Do you know there are not just birds at The Perch??? Meet all of our pets in our newest YouTube video!!!!
Category Archives: Blog
Is an Indian Ring-necked Parakeet the Right Pet for You?
All About indian Ring-Necked Parakeets
Are you interested in Indian ring-necked parakeets (or rose-ringed parakeets)? These birds are fast becoming some of my favorite types of parrots! In our upcoming YouTube video, we are going to explore some of the ins and outs of owning these confident, gregarious birds (spoiler alert….if you want a talker, then this bird might just be a great fit for you)!
Here is a photo of our beautiful Ceylon, who is quickly becoming acclimated to the perch! Stay tuned for more…
Watch “Man Runs with Macaws and It’s Crazy” on YouTube
Back to School or Work with Birds
NEW video!!! Going back to school or back to work after being home for the summer or during quarantine? Here are ways to help your bird adjust and enjoy spending more time on its own!!!
Sprite explores the nestbox
Sprite, our beautiful green budgie, , is currently in and out of the nestbox. She is laying eggs, and although they are infertile, she is doing well to get them in the nestbox and visit them regularly. Hopefully this trial run will result in at least one successful clutch of little ones down the road.
A Look Back Can Be So Fun
Our latest video on the perch came out yesterday! It is a compilation of outtakes and funny moments, and I didn’t realize how much fun it would be going back into the video archives to see what went wrong LOL. Typically I shy away from showing anything that looks less than polished for the channel, but I’m definitely learning to be a little less rigid about it these days. Not only did I find cute clips that made me laugh, but I realized that Curacao, my macaw, really likes to eat paper and Mango,the sun conure, is a naughty, naughty bird LOL.
Here is the link to the video. Hopefully will make you smile as much as it made me smile!
Why care about parrot conservation?
Oftentimes, when I interact with my pet parrots, I wonder about their wild counterparts. I have five species of birds, specifically budgies, a sun conure, a cockatiel, an Indian ring-necked parakeet and a blue and gold macaw. So there are a lot of different areas of the world to think about, many different habitats to ponder, and an array of plights that are faced by my birds’ wild cousins.
When it comes to the budgies, cockatiels, and Indian ring-necked parakeets (rose-ringed parakeets), there is currently not much concern about their status in the wild. Their populations are healthy and thriving. However, this is not to say that they might not someday face some of the challenges that many other parrot groups face. Loss of habitat, demands from the pet trade and climate changes seem to be more and more far reaching, and so even a thriving population deserves to be considered by a watchful eye.
Now the situation gets more concerning. Although macaws are currently listed as a species of “least concern,” their populations are declining. Habitat loss and poaching are weighing heavily on wild macaws, and help is needed to turn this situation around. The following video is a good snapshot of what wild macaws face in areas like Honduras. Luckily, partnerships with the local population of people have helped turn some of this around, but more assistance is greatly needed, as you will see:
Unfortunately, the story gets even sadder when it comes to the sun conure. This species is listed as endangered, with populations decreasing. Shockingly, there are now more sun conures living in people’s homes than there are in the wild! The pet trade is one of the greatest pressures on wild populations, and more controls are needed to prevent the wild trapping/acquisitions of this bird.
Many other species of parrots are facing a grim future in their native habitats. There are only three small populations of Hyacinth macaws left, the largest being in Brazil (fws.org). Also per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “there are estimated to be less than 6,000 yellow-crested cockatoos left in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.” And who can forget the Spix’s Macaw famously featured in the film Rio? This bird was actually considered extinct in the wild due to, yep, you guessed it, the pet trade and habitat loss. However, a recent introduction project, has placed this bird in its’ native habitat once again:
https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/world-sensation-the-spix-s-macaw-is-back-872013636.html
It is imperative that wild parrot populations receive our help and attention. As much as we enjoy having these birds in our homes, their wild counterparts deserve to roam their native habitats and thrive. Here are some resources to find out more. If we all do even a little, collectively we can achieve a lot!
http://www.macawrecoverynetwork.org
************************************************************************(cover photo of perched sun conure credit: James Lee via unsplash.com)
To see more of our birds, please visit The Parrot Perch on YouTube:
Training challenge
I recently trained my macaw to give me a high 5 with his wing, and I explained how I did it during one of my most recent Youtube vids! I also talked a bit about the training process called shaping. When you use shaping, you can take an already existing behavior and put it on cue or modify it and create a new behavior that you can then put on cue. This week I challenge those of you with birds (or other pets) to train a high five or use shaping to get your bird(s) or other pets to do something they are already doing, on command. Let us know what you can come up with, and have fun!!! I will leave you with the video showing off Curacao’s high 5!
S.
Baked for Birds
This past week, we made a batch of birdie bread for the birds!!! I really had a blast shopping for ingredients (mostly the organic stuff that I don’t use for myself….but ya know, the birds deserve it) and baking the bread.
Here is what the final bread looked like, after it came out of the oven and had time to cool!
Before we got to this, of course we had to make the bread. The mix used was Harrison’s Bird Bread (original), and it worked really well! Here’s a link to it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2CeOPAG .
Sydney, our cockatiel, admires the bag of Harrison’s Bird Bread
There are other varieties of this bread that you can try as well:
Hot Pepper: https://amzn.to/2PGPHRW
Millet & Flax: https://amzn.to/2PGPHRW
Omega: https://amzn.to/3kpJrvM
As you can see, Sydney was in the kitchen, “helping” along the way, as the bread came together. It really was simple to make and baked quickly. Here’s what we had to do:
The hardest thing, really, was finding organic vegetable oil to use. The brand below worked very well, and although it was a solid shortening, I was able to quickly melt it in the microwave so I could incorporate it into the recipe!
It’s so nice to have fun making new things for the birds to eat and feeling good about giving it to them (ingredients are certified organic)! Check out the video about making bird bread on our YouTube channel for a more detailed walkthrough of our fun time!
The Parrot Perch 