Where to Put a Swing and How to Get a Bird Used to It
rosella-swing-600

Where to Put a Swing and How to Get a Bird Used to It

Recently I visited a customer to deliver an order and was invited to come in and see their new rescued Macaw named Paulie. A beautiful Scarlet in a huge Prevue 3155 cage, the top third was loaded with toys and a large Booda Rope Swing. They said the macaw had not used the swing set, as he seemed to be intimidated by the movement of it so it hung pristine and lonely.  

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DYK – Your Bird Keeps Better Time than a Swiss Watch?
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DYK – Your Bird Keeps Better Time than a Swiss Watch?

Quick, say “diurnal, circadian, or photoperiodic clock” five times fast. And that my friend explains how your bird can tell time. Although your bird cannot tell what day it is it does know what the month is of each year using its circannual (calendar) clock. It actually knows the precise time of day (just not what day it is).
 
iPhone might have Siri but with no Internet connection whatsoever your bird gets “messaged” on a regular basis, indicating the proper times to change feathers (molt), when to breed, and with migrating birds, when to migrate.

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6 How To’s for Terrestrial Travel with Your Bird
A blue and yellow macaw performs a trick involving a toy car at the KL Bird Park in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

6 How To’s for Terrestrial Travel with Your Bird

Air travel with your bird is a post all it’s own so today we’ll focus on terrestrial travel.
  
We are moving all comments from the old style blog to this new fancy schmancy one, by hand. Any comments made today and moving forward, will be made under your own profile. We apologize for any confusion and hope this new format will help make us all better caged bird keepers.
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Has Wing Clipping Damaged Your Bird’s Feet?
Close up of a Red-and-green macaw (Ara chloropterus) foot, holding the cage with its claws

Has Wing Clipping Damaged Your Bird’s Feet?

Lately, I have been villainized, accused of being self-righteous, and generally disdained by all the people who feel clipping their bird’s wings is the right thing to do.
So I proudly wear the Scarlet (Macaw) letter “F” (for Flighted) on my chest.

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Bird Parasites, Cage Litter And The Great Wing Clipping Debate
Indian common green parrot in flight mode

Bird Parasites, Cage Litter And The Great Wing Clipping Debate

How do you know if your bird has mites? Excessive scratching could be the first clue, but that could also be attributed to dry skin. The simplest method is to take a piece of white computer paper and hold it under your bird’s main perch. Then tap, tap, tap hard on the perch with something like a wooden spoon. If you see small red dot “crawly things” on the paper, those would be mites. If you’re in doubt a visit to the vet would be in order.
 

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Upsides to Wing Clipping and EZ Pellet Conversion
Blue and yellow macaw parrot with clipped stretched wings on branch in bird park

Upsides to Wing Clipping and EZ Pellet Conversion

Welcome to your Sunday Birdie Brunch.
 
Everyone who knows me knows I am an advocate of keeping birds flighted. Strong headed as I am I realize that there are two sides to every story so I asked Denise Wamsley to provide her input on the benefits of clipping bird’s wings. Denise – you’re on. 

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