The Georgia Aviary

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The Georgia Aviary

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A nonprofit dedicated to parrot rescue, rehabilitation, lifelong care, education and advocacy. https://thegeorgiaaviary.org/donations/

10/31/2026

A parrot that hangs back may still have plenty of curiosity.

In a 2017 touchscreen study involving five parrot species and four corvid species, researchers offered birds occasional new images among familiar choices. Birds that approached more slowly tended to explore later in training, rather than showing less exploration overall.

The result challenges a quick assumption: the first bird to investigate is not necessarily the only curious one. It also concerns one controlled task, not a test of how every companion parrot will respond to a new toy.

Today's What Makes a Parrot a Parrot? installment follows the paper's discussion of exploration. Its adaptive-loop framework is a proposed way to connect anatomy, behavior, cognition and ecology, not something this experiment proves.

When you watch your parrot encounter something unfamiliar, what do you notice before that first approach?

Male Eclectus illustration, not an Aviary resident or a recreation of the experiment.

Source: O'Hara and colleagues, Scientific Reports (2017), “The temporal dependence of exploration on neotic style in birds.”

10/31/2026

Helping wild parrots can mean refusing to buy them.

Fijivillage reported on October 30 that Fiji's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is warning about parrot chicks being taken from wild nests and offered for sale.

The Ministry urges people not to purchase wild birds, even out of sympathy, because those purchases encourage further capture. It asks people who encounter suspected illegal capture or sales in Fiji to report them to the Ministry.

Protecting a bird in front of us also means considering the birds that could be taken next.

Source: Priya Nand, Fijivillage, October 30, 2026.
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10/30/2026

Some routines are worth keeping.

For the parrots at The Georgia Aviary, meals, enrichment and daily care are part of every day. A recurring $5 monthly gift can make supporting that work part of your routine, too.

If monthly giving fits your circumstances, visit the website printed in this graphic and choose Donate. Select $5 and make sure recurring monthly giving is selected.

Thank you for helping us care for parrots, month after month.

10/30/2026

A wider buffer around a nesting tree can matter to the birds that depend on it.

On October 29, Western Australia's government announced new conditions for Alcoa's bauxite mining, including increasing protection buffers around black cockatoo nesting trees and significant trees in the Huntly mining area from 10 to 50 metres.

The package also calls for independent fauna surveys, recorded tree locations and marked protection areas. The order contains exceptions and transitional provisions, so the headline distance is not a blanket guarantee for every tree or activity.

These are temporary arrangements while the Environmental Protection Authority continues its assessment. The announcement describes new requirements, not a measured recovery in cockatoo numbers.

Source: Government of Western Australia, October 29, 2026; published Exemption Order 2026.

10/30/2026

Sometimes the interesting choice is the one a parrot doesn't take.

In a rotating-tray experiment, 28 parrots from four species could take a less-preferred food or wait until a preferred food became reachable. Some birds waited, but performance varied. One African grey reached the study's longest delay: 50 seconds.

That result describes these birds in this task, not a patience score for every parrot. The design of a test and a bird's experience matter.

Today's What Makes a Parrot a Parrot? installment explores cognition through choice. It connects with the paper's discussion of comparative intelligence. The adaptive-loop framework remains a proposal, not something this experiment proves.

Illustration of an African grey, not an Aviary resident or a recreation of the experiment.

Source: Brucks and colleagues, Animal Cognition (online 2021; volume 2022), “Intra- and interspecific variation in self-control capacities of parrots in a delay of gratification task.”

10/29/2026

A parrot's leftovers can become another animal's meal.

A 2019 study documented food wasting in 103 parrot species, combining field observations and experiments. Researchers also recorded 86 animal species feeding on food the parrots had left behind.

That does not prove parrots deliberately feed their neighbors. The study could not conclusively separate accidental dropping from deliberate discarding. An ecological effect is not the same thing as an animal's intention.

Today's What Makes a Parrot a Parrot? installment looks beyond the beak to the wider food web. What a bird leaves behind can matter as well as what it eats.

This connects with the paper's discussion of ecological roles. Its adaptive-loop framework remains a proposed way to organize questions, not a proven explanation for this behavior.

Conceptual illustration of a Meyer's parrot, one species pictured in the study, not an Aviary resident or a feeding recommendation.

Source: Sebastián-González and colleagues (2019), Scientific Reports, “The extent, frequency and ecological functions of food wasting by parrots.”

10/29/2026

Protecting wild parrots also means protecting their eggs.

In an October 27 update, the International Fund for Animal Welfare described an international investigation into suspected trafficking of wild parrot eggs from Brazil to Europe.

The coordinated operation took place on October 19, with four arrests across Brazil and Spain and searches in Switzerland. Brazil’s Federal Police confirmed the operation and its origins: 24 wild bird eggs intercepted at a Rio de Janeiro airport in October 2025.

IFAW reports that only nine chicks survived. It also describes helping authorities connect and share intelligence during the investigation.

The case highlights both the welfare costs of trafficking and the importance of cooperation across borders. The investigation remains ongoing; arrests are not convictions.

Sources: IFAW, October 27, 2026; Brazilian Federal Police, October 19, 2026.
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10/28/2026

Care continues after the photo is taken.

The everyday work of caring for parrots includes meals, enrichment and the supplies that support those routines. A recurring $5 monthly gift is one way to help The Georgia Aviary keep that ongoing care moving.

If monthly giving fits your circumstances, visit the website printed in this graphic and choose Donate to explore the options.

Thank you for supporting the care that happens beyond the spotlight.

10/28/2026

Water matters alongside food and shelter.

An October 27 update from Australia’s environment department describes two projects supporting black cockatoos in Perth’s south-west with five elevated watering stations.

One station, developed by Friends of Clontarf Hill with the City of Fremantle, launched on September 24. The City of Cockburn plans four more, plus native planting to expand foraging habitat.

The projects aim to provide year-round water near feeding and roosting areas for Carnaby’s, Baudin’s and forest red-tailed black cockatoos.

Conservation includes practical work that helps birds meet everyday needs.

Source: Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, October 27, 2026.
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10/28/2026

A cockatiel and a zebra finch look very different. Their evolutionary family tree holds a surprise.

Genetic research places parrots and passerines, the bird group that includes finches and other songbirds, on neighboring branches: they are each other's closest living bird groups.

That does not mean a parrot descended from a modern finch, or that a finch is a small parrot. Both groups inherited a shared ancestor and followed their own evolutionary paths.

Our What Makes a Parrot a Parrot? series explores more than appearance. Understanding ancestry helps us ask which traits are shared, which changed, and how different lineages became distinctive.

The paper's adaptive-loop framework is proposed. Evidence about family relationships does not, by itself, prove that framework.

Sources: Suh and colleagues (2011), Nature Communications; Jarvis and colleagues (2014), Science.

AI-generated illustration of a cockatiel and zebra finch, not Aviary residents or a recommendation to house them together.

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http://www.thegeorgiaaviary.org/

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