One Lucky Bird

This is Dusty. He is a 30 year old Blue and Gold Macaw. When his mom acquired him, it took her six years to gain his trust enough for hands-on contact. Now Dusty and his mom are very close. Dusty has been through some nasty challenges. He had a stubborn case of Aspergillis and has finally gotten rid of it. However, the result is very apparent.







When Asper takes hold...it can be brutal. This photo should be warning to all of us to do our best to keep the air and surroundings as clean as possible for our birds. They have complex respiratory systems and aren't meant to breathe the many particulates in our homes.

Every bird home should have a hepa type air cleaner near the cage. The filter should be cleaned frequently. The practice of placing stacks of newspaper at the bottom of the cage and then removing only the top sheet should be banned. Yes, it makes life easy...but the dust, dander, poop and food particles that accumulate create a dangerous fungal situation. The bird flaps his wings and the dust and particles swirl up into their delicate bodies. Parrots have many air sacs throughout their entire body.

Dusty has come through this ordeal with flying colors. He is a gentle soul who enjoys the simple pleasures of life. He obviously loves sitting outside on his pool-side perch! Wild caught parrots seem to have a confidence that makes them mellow. Of course, this comes with being old and wise too.

Take a good look at Dusty's gaping hole and decide to keep the cage environment clean. Aspergillis spores are everywhere and usually don't manifest themselves this severely.

Big Love Little Bird

This is Manu. He is a very loved and spoiled Canary Wing Parakeet. At home he gets a bath in the sink supervised by his mom.

His mom loves him so much and while she is out of town, I get to love him! He is staying with me and enjoying the "big bird" Atom. I also hang small toys up when the little guys are playing.

You will see in the photo that Manu thinks he is a big bird and prefers to play on the larger ropes.

He is quite the character and I know that I will have plenty of stories to share about this active little guy.

Bath Wins Over Breakfast

This is Munchkin. He is one of my most entertaining guests! He is a great eater and absolutely loves it when breakfast is served each morning. He usually dives in and becomes a mush mouth quickly. Yesterday morning I served breakfast and, since his mom was coming for a visit, I offered him a dish of water to bathe in. One should prepare for such a visit by taking a bath, of course. The sun was streaming in and that bath looked very enticing. Munch had a huge dilemma... eat or bathe? He was obviously torn between the two and I refused to serve breakfast at his bathing dish. One must draw the line. He couldn't resist and accepted a ride on my finger down to the sunny shimmering water. He spent quite a while getting happily wet and then climbed up to eat. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Charlie Sun Conure

This is Charlie. He happens to be staying with me when I have a couple of big guys here as well.
To make him more comfortable on the big rope atoms, I have positioned a long ladder along the bottoms. He loves walking the plank and eventually started climbing all over the place. Little birds can play on big ropes and big birds can play on little ropes, however, some big birds eat the little ropes! You can see how Indy plays on the same apparatus. He is quite the acrobat with those strong legs and big feet and beak! Go Indy! Charlie and Indy are never on the ropes at the same time...

Guest Birds Loving Outdoor Cages

Here are a couple of my current "guests" enjoying some time outside on a nice afternoon. Phoenix, the Moluccan cockatoo is an "only bird" and sweetly sits and marvels at the beautiful day and visiting hummingbirds and butterflies.

Indy, the Hyacinth macaw, on the other hand, is busy trying to figure out why he is locked in and why no one is taking him out to play. These are both young birds and the difference in their personalities is evident.

Indy is a "bring it on!" kind of guy and Phoenix is a passive and contemplative little girl. Of course, both of them are a joy to have visiting!

While all the birds were outdoors yesterday, a small group of California Quail came down to scratch around the cages. The beautiful male quail strutted his stuff and sounded out the quail call. Buster, my grey, does this call expertly and sounded right back! This made the male quail nervous and he called out again. Buster said, "quiet!" I wonder what the quail thought of that?

It's a good thing they got their outside time yesterday because today is raining!

PARROT SENSE OF HUMOR

Still trying to keep Indy busy and my house from being eaten. We play a lot on the top of my bed because he loves to jump. He says, "Come on, JUMP!" and then hops straight up and gets both feet off the bed. Well, we were playing and he wandered up to me and tried to nip at my cell phone that was attached to my belt loop. "No" I stated with disapproval, to which he responded by running to my shoe and lunging for it as he yelled, "No" and looked at me. Like his mom says, "It's hard not to laugh when he's a brat because he's so cute when he's bad." Indy makes me laugh every day.

Goofy Goffins

This is Leo. He is a Goffins Cockatoo staying with me and having a great time. He "needs" lots of loving and out of the cage time. He seems to be a night owl because when I cover everyone up, he "requests" some special skritch time while we watch TV. Cockatoos are blessed with those cute facial feathers that they can fluff up to show their cute and coy happiness.

When those cheek feathers are fluffed, they are quite easy to handle! Of course, all cockatoos love skritches but that's not there is to sharing life with a cockatoo! They also have a mischievous side to their personality!

Reading Parrots

This is Sydney. He's a big male Moluccan Cockatoo that I am visiting this weekend. I always handle him carefully and try to read his comfortability when I bring him out of his cage. Today, he was stiff and upright. He seemed tense. I was very aware of his discomfort. When a parrot gets nervous, they might bite out of fear or anxiousness. I placed him on his hanging playgym and gave him a toothbrush to soothe him. He took it and used it almost like a pacifier. I then determined that the T-Shirt I was wearing made him uncomfortable. It was one of those with parrots screenprinted on the front. Birds are very visual. I slipped away and turned it inside out. When I walked back into the room, I could walk up and preen Sydney and he was back to his old gentle self. The rest of the visit went well without tension. I have found that even a brightly colored shirt can be disconcerting for some shy birds. I wear a lot of brown and black and neutral colors because of this. I handle many birds in many situations and don't need to provoke them!

Now That's A BEAK

He's back... Indy is staying with me and I've enjoyed his hilarious antics through the years as he has grown up. However, now he is much stronger than before. It may be difficult to see but in the background is a Smart Crock. Indy crunched it up when I wasn't looking! These are substantial crocks and I've used them with Indy each visit in the past. Not any more! His beak is so big and powerful that he considered the thick plastic crock a plaything to destroy. Isn't he cute. He easily cracks open the very tough Macadamia Nuts in the shell. Today I bought him an untreated 2 x 4 to hang in his cage. We'll see how long it lasts! You gotta love that face!

Energy Levels of Parrots

Recently spent some more time with Manu, the little Canary Wing Parakeet. He reminded me of the importance of matching one's energy level with the parrot you share your home with. Spending time with Manu is exhausting! He is constantly demanding interaction and play. He shares the home with a Blue and Gold Macaw named Dusty. Dusty is much more sedate. He probably watches all the energy coming from Manu and gets tired too. There's a lot to love with each of these guys, but you better be ready for action with little Manu!

Can't Get Wet Enough

This is Barnaby. He certainly loves to get wet! When I bring out the spray bottle, he is first in line to participate! He hates it when I stop and I better not stop too soon because he'll just go to his water bowl and finish. Barnaby is the most vocal and happy Yellow Nape Amazon. He sounds so sweet and has such a great personality that I'm afraid some innocent people might run out to get one of these guys! Be careful what you wish for because he is a lot of bird. Very active, gregarious, boisterous, and a real handful to handle. With a big male amazon, you need to know exactly what mood he is in before you stick your hand out for a "step up." Most of the time...everything is fine. But the rare occasion when he is full of himself, can be quite a surprise! Yeow!

Crisis Averted

This is Kiwi. He almost died today. I arrived at his home to care for him and his other avian companions and noticed that he was not coming to the front of his cage.

Now someone, who is not bird savvy, might not have paid attention. It looked like he was enjoying hanging out in his stringy toy. I always observe everything about the birds that I visit. Their behaviors, their poop, are they active and eating? This little guy is always the alarm caller and guard dog of the three birds, even though he is the smallest. But, this time...he was up in the back corner of his cage. Something was terribly wrong. I immediately grabbed a small towel and a pair of scissors and gently removed him along with the toy that was wrapped around his neck and leg. Removing the toy was made extra difficult because it was fastened with a slotted keyring! These are also notably dangerous because little toes can get stuck in the slots. I cut the strangling strings and watched Kiwi on a small kitchen stand to see if he was injured in any way. He seemed weak but none the worse for wear. I sprayed him with a mist bottle and prepared his cage with his food, water, and vegetables. When he was returned to the cage he didn't stop eating! He dove into the veggies and it became obvious that he had been in this predicament for some time. He was ravenous! These string toys are "made for birds". They are the supposedly correct type of cotton string that is supposed to break easily. Not so in this case. If you have these toys in your bird's cage, beware. The strings that bound Kiwi were not particularly long but they were almost deadly. Kiwi is an active bird who obviously did battle with these fuzzy and fun toys and lost. I hate to think about what could have happened. Always keep a towel and a pair of scissors in your bird cage area.

Two Is Company Three's A Crowd

When two birds are bonded and caged together, it becomes somewhat challenging to handle them. These two Greenwing Macaws are a male female pair that I care for on a regular basis. I have found that if Lulu comes to the front of the cage, I can request a step up and she is cooperative. Then, Cleo, the male comes out willingly to join his mate.



To get Lulu to come to the front of the cage, I have learned to play peek a boo from around the side of the wall. I peek and tease and the game is fun for her. She wants to see where I am and comes to the front. Then, I bring her out to her playstand.
If I were to just reach in when they are together at the back...one will defend the other and there is a lot of bravado. It is easier to find a playful way to ease the tension.

Bringing The Wild Inside

I strive to create entertaining environments for my parrots. The Comcast guy questioned why I have TVs in the rooms where "there are only birds." Of course they have TVs!

I have found a new way to calm my birds by clicking on the Wild Cam Africa and turning up the volume. This is an amazing site where you can watch a pond in Botswana Africa as the various animals come for a drink. The part I love the most is the sound! There is a very sensitive microphone and the sounds of the crickets and splashing of Nile Crocodiles can be easily heard throughout my home. The time difference means if you watch in the morning, you see the evening happenings there. 10am this morning was 7pm there and the herd of Elephants came in. I also leave it on at night and enjoy the sounds as the dawn appears. At 8pm to 10pm it is 5am to 7am at the pond. During the day there someone mans the camera and zeros in on the activity. At night, the camera pans and zooms with pre-determined program. This can be frustrating if you catch a glimpse of something wonderful and it moves on....

Buster hangs out with me at night and seems calm and mesmerized by the sights and sounds on my computer. Google Wild Cam Africa (National Geographic) and give it a try. You can go to Theater Mode and see it full screen. It is addictive.