Outdoors health concerns

[EdgesofTwilight]

Come summer time I'd like to take my bird to a park and let him fly with a harness. My concern is that most areas around here are infested with Canada Geese and the poop everywhere. Would my bird be at risk of catching anything, especially airborne, even if I manage to fins an area that is goose poop free?

 

[Kiwibird]

Well, I took Kiwi down nearly every day last summer to watch the geese and their babies at the lake right down the street from us (he just LOVES those geese he 'honks' back at them like he's found his own kind). I didn't let him on the ground (we sat at a picnic table) but he was 'in the vicinity of' the geese and didn't get sick.

Personally, I wouldn't allow a bird on the grass at any park. It's not just geese poop, theres dog poop too (and lord knows what else in a public park:52. I put a towel down on the picnic table and let him walk around on the table top on days when there wasn't many or any people around. Otherwise, he stayed in the backpack for his own safety. He is allowed in certain bushes and trees (short ones he can't get stuck in where I can't reach him) in the backyard. Personally, I would look for less frequented, more natural places to fly a bird in. In a park, not only is poop a concern, but so are the 10 million semi-feral dogs with negligent owners who'd want your bird for a snack or feral children with parents glued to their phones who want to harass your bird.

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

Kiwibird, do you have one of those Pak-O-Birds? I want to get one of those as well as a harness. The one park I go to is like a nature preserve. There are places where hardly anyone is around. The only thing I have to be really careful is natural predators. There have been red tailed hawks, ospreys, and sometimes eagles sighted in the skies before.

 

[Ann333]

I cant wait for summer, I live in New Mexico, so 5 minutes in any direction and youre in the middle of nowhere alone. I cant wait to be able to take Pumpkin with me to the places i have been taking my dogs the last few years. Everyone can go out and get some sun and fresh air. I have a small travel cage (like a canary cage) that i take him out in.

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

I have this travel cage - Poquito Avian Hotel for a travel cage. I want to get one of these Pak-O-Bird eventually and maybe convert a stroller for it.

 

[Flboy]

Kiwibird, do you have one of those Pak-O-Birds? I want to get one of those as well as a harness. The one park I go to is like a nature preserve. There are places where hardly anyone is around. The only thing I have to be really careful is natural predators. There have been red tailed hawks, ospreys, and sometimes eagles sighted in the skies before.

A woman here, Orlando, was walking into Chief's Bird Cabin (now closed) with her Parrot sitting on her shoulder. A hawk swooped and took the bird!

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

Yikes. I would be devastated.

 

[ToriJo]

I'd be more concered about other birds as mentioned above!! Most birds of prey can fly silently as to approach their prey without detiction so if you do take your bird outside be aware of the natrual predators!!

 

[Birdman666]

1. Geese don't go in the trees.

2. Eagles generally don't go after parrots.

3. During nesting season, when they have chicks to feed, Hawks will go after any target of opportunity that looks like an easy meal... The more acclimated they are to humans, the more likely your presence will not deter them.

A friend of mine had a greenwing taken off his shoulder by a red tailed hawk...

My neighbor, in NorCal had her little miniature yip yip dog was picked up from her back yard, and carried off. (The bird took the dog up to altitude, dropped him. The fall killed him, then the bird then came back for his dinner.)

So, yeah, HAWKS will.

 

[RavensGryf]

Wow to the above few posts I didn't know Hawks would be so bold around humans!

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

Yeah. I've seen a hawk circle up above checking out my girlfriend's little yip yip dog (as birdman would say ). We quickly got the dog indoors and no incident. The hawk came back the next day around the same time looking for the same easy meal.

My one concern is if a parrot could catch anything airborne being outside where 1000s of Canada Geese pooped. They are a nuisance around here and very few places you won't find any poop or end up stepping in it.

 

[Birdman666]

Migrating birds can be carriers of viruses... but I don't know how the pathogens are transmitted, whether it's through poop, or some sort of airborn dander, or what...

I guess it depends on the disease.

 

[Birdman666]

Wow to the above few posts I didn't know Hawks would be so bold around humans!

That incident occurred on a hiking trail in a park in the Berkeley hills.

The hawks that live in the park are used to humans. I sat down on one end of a park bench one day, with a completely wild hawk perched on the other end of the bench. He watched me intently, but he didn't spook and fly off...

They've lost their fear of humans. Once that happens, it's on...

Remember the zookeeper that had to cover up the too on her arm, cuz the hawk swooped in and tried to take it?! Yeah... you don't want them losing their fear of humans.

Hey! I've still got a dented skydiving helmet in my garage, from landing out near the sharp shinned nest! THANK GOD I STILL HAD IT ON, CUZ I NEVER SAW IT COMING... above and behind. Hit me hard enough to crack the shell on a protec!

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

Well the geese around here aren't really migrating birds. They kinda made themselves a home here in Buffalo, NY and live here year round. Just wondering if it would be any serious threat.

Here is a clip I saw a while back of a Camelot Macaw escaping a Krestrel Hawk.
[ame="http://youtu.be/5yRoOyMnzg0"]Krestrel hawk dives at Camelot macaw[/ame]

 

[Birdman666]

I've seen that many times. He was really lucky...

This is one of the reasons I don't free fly my birds anymore. I used to.

I lost Demitre to an owl.

This one is even more dramatic. This was a zoo parrot lecture. With tons of people around and someone actually holding the bird on an arm....

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDpYwDKQ_A"]Bird of Prey Attacks Cockatoo - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Robin]

p.s. Robin and I would spend our day in our sun-room and the Hawk actually 'buzzed' him on his 8' playground, literally skimmed the windows and I was sitting on the couch! Not taking Brax in the sun room until Spring time, he's too timid to handle the stress!

 

[RavensGryf]

Parasites? I'd think all wild animals have some sort of intestinal parasites, and probably external parasites are common as well.
As far as viruses, I guess it depends on what. For example PBFD is only in Psittacines (parrots) and I think the other "big scary" parrot viruses are species specific as well, but I'm not entirely sure if they all are. But I wouldn't worry too much unless there an epidemic going on like when West Nile was a big deal, or the 'bird flu' which affected more than just birds . I'd just watch what potentially infectious or at the least just 'dirty' surfaces you let your bird come in contact with.

 

[RavensGryf]

Hey! I've still got a dented skydiving helmet in my garage, from landing out near the sharp shinned nest! THANK GOD I STILL HAD IT ON, CUZ I NEVER SAW IT COMING... above and behind. Hit me hard enough to crack the shell on a protec!

!! I can't even imagine Mark. How did it get dented? Was it with their beak? Pecking?! Or did they divebomb you?

 

[Birdman666]

Hey! I've still got a dented skydiving helmet in my garage, from landing out near the sharp shinned nest! THANK GOD I STILL HAD IT ON, CUZ I NEVER SAW IT COMING... above and behind. Hit me hard enough to crack the shell on a protec!

!! I can't even imagine Mark. How did it get dented? Was it with their beak? Pecking?! Or did they divebomb you?

Divebomb... above and behind. I didn't see it coming. Only felt it, and saw him fly off. My friends told me they saw him deliberately target me. I guess I must have accidentally buzzed the nest. He clearly was not amused by my presence.

He had a female on eggs somewhere near the "landing out" field. I got a bad spot, and had to land out. Came in hard from above and behind, and hit me in the side of my head...

He actually nailed three skydivers in the space of about a week. I got off lucky. One person ended up with a torn parachute (talons slicing through nylon fabric while still in the air) - WHILE ON FINAL LOW TO THE GROUND! YIKES!!! THAT WILL GET YOUR ATTENTION... ended up having to PLF the landing.

THE OTHER ENDED UP WITH A TORN UP SHOULDER FROM HAWK CLAWS HITTING HER...

So, all I got out of the deal was a souvenier and a story to tell.... Thank god I still had my helmet on while gathering up my parachute, or I could have ended up with a nice sized hole in my head. (I know. I just set someone up with an easy punch line.) Normally it's one of the first things that comes off.

 

[Flboy]

Wow, dramatic video!
Our hawk population in Florida is huge and yap yaps disapear! The owls are a big threat here also. There is one that has been hanging by my house for years. As soon as the sun starts to set, you see him sitting on the light pole. But hey, we have gators too. Our cat was killed by a coyote, right in our yard! Residential area!