The Parrot Advocate

10/01/2021

Special treats!
Birdie biscuits. Oats, bananas. coconut, strawberries and blackberries ♥️🦜♥️

04/01/2021

Kiwi knows what he likes 😂😍

26/06/2020

Nasturtiums and Fuchsias potted on for the birds. Just waiting for them to get bigger. Will plant them earlier next year. ❤️🦜❤️

30/05/2020

Meet Mickey, a 15 year old Africa grey parrot. I have recently adopted him as his owner died. In his 15 years he has never been out of his cage! 😭 He has been fed a poor diet of seed with monkey nuts and lots of sunflower as well as bread and butter! He has also never had any toys 😢

This video is his second day with me and I was amazed by how trusting and brave he is. This will bring a tear your eye and make your heart smile. Clever, beautiful, brave, Mickey ❤️🦜❤️

23/05/2020

Appropriate enrichment is so important for the physical and mental welfare of your parrot. Here Max is enjoying some time outside in the sunshine which is good for the uptake of vitamin D and for his eyesight as unlike us, birds can see in the UV spectrum too. He spent time in the apple tree (of which all parts of the tree are safe for birds), doing what come natural to him, climbing, chewing and sorting his beak out. He spent the time outside in a harness as, as friendly as he is I would never take the risk of him getting spooked by something and flying away. He would not survive out there on his own.

16/05/2020

I am currently looking after this chap while his family are between homes. He is a black capped caique and has lots of character and energy. You cannot turn your back for a second on him or else.....

Parrots need constant supervision and can cause an awful lot of damage in a couple of minutes if left unsupervised. Not only can they damage material things but could also harm themselves in the process. Our homes are full of hazards. So as much as we want them to be able to have freedom and not be caged we need to ensure that their environment is safe.

22/02/2020

The importance of foraging

Parrots in the wild spend the majority of their time foraging for food. In captivity food is readily available and this results in captive parrots have a lot of time to fill with another behaviour. That may manifest as an abnormal behaviour, such as feather destructive behaviour (FDB), biting, screaming, inactivity, etc. Physiologically and/or psychological problems compromise an individuals welfare and may also affect the human-parrot relationship, which in turn may even result in relinquishment.

It is our responsibility to ensure the welfare of our birds by enabling them to carry out their species-specific behaviours, such as foraging and flight. There are many ways to increase foraging time, for example, hiding food in the birds environment, foraging toys and puzzles, etc.

In the video below Max is learning how to find food hidden in a foraging ball. Many captive parrots may not have had access to foraging devises previously so therefore we may have to teach them how to use the devise. Here I used a high value reward (a cashew) and ensured that it was small enough to fall out of the holes in the ball easily. Once he had the nut I praised him and you can hear how pleased he is with his find. When the parrot learns how to use the devise you can then increase the complexity of the foraging exercise and encourage the parrot to spend more of his time foraging.

07/02/2020

Thank you for the reminder. It's easy to get complacent & forget the basics. Exercising safe bird practices keeps our feathered friends healthy & happy. Even if your bird is perfect & you do not think they will never have an incident, please remember that others are learning from you. What you do, say, post or share might make an inexperienced or new bird owner try something that could put their bird in danger. Let's be advocates for bird safety. 💚

03/02/2020

An interesting read.

Tetrachromacy is essential to a bird’s ability to find a mate and to procreate Many references are made towards the positive, and indeed life-giving, properties of the wavelengths of light known as UVB. We know that most living things including our own species use the power of the sun to obtain wa...

24/01/2020

The SPCA says it’s shocked after finding hundreds of dead parrots in Randburg at the home of a parrot breeder. Twenty distressed birds were removed from the ...