California’s Ark

The Los Angeles Times recently published an in-depth article about various groups attempting to save plants and animals from extinction. Fire and heat, increasing in this part of the world due to climate change, are seriously threatening the wildlife we love in our state. Botanists are collecting seeds, scientists are relocating specimens for captive breeding, and conservationists are campaigning to have important habitats declared national monuments.

What I Hate

This blog serves as a great way for me to explain how wonderful pet birds can be. Even the quail with whom I have little or no physical interaction are delightful creatures, waiting impatiently for their meal worms and greens. But every aviculturist knows that a certain amount of loss is expected. There is no way to avoid it. At least, no way I have access to these days.

Too Many Boys

Not many months ago I gave away all my extra male zebra finches. I was happy when they were gone, and loved how many chicks fledged after that. Less competition for the few females increases the chances of my girls being happy and laying eggs. Guess what? Most of those chicks were male.

Bird Bites

In the world of aviculture you would have to interview many, many parrot handlers and owners before you would find one who has been working with birds for over a year and has never been bitten. It’s not a matter of if, but when, as the saying goes. The basic reason is that birds, especially parrots and finches, are prey animals. They don’t like to be surprised, and will react defensively.

Surprise Toucan Update

I was so thrilled to locate the ThreeCan lady and her birds, Paco, Paz, and Pepe, that I didn’t read up on her situation before posting the link to the blog. Well, turns out the reason I stopped getting updates about her Facebook Page is that in 2015, she was forced to rehome the birds. This could have been a devastating event for all concerned. She needed time to herself, she needed to hold on to some resources, and there was no back up if she or her boyfriend were sick or injured. I totally get why she needed to do this.

Fall in Love with Toucans

I’ve known a couple people who kept toucans as pets, and thinking back on it, the poor bird was not really given enough room. One was kept in a typical cockatoo size cage, and spent all day jumping from one perch to the other across the width of the thing. The owner said he was difficult to handle.