Ornithology: Share and discuss scientific articles on parrots!

Information on diet, from a person who has observed wild parrots. His recommendations are 60% or a little less pellets, and a huge variety of vegetables, fruits , plus nuts and seeds. Ect. But has trouble generalizing as diets change seasonal and if breeding or not. He talks about increasing fats fir breeding burds. I think thsts what's gotten me in trouble with Ta-dah, as I was feeding her high fat foods right before this start if breeding season, and sure hope i haven't thrown her into laying eggs. I will make sure next breeding season to reduce fats in my burds diets.
How should we feed our parrots?

https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/metabolic-bone-disease-or-rickets-in-birds

Lots if great articles at this site. I'm linking the feather plucking one. As quakers are in the high risk for plucking group. Quakers are very prone to plucking abd screaming. Tgey are very social abd intelligent active species. With a person who works away from home, on average they dont do well abd screaming and pluck and mutilate themselves. Penny is plucker, and Orbit was well on his way, and I'm still working to prevent him from becoming a plucker, he was a full on screamer too, still very vocal, but the sunrise to sunset screaming has been stopped. ( no secret tricks, it a busy active life, great food, lots if attention, out tge cage 8 hrs a day, foraging, ect, some redirection, postive reinforcement)

Caution below article talks of taking a clipped or harness small portions like a quaker outside to let them forage on the ground. THIS IS NOT SAFE!!@ a hawk will take your bird if you do this!! Hawks have eben grabbed small burd off shoulders.
http://www.parrotsdailynews.com/q-a-what-is-the-cause-of-parrot-plucking-part-i/
 
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Laurasea said:
Information on diet, from a person who has observed wild parrots. His recommendations are 60% or a little less pellets, and a huge variety of vegetables, fruits , plus nuts and seeds..... He talks about increasing fats fir breeding burds. I think thsts what's gotten me in trouble with Ta-dah, as I was feeding her high fat foods right before this start if breeding season, and sure hope i haven't thrown her into laying eggs. I will make sure next breeding season to reduce fats in my burds diets.
How should we feed our parrots?.....
Click to expand...


Our CAV considers fats to be a key food hormonal trigger as well.
 
Parrots are companions, not pets.

" A parrot no longer treated as a prisoner will quickly adapt and flourish in this new situation, and become less problematic than those kept caged and unloved, forced to resort to screaming, plucking and self destructive or aggressive behavior as a result of neglect. Parrots are social animals, naturally existing in harmony and symbiosis within a larger flock. When brought into a human home, the people within that home become their flock. To deprive a parrot of flock interactions is a form of punishment that the naturally social and outgoing parrot cannot understand. They will resort to whatever means at their disposal to correct it. Life in a cage, separated from meaningful interaction, love, and shared experiences is life as a prisoner, and no parrot need ever suffer such a fate. A parrot's only crime is to have been forced into contact with a human household that doesn't actually want or fully understand this magnificent being. Through education and intelligent choice, no human household should ever accept into its midst any animal whose natural behaviors cannot be properly and successfully integrated"

Flock Call - Companion Parrot, not pet
 
Thanks Laura for posting these! FYI, based on your recommendation, I bought the book "The Bird Way" and it's very informative and not just about parrots! A whole section about Kea! Considered now to be the smartest birds, more than corvids and more than any other species of parrot.
 
wrench13 said:
Thanks Laura for posting these! FYI, based on your recommendation, I bought the book "The Bird Way" and it's very informative and not just about parrots! A whole section about Kea! Considered now to be the smartest birds, more than corvids and more than any other species of parrot.
Click to expand...

very interesting! Be sure and share your new learned insights! I read a lot, unfortunately my retention isn't what it used to be! Lol I can't hardly remember what I read.
 
Thanks Noah!
 
Capture myopathy, a link, tho this article seems to only talk severe cases , it can occur to a much lesser and survivable .
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...is) is,handling, immobilization, or transport.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18351009/

http://wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/exertional_myopathy.htm

This one only cover myopathy briefly, as one of the tolls of (poaching) ripping wild burds out of nature to sell in the pet trade, most due in capture, transit, or shortly thereafter...
https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-736X2020000200121
Excerpt from above
" INTRODUCTION

Brazil has the largest number of bird species in the world, many of which is endemic and threatened or in risk of extinction (Mittermeier et al. 2005, Marinha Militar 2016, Machado et al. 2008). In this scenario, Brazil is one of the main collection sites and leading routes of wildlife illegal trade (Oliveira 2003). This illegal trade moves around US $ 6 billion and extracts from nature more than four million birds, being one of the main threats to many species survival. In addition to illegal trade, habitat loss, illegal hunting and capture are other causes of bird population decline, causing an ecological imbalance in ecosystems (Redford 1992). This imbalance may facilitate pathogen transmission of an adapted population (reservoir) to a new host population (naïve) in an epidemiologic process called spill-over (Frölich et al. 2002). This phenomenon can be observed when wild birds approach urban centers and can be infected with agents that are not described for the species.

Infectious or parasitic diseases affect wild birds often, mainly because of bare transport conditions of illegal trade. Consequently, 90% of captured birds do not reach their final destination (Redford 1992, RENCTAS 2001, Wilson-Wilde 2010). Cachexia and trauma injuries caused by this transportation can predispose the occurrence of infectious/parasitic diseases. In a study conducted in the state of São Paulo with apprehended birds from illegal trade, the main diseases were infectious and parasitic (Godoy & Matushima 2010).

The aims of this paper were to identify the main diseases that occur in wildlife birds in southernmost region of Rio Grande do Sul State, highlighting those diagnostics with zoonotic/spillover potential."

This is in an Amazon that w as in an outdoor aviary, my guess was tormented by a predator trying to get in
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28891700/

Since over exertion and heat stress can cause simular im including this article ..sensitive people should not read, as sadly in this study on galah and doves they were euthanized, myself I find this hard...
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03079457.2018.1546824
 
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Amazonian Mummified Parrots Discovered in the Atacama Desert

Researchers have made the curious discovery of mummified parrots in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Between 1000 and 1460 BC, parrots and macaws were transported over 300 miles to one of the driest places on Earth. One of the most remarkable questions that co-author Jośe M. Capriles and his team posed was how they transported these birds without killing them. But also, why were these parrots mummified in this way?

Unlikely Animal Transportation: The Journey to Mummified Parrots
When the parrots were captured and brought to the Atacama, insane terrain and weather posed massive issues. The birds had to travel across the Andes, with some of the peaks reaching over 10,000 feet high. Natives to the Amazon, the birds would not have been used to such cold weather.

• Birds in the Ancient World: Messengers of Omens and Auguries
• Strange Discovery Made in Mexican Cave, Including Mummified Macaw, Baby and Adult Remains

One of the most pressing questions was how did llamas carry them? There were no horses during this time (pre-Inca), and llamas are not usually used as packing animals. Researcher Jośe M. Capriles was left puzzled. “Llamas are not the best pack animals,” wrote the researcher in the science journal PNAS. “The fact that llama caravans brought macaws and parrots across the Andes and across the desert to this oasis is amazing.”
For birds native to humidity and heat, its remarkable that these birds stayed alive, enduring travel over 300 miles (482 km) and through cold temperatures. Their survival goes to show the importance and levels of care that went into making sure these precious birds remained alive.

Continuation of the detail at the source: Ancient Origins
 
Extremely interesting! I see both parrots had their upper beaks modified. While no mention of this was made, it looks as tho both had upper beak severely shortetened.....since they were plucking them to use their feathers......I imagine they wanted less severe bites...it is sad........but very interesting thank you for sharing
 
Because I was reading some of Pamela Clsrks articles, she is a certified parrot behavior consultant with decades of experience. This one is on bird rooms, which she is against..
https://blogpamelaclarkonline.com/2019/01/16/parrots-in-bird-rooms/
" Poor diet, unmet or inappropriately met social needs, and other poor practices or limitations in the environment will set the stage for behavior problems to develop. In other words, if the parrot is not getting his primary needs met, he will be more likely to display problem behavior. (Please note that “getting his needs met” does not equate with “getting what he wants.”) Conversely, if these areas are not corrected, reversing problem behavior will be either more difficult or impossible."

" Another deal breaker can be excessive daily cage time. I am convinced that caged birds need at least three to four hours out of the cage each day, and that this needs to be broken into two sessions. If a parrot receives less time out than this, the pent-up energy and boredom that result will, at the very least, be reflected in increased noise, and at the worst, cause the development of stereotypical behaviors. Thus, this problem must be corrected before we can effectively implement behavior change strategies."

" Environment matters a lot to birds. They thrive when their “home” is placed in our living area. It’s important for them to be able to behave socially in a normal (or as close to normal as we can support) manner when living in our homes. Clipping wings cripples them from behaving normally in a social manner. Confining all movements to a simple playstand when out of the bird room, adds to this “invisible confinement.”

"Increased Stress: I think of parrots, even the smaller species, as having large personalities. Large personalities result in a sense of territory. If you watch a group of parrots who are able to be at liberty all day, you will see that they keep their distance from each other most of the time, even if they are the same species. They interact socially, but don’t perch side by side unless they share a pair bond.

My own experience has convinced me that cages for medium to large parrots should be no closer than four or five feet from each other. This allows each parrot to have their own “sense of territory” and reduces the stress that parrots feel when crammed in next to each other in a single room. When cages are closer, you will often see hyper-excitable behavior and increased “territorial” aggression in parrots who live full-time in a bird room."

The full article contains much more information.
 
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All about eggs. As myself and others have girls intent on making them.
" A hen’s ovary develops to its functional state based on the life span of her particular species. Many of the larger psittacines have development at about 4 to 7 years of age, while in smaller parrot species it is at 1 to 3 years of age. All birds have ovarian development during the breeding season; the ovary then shrinks during the non-breeding season"
Budgies lay a set number of eggs, some other species can lay more to replace lost eggs.
" Determinate Egg Layers
Some birds, such as crows and budgerigars (aka “parakeets”) are determinate layers. These birds lay a fixed number of eggs in their clutch. Indeterminate layers, such as cockatiels, are those bird species that can replace a lost egg by laying another."
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/the-female-reproductive-system-along-comes-the-egg/

Ways to deter eggs.
" So how are we to avoid this? Don’t cover their cages at night for starters. As I said above, link chewing with food and that means plenty of foraging. Provide exercise and get your bird out of its cage as much as possible. You might try moving the cage about every other week or as soon as they get comfortable in one location, move it. Parrots were meant to fly and so get them to fly or at least do flapping daily or even multiple times in a day. Work up to it, particularly if you have a couch potato."
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/4-easy-ways-to-deter-breeding-behavior/

https://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/pages/hormonal-behavior-in-pet-birds-pt-1
 
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