did not want to be buried in a joint plot with her husband, Rather, she wanted to be interred with her pet parrot. No doubt she and the bird spent quite a few Valentine’s Days together.

Now that’s devotion!

It has been said by reviewers that my memoir Lift is a lovestory between a falcon and a girl. (Anakin and I will not be buried together thank you very much.) If that’s truly romance though, I have plenty of love stories to tell and surely, the good readers of Heckled by Parrots must have just as many.

So in honor of the day, I want to hear YOUR avian love story. Tell me about your feathered paramour. How did you meet? How did you know it was love?

Post them in the comments or email them to me by February 29th. The best three will win a signed copy of Lift.

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Check in on Bibi on her channel on Ustream. Her bio:

Bibi is a 3-year-old (ed. although I just heard her say “I’m four years old”) African Grey Parrot that speaks 20 languages, with a vocabulary of well over 300 words. She can also sing, dance, and is an outstanding comedic actress…a real triple threat. Amuse yourself by watching Bibi amuse herself.

Live Videos by Ustream

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

Come visit me at The Bookcase in Wayzata on Friday September 18th at 7PM. I’ll be signing and reading my new memoir LIFT.

I’ll be doing parrot training workshop at the Parrot Adoption Education Program on in the morning  Saturday September 19th.

Then another presentation in the evening at the Minnesota Parrot Companion Bird Club on Sunday September 20th.

Wondering where else I’ll be?? (Me too!!)  Just check the events page.

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.

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?

©2010 Heckled By Parrots. All Rights Reserved.