Posts – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Research Lab: “What’s Mine Is Mine And What’s Yours Is Mine”

February 14, 2018 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

African grey parrot leaning forward on perch on playstand — Photo by nicoleGOR/Pixabay

The phrase in the title is often considered a parrot’s mantra and an inside joke for those of us who share our lives with feathered companions — “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine.” A parrot always wants the one pen we are using, or decides that the one sheet of paper we are perusing is critical for its well-being. That trait — endearing or frustrating depending upon one’s point of view — actually has its roots in natural behavior in the wild, and can, in fact, be used to our advantage.

Let’s start with the behavior in the wild. Many animal species live in social groups — flocks, pods, troops, herds. Parrots, like all such group-living species, use their social community as a source of information, and engage in large amounts of social learning. A young bird needs to learn what is good to eat and what to avoid, how to behave when it hears an alarm call, how to distinguish a predator from a nonthreatening species so it doesn’t spend all of its time hiding and has time to eat and rest. It has to learn to comprehend, to produce, and the appropriate context in which to use various affiliative and aggressive calls, and how to attract a mate. It learns all these behavior patterns — and many more — from watching and listening to the behavior of older individuals.

Our Parrots Role Models

Alex the African grey investigates Dr. Pepperberg’s mug.

So, what does this mean for a companion animal? Well, clearly, we humans are now its flock and the models for its behavior. That pen you are using…by interacting with it, you are showing the bird that it is something that is fun to handle, that it is an important part of your routine—the way an older bird might interact with an object in nature that it will use in some manner—even though that is not your intention. That piece of pizza you are eating or the iced tea you are drinking…you are showing the bird that these items are safe and good to ingest—the way a parent might introduce a novel food item—even though you really do NOT want your birds to eat these things!

When your phone rings and you quickly bring it up to your face…you are showing that a particular sound made by this weird object is extremely attractive and quickly gets your attention—the way a flock member might use a contact call to bring other birds near, or the way a mate might use part of a duet to call to its significant other. So it really isn’t any surprise that our birds are curious about these aspects of their environment, wish to emulate our actions, and investigate the objects that hold our attention.

Using Modeling To Our Advantage

We can now see how we can use this trait to our advantage. It’s a bit like “reverse psychology,” in the sense that we can pique a bird’s interest in an object if we make believe that the item is something that we cherish and maybe initially don’t wish to share. So, you want your bird to eat its vegetables Maybe you need to eat more veggies in front of them! Doesn’t mean that they will automatically like that carrot (each of our birds has specific likes and dislikes, and we accept that some things might just really taste terrible to them), but at least they are a lot more likely to try it. Want to introduce a new toy? Couldn’t hurt to put it on your desk and have the bird watch you fiddle with it for awhile. Again, it may not turn out to be their favorite plaything, but they are likely to investigate it much more quickly.

Parrot behavior really isn’t a mystery. You just have to think about how evolutionary pressures have shaped a creature that is only one or two generations out of the rain forest. Unlike dogs, they haven’t been domesticated; they’ve only been tamed.

Did Avocado Fumes Cause Bird’s Death?

January 31, 2018 by Laura Doering

plate of fried avocado slices with dipping sauce — Photo by Tom Britt, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you’re a bird person, there’s a good chance you already know that feeding avocado to your bird is a no-no. Simply put — pet birds have died after eating sliced avocado and avocado-based foods like guacamole. As a healthy food for people, avocado is more popular than ever, and along with that comes an abundance of avocado recipes. Unfortunately, a recent bird death brings up the question, “Could fumes from frying an avocado be dangerous to pet birds?”

According to Karen Allen, owner of Birds-N- More in Lawndale, California, a woman who shared her home with two caiques Allen had hand-raised called her with some heart-wrenching news. The woman went to a cooking class and was given a recipe to try at home — fried avocado. Within minutes of frying the avocado, the caiques experienced severe respiratory distress and were rushed to Teresa E. Micco, DVM, of Point Vicente Animal Hospital in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Here is Dr. Micco’s account of what she encountered upon the caiques’ arrival.

Q. You recently had a client come to your clinic with two caiques in health distress. What were your first thoughts as to what might be wrong?

Both birds were in respiratory distress, one worse than the other. They were immediately placed on oxygen in an incubator. The one that was worse was placed in an oxygen mask to receive a higher concentration of oxygen. Initially, I thought it was Teflon toxicosis because I was told by the staff that the owner had been cooking when the birds collapsed.

Q. What was your client’s account of what led up to the birds becoming ill?

After initial treatment, I went to speak with the owner. I was expecting to hear that she was cooking with nonstick cookware. She insisted that she knew not to cook with anything with a nonstick coating. She owned these birds for four years, and she said that she cooks daily without incident. She said that she keeps a side door open for ventilation. The birds were in the living room, adjacent to the kitchen. This particular day, she was cooking from a Blue Apron recipe of Barramundi and avocado tempura, both in oil.

She had been cooking for an hour and had just finished the fish. She changed the oil and started the avocado tempura. Within 15 minutes, she realized it was very quiet in the living room. She went out to check on the birds, and one was collapsed and the other was inside its little house.

Within an hour of arrival to the hospital, one bird passed away. The other bird improved overnight and was able to go home the next day. The deceased bird was submitted to the UC Davis/California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory in San Bernardino.

Q. What did test results reveal?

The bird had pulmonary edema, bilateral and severe, with respiratory epithelium hypertrophy (increase in size of the cells). There was also cerebral congestion with perivascular (occurring around the blood vessel) hemorrhages. These changes are compatible with fume toxicosis (inhaled). All other lab tests performed were negative.

Q. Why is it hard to definitively find the cause?

According to the pathologist, the changes in the lungs are suggestive (although not specific) of fume toxicosis. Although the foremost documented reports of fume toxicosis in parrot species are those caused by gases produced when Teflon/nonstick products are overheated, there are many other airborne toxins, including aerosol sprays, cooking gas, carbon monoxide, tobacco smoke, candles, and fumes from burned foods and cooking oils.

The diagnosis in these cases remains presumptive as there are no tests available to test for the presence of any of these products. The results are essentially the same. Furthermore, as toxicity is dose-dependent, I have had and have avian patients that have been exposed to low levels of inhaled toxins over time and have chronic lower airway disease, which seems to predispose them to recurrent infections and respiratory disease.

Q. What steps can bird stewards take to protect their flock from cooking fumes … what are some lessons learned?

I advise my clients to move their birds to another room in the house away from the kitchen, especially when cooking and cleaning. Make sure the room is well-ventilated. In addition to cooking dangers, I recommend to keep the birds away from any sprays, powders, dusts, and smoke of any kind. Chronic lower airway disease is one of the leading causes of death in humans; perhaps we should heed our own advice for ourselves as well as our birds.

Resources On Avocado Consumption In Birds

Disclaimer: The consumption of avocados has been shown to be highly toxic to budgerigars and less toxic to canaries. The greater the amount consumed, the greater hazard, and the greater potential for death. To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to assess the risk of frying avocados to nearby birds from cooking odors. The Lafeber Company shares this report on the chance that frying avocados may pose a risk to birds.

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1989 Jan 1;194(1):64-6.

Avocado (Persea americana) intoxication in caged birds. Hargis AM1, Stauber E, Casteel S, Eitner D.

Author information

Abstract

Avocados of 2 varieties were mashed and administered via feeding cannula to 8 canaries and 8 budgerigars. Two control budgerigars were given water via feeding cannula. Six budgerigars and 1 canary died within 24 to 47 hours after the first administration of avocado. Deaths were associated with administration of both varieties of avocado. Higher dose was associated with greater mortality. The 2 budgerigars given water were normal throughout the observation period. Results indicated that avocados are highly toxic to budgerigars and less toxic to canaries. Postmortem findings observed in some birds included subcutaneous edema in the pectoral area and hydropericardium.

Before You Reach For That Oil …
Karen Allen expressed concern over the increasing popularity in avocado-based products — especially avocado oil, which is touted as a healthier alternative to other cooking oils. She urges those who share their homes with birds to stay away from cooking avocado. “Don’t take any chances.”

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: African Grey Griffin Speaks His Mind

January 17, 2018 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Sharing one’s life with a parrot who not only means what he says but also understands human speech has definite advantages. African grey Griffin can tell us when he wants to go back to the cage (“Wanna go back”), to sit with us during down-time (“Wanna go chair”), or hang out during clean up (“go s—ink”). He often lets us know when he wants to work by his a request for a treat (“Wanna nut”) and is learning to ask for juice, which we are using for additional studies on Piagetian liquid conservation.

Griffin occasionally asks for apples or almonds (“banerry” and “corknut”—he learned Alex’s terms), sometimes for his cooked “grain” or other fruits and vegetables. Unlike most parrots, he doesn’t like typical toys so, although he’ll identify various materials and objects, he rarely asks for them. Still, his ability to communicate does make both of our lives easier. He can make his wants and needs known, and we don’t have to guess at his desires.

Griffin And Referential Communication: The Upside And The Downside

He understands a lot more, however. We can tell him and he understands that he has to “wait” for us to use hand sanitizer before picking him up, to take off our outdoor shoes to avoid tracking in outside dirt, or for his cooked grains to cool before eating. He doesn’t like to be left alone, and usually protests with squawks or “come here!” when we start to head out of the lab, but if we say we’ll be “right back”, or “back in an hour”, or even “I’ll see you tomorrow”, he calms down fairly quickly. Sometimes, however, his understanding of human speech causes problems.

Understanding Words, Not Just “Parroting”

Like most companion animals, he really does not like trips to the veterinarian. We can’t blame him—getting poked and prodded and having blood drawn, or occasionally getting a shot, is hardly fun. In fact, he finds just the mention of medical care stressful. Griffin has learned the terms “vet”, “veterinarian”, and even her name (“Marge”); he’s also learned a bit of spelling, so we can’t use “v-e-t”, even if we are talking about an appointment in the future: He begins to shake and will likely chew off some feathers overnight. We now are very careful to speak about “she who must not be named”…the phrase seems long enough that he can’t make the association!

We also learned recently that he understands more about numbers than we thought. For many years, he’s been able to identify shapes, using “one-, two-, three-, four-, six- and eight-corner” (a seven-sided object is kind of weird, so we never use it, and for some reason—probably the difficult consonant structure—he refuses to say “five”). He can also identify numbers of “clicks”, and sometimes practices on his own, clicking and then reporting on the number of clicks he’s produced. We’ve used this understanding to let him know when we’ll be back if we are gone longer than overnight. So, on Friday evenings, I’ll usually say something like “I’ll be gone for two days; I’ll be back on day three.” He seems to understand. In December, I had a long trip to Europe, and I told him I’d be back on “the eighth day.” I wasn’t really sure he could associate that many days with the actual number label but figured that he knew that “eight” referred to a large amount and that he’d understand that I’d be gone awhile. Well, he definitely understood more than I expected!

My flight home from Amsterdam was horribly delayed (we even had to layover in Canada to refuel!), I missed my scheduled connection in Philadelphia, and by the time I got home and got to bed, after being up for most of 27 hours (naps on planes don’t really count!), there was no way I was getting up early the next morning to go into lab. I texted my lab manager and students, made sure that the birds would have adequate care, and tried to catch up on sleep.

I wasn’t totally surprised when I got the “cold wing” upon my eventual entrance a day late—Griffin often does that when I’ve been away for any length of time. I was, however, taken aback when the students told me that he had been completely, totally, uncooperative the day that I was supposed to have returned: that he wouldn’t come out of his cage, that he bit a student who tried to get him out (one of his favorite students, no less), and just glared at everyone all day! See a picture.

He clearly had connected the label “eight” and a specific number of days. He expected me to arrive, I wasn’t there, and he knew something was amiss. Remember, in the wild, if a flock member doesn’t return when he or she should, such an absence usually means the bird has been eaten by a predator or has permanently left for another flock. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, given all that I know about parrot intelligence, but … I guess I’ll have to try out something else the next time I travel!

Healthy Habits We Can Learn From Our Birds

January 10, 2018 by Laura Doering

Amazon and African grey parrots perched on metal food bowls — Photo by Gamaliel Troubleson/Unsplash

Looking for some healthy habits to try in the year ahead? Good news! Chances are you have your very own health coach living with you right now — look no further than your feathered friend! Here are a few of your bird’s healthy habits that you should follow, too.

Eat the rainbow. This trending phrase is a simple way to remind us to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to help get the vitamins and minerals our bodies need. The same goes for our pet birds. Parrots cannot live on seed alone — they thrive when fed a healthy diet that is supplemented by a variety of fruits and veggies. Likewise, their human stewards cannot and should not consume a diet devoid of healthy selections. In the wild, parrots are natural-born foragers — they eat what’s in season, which adds variety; we can reap health benefits by doing the same. Try some of these winter fruits and veggies.

Eat slow, and enjoy your food. Ever noticed that your bird takes his/her time to thoroughly enjoy a favorite food? Birds eat differently than our canine companions. A dog is more inclined to gulp down a prized treat, while a parrot might very well take a good five minutes to eat a single blueberry. We humans can take a cue from our birds and take the time to enjoy our food. Research shows that chewing until “no lumps remain” increases the number of calories the human body burns during digestion: about 10 extra calories for a 300-calorie meal. Extra chewing also slows the pace of eating, which may be another reason why it’s a healthier way to eat. Slow eating may also help people eat more mindfully and tune in to their feelings of fullness.

Eat breakfast. Imagine your bird starting the day without breakfast. In the wild, the flock’s foraging begins soon after the sun rises. Chances are your bird wakes in the morning waiting patiently (or impatiently) for their food. Birds are breakfast eaters for sure; if you asked your bird, they probably couldn’t fathom why their favorite humans would forgo breakfast.

Birds don’t need a doctor to tell them that breakfast does a body good, but we silly humans sometimes need a little reminding. So here are some good reasons to eat breakfast, according to WebMD: Breakfast kick-starts the metabolism, helping us burn calories throughout the day, which can help us focus at work or at school. Many studies link eating breakfast to better memory and concentration, lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and lower chances of getting diabetes, and heart disease — no wonder breakfast is often referred to as the most important meal of the day.

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Prepping For A Film Crew Visit

December 13, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Lights, Camera, Action!

African grey parrot Griffin does the bigger/smaller task with the keys in Dr. Pepperberg’s lab. Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

I’ve written previously about doing publicity photo shoots with my parrots in the laboratory and how much work is involved in the procedure. A photo shoot, however, is an extremely easy event compared to having a film crew in residence for a day or two. Although the finished production always looks effortless, the process is anything but.

Preparing For A Film Crew

First, of course, comes the preparation. We always keep our lab extremely clean for the health of the birds, but we aren’t always neat. The desk is often piled with papers and notes; boxes of paper towels, bottles of spring water, and other items are arranged for convenience, not aesthetics. That all has to change the day before a crew arrives. We have to think about how everything will look through the lens of a camera. We also try to make sure that all the materials that will be needed for whatever experiments we plan to demonstrate will be immediately available; during filming, we can’t waste time hunting for various exemplars.

Making Our Parrots And The Film Crew Comfortable

When the film crew arrives, we have to educate them about lab procedure and introduce them to the parrots. Shoes have to come off, hands have to be sanitized. Athena is happy to climb on whatever hand is presented to her, but Griffin is a lot more reticent. We actually formally introduce everyone so that the birds understand that these new people are safe to be around. When the parrots see us talking calmly to these strangers, shaking hands and acting friendly, they know not to be afraid. And the crew needs to learn to move slowly and deliberately, to avoid fast actions so as not to startle the parrots.

Of course, not being afraid of people is very different from not being afraid of equipment. Most crews bring in large, bulky black, scary items— cameras, sound boxes, special lighting, etc. Griffin is now an old pro, and acts quite disinterested. Athena, however, wants to be as far away as possible from the offending objects, and to cower on the shoulder of her favorite human! We have to go over to every single piece of equipment, stand next to it, handle it, stroke it, and slowly bring her toward it. She has been trained to “touch” unfamiliar objects, and reluctantly does so, but that doesn’t mean she likes the procedure. Seeing Griffin initiate the beak tap to these items sometimes helps. It’s a slow process, and we always warn the crew that it may take some time for the birds to adjust to the new situation.

Repetition: Good For Filming, Not So Good For Parrots

The filming process itself is quite arduous and the parrots really do not understand why they have to do the same things again and again just so the crew can get different angles and views. On a regular day, if my birds perform a task correctly they get a reward and get to move on to something else. They have to repeat a trial only if they have erred — and after the first film shots, they know they were correct because they were praised and rewarded. Repetition thus makes no sense to them.

During a recent filming, Griffin was very happy to identify all his toys immediately, and was even willing to do so a second time. The third time was not a charm. He definitely had issues. He began to do exactly what Alex used to do when he didn’t want to work, was bored, and wanted to mess with our heads: When asked to give the color of a woolen pompom, Griffin said every color except the correct one. Statistically, he couldn’t have done that by chance — he could only have avoided the correct answer five times in a row if he indeed knew the proper answer and didn’t want to produce it. Fortunately, the crew thought Griffin’s behavior was quite clever and said that they would make sure that their viewers understood what had happened!

Griffin’s Big Screen Moment

Later in the day, something similar occurred. We were trying to get Griffin to demonstrate his knowledge of relative size — to label the color of the cup that was either the bigger or smaller of two on a tray. Understanding such relational concepts is a hallmark of advanced cognition, because a subject needs to recognize not only that a tennis ball is “big,” but that it is “big” compared to a golf ball yet also “small” compared to a soccer ball; that is, that context is crucial. Demonstrating this behavior on camera would be really important.

During our experimental trials, Griffin is usually correct about 80% of the time, a significant score. But when we set up for filming, he just sat there — beak tightly shut. No matter what colored cups we used, no matter what enticing morsel we offered as a reward, Griffin refused to speak. It felt as though we were filming for an hour, although it probably wasn’t that long. I teasingly said I would use some old footage we had of Alex, who had performed this task quite nicely. And that gave me an idea … maybe Griffin was again bored. So I had a student find the differently sized and colored keys that we had used with Alex.

Now, Griffin had never before been questioned about bigger-smaller with anything other than toy plastic cups. What I was proposing to do was what is formally known in psychology as a “transfer test,” to see if a subject can transfer a concept from training materials to totally novel items. It’s a very rigorous test. It was also pretty risky: If Griffin failed, he would fail for all the world to see. If, however, he succeeded, we would have officially documented a very important event. At that point, however, I wasn’t thinking of risk; I was just trying to figure out what might make Griffin talk on camera. So I placed the keys in Griffin’s line of sight, asking “What color smaller?” Griffin looked closely, hesitated only briefly, and came out with a clear — and correct — “YELLOW!” Phew.

Athena’s Performance

Nothing we could do would get Athena to talk on camera, but it occurred to me that we could at least demonstrate how we were training her. If she talked that would be terrific, but even if she didn’t, the audience would see something of interest. Thankfully, the familiarity of that situation worked nicely, and she produced a very soft “nylon” after a student and I modeled the appropriate question-and-answer system.

Unseen Efforts

The film crew spent most of a day with us, with only a break for lunch. We filmed and re-filmed, and that didn’t even include my on-camera interview which took up a few hours on a second day. The actual edited piece will only take up a few minutes in a program broadly devoted to animal communication; the show will seamlessly glide from one task to another, covering a multitude of species.

Much of what we filmed will likely end up on the cutting room floor. Was it worth it? If it helps people appreciate the intelligence of these amazing birds, definitely! But, the next time you watch an hour-long documentary about various clever animals, please try to appreciate all the days, weeks, and likely months of effort and energy that went into the overall filming and editing process!

Darwin’s Finches Continue To Evolve

November 30, 2017 by Matt Rowe

galapagos finch perched on twig in tree — “Darwin Finch” by Tim Ellis, CC BY-NC 2.0

Charles Darwin is significant in our history for his studies and subsequent theory on the processes of evolution. As a result of this long and detailed work, which was eventually distilled within the texts of The Origin of The Species, his name became forever tied to any earnest discussion involving evolutionary theories of any kind. During his travels and studies, he spent some time in the Galápagos Islands. It was this visit to the Islands that helped to more fully shape his thoughts on species and the stability of species. On the Islands, Darwin, although not an ornithologist, collected finches that he soon discovered to be uniquely separated from finches found elsewhere.

The finches, now called Darwin’s Finches, are a collection of 13 species of birds that were considered vastly different in makeup from the finches in other parts of the world, even among themselves. This made the finches on the Galápagos Islands incredibly unique in appearance. After close evaluation by a well-respected ornithologist of the time, John Gould, the finches were determined to be separate species rather than varieties of the other finches of the world. Some of the differences included variable beak sizes, color, plumage, tail sizes, and behavior patterns. As a result of these studies, Darwin’s Finches became well known as representative of the divergence of species. Their existence helped Darwin advance his studies of evolution by natural selection.

New Species Of Finch

Back in 1981, a non-native male cactus finch likely from Isla Española, a small Galápagos island located some 60 miles south, arrived on the northwestern island of Daphne Major, and mated with two native female ground finches. New variations of the divergent species of finches were hatched. Since that time, approximately 30 birds of that “new” species of finch are now native to the island of Daphne Major. This process of evolution is called speciation, and it’s going on right before the eyes of surprised scientists who actively monitor the birds of Galápagos Islands.

The new species of finch is currently called Big Bird by the scientists that are following this remarkable and unlikely event. Their successful existence has already begun to challenge and change what is known about how birds evolve. What was once thought to be a constructive result of necessary mutation effects over millennia can now also be realized as a fast route of evolution via a process called hybridization. This occurs by the introduction of two unique species in a successful mating and hatching process.

This hybridization has created distinct — and unique — changes in the offspring of the two finch species that resulted in a different beak shape, a bigger overall size, and even a new vocal pitch that clearly separates its birdsong from that of its parents. The new finches mated with each other, which helped to account for proliferation and purity of the thirty in existence today on the island of Daphne Major.

This newly evolving species could eventually mate with other species of finches on the island to create even more unique species, although such an occurrence is unlikely. But if it does, the Darwin evolutionary theory by natural selection is not only getting a new and important study, but is a rare chance to watch and be amazed at how nature works. And science was gifted with a fast track view of this concept within a single lifetime.

How Dr. Pepperberg Chooses What Topics To Study

November 15, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

African grey parrot — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

One of the many questions I’m often asked is how we choose topics to study. Specifically, where do we get our inspiration? Our choice of studies is actually influenced by several different issues, and I’ll discuss a few of them in some detail.

Will Others Like It?

The first issue is, not surprisingly, whether the topic would be of interest to my colleagues. If no one would want to read the eventually published paper, we have very little incentive to perform the study. Thankfully, both colleagues and owners of companion birds do seem to want to know how a bird with a brain the size of a shelled walnut stacks up against species as disparate as, for example, children, adult humans, apes, cetaceans, and monkeys.

We therefore often compare the abilities of our birds to those of other species, replicating existing research to provide a comparative approach. So, after attending a seminar or a conference and learning about studies in different laboratories, we often choose to examine how African grey parrots fare on various cognitive tasks. We may or may not have to adapt other labs’ procedures based on our parrots’ abilities. If, for example, a study involves young children’s vocal responses, and our parrots have similar labels in their repertoire, we generally use almost identical procedures.

Interestingly, however, we often have to perform additional controls that researchers studying children will ignore — for example, making sure that there are no olfactory cues, or that the students are not cuing the birds with body/head/eye gestures. Thus our protocol is often more exacting than those used for humans! If the human or nonhuman primate study involves pointing, we have to adapt the protocol so that our African greys can indicate the correct response by tapping with their beaks. We therefore spend a lot of time reading about research on many different species.

Student Inspiration

Another source of inspiration comes from my students. The final exam in every course I teach is always the assignment to design an experiment on animal cognition. If students design a really cool study, I’ll ask them if they want to become a research assistant in my lab to try out their idea on our parrots. Of course, an undergraduate usually doesn’t present a project that is completely ready to administer to the birds, but we work together to design the appropriate controls and refine the methodology. A paper based on one such exam paper (looking at probabilistic reasoning) has just been accepted for publication, and I’ll describe the results in detail in a forthcoming blog.

The bases for the experiments described above often originate with classic studies on children, like those designed by Jean Piaget (1936), or on chimpanzees, like those designed by David Premack (1983). Examples of the former involve our studies on object permanence (knowing that an object still exists even after it is hidden, e.g., Pepperberg, Willner & Gravitz, 1997) and liquid conservation (knowing that changes in shape do not affect changes in volume; Pepperberg et al., 2017); examples of the latter involve our studies on concepts of same/different (knowing not just that two objects are either identical or totally different, but that they can share some attributes and differ on others, Pepperberg, 1987).

Sometimes the experiments involve examining phenomena such as how our birds respond to classic optical illusions, often because another avian species does not process the illusion as do humans, and we want to see if African greys are more like humans or pigeons (more like humans: Pepperberg & Nakayama, 2016; Pepperberg, Vicinay, & Cavanagh, 2008).

Collaboration

Occasionally, however, colleagues design novel experiments to test a previously unstudied or understudied concept in another species and we decide to collaborate — either adapting their proposed protocols for our birds or designing protocols that are identical for the birds and humans. That has been the case with an ongoing study on visual working memory manipulation — determining if Griffin can process as much, more, or less information than adult humans or children. (Hint: He’s pretty good!)

It would be fun to figure out a task that no one has ever given any other subject, to see how our birds perform, and then have everyone else replicate our work … but right now, so many studies already exist that are just waiting for a comparative perspective; we have our work cut out for us for many years!

Piaget, J. (1936). La naissance de l’intelligence (The origins of intelligence). Neuchatel, Switzerland: Delachaux et Niestle.

Pepperberg, I.M. (1987b). Acquisition of the same/different concept by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Learning with respect to categories of color, shape, and material. Animal Learning & Behavior, 15, 423 432.

Pepperberg, I.M., Gray, S., Lesser, J.S., & Hartsfield, L.A. (2017). Piagetian liquid conservation in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Comparative Psychology. 10.1037/com0000085

Pepperberg, I.M., & Nakayama, K. (2016). Robust representation of shape by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Cognition, 153, 146-160.

Pepperberg, I.M., Vicinay, J., Cavanagh, P. (2008) The Müller-Lyer illusion is processed by a Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Perception, 37, 765-781.

Pepperberg, I.M., Willner, M.R., & Gravitz, L.B. (1997). Development of Piagetian object permanence in a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 111, 63-75.

Premack, D. (1983). The codes of man and beast. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 6, 125–167.

Meet Hawaii’s Crow

November 8, 2017 by Matt Rowe

Alala (aka Hawaiian Crow) perched on branch among leaves — “Alala” by USFWS – Pacific Region, CC BY-NC 2.0

The world around us changes so fast. That’s an inescapable condition. Some of the more frightening aspects of change occur when creatures that are a part of our biosphere become challenged with adaptability and ecological differences. Over time, we have lost many animals and other important species because of reasons that might simply be too complex for us to properly deal with. Apart from reprehensible and immoral deliberate interaction by poachers and hunters that know better and destructive land terraforming efforts, the environment has swirled and eddied enough of its own to introduce dangerous predators into areas where they may not have existed before. Additionally, climate changes destroy previously depended on resources for birds and other animals needed for sustained existence.

Meet the Alalā, Hawaii’s Endangered Crow

One of the birds that have gone extinct in the wild is the ‘Alalā, or the Hawaiian crow. The bird had long been settled on the big island of Hawaii even before the islands were settled by human populations. Since then, the bird has adapted to the unique environs of the island. But by 2002, the final two known ‘Alalā birds in the wild were gone, victims of the overwhelming influx of humans, predators like the mongoose and tree-climbing rats, as well as a large, growing population of feral cats, and the ever-present threat of avian disease and viruses. The ‘Alalā had gained legalized protection by Hawaii in 1931, and were federally protected in 1967.

The ‘Alalā is a beautiful bird unique to Hawaii. In appearance, the bird is about 1.5 feet tall from bill to tail, with deep black feathers and a large bill. The ‘Alalā is known to be quite intelligent. They use tools like sticks to achieve results they cannot with their beaks, sometimes shortening them if needed. It should be clearly understood that tool use among birds is a rare trait. To the respectful people of the big island, the bird is revered.

Saving the Alalā, The Hawaiian Crow

In the ’70s, after a sharp drop in the ‘Alalā population, a collected batch of these birds were taken into captivity by the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program in the hopes that they could be properly expanded by breeding and protected for future reintroduction into the wild. This brought into being the ‘Alalā Project, which has carefully bred and now houses and cares for over 100 of these rare birds. There are two facilities that currently breed the Hawaiian crow. They are administered by the San Diego Zoo Global. With inherent difficulties in breeding (necessity of contained breeding aviaries, mate incompatibilities, inbreeding probability, etc.), the birds are carefully and patiently dealt with to ensure successes. After their birth, the birds are properly housed in conservation centers to give them the best possible growth assistance in diet and veterinary care. They are also given extensive training in survival skills in preparation for eventual release.

The governmental agencies have worked hard on two habitats in order to help give the ‘Alalā a fighting chance to regain its rightful place in the wild. The first is Pu’u Maka’ala Natural Area Preserve. It was designed to be rich in foods desired by the ‘Alalā, and to contain a dense plant life. The area is fenced in to help prevent unwanted animals within its borders. The second choice, to be used perhaps in 10 years, is the Ka’ū Forest Preserve.

In late September of 2017, the ‘Alalā Project released six young birds into the favored habitat (four males, two females). A second group of five birds (three males, two females) were released to the habitat in mid-October. The hope is in that the first release established themselves and can “assist” the second batch.

We are ever hopeful that this long-planned and carefully maintained work finds complete success, starting a new era of self-sustaining birds. And not only for the ‘Alalā bird, but for every creature groomed for such preservation.

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Parrots’ Cognitive Abilities Put To The Liquid Test

October 18, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Piagetian Liquid Conservation: Parrots Match Older Children’s Expertise

Athena drinking grape juice — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll know that my studies often involve comparing the abilities of my parrots to those of young children. Many of the tasks we use were originally created by the Swiss child developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget was fascinated by the ways in which children’s cognitive capacities changed as they interacted with, and learned more about, their world. One of his interests centered around how children learned that a specific amount of material, be it liquid or solid, would be unaffected by transformations of its shape. This concept was formally called “conservation” because the amount was conserved during the change.

Understanding conservation would seem to be fairly a straightforward proposition, but it isn’t grasped by children until they are at least 5 years old. In fact, most children do not acquire the concept until they are older, around 6. The problem for these children is understanding that changes in one dimension (e.g., height) can be compensated by changes in another (e.g., width).

How Children React To The Conservation Task

One part of the classic task involves liquids (Piaget & Inhelder, 1966/1969). Here, children are shown two glasses of juice, both having the exact same quantity, and asked which they’d prefer. The children mostly giggle and say something to the effect that it doesn’t matter, they are the same. Then the experimenter pours one glass of juice into a tall, thin transparent container and contents of the other glass into a short, fat one. The experimenter then again asks the children which they’d like. If the children are 5 years old or younger, they choose the tall, thin container. If asked why, they say that there’s more in that container. They don’t seem to understand that the quantities remain the same.

Older children, usually by around their sixth birthday, might make the same choice, but when asked why, they say something about one container being easier to handle, or more fun to use — because they understand that nothing has really changed. If, however, the older children do not see the experimenter transfer the juice, but just see the two filled differently shaped containers, they make the same mistake as the younger children. That result is expected, because those so-called “invisible transfer” trials show that if the children have no reason to think the amounts are the same, they can’t make the correct inference. The tall, thin one definitely looks like it has more, and the children choose based what they perceive is true.

Why Birds Need The Conservation Skill

My students and I were interested in whether our African grey parrots would understand conservation. In the wild, it would come in quite handy: Birds likely would need to know that a squished piece of fruit had the same nutritional value as one that hadn’t been deformed, or, when trying to decide where to get the most food, that it is the comparison of relative quantities of other creatures foraging in specific areas rather than of their apparent densities that is the appropriate criterion upon which a decision should be made as to whether to join or move on. But would bird that never actually had to forage still develop this understanding?

Testing Whether Birds Understand Conservation

We decided to test this on our Griffin, who was then 18 years old, and also on Athena, who at the time was only 6 months old. Would Griffin understand conservation? Would Athena develop this concept over time? We also tested two companion birds, Pepper and Franco, who belonged to the Hartsfields, who had worked in our lab; their birds had already taken part in a few experiments, but had had nowhere near the laboratory experience of Griffin. Using Pepper and Franco allowed to determine if having lots of lab experience was important: Would it make up for lack of interaction with the natural world, or did this concept develop through any sort of daily interactions?

We started with Griffin, to see how he would perform on the classic test. We used U.S. standard measuring spoons, showed him two half-teaspoons filled with juice, and then emptied them into a teaspoon and a tablespoon. One container was thus half full and the other was one-sixth full. We also gave him trials starting with a full teaspoon. We needed to determine if he could perform the task at all, particularly on his first trials — before he had significant experience in drinking from the containers and possibly learning that differently sized spoons provided an identical sense of satiation or even that emptying them took the same amount of time (another possible indication of equivalence). If an adult, laboratory-trained African grey succeeded, as did the older children, it would make sense to go forward, testing him on other variations and testing the other birds for comparison. We found that Griffin did succeed on all trials, choosing randomly — which showed he knew that there was no difference between the destination spoons.

We then had to make sure that he actually cared about getting more juice: Maybe his random choice meant he didn’t actually want more. We therefore gave him a choice between spoons containing more versus less juice. He always chose more, showing that he really did care about the quantities. When we tested Pepper and Franco on more versus less, they also always chose more. Athena, however, was another story. At 6 months of age, she was so excited by getting juice that she just grabbed at the spoons randomly. It wasn’t until she was about 10 months old that she started calming down and choosing rationally, and we could then start her tests.

How The Birds Performed In Conservation Tests

We decided to give Pepper, Franco, and Athena invisible transfers first, during which they would see only the result of the transfers, and similarly test Griffin, to see if they would all respond like the children. Pepper, Franco, and Athena did — they all chose the spoons that looked as though there was more juice. Griffin, however, couldn’t be fooled…after having experienced the visible transfers, he probably remembered the levels and again chose randomly.

The important tests for Pepper, Franco, and Athena now were to see if they would not be fooled when they saw the transfers from the original same-sized spoons to the differently sized destination spoons. They all succeeded, although Franco was occasionally distracted by seeing a full teaspoon in some trials. Nevertheless, all three birds were correct (as was Griffin earlier) at statistically significant levels. Even Athena, who was less than 2 years old when we completed the study, performed at a level equivalent to about a 6-year-old child! We did a few more tests to make sure that our results held under different conditions, and the birds succeeded on those as well. (See Pepperberg et al., 2017 if you want all the details). Thus, another study has shown the intelligence of our feathered friends!

Pepperberg, I. M., Gray, S. L., Lesser, J. S., & Hartsfield, L. A. (2017, August 31). Piagetian liquid conservation in Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Comparative Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000085.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1966/1969). The psychology of the child (H. Weaver, Trans.). London, England: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (Original work published 1966).

Hummingbirds Inspire

October 11, 2017 by Matt Rowe

hummingbird hovering beside red feeder — Photo by GeorgeB2/Pixabay

We are all already cognizant of the fact that some people are tuned in to the wavelength of a bird. There just seems to be an attraction that cannot be explained (nor do we want to explain it). It’s a wonder to be able to communicate in some mysterious way with birds. That’s why exotic birds are so high up on the list of favored creatures when it comes to befriending one. But sometimes, that wavelength even extends out to the world of the wild bird, the bird that cannot be housed inside a cage.

Consider the hummingbird. And then consider the connection of hummingbirds to an assistant researcher who works within UCLA in its Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Department. That would be Dr. Mélanie Barboni, whose connection with hummingbirds is a passionate one.

Upon her arrival to UCLA as a postdoctoral research fellow, Mélanie placed a hummingbird feeder outside her window. Shortly, she was greeted by her first hummingbird. Over time, the research assistant found the population of thankful hummingbirds growing, where it now stands at around 200 or more. During the three years of attending to the hummingbirds outside her office, she has increased the feeders to four. The birds are so aware of her presence that they are completely unafraid of her. They will even land on her hand if she puts it outside the window.

Her familiarity with the hummingbirds extends even further with a large group of recognizable individual birds. She has given some of them names. The birds are so comfortable with Mélanie that they easily fly within the window to perch near her as she works, often resting and sleeping inside. Around the campus, Mélanie is often referred to as “the hummingbird whisperer” for her abilities to effortlessly bond closely with them.

Tips For Wild Hummingbird Care

In a brief e-mail exchange with Mélanie, she asked that we add to this article the importance of how and what you feed hummingbirds in your own backyard explorations. In her own words:

“Food: The nectar recipe should be 1 part white granulated sugar for 4 parts boiled water. No honey, no brown sugar, no worm blood or any other proteins (the hummers get their proteins by chasing bugs). It is important to use white granulated sugar only. That recipe reproduces very well what they find in flowers. If you use brown sugar or anything else, those contain elements their metabolism cannot process and that will hurt them (especially considering they drink up to 8 times their body weight in nectar per day). NEVER use the red-dyed nectar that you can buy in the stores. This actually hurts the birds badly as it contains traces of metals that they cannot process. Rehabbers around the country and other people studying hummingbirds have been trying to prevent the production of that red-dyed nectar, but unfortunately without success. I have seen firsthand the damage it does to the hummingbirds, and it is really awful. Also, those are expensive, so I like telling people that mixing their own nectar is not only the only way to properly feed the hummers, but also the friendliest way for their wallet.

“Feeder maintenance: Once the nectar is mixed, it can be stored up to 2 weeks in the fridge. I advise to select a feeder that is easy to take apart and clean. Once in the feeder, nectar has to be changed daily if temperature is above 80° F of if the feeder is in direct sun and/or the humidity is very high. Otherwise it needs to be changed every 2-3 days. If the nectar looks cloudy, it has to be changed immediately. Nectar turns bad quickly, and when it does, it will be poison for the birds. Every time the nectar is changed, the feeder needs to be taken apart and cleaned with hot water. I recommend using brushes too (including little ones that fit inside the ports. They are easy to find in stores or online). Every month (or as soon as black mold spots appears), the feeder needs to be cleaned in a 1-part bleach/ 9-parts hot water solution to kill any bacteria. I usually let it soak 20 minutes within the solution, then rinsing a lot until it doesn’t smell like bleach anymore. Similar to bad nectar, dirty feeders will also kill birds (and in a very painful way), so hygiene has to be perfect.

“It might sound like a lot, but it is actually only 10 minutes a day on average to properly care for the hummingbirds. The reward of having them around — heathy and happy — is so worth it!”

If you have hummingbird feeders in your yard, please consider Mélanie’s expert advice on feeding them. Her recipe is a healthful one.

Helping Hummingbirds

Mélanie is also involved with hummingbird rehabbers. Essentially, rehabbers take care of injured or sick hummingbirds. They also help babies that have been orphaned for whatever reasons. With a planned move to another state, Mélanie is planning to take a permit (as one is needed) test when she has settled. She finds great joy in helping the hummingbirds become healthy to pursue their life’s course. And while sometimes not all birds can be saved, it is a beautiful thing to be able to save the ones that can be saved. It makes everything worth it.

Dr. Mélanie Barboni is part of the UCLA team that has determined that our moon’s age is far older than we previously thought. She is also involved in many levels of earth science. It can be easily understood that Mélanie has a great appreciation of all things belonging to our great, vast universe of things, including the Earth’s beautiful hummingbird inhabitants.

Dr. Pepperberg Dishes: Will Parrots Work For Food?

October 4, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

The Work Ethic

You have a choice between toiling hard for your living or receiving everything you need for free. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Who wouldn’t want life to be as easy as possible? Why spend resources (such as energy) if one doesn’t have to do so? Well, that’s actually not what researchers find for almost every subject tested when the choice involves food — except, interestingly, domestic cats!

Work For Food?

The technical term for choosing to work for a reward rather than getting it for free is called “contra-freeloading.” The first study of this behavior was in in rats, by Glen Jensen (1963). He found that rats would work for about 50% of their daily ration even if they could receive 100% for free. Initially, the scientific community believed that the finding was specific to rats: That, because of their feeding strategies in nature, they might figure that the food for which they had to work was an ephemeral source that they had to exploit for as long as possible and that the free food would be around as backup. Whether this explanation is valid or not, subsequent studies, on creatures from pigeons (Neuringer, 1969) to grizzly bears (McGowan et al., 2010) and apes (Menzel, 1991) showed that the phenomenon was widespread. It’s even been shown in humans (Tarte, 1981).

As someone who studies parrot cognition, most interesting to me was a study recently presented at the International Ethological Congress in Portugal. The experiment involved an exchange paradigm, in which parrots could choose either a token they could trade for a particular food or some food itself. If the token represented a lesser-quality food than the food choice, the birds chose the food item; if the token represented a higher quality food, the birds chose the token and traded up. The critical trials were where the token represented the same quality food as the food item presented, as that would actually test for contra-freeloading.

The researcher tested four species: great green macaws, blue-throated macaws, blue-headed macaws, and Grey parrots. Although the great green macaws seemed to prefer the food, the other three macaw species and grey parrots all chose the token. So, where am I going with this?

Foraging Caters To A Parrot’s Wild Instincts

Although I can’t figure out why the one species of macaw would act more like domestic cats than any of the other species, it was clear that the other parrots really wanted to play the game. And that finding suggests the real importance of providing foraging opportunities for our parrots. In the wild, most parrot species (including those great green macaws) travel long distances every day and have to work fairly hard to get their nourishment. For example, African greys crack nuts, eviscerate fruits, and juice bark (May, 2004). Such behavior is part and parcel of their lives. They are not made to be “perch-potatoes,” simply sitting around and eating out of a dish.

In captivity, having the chance to figure out a new foraging toy is probably one of the most interesting parts of their day. They really seem to enjoy the challenge of learning about the affordances of such toys. And as I wrote in last month’s blog, one of our Greys, Athena, was most annoyed when we failed to fill her foraging toy, even when she could eat the same food from her bowl. Sometimes, too, I think my birds like to ask for specific treats not because they really want the foods, but because they want the social interactions with the students who are providing the items!

In sum, when owners provide foraging toys — particularly if several are provided at once — our birds aren’t merely being provided with a distraction. They are being given a choice as to how they wish to spend their time, and also some control over how they choose to live their lives. And they are telling us, very clearly, that at least some of the time, they would rather work than not!

Jensen, G.D. (1963) Preference for bar pressing over freeloading as a function of number of rewarded presses. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 451–454.

May, D.L. (2004). The vocal repertoire of Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus) living in the Congo Basin (Central African Republic, Cameroon). PhD Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Menzel EW (1991) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)—problem seeking versus the bird-in-hand, least-effort strategy. Primates, 32, 497–508.

McGowan, R.T.S., Robbins, C.T., Alldredge, J.R., Newberry, R.C. (2010) Contrafreeloading in grizzly bears: implications for captive foraging enrichment. Zoo Biology, 29, 484–502.

Neuringer, A.J. (1969). Animals respond for food in the presence of free food. Science, 166, 399-401.

Tarte, R. (1981). Contrafreeloading in humans. Psychological Reports, 49, 859-866.

Newsworthy Bird Stories

September 27, 2017 by Laura Doering

four Puerto Rican parrots in cage — Four Puerto Rican parrots, days before their release into the wild population. Photo by Jan Paul Zegarra/USFWS National Digital Library

The next time you have some downtime, pull up a perch or T-stand, settle in with your feathered friend and do a Google news search with the key words “parrot” or “bird.” You might be treated to some fascinating and downright entertaining bird stories — perfect topics to read aloud to your pet bird!

In this sampling of bird news from around the globe, see what an African grey parrot ordered off Amazon.com using Alexa, why parrots in the wild eat clay and how the dedicated staff at the Caribbean Ecological Services Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) helped 250 endangered Puerto Rican Amazon parrots ride out Hurricane Irma.

Endangered Puerto Rican Amazons Ride Out Hurricane Irma

By the time Hurricane Irma began barreling toward Puerto Rico, the island was in full storm preparation mode to protect its citizens. Likewise, Edwin Muniz and Tom White of the Caribbean Ecological Services Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) were busy making preparations for some very important psittacines — the island’s population of endangered Puerto Rican Amazons — all 230 of them! You and your bird will no doubt appreciate this tender story of dedicated stewards ensuring that their feathered friends rode out the storm without losing a feather.

African Grey Orders Gift Boxes

Surely this is a scenario many of our birds dream of … taking charge of the household shopping. A woman in southeast London couldn’t figure out how an order for gift boxes arrived at her home. Turns out her African parrot, Buddy, managed to fool Amazon’s Alexa by imitating his owner’s voice and ordered a fancy gift box set. If you see your birds giving each other celebratory “foot pumps,” it might be them paying homage to Buddy’s ability to outsmart his humans.

And not to be outdone, here’s a story of a budgie who knows how to activate Siri on his owner’s iPhone. Proof that little birds are not little brained

Why Do Wild Parrots Eat Clay?

Blue-and-gold macaws, scarlet macaws, chestnut-fronted Macaw and a mealy parrot at the Tambopata clay lick — Photo from “DSC_8774.NEF” by Brian Ralphs, CC BY 2.0

If you’re like me, you’ve caught your bird chewing on items that don’t fall anywhere near or on the food spectrum — my recent experience has been my shower curtain and the cardboard sleeve on my coffee-to-go cup. Of course, that type of chomping is more of a way to explore textures than to satisfy taste buds — parrots do like to explore with their beaks just for fun. Before you go thinking that the parrots on the cliff in the photo to the right are simply playing around, know that researchers theorize that these parrots are chewing on the clay cliffs to benefit their health.

A recent article on NPR.org tells how biologist Donald Brightsmith of Texas A&M University and his team of researchers have been studying a group of parrots in southeastern Peru that frequent a clay lick cliff near the Tambopato River. Brightsmith and fellow researchers have set out to answer the question as to why parrots eat clay — does it function as a natural “detox” cleanse for them, or does it play an important role in supplementing their diet? See what the researchers have concluded.

San Francisco Bird Hotel Caters To Feathered Clientele

September 20, 2017 by Matt Rowe

When we vacation, with dogs and cats, it’s quite easy to find respectable boarding services. Of course, there are plenty of pet boarding centers that will care for birds, but not many cater specifically to the feathered kind. Enter The San Francisco Bird Hotel.

Located in south San Francisco, this bird hotel is much more than a place to keep your bird for a day or a week. It is also known as a bird spa that includes grooming services like beak care, wing-feather trimming, and pedicures. And it all started back in 2006 by bird lover Birgit Soyka.

Birgit Soyka got her start in the pet business as a bird-sitter for friends and their friends. From word of mouth, requests for her services began to increase. She expanded to a basement with three parrots. Eventually, she realized that she could start a much larger business with the amount of time she was spending and birds she was caring for. She soon located a warehouse where the Bird Hotel now exists. And business is booming.

Accommodations For The Feathered Kind

The hotel offers a wide variety of perks and services. In addition to the previously mentioned grooming services, there is a daycare service that is second to none in the quality of the offerings. Some cages are referred to as “castles.” There are two “Ice Castles,” the “Prague Castle” themed to the Czech Republic, the “Buda Castle” themed to Budapest, and many other quality set-ups, each priced for their use. In total, there are 60 types of cages in use with no cages stacked.

Should an owner want to spoil their birds further (or simply does not have the time or resources to properly deliver the bird), a Parrot Limo service is offered. The Parrot Limo is properly decked out to deliver the bird in comfort and style to the hotel. Once at the hotel, the birds are treated as royalty.

During their stay, each bird is offered out-of-the-cage time to allow for free flight. Additionally, there are various-sized playrooms filled with toys and interesting items for the birds to engage in. The birds are provided plenty of food as well as fresh water twice daily. Each cage is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between uses. And just as hotels for humans change the sheets daily, each bird’s accommodation comes with fresh liners placed every day. To ensure a disease-free environment, each bird is required to come with documented proof of test results from a licensed veterinarian.

For nutrition, birds are provided a wide assortment of nuts, vegetables, fruits, seeds and pellets, as well as specialized plates of protein that include omelets, eggs, potatoes, and pasta. There are even popcorn nights as special treats for the birds.

The San Francisco Bird Hotel runs a Hotel Shop that sells packaged bird foods, toys of all kinds, and specialized bird carriers.

It may only be a matter of time before this highly successful boarding and spa model is replicated in many other cities, if not by Birgit Soyka, then certainly by others.

Lafeber Helps Birds Displaced By Recent Hurricanes

September 14, 2017 by Becky Davis

Lafeber Company was honored the last two weeks to be part of something huge: A collection of parrot rescues and third parties sending Nutri-Berries from Illinois to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Gulf Coast Exotic Bird Rescue was not only holding their already-surrendered parrots, but also boarding parrots from families who had to flee their homes when water came flowing in there, too.

Helping From Many Hands

Boxes of Nutri-Berries arrive in flood-damaged areas of Texas.

Lafeber worked hand-in-hand with The Parrot Posse of North Carolina to ship nearly 250 pounds of Nutri-Berries, Avi-Cakes, and our Premium Daily Diet to these birds when they were displaced yet again when their facility flooded, too!

Gulf Coast moved all birds to a storage unit — the only safe and dry place available! Volunteers were working to clear the area out once flooding minimized, and volunteers are still needed.

We also sent nearly 250 pounds to Gulf Coast with help of Julie M. of Texas, and Michelle D. helped us get nearly 250 pounds to Wings of Love Bird Haven in Rowlett, and Dee from that group was on her way to Gulf Coast to give a hand and deliver that food. (Photos attached for this group).

Magnolia Exotic Bird Sanctuary was largely left unharmed as far as we know. The Parrot Posse and Lafeber Company sent another 250 pounds of nutritionally balanced food to Magnolia as well.

One of our Customer Service associates, Diane, lives in the middle of Houston and her home took on quite a bit of water, just as others did. If you are a regular caller to Lafeber Company, you have more than likely spoken to Diane. She’s the one with the Carolinas accent mixed with that Texas drawl, and she can tell you anything you need to know about birds, and especially baby birds! Diane sent her birds to Magnolia for safekeeping while she and her husband try to rebuild enough to make it safe for the birds and themselves. They are lucky enough that they are able to live in the upstairs still, while so many were not as fortunate.

Diane’s First-Hand Account

“We did flood and, while not as bad as some people in Houston, it was enough to cover our whole downstairs with water, and the damage is more than I could have imagined. This section of our subdivision is one of the high points in Houston, and while it usually gets stranded like an island with a creek at one end and a creek at the other, we have never flooded in 37 years (so why would we have flood insurance?) and we do not have flood insurance. I couldn’t believe it when I saw water coming down the street; I yelled to my husband to move the car and made a mad dash into the garage to grab carriers for the birds and started getting them out of their cages and upstairs, and before I could finish I was already splashing through water it came up that fast! Nothing but our pets & their food was saved but at least I got that.”

Rescues And Individuals Lending A Helping Hand

Gulf Coast Exotic Bird Sanctuary (birds are being housed at a safe and dry storage facility until cleanup can be finished) Prestige Storage 2695 County Road 58, Manvel, TX 77578 (10 more boxes of Lafeber food courtesy of Julie M. in Texas and Lafeber Company)
Magnolia Exotic Bird Sanctuary, 19703 Turtle Creek Lane, Magnolia, TX 77355, 877-829-5500 (courtesy of Judith Archer at *Parrot Posse, who paid for shipping costs for 10 boxes of Lafeber food)
Wings Of Love Bird Haven, De Waggoner, 826 Lynn Ann Drive, Red Oak, TX 75154, (972) 617-0900
(10 boxes of Lafeber food courtesy of Michelle Devon and Lafeber Company)
Tattooed Heart Animal Sanctuary, 193 Bowden Road, Huntsville, TX 77340, 936-294-6683 (10 boxes of Lafeber food courtesy of Mindy Krajefska and Lafeber Company) *Parrot Posse is an umbrella 501 C-3 that takes donated money and ships Lafeber product to various rescues across the country. Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheParrotPosse/

Bird rescues in need off help can contact Lafeber Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm CST, at 800-842-6445 or email: [email protected]. We will also ship to individuals in hurricane affected areas at no cost.

Reap The Benefits Of Joining A Bird Club

September 6, 2017 by Matt Rowe

blue-crowned conure in temporary cage outside — Photo “Caged in the great outdoors!” by The_Gut, CC BY 2.0

There isn’t far you’d have to travel to find a club for just about anything that interests people. If there is a common bond, someone will form a club for it. People will meet to discuss all different kinds of things directly or indirectly related to the common thread. And since there are bird-watching clubs throughout the world, there is little surprise there are also clubs devoted to just the kinds of exotic bird you have.

The share value you would easily gain is spread across many experiential platforms. It could be the veterinarian you use, the types of foods you have experimented with and have had success with, cage materials, toys, perhaps even suggested ways to ease any anxieties the birds may be feeling. Clubs become essential landing areas after you have acquired a bird largely because the networking footprint has a vast potential to impact the way that your bird thrives. And if your bird ever develops strange maladies that you simply cannot explain, a contact or two within the club can be just the thing you need to provide immediate and proper care in the event an emergency arises.

Clubs Of All Sizes

If you live in a large population center like Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York City then there are likely to be plenty of well-established clubs with centralized meeting locations. Often, an established club can be so large that the dues can pay for extraordinary benefits, or monthly dinner get-togethers with guest speakers providing new and amazing insights. There are some that become forums for all things including localized bird adoptions, and special projects that can help raise money for other aviaries and sanctuaries dedicated to the preservation of long-living birds. As many of these services can take huge sums of money to maintain, large clubs can be quite helpful in providing support.

But large clubs are not the only ones able to make a difference in the lives of the members’ birds. More often than not, small areas have established clubs that meet out of homes or nearby community centers. Their means of assistance to the larger picture may not be as rich as larger clubs but they are in no way less essential. In fact, smaller clubs may be the only way that a bird owner in a rural setting may get the attention and information they need to sustain their birds. Bird ownership is certainly not exclusive to a large population number on a town sign. Owners come from all walks of life, and places.

A quick search on the internet can yield a list of clubs no matter where you live. There is a great resource in The Parrot Pages, which posts a nice listing of clubs throughout the world. A simple click will take you to a nearby club that could easily mean the difference in your bird’s life, especially if you’re a new bird owner. Lafeber.com also hosts a Find a Bird Club listing.

At Home In The Bird Community

Exotic bird clubs can help to provide a sense of comfort and warmth. That’s especially true when your bird’s behavior needs a tip or two that can make the difference between uncertainty and confusion. They will provide invaluable streams of resources that will serve you for many decades. You may even find yourself starting one in the event one doesn’t exist within your area. And that could mean the difference to other birds’ well-being.

Back-To-School Shopping For Your Pet Bird

August 23, 2017 by Laura Doering

budgie on perch in cage beside cuttlebone — Photo by Anita Bozic/Pixabay

End of summer means school is back in session; a time when stores are full of back to school supplies. If you share your home with a pet bird, this can also be an opportunity to take inventory of items that can help you better care for your feathered friend.

See how some basic school supplies can help up your game when it comes to caring for your pet bird

Ruler

Let this be a reminder to take a good look at the size of your bird’s cage. Those new to birds often make the mistake of buying too small a cage for their species of bird or they opt for a “starter cage” with the intent of upsizing in the near future. After a while that smaller temporary cage might become the one and only cage. So go ahead and take out the ruler or tape measure and see if your bird’s cage is up to minimum standards.

Notebook And Pen

Another basic, yet useful item, and there are plenty of 25-cent spiral notebooks and 10-cent pens for sale in the bargain bin. For less than half a dollar, you can keep track of all sorts of things in regard to your bird’s health. You can mark down when your bird starts to molt and for how long. Molting can be taxing on a bird’s body so you’ll know to offer extra nourishment during this time.

We have Fit Bits to keep track of the amount of exercise we do and to nudge us to exercise in the first place; your bird has you. When was the last time you took inventory of how much exercise your bird is getting? Reach for the notebook and pen and start jotting down. And while you’re at it, take note of everything your bird eats in a week to see if you’re hitting all the nutrition categories.

Flash Cards

Looking for a fun way to expand your bird’s vocabulary? Try a deck of kindergarten prep flash cards! Even if your bird isn’t a talker, he/she will certainly enjoy spending time with you as you point to a new word and say, “Bird!’

Post-It Notes

There’s nothing like a good ‘ol Post-It Note to reminder on the fridge or door that it’s time to clean the bird’s cage or that you’re running low on pet bird essentials.

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: African Grey Athena’s Antics

August 16, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

African grey parrot being shown a red-colored, wood triangle — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

If you read last month’s blog, you know that our youngest African grey, Athena, can present some interesting challenges to our research. She’s quite a handful, and we sometimes joke that she doesn’t have an “off switch.”

Athena’s Exploits

For example — during our birds’ lunch break, after eating, when Griffin usually takes a short nap or quietly preens, Athena spends her time playing with toys and squawking at the top of her lungs. She’s not just super-active; she’s also really smart. The first paper to which she contributed, when only about a year old, has recently been accepted for publication. I’ll write about that in a future blog. Sometimes, she uses her intelligence in ways that are pretty challenging in terms of acceptable behavior.

Could This Be Deception?

In one instance, she acted in way that could be interpreted as deceptive. She knows she is not allowed to chew buttons off of human shirts, but she always tries to do so when a new student enters the lab. We assume that she figures that the new student might not know the rules and would let her get away with such behavior. In one such instance, she had been thwarted several times, receiving brief “time outs” for her attempts at this destructive activity.

When we again brought her back to the student, she sweetly asked for a “ring,” pronouncing the label quite clearly. We were thrilled, and quickly gave her one of her favorite nylon toys. She happily started to work on it and the student became engrossed in her reading, probably the detailed description of an upcoming experiment. Human and bird both seemed fine. We were just about to praise Athena for her good behavior when we noticed that she actually wasn’t chewing on the ring any longer. She had carefully positioned it, centered on a button, so that it looked like she was playing with the ring…but had gone to work on her more favored button target!

A New Way To Gain Attention

This week she wasn’t deceptive, but rather seemed to be using her intelligence to throw a tantrum. The background to the story is that she has several foraging toys. We usually fill these each day with bits of dried pasta, shredded wheat, or sometimes oat cereals. She has learned to twist, turn, pull, push, etc. whatever is needed in order to get these treats. Interestingly, the same treats are mixed with her other dry food in bowls attached to her cage, but she seems to prefer to “work” in order to get them. The technical term for such behavior is “contra-freeloading,” and I may write about that sometime soon, too.

This week was the end of summer session at Harvard, and the students were completely preoccupied with their final class presentations; no one had had time to fill the foraging toys. For awhile, Athena seemed content simply to eat out of her bowls. Then, all of a sudden, the contents of a food bowl came crashing onto the floor. Athena had finished all the treats and, frustrated that we weren’t attending to her squawks (she hasn’t yet learned English labels for her treats), she obviously decided that actions would speak louder than (non) words. She surprised us by figuring out how to reach under the cup and unscrew its moorings. This allowed her to rotate the cup in order to dump its remaining contents! That certainly got our attention.

All I can say is that there is never a dull moment, even when we are not actively engaged in research.

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Catering To Parrots’ Tastes

July 31, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

What We Do for Science…and for Our Birds!

The story starts out with a paper on Piagetian liquid conservation that was just accepted for publication (more on that study in an upcoming blog). The success of the experiment relied on the ability of our parrots to choose and drink from the one container of two that held a bit more juice than the other. For example, the equivalent of a choice between about less than a fourth versus a half of a teaspoon of liquid. Given that our birds value juice as a major treat, to which we limit access (we joke that it is like “crack cocaine” for them — a concentrated sugar source they can access without any real work), it wasn’t all that surprising that they eagerly looked forward to these sessions.

We would even switch around flavors of the organic juices that we used, so that they wouldn’t get bored by any one type. Griffin, Athena, Pepper, and Franco (two other African Greys who sometimes participate in our studies) all succeeded, comparing very favorably with young children. However, one of my colleagues, despite liking the paper as it was, suggested that we do a second, related experiment, comparing the birds with a number of different great ape species who have also been tested. It seemed like a terrific idea, and we recently began the second study.

A Parrot With an Unexpected Problem

Griffin was happy to participate; Athena, however, was another matter. In the intervening months since we had finished the first experiment, we’ve had to give her a supplement to regulate her hormones. The supplement tastes pretty awful, so we decided to give her some yummy juice after each dose both as a reward for taking her meds and to give her a more pleasant aftertaste. Unfortunately, our ploy backfired: What happened was that she started to associate juice with the nasty-flavored supplement, and began to refuse to drink any of the organic commercial juices we provided. What could we do?

A Student Finds An Unconventional Solution

Fortunately, one of my students, Francesca, noticed that Athena still likes to eat the fresh organic grapes we obtain from a local farmers’ market, and suggested that we try squeezing them for their juice. We teased Francesca about how we’d all get into trouble for starting a winery, but decided her idea was worth a try. Lo and behold, Athena slurped up that first batch! So, Francesca now spends a certain amount of time every other day, peeling and squeezing organic grapes, and filtering the resultant juice.

I’m sure that wasn’t what she had in mind when she applied for a fellowship to work in the lab this summer…and thankfully it really doesn’t take all that much of her time, allowing her actually to perform this and other experiments with the birds. But the experience does indeed demonstrate that, on occasion, what we have to do to get data from our birds can involve somewhat unconventional activities — and that work of this type doesn’t ever get the appropriate credit in those published papers!

Audubon Celebrates Birds

July 26, 2017 by Matt Rowe

Since 2010, the Audubon Photography Awards has challenged world-class photographers to search out the most unique and awe-inspiring opportunities to show the rest of the world how beautiful birds are. With a shared lens, the photographs show birds in their natural acts of being. Using high cash incentives and the international stage, these contests are well explored by all types of photographers. What we, the awed, get out of it all is an unmeasured appreciation of the bird world we get to live in.

Audubon Photography Awards’ Categories

The Audubon Photography Awards judges in three division categories. The first is Professional, which is decided if the photographer makes $5,000 or more a year in photography. The second category is Amateur, decided if the photographer makes under $5,000 a year in sales of photos, or nothing at all. And finally, there is Youth for aspiring photographers under the age of 17 (but at least 13 years of age). There is also a Grand Prize Winner for the most incredible shot taken.

In 2017, there were more than 5,500 photos submitted by photographers from 49 U.S. states, and eight Canadian provinces. With only five judges, the task in finding the representative photo for each division is a tough one. As in all years, the criteria for qualification are technical quality, artistic merit and originality. Ethical approaches to the photos are in place, with one of them forbidding the use of drones.

The Audobon Photography Awards’ Winners 2017

For 2017, the winner of the overall Grand Prize slot is Deborah Albert. She traveled to Antarctica and, in her walks, she happened upon a Gentoo penguin in a nest of rocks. Using her newly purchased Nikon D90, and using a Nikon 70-300mm lens, she was able to capture the rare sight of the penguin’s chick walking out to the mother. The selected shot was one of many taken, and was chosen because of its depiction of “the warmest love in the coldest place.”

For the Professional category, the prize went to Steve Mattheis. His photo of a “crash-landing” Great Gray Owl into a sapling with its widespread wings is a fantastic photo capture of the young bird. The shot was taken at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming using a Nikon D500 outfitted with a Sigma 120-300mm lens atop a stabilizing tripod. The resulting photo is a stunning capture of the reaction and surprise of the owl.

Because sometimes, another possible winning photograph is too good to pass up, an Honorable mention went out to Karen R. Schuenemann for her magnificent capture of the departure of flocks of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. The sun had just broken through a dismal, stormy January day at the Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area in New Mexico, just as the birds lifted to flight. The photo was taken by a Nikon D50 using a Nikon 200-400mm f4 VR lens.

The Amateur category was won by Heather Roskelley, who has submitted a shot of a Varied Thrush interested in the berries of a tree. The bird was found at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, WA. The eye-level photo was taken during a period of four cold days but as the photographer said, “patience and persistence sometimes pay off.” The photographer used a Nikon D7100 camera with a Nikkor AF-S 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR lens. Like the category before, there is an Honorable Mention here as well. Christopher Schlaf submitted a beautiful and fortunate photo of a family of Mute Swans. The two parents are positioned on opposite sides of a cygnet (young swan). Both have dipped into the water creating the illusion of a protective wall for the baby. The shot was taken in Washington, MI using a Canon 1D X outfitted with a Canon 600mm II lens.

Finally, the winning Youth category selection went to Zachary Webster. His awesome photo capture of a pair of airspace-competing Southern Carmine Bee-eaters easily won the contest. The two birds are suspended forever in a gorgeous shot of what is normally a “blur of color and beating wings.” The shot was captured at the Zambian riverbank of the Luangwa River in the South Luangwa National Park using a Nikon D5 with a Nikkor 600mm lens and a 1.4 teleconverter. The Honorable Mention went to Will Hillscher. His photo of a balancing Black Vulture atop a dead tree is an extraordinary capture that details the bird magnificently. He used a Canon EOS Rebel T2i with a Canon 100-400mm Mark II lens and a pro-grade filter to create the remarkable photograph. The location was Williamson County in Round Rock, TX.

You can view all the winning photographs at this link. Given the fact that there were over 5,500 submissions — many too beautiful to ignore — you can go here for TOP 100 photos that the judges had to bypass to select the above-mentioned winner.

Four Things You Should Never Do In Front Of Your Pet Bird

July 12, 2017 by Laura Doering

Four things you should never do in front of your bird (and one thing you should do!)

1. Eat Food Your Bird Shouldn’t Eat

quaker (aka Monk) parakeet on a rope toy — Yolanda from Saskatoon, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Some birds are real foodies who want to taste a little (or a lot!) of what their people are having. If you’re eating a dishful of healthfulness like whole-wheat pasta or steamed veggies sans butter or sauce, go ahead and give your bird a nibble. If you’re eating takeout, sweets, or anything high in fat, salt or sugar, eat it away from your bird so you’re not tempted to give in and offer a little taste if/when your feathered friend strikes a “What about me pose?” or flat out asks your for a bite (parrots are, after all, the only companion pet that can talk!). You wouldn’t eat cake and ice cream in front of your friend on a diet would you? It’s best not to make your bird feel like he’s missing out when the food is something he can’t eat.

2. Cook With Your Bird In The Kitchen

Unfortunately, there are too many dangers in the kitchen to warrant your feathered companion being in the kitchen with you while you cook. Pet birds have fallen in pots of boiling water and landed on hot skillets. In a place where sharp knives, heavy pots, and toe-pinching utensils are kept, unforeseen accidents certainly can happen. Another hazard is nonstick cookware, which when heated, may release fumes that can kill a bird.

3. Clean With Your Bird Nearby

cockatiel perched on cage — Photo by giovannistrapazzon/Pixabay

While keeping your home and bird’s area clean is generally a good thing, consider moving your bird to another location when cleaning in and around the cage. Birds have a sensitive respiratory system, so it’s best to avoid spraying most common household cleaners in their air space. And moving furniture, sweeping, or vacuuming can certainly send some birds into panic mode. If your bird flies off the perch during your cleaning routine, consider moving him to a safe place until you’re done making his space sparkly.

4. Expose Your Bird To Words, Phrases, Or Noises You Don’t Want Mimicked

The web is full of stories and videos of birds repeating embarrassing things their people would rather not be aired to others. And do you really want your bird swearing like a sailor when guests are over?

There are some things you should do in front of your bird. Go ahead and …

Interact With Your Bird!

It’s easy to fall into a routine where you offer your bird pleasantries. You might say “Good morning” when you pass by the cage or “Hello” when you arrive home, but how much are you actually interacting?

One thing you should definitely do in front of your bird is stop and offer your full attention. Give your bird a good head-scratch, let him snuggle with you while you watch your show or surf the web, grab his foot toys and play with him on the ground, or do whatever else your bird might enjoy. Think of this interaction as a highlight of your bird’s day.

Guinness World Record For Aviary With Most Bird Species

July 6, 2017 by Matt Rowe

In 2017, an Indian aviary achieved a Guinness World Records award by becoming the one aviary in the world with the most bird species within a single location. The aviary awarded is Shuka Vana Bird Home, which is located in Mysuru, India.

Mysuru is a populous city — the third most populous — within the state of Karnataka. This city is not without note as it is home to a wealth of successes in science, art, and politics. One of the great things about this city is the garden aviary owned and tended to by Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji.

A Massive Aviary

Guinness World Records have officially confirmed the existence of 468 species of birds within a collection of 2,000 birds. The birds are housed in a one-acre, 50-meter high, free-flight enclosure. Started in 2012, the aviary is used not only to house birds, but was also established to be a rehabilitation center.

Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji is known as a passionate healer of birds dedicated to the rescue of endangered and injured exotic birds. The aviary houses a hospital to assist him in this purpose. There are no abandoned birds without a home where this man is concerned. His main passion was as a collector of rare exotic birds. But as he collected, he found that there is more to life than just collecting. Preservation soon became a strong focal point of the work of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji’s aviary home.

Bird Care Above And Beyond

The Shuka Vana Bird Home is second to none in its care of exotic birds. Not only does it provide essential medical care, and a nurturing environment for continuous health, it also blends in a spiritual aspect. When helping to provide birds in adoption proceedings, the strongly held belief that zodiacal assignations play a crucial role in pairing birds to potential owners figures in.

Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji has a strong belief that parrots possess an innate ability to travel into invisible dimensions of spirit in order to commune and feed human souls on “the other side.” He has researched and provided ancient texts that help to support these beliefs. He is dismayed at the rapid decline of birds and is against all manner of deforestation and disruption of any natural settings of the world that contribute to the well-being of the population of exotic birds.

More About Shuka Vana

Check out the Shuka Vana website, where you are greeted with bird whistles and music. You will also find fun things to indulge in like finding your matched parrot to your date of birth, the signs of the zodiac, and planets. There are a collection of videos to watch, including one for Kali — a loved African grey parrot with an amazing Indian vocabulary — and much more.

Interestingly, Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji, who turned 75 in 2017, does not hold just one Guinness World Record. He holds seven (see here)! This includes his massive Bonsai tree collection with 2,649 trees on display.

Why Parrots Are So Smart

June 14, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

closeup on head and shoulders of African grey parrot — African Grey parrots have large brains compared to other birds. Photo by congerdesign/Pixabay

When I began research with Alex, my first grant proposal was rejected not only with the flippant remark “What is this woman smoking?” but also with more serious criticisms, arguing that the studies I proposed were unlikely to succeed, given that birds lacked anything that looked like the primate cerebral cortex — the part of the brain in mammals that is responsible for intelligent behavior. Even after I started giving lectures in the 1980s with the data I had collected, my colleagues argued that no “mere bird” could possibly do what I was claiming.

Examining Bird Brains

Many of these naysayers, however, hadn’t done their homework. As far back as the beginning of the 20^th century, researchers such as Kalischer (1901) suggested that for birds and mammals, different-looking brain areas might be responsible for the same types of intelligent behavior, and that just as for mammals, parallels could be made between the relative sizes of these areas and the extent of avian learning (see also Cobb, 1960; Portmann, 1950; Portmann & Stingelin, 1961; note Stettner, 1974; for a detailed review, see Pepperberg, 1999).

But it was not until the 21^st century that the leading avian neurobiologists (Jarvis et al., 2005) published a paper clearly demonstrating that portions of the avian brain and the mammalian cerebral cortex actually functioned in the same ways, even though they looked completely different. [For those of you who want an example using specific neurobiological terms, the avian nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) and the dorsolateral corticoid (CDL) areas, respectively, are likely homologues of the posterior parietal cortex and parts of the prefrontal cortex (Butler et al., 2005)]. Other research (Jarvis et al., 2013) clarifies additional correspondences between avian and mammalian brain areas.

Vocal Learning Differences In Birds

Of particular interest, however, are two very recent studies. One study, by Olkowicz et al. (2016), demonstrates that large-brained parrots such as Greys (as well as several corvids) have neuron counts in an area crucial for cognitive processing that are equal to or greater than primates with much larger overall brains; these authors suggest that the large numbers of neurons concentrated in high densities in this forebrain region are substantially responsible for advanced avian intelligence. The second study, by Chakraborty et al. (2015), examines brain structures involved in vocal learning.

Many avian species (sub-oscine birds such as North American flycatchers, members of the pigeon and chicken families) develop innately specified species-specific vocalizations, but are incapable of true vocal learning, and lack specific neural structures responsible for such learning. Vocal learning, and the requisite neural structures, characterizes the oscines, or songbirds (e.g., robins, wrens, warblers). Parrots also engage in vocal learning, and have a brain structure somewhat like that of songbirds. Unlike many (but not all) songbirds, however, parrots are open-ended vocal learners.

Consequently, unlike those songbirds that tend to learn the majority of their repertoire early in life (including aspects such as dialects common to the territories where they hatched) and make few, if any, changes in this repertoire over time, parrots are capable of learning new vocalizations throughout their lives.

The Brainpower Of African Greys And Similar Birds

Interestingly, Chakraborty et al. (2015) found that parrots such as the Grey have not only a neural system comparable to that of songbirds and hummingbirds for the learning of their species-specific vocalizations, but also a unique, separate “shell” system that may be responsible for their open-ended abilities to learn and acquire utterances of different species, including human speech. These authors also suggest that, because this shell system is larger in psittacine species like Greys that have shown advanced cognitive capacities, that this region may also be involved in nonvocal as well as vocal learning.

The moral of this story is that when anyone calls you a “bird brain,” take it as a compliment!

Resource List

Butler, A.B., Manger, P.R., Lindahl, B.I.B., & Århem, P. (2005). Evolution of the neural basis of consciousness: A bird-mammal comparison. BioEssays, 27, 923-936.

Chakraborty, M., Walløe, S., Nedergaard, S., Fridel, E.E., et al., (2015). Core and shell song systems unique to the parrot brain. PLoS ONE 10(6): e0118496. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0118496

Cobb, S. (1960). Observations on the comparative anatomy of the avian brain. In D.I. Ingle & S.O. Waife, eds., Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 383-408.

Jarvis, E.D., Güntürkün, O., Bruce, L., Csillag, A., Karten, H., Kuenzel, W., Medina, L., et al. (2005). Avian brains and a new understanding of vertebrate evolution. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 151-159.

Jarvis, E.D., Yu, J., Rivas, M.V., Horita, H., Feenders, G., Whitney, O., Jarvis, S.C., Jarvis, E.R., et al. (2013). Global view of the functional molecular organization of the avian cerebrum: mirror images and functional columns. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 521, 3614–3665.

Kalischer, O. (1901). Weitere Mittheilung zur Grosshirnlocalisation bei den Vogeln (Further information on cerebral lesions in birds). Preussian Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1, 428-439.

Pepperberg, I.M. (1999). The Alex Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Portmann, A. (1950). Système nerveux. In P.P. Grassé, ed., Traité de Zoologie, Paris: Masson, pp. 185-203.

Portmann, A., & Stingelin, W. (1961). The central nervous system. In A.J. Marshall, ed., Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press, pp. 1-36.

Stettner, L.J. (1967). Brain lesions in birds: Effects on discrimination acquisition and reversal. Science, 155, 1689-1692.

Bird Art On The Auction Block

June 7, 2017 by Matt Rowe

In the past, I’ve written about various art forms that use the exotic bird as their platform. There are films, prose, drawings on walls and canvases, and musical expression. As with all things, the forms of expression are limitless. Another one to look at now is the hand-designed craft of sculpture.

Parrot Figurines

Sculpture comes in many forms. One is the meticulous and purposeful art of figurines. In 2017, Barnebys, an auction house and dealer of antiquities located in seven countries, put up for auction two delightful pieces of resin creations. Created in 1985 and 1988, these are carefully painted and beautiful replications of a Moluccan Cockatoo (1988), and a Grey African Congo Parrot (1985). Both are depicted as being on tree trunks. The Parrot is looking downward while the Cockatoo is standing proud and tall. These items were recently on bid and (by the time you read this) are being displayed in someone’s home. And while these pieces were not rare or likely sold for much, they are a part of a world’s fascination with our bird treasures.

Barnebys also had an older Art Deco piece available from the 1930s. The ceramic piece is a pitcher designed to look like a toucan. The liquid poured from the beak of the bird. This interesting piece was designed and created by a Czech artist, Ditmar Urbach, who hand-painted the artfully inspired pitcher.

High-End Bird Figurines

Art has a tendency to extend from the lower and more accessible ends to higher, least affordable heights. As with all art, the design, the creator, the materials used, and the time frame in which they were created all play a part in the way the pieces are accepted and the price that is attached.

There are pieces that are crafted out of fine and extremely beautiful crystal. Swarovski is a creator of exquisite pieces that include stunning bird artwork. For a “mere” $1,700, a gorgeous and desirable crystal of a Blue Parrot can be had. Others include a Cockatoo Pair ($265), Paradise Pink Cockatoos ($869), a pastel yellow and lavender colored Budgie pair ($239), and a clear crystal sculpture of Turtledoves ($629).

In porcelain art, the prices soar even higher. Like fragile crystal, the artwork must be carefully attended to in order to avoid breakage that would render the piece unsellable. One such beautiful piece is that of Lladro Swans taking flight. Priced at a breath-catching $4,300, this comes with insurance in case of breakage. The insurance ends when the piece is officially retired and begins to assume a rare status as no more will be made. Another Lladro porcelain piece is a Macaw Bird that is being sold for $1,650.

If you want rarities, these can be had at a premium price. In fact, the tax alone on such a piece is more than enough to make you gasp. An authentic metal and crystal figurine of Golden Peacock, handcrafted by world-famous artist Jay Strongwater, demands a price of $28,000 (tax assessment of $1,750!).

One of the more pricey — and ultra-rare — pieces is a wood-carved eagle by noted wood-carver, Wilhelm Schimmel. Schimmel lived in Pennsylvania in the mid- to late 1800s, carving magnificent works out of soft pine, and selling them for pennies. Today, many of those carvings are housed in high-end museums and carry high worth. The previously mentioned eagle carving by Schimmel is 26 inches high and 32 inches wide. This piece carries a realized value of $427,500 in U.S. currency.

There are many art forms of birds available in all price ranges and for many, many purposes. Whether to simply complement a table arrangement, display in a cabinet or shelf, or to treasure as a genuine work of art, bird sculpture not only showcases these beautiful birds in an artful setting, but also underscores the many ways in which we can immortalize a vision of these fine-looking birds from the perspective of an artist.

Pepperberg’s Parrots Surprise With Word Choices

May 31, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

“Hidden” Words

Griffin being trained on “3-corner wood.” Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

My parrots are trained to communicate with humans using English speech, and most of the time they do pretty well. Not only do they respond to our questions asking them to label colors, shapes, materials, and toys, but they also ask us for various items or to be moved to different locations. So it’s quite common to hear Griffin saying something like “Wanna nut” (a treat available only during training or testing sessions) and “Wanna go back” (to his cage), or Athena trying to produce a clear version of “chair” so that she can join her human companions on the armchairs in the lab.

Sometimes, however, the birds simply stop producing certain vocalizations; these labels just seem to disappear. We think it is because the items to which the labels refer (usually healthy foods or familiar toys) are always available, and as a consequence the parrots do not often need to request these things. Alex kept most of his labels active because he would frequently comment on what he was eating or chewing apart (e.g., respectively, “yellow corn” or “wood”), even when we didn’t require him to do so. However, neither Griffin nor Athena seem to think that kind of chatter is important and don’t engage in such behavior. But we’ve learned that labels that aren’t commonly used haven’t entirely gone away; rather, they are “hidden.”

Proof That Parrots Do Not Forget Words

For example: We recently had a film crew in the lab, and thus the parrots’ lunch was not on time. Too, their breakfast food bowls were not in the usual spot atop their cages because of a particular shot that the crew wanted. All of a sudden (and, of course, after the camera was turned off!), we heard Griffin’s very plaintiff “want banerry!” (Alex’s and Griffin’s label for apple). One of my students, who had been in the lab for over a year, was totally taken aback…this was the first time she had heard the label!

We sometimes joke about Griffin’s roughly once-a-year request for “grain” (cooked grains), because this food appears like clockwork twice a day and only rarely does he decide that he wants it at an unusual time. We even saw a related behavior with Alex. He really liked fresh cherries that we pitted for him, but they are a seasonal fruit and thus were rarely available. However, each year, as soon as we could access a new crop from the grocery store, he quickly identified this favored food, using a label that he hadn’t uttered for many months.

Parrot Surprise Words

Other times, we have no idea that a bird has learned a label until it is used in a novel situation. One day, the students forgot to replace Athena’s water bowl after the noon-time cleaning of her cage. About an hour later, we heard her saying something that sounded very much like “wa-er”… unlike anything she had previously uttered … and realized our mistake. We wouldn’t replicate the circumstances by choice, but do wonder if it would happen again.

And then there was the time that we were trying very hard to teach Alex “seven”… Saying “v” without lips is difficult, and training was going slowly; he was approximating the label by saying “s…none” or “s…one” (Pepperberg, 2007). Everyone in the lab was quite surprised one day to hear that vocalization coming from a different cage…Griffin had clearly been attending to Alex’s training and decided he could get some attention if he produced this approximation…and, of course, he was correct.

Parrots Getting Words Right

Finally, we know from an earlier study (Pepperberg, Brese, & Harris, 1991), that Alex would sometimes practice a label in our absence until he got it right…we learned, but only after we set up a tape-recorder to track his behavior when he was alone, that he was actually trying to say a new label weeks before he produced it clearly in our presence. We still aren’t sure why he engaged in such behavior, but maybe he just wanted to avoid the somewhat negative feedback (“Alex, you’re close…say better!”) he received when he practiced during training.

The take-home message is that even with birds that live in a laboratory and are being trained to talk — we never know quite what we will — or will not — hear!

Pepperberg, I.M. (2007a). Grey parrots do not always ‘parrot’: Phonological awareness and the creation of new labels from existing vocalizations. Language Sciences 29: 1-13.

Pepperberg, I.M., Brese, K.J., & Harris, B.J. (1991). Solitary sound play during acquisition of English vocalizations by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Possible parallels with children’s monologue speech. Applied Psycholinguistics, 12:151‑177.

Fictitious Birds Should Eat Healthy Too

May 24, 2017 by Laura Doering

If you haven’t heard of the online game Minecraft, you must have been scratching your head wondering about those block-like characters dominating the toy and children’s apparel aisles for the past few years. Minecraft is a seriously popular online game (much like a Lego’s animation game), where players need to secure certain items like iron or ore to build imaginary block-like landscapes.

Minecraft also includes animal characters (imagine square-looking pigs and sheep!) that players need to woo with the right item in order to tame them; for example to tame a cat, you need to catch a virtual fish and feed it to the cat.

Parrots In Minecraft

More recently, Minecraft added four types of tameable parrot characters. To get a parrot, the player feeds the bird a chocolate chip cookie. Some parrot-knowledgeable user pointed out that chocolate can be toxic to parrots. “You can’t tell me some 6-year-old is going to play Minecraft and then try to feed their Mom’s 45-year-old Macaw chocolate chips or a chocolate chip cookie,” someone wrote under the user name 1jl.

Mojang AB, the company that owns Minecraft, issued a response to the online chatter, stating that it will change out the cookie with a more healthy option. I vote for a Nutri-Berrie! Let’s let out a collective “Hooray!” for Mojang correcting this oversight.

Watch Out For Bad Pet Food In Movies

I cringe when I see a movie or advertisement that depicts the wrong food being fed to birds and other pets, especially in regard to kid movies. Take, for example, the animated movie “Up” (Pixar Animation Studios, 2009), which deservedly won Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.

It’s hard to criticize this touching and uplifting movie, but if there were one thing I wish they had changed in the script, it would be the chocolate bar one of the main characters uses to befriend the lovable, fictitious, “snipe” bird, named Kevin. I cringed at the thought of young audience members going home and breaking off chunks of chocolate to feed their pets.

Similarly, I’m sure some bird enthusiasts were a little taken aback by the fact that Blu, the main parrot character in the movie “Rio” (20th Century Fox, 2011) loves a mug of hot chocolate to start his day. Again, how about a Nutri-Berrie and a bowl of fresh water to dunk it in instead?

Bird Mural Depicts Avian History

May 18, 2017 by Matt Rowe

Throughout the ages of human existence, art has been an important way to communicate. What’s communicated often runs the gamut of thought, appreciation, and visual display. From early man to the modern age, the methods and canvases have changed. From caves walls to paper, to elaborately constructed paint platforms, the beauty of art has evolved to become a richly intertwined part of our human nature. And of course, one of life’s beautiful subjects is the bird.

Our birds show off a rich palette of colors that can easily challenge any person artistically. In wanting to showcase the bird in as many as a million displays with more than a million colors, much magnificent art has been created featuring birds of all kinds. One of those artists is using her talent in a beautiful way by painting a mural that visually portrays 375 million years of avian evolution.

Birth Of A Bird Mural

Meet Jane Kim. She is part of a collective of artists known as Ink Dwell. Ink Dwell was also co-founded by Thayer Walker, a writer who has chronicled this massive undertaking of art that not only celebrates the history of our birds, but is also a creation of enduring art. Donors have helped to finance the ongoing work. Some of the birds painted even have the signatures of the mural donors artistically incorporated.

The mural is engagingly called “From So Simple a Beginning.” Over its projected 2,800 square feet of wall space at the Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, this massive painting depicts 270 species of birds. It also includes larger than life dinosaur birds that were present so many ages ago but are now extinct. The project was begun in 2014 with an expected finish goal date of 2016. Jane Kim and her assistants had to literally paint whole birds in short periods of time in order to be able to meet the goal time frame.

Bringing Realism And Interaction To The Bird Mural

All of the birds within this magnificent piece are painted in actual life sizes. If the bird was more than 5 feet in height, it was painted as such. The hummingbird was painted as small as it is. This was done to lovingly provide as realistic a representation of all birds. And being historically immortalized on the walls of the Cornell University’s famed Lab of Ornithology makes it a fitting location to be enjoyed for long into the future.

As an added bonus to the exquisite Wall of Birds mural, the Cornell Lab has prepared an online presentation of the wall as an interactive experience. With high-resolution photos of each bird from the painting, online visitors will be able to not only learn about each depicted bird, but will also be able to marvel at the work and dedication that went into this 2-plus years of beauty on a unique canvas. The interactive aspect of this artistic painting and its intent to educate and amaze is active for you to enjoy.

For lovers of art and birds, visit the online Wall of Birds to enjoy a zoomable, shareable slideshow of photos. Click a bird image and you get short description of the sketch and painting to learn more about each subject. Additionally, you can view a short 8-minute behind-the-scenes video of this undertaking.

Awe-Inspiring Online And In Person

Juxtapoz Magazine calls the “From So Simple A Beginning” wall mural “one of the world’s most ambitious natural history murals.” You are certainly encouraged — and invited — to see this work of historic art at its location at Cornell University. You will no doubt be awed by its immensity and extraordinary complexity.

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
— Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species,” 1859

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Getting Parrots To Exercise

May 3, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

The Morning Workout

We all know that exercise is important for good health … for all species. Exercise is particularly important for our parrots, as most conditions in captivity are extremely different from the lives they live in the wild. For example, my students found that Grey parrots in Africa can fly up to 60 kilometers (that’s over 37 miles) in a single day as they go from their night roosts to various foraging areas and back again (May, 2004).

In the wild, they sit on tree branches that sway in the wind and thus are forced to shift their weight around to keep their balance. They climb up and down tree trunks, “juicing” the bark (May, 2004). Our birds do climb around a lot on their cages and have perches that vary in size and shape, but, like most companion animals, they encounter little of what they would experience on a daily basis in the wild. What could be done to recreate something like a natural exercise pattern?

Developing A Bird Exercise Routine

We decided to consult with our veterinarian and her colleagues who specialize in nonhuman physical therapy. These professionals came up with a few exercises for our birds to help with strength and balance, and I thought it might be fun to share some of them.

The two main exercises use a balance ball and a contraption we had to build that involves a ramp with adjustable angles. I’ll talk only about the ball because it is available commercially. The balance ball is a somewhat peanut-shaped inflated exercise ball (see photo). We place a towel on top to give the birds some purchase for their toes and to protect the ball from their nails.

Exercises For Birds

Once our parrot is perched, we then go through four different actions. Just as with our own attempts to get into shape, you don’t want to make a bird do all of these in a single session at first, or do all the “reps” the first time, either. Instead, work up slowly to the entire set.

1) Rolls: The first action involves “rolls.” With the bird in position, we roll the ball slowly forward and backward (alternating for a total of four rolls, twice in each direction) so the bird walks on top of it. We guide them so they have to walk backward, and don’t immediately turn around.

2) Hills: Next are “hills.” We slowly lift one side of the ball so that it tips up at a shallow angle (never completely vertical!). We ask the parrot to walk to the top. When the bird reaches the top, we lower the ball back to the mat. We repeat in the other direction, twice for each side.

3) Bounces: Then come the “bounces” that are particularly important for stability. We lightly push up and down on the ball so that the bird is gently bounced. We want them to crouch and engage their leg muscles. Be careful — the bird’s feet should never bounce off the ball.

4) Combo: Finally, we combine these three into one set of “random movements,” alternating among rolls, bounces and hills randomly. This is done at a comfortable speed for each bird.

How The Birds Like Exercise

I have to say that our birds, like most humans, seem to have a love/hate relationship with exercise. We get that “slitty-eyed” look when we take out the equipment, but once they are actually on the ball or the ramp, they so seem to get into the spirit of things! (See photo.)

May, D.L. (2004). The vocal repertoire of Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus) living in the Congo Basin (Central African Republic, Cameroon). PhD Thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Psittacosis: What Bird Owners Need To Know

April 26, 2017 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

cockatiel on perch in front of curtains in semi-dark room — Photo by Mustafa_Fahd/Pixabay

Psittacosis is a disease caused by the intracellular bacterium Chlamydia psittaci. This bacterium is zoonotic, which means that it can be transmitted to people from birds and vice versa. This is why it is important for all bird owners to know about this disease and how to keep your birds and yourself safe.

Spreading Psittacosis

So how do birds get the disease? This organism can be shed in large numbers in the feces, urine, and from the oral cavity and/or from respiratory secretions of affected birds. It can also be found in the crop milk of pigeons and doves. The particles can be aerosolized when the birds beat their wings. This infects others, which includes birds and people who breathe in the dander. Infection then takes place quickly as the organisms replicate rapidly in the lungs, air sacs, and pericardium about 24 hours after inhaling or ingesting them. Within 48 hours, the organisms can be detected in the blood and they are able to shed or release the organism at about 72 hours post-infection. This means that disease spreads quickly in a flock.

It appears that when the organisms enter the respiratory tract, the infection spreads to other adjacent organs like the liver and spleen. When the organisms enter by the oral route, the signs are often less and can lead to a chronic non-symptomatic form of the disease. There has been transmission through the egg in some species of birds including the budgie. Cockatiels can be frequent carriers of the disease and can shed C. psittaci in their feces for more than a year.

Psittacosis Symptoms

What are the symptoms of the disease in birds? The disease varies based on the strain of the organism; some produce severe symptoms while others cause very mild symptoms. They also vary based on the species of birds affected. Often, birds have respiratory signs along with GI signs. Psittacines can have signs ranging from dyspnea (trouble breathing) to oculonasal discharge to anorexia to bright green feces to regurgitation and/or vomiting. The bird may also have neurologic signs, especially in cockatiels, which may suffer tremors or twisting of the head, body, and neck. In other situations, particularly in lovebirds, there may be no signs previous to the bird being found dead.

In birds, the incubation time or the time from infection to development of signs is about 3 days to several weeks up to a month. However, birds can develop signs without an identifiable risk factor. This is most likely the consequence of being in a carrier state.

Detecting Psittacosis

How do you know if your bird is free of this disease? The quickest and preferred method of detecting the Chlamydia organism is a PCR, polymerase chain reaction, test. This reliable, sensitive test does not rely on the organism being viable, as with a culture. Chlamydia is very difficult to grow. Because it is zoonotic, not all labs will attempt to grow the organism. There are some serologic tests of the blood available, but those tests can have more interpretive problems.

Clinicians may determine that an avian patient has the disease if the bird fits the clinical picture based on CBC (Complete Blood Count) and profile blood tests along with X-rays. On X-rays there may be an enlarged liver and/or spleen with changes in the lungs (pneumonia) and air sacs (air sacculitis, or inflammation of the air sacs). These may then be part of the diagnostic plan. The clinician may then take swabs of the oropharynx, fresh feces of the cloaca, and blood for testing by PCR. These testing sites can also be used by PCR to test a well bird to make sure that the bird does not carry the disease; such tests are often recommended during the first visit to the avian veterinarian.

From this information, you as a good bird owner then know that you should not take your bird to functions with other birds unless all are tested and negative for C. psittaci. Also because the organism can be aerosolized, I recommend against purchasing food from bulk bins.

Treatment For Psittacosis

The traditional treatment of this bacterium is the use of doxycycline for 45 days. The reason that the course of therapy is so long is that the C. psittaci organism can hide out in the macrophage — a type of white blood cell in the bloodstream. Unfortunately, doxycycline cannot reach the organism in the macrophage when it is in its non-replicative cycle. But during its cellular division, which occurs at least two times during a 45-day treatment period, the organisms are released from the macrophage, which provides a time that the doxycycline can kill them. For this reason, the bird or birds must be retested after the end of the treatment period to make sure that the birds are free from disease and are not clinical carriers.

Several forms of the drug can be administered, so options should be discussed with your veterinarian. Doxycycline can be administered in the water, and the dose depends on the species of bird. It can also be coated on specified seeds with oil or administered directly by mouth. The doses vary based on the species of birds.

Dangers of Psittacosis

Psittacosis is a zoonotic disease that can affect people, so it receives a higher level of attention than other diseases. How it is reported and treated varies among countries and even among U.S. states. In humans, the signs occur about 5 to 14 days after incubation but can take up to a month to appear. Typically, the symptoms are non-specific and include headache and muscle aches, and flu-like symptoms with upper respiratory signs. People tend to have swollen lymph nodes with high fevers, particularly at night. The symptoms worsen without proper treatment of the organism. Azithromycin is commonly used for humans and is an effective form of treatment.

Since the disease can be deadly for birds as well as humans, we as bird owners need to understand this disease so that we can all be safe!

The Desert Cardinal: Beauty In The Desert

April 13, 2017 by Matt Rowe

desert cardinal perched on dead chollo cactus branch — Photo “Pyrrhuloxia” by Mick Thompson, CC BY-NC 2.0

We live in a unique world. Not only are we unique as humans, our companions on this Earth are also unique, and uniquely varied. You can take many types of birds and find something incredibly different about them in another part of the world.

Already, we enjoy a fascination with the brightly colored Cardinal. There are multiple differences from many of the Cardinal species, but the best know is the red-colored male and the green-colored female. But there are two other, lesser known, but very distinct Cardinals from the same genus known as Cardinalis. One is the Vermilion Cardinal, who is found in the warmer climes of South America, primarily Colombia and Venezuela. The other is the Desert Cardinal, which we’ll spend time with in this article.

Where Desert Cardinals Live

The Desert Cardinal (C. sinuatus) dwells in the more arid parts of North America. Primarily, they are found in the southern regions of Arizona, the south reaches of New Mexico, and in parts of Texas. They have even been spotted in parts of Mexico. Like their cousins, they are songbirds. With song, they defend their territories, and lure potential mates. Once mated, they typically stay attached for their life span. They are considered outside the range of danger in terms of extreme lessening of their overall population. However, a decline in population is occurring due to habitat changes that often seem to be a culprit in many severely endangered species reductions.

The Look Of Desert Cardinals

desert cardinal perched on dead chollo branch leaning to their right — Photo “Pyrrhuloxia” by Andrej Chudý, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

As with their more common Northern Cardinal counterpart, the male and female differ in color. The male is a gray-colored bird with a distinct reddish chest and red splotches within his wings. The red also climbs onto the face regions, appearing as a mask and surrounding his crooked beak. This is in contrast to the Northern Cardinal, whose beak is not crooked. The female Desert Cardinal is often gray-colored with splotches of other colors found, but still maintaining a fundamental difference in appearance to the female Northern Cardinal. As a species, they are beautiful to note as two distinct parts of the same bird.

Of particular interest is the crest of the bird. It’s intrinsically what makes them stand out, quickly catching the eye of bird fans. For the Desert Cardinal, the crest stands up like its counterparts within the genus, but carries it to a higher point.

Desert Cardinal Eating Habits

Cardinals are generally ground foragers. The seeds they take to most readily are those found in plants and grains, making them granivorous in nature. If you plant or seed with intent to draw specific birds to your view, then it helps to recognize that these Cardinals are particular in their diet. With the addition of some insects, they are right at home.

Striking To Behold

As in many species of creatures, the Desert Cardinal is not immune to albinism. And because of that rare deficiency, the White Desert Cardinal is especially striking in appearance. They typically offset their white bodies with red in their wings and crest.

The Desert Cardinal is a gorgeous bird to draw to your attention and, ultimately, your viewing pleasure if you live within the borders of their natural habitat. It would be unfair to them to let the “stunning in their own right” Northern Cardinal have all the appreciative attention.

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Parrot Picture Day

April 5, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Picture Perfect … Almost

As we begin planning the photo shoot for our “Welcome Spring” entry on Facebook, it struck me that most readers probably do not realize how much effort such shoots take. One might think that, because my parrots can do complex cognitive tasks and comprehend and produce English, that they are perfectly trained in all respects. Such is absolutely not the case! Just because they will do things like wait 15 minutes for a better treat, or vocally identify some optical illusions, doesn’t mean that they will happily have their picture taken. In fact, taking their picture necessitates dealing with several different (often simultaneous) problems.

Using Parrot-Approved Backgrounds

The first issue is the background that we use for each picture. I am extremely fortunate to have had, both now and in the past, students who are superb artists, and who come up with terrific ideas for different types of props. You can see some of these gorgeous pieces of art on our Facebook page. The problem is that the parrots don’t always agree with our artistic taste. So, there was that Hallows’ Eve when the humans thought our “friendly ghost” was absolutely the cutest fellow ever…but Athena took one look and tried to get as far away as possible! And the paper candy corn that really did look good enough to eat…

Capturing The Perfect Parrot Pose

The second issue is getting the birds to pose. Athena is rarely a problem. As soon as she sees the camera, she gets into her “flirty” mode. I’m sure she was a runway model in a former life. Griffin, in contrast, despite being the subject of photo shoots for over 20 years, is of the “deer-in-the-headlights” mentality. He can be sitting in the same place, on the same perch, and look absolutely adorable…until he sees the camera. Sigh.

Working With Two Parrots

The third issue is coordinating the two birds’ behavior. I’m sure that anyone who has worked with either small children or any animals can commiserate. Just when the lighting is perfect, both birds are looking at the photographer, and the angles between them couldn’t be any better — one or the other decides it’s time to poop. Or that a feather needs adjusting. Or it seems like the right time to hop off the perch and mess with a prop. Or one or the other decides that it’s a good time for a nap. Or a sneeze. Or the phone rings and both birds startle. Or one of the other research associates in the lab inadvertently drops something and destroys everyone’s concentration. Most of the time it’s simply that when one parrot looks gorgeous, the other doesn’t…

Fortunately, my lab managers have always had endless patience. They will go through dozens of pictures, trying to find one or two that capture the mood that we want. Maybe someday we should put together a booklet of “outtakes” and sell it as a fundraiser item! You can see one of those pix — a “grumpy” Grif when we were trying to photograph him getting some ‘spoon tickles”… cute, but not exactly the pose for which we were hoping!

Birds That Deceive To Get Ahead

March 30, 2017 by Laura Doering

The first day of April is notable mostly because that is the time of the year where pranks and deception rule the day. With that theme in mind, there are plenty of instances in nature where animals have evolved to be deceptive as a survival tactic. Here’s a look at bird species that use trickery to get ahead.

False Alarms

fork-tailed drongo perched on thin branch outdoors — Africa’s fork-tailed drongo will sometimes give off false alarm calls so that it can scoop in and steal other birds’ food. Photo by Dick Daniels (https://theworldbirds.org/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The fork-tailed drongo, an African native, likes to hang out with flocks of other birds. This bird typically fills the role of lookout and gives off an alarm call when predators are in the area, which sends the flocks of birds around it scattering into the air to flee. But there is one trick the drongo likes to play to score some easy food, and that is to set off a false alarm call. When the birds around it take off, the drongo goes in and steals their food. If the other birds start to catch on, there’s another trick up the drongo’s sleeve. Researcher Tom Flower of the University of Cape Town and his colleagues determined that the drongo can also mimic the alarm calls of 45 other bird and animal species.

Faking It

killdeer mother on the ground with wings out protecting her nest — Photo by Courtney Celley USFWS Midwest Region from United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Never underestimate the heroics birds are capable of when it comes to protecting their young. For example, it’s not uncommon to see little birds fly after birds of prey to drive them away from a nest or chicks. Some ground-nesting birds, which are especially vulnerable to being preyed upon, rely on deception to lure predators away from their nests and young. Birds like the killdeer, native to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, protect their nests by feigning injury. The adult killdeer will drag one wing while frantically flapping the other and giving off a distress call. If this doesn’t stop the predator from heading toward the nest, the bird will wobble closer to the predator to get its attention and then flies off when it has distracted the predator. The Northern lapwing employs a similar tactic to protect its young.

Free Nanny

reed warbler perched on branch feeding a cuckoo in nest — A reed warbler parent feeds a much larger cuckoo chick that hatched in its nest. Cuckoo hens are known to lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and their chicks are subsequently cared for by the tricked bird. Photo by Per Harald Olsen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Some birds have taken the burden of raising chicks off their shoulders so to speak and instead put that burden on a non-related bird species. Reed warblers are just about the size of a sparrow but they sometimes get tricked into raising a bird four times its size. That larger bird is a cuckoo.

Cuckoo hens are known to fly into a reed warblers’ nest (as well as the nests of dunnocks and meadow pipits), when the parents are away so the cuckoo hen can lay an egg next to those of the reed warbler’s. When the eggs hatch, the unsuspecting reed warbler gets tricked into rearing the cuckoo’s chick. The cuckoo is a brood parasite, which describes an organism that relies on others to raise their young. This behavior is seen in birds, insects and some types of fish.

In a more extreme case of parasitic birds, the North American brown-headed cowbird has been observed “punishing” host birds by destroying their clutches if the host birds reject their eggs. According to Maria Abou Chakra, lead author of a study on the cowbird’s parasitic behavior, “They give the hosts no choice. If they wish to avoid retaliation, they need to keep the foreign egg.”

You can get an up close look at this “mafia-style” parasitic behavior in this Science article, which includes how the cowbird stakes out its target nest and has to get the timing just right to swoop in and leave its egg.

Genetic Engineering: New Hope For Rare Species?

March 22, 2017 by Matt Rowe

A Spix's macaw sits on a branch outdoors — Although Spix macaws exist in several captive populations, the last known individual in the wild disappeared in 2000.
*Danny Ye / Shutterstock*

With so many animals and birds recorded on a globally registered watch list, there are those that could be gone from us within the blink of an eye. Interestingly, emerging biological and preservation technologies currently being developed might be a way of saving endangered species.

The art of fiction gave us a realistic look at bringing back long-gone species by way of movies like “Jurassic Park.” Although bringing back creatures dead for longer than 10,000 years is considered impossible, the emerging science is certainly there for more recent extinct creatures. In this time, much of that previously unrealized concept is closer to becoming reality.

Back in 2003, a DNA sample retained from the now extinct Pyrenean Ibex (a type of goat extinct since 2000) was used to clone and bring back to life the goat in a lab setting. Unfortunately, the goat died shortly after its birth. But with that little bit of success, large hopes have been fueled by the concept of eradicating extinction in as complete a manner as is genetically possible. More recently, there is hope that a Wooly Mammoth can be resurrected within the span of two years. With well-preserved bodies of the creature extracted from the Siberian permafrost, the DNA samples are as fresh as can possibly be. Nevertheless, even with some remarkable samples available, the science is a young one. It will no doubt go though much trial and error before possibly becoming a routine procedure.

Hope In “Frozen Aviaries”

Currently, there are more than one hundred species of exotic birds on the endangered list. Many scientists have dedicated their lives to the preservation of these species. With habitat changes, predator relocations, and climate changes, our precious birds have proven to be a challenge to adaptation of new locations or procedures designed to take the place of their once natural habits. Some of those birds will die out, lost to us. But it doesn’t have to be like that at all.

The establishment of ‘frozen aviaries’ is a unique preservation concept that promises to maintain the stem cells from birds that can later be used to revive a rare breed. The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh has started to collect stem cells from rare chicken breeds with the intent to use them if needed some decades down the road. With scientific manipulation, the ability to reduce bad genes that might otherwise jinx the attempts to strengthen the quality of the embryo is enhanced. Eventually, with the right science in place, the resurrection of extinct birds might become a commonplace event. Better, as birds are nearing endangerment, the proper procedures can be implemented to increase seriously waning populations.

With small genetic manipulations, the DNA of birds that are susceptible to their changing habitats, either by encroaching disease or evolving climate, could be made to resist such invaders and viral enemies. In time, the birds we have recently lost and/or those becoming increasingly rare might someday be revitalized.

Birds For St. Patrick’s Day

March 16, 2017 by Laura Doering

northern lapwing standing on ground outside — Photo by Daniil Komov/Pexels

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on March 17 each year, here’s a look at one popular bird in Ireland — the Northern lapwing — as well as some parrots whose plumage will make us all green with envy.

While Ireland doesn’t have an official national bird (yet!), the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) — also referred to as the green plover — seems to be garnering a good deal of votes among bird enthusiasts. This bird’s distinguishing features include rounded wings, a black crest, and its striking colors, which loosely resemble the colors in Ireland’s flag (green, white and orange) with its green-tinged and copper-colored back with a white belly and light orange-tinged undertail coverts.

The northern lapwing’s name is said to either come from the lapping sound of its wings in flight or the lapwing’s unique way of drawing predators away from the nest, which is to trail its wing behind it as if it has an injured wing. The lapwing also has a tenacious alarm call, which it will unleash at intruders near the nest. No traditional Irish foods like potatoes or corn beef and cabbage for this bird — the lapwing prefers to eat at night under the moonlight, and dines on insects and other small invertebrates.

Parrots Ready For St. Patrick’s Day

There will be no pinching these parrots on St. Patrick’s Day … they wear their green all year long!

Amazon Parrots

Amazon perched on wire atop cage — Photo by davidvives90/Pixabay

In lay speak “green parrot” is a common name for an Amazon parrot, as green is their dominant color. Amazons are also known for their outgoing personalities, and many have a penchant for singing. Check out this radio interview featuring a double yellow-headed Amazon parrot from Ireland who cheers on his favorite Irish football team by singing the Irish ballad, “The Fields of Athenry.”

Eclectus

Male Eclectus parrots are so visually different than females that ornithologists once believed they were two separate species of parrot. With the female being predominantly red and the male a lush green, you might say that an Eclectus pair looks like Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s day paired together.

Caiques

The white-bellied caique (Pionites leucogaster) just so happens to have all the colors of the Irish flag, green, white and orange. Words that describe caique parrots, which also include the black-headed caique, are spunky and bouncy. These energetic birds love to hop around! Here’s a fun clip of a caique doing the Irish “Riverdance.”

How Dr. Pepperberg Taught Parrots To Use Speech Appropriately

March 8, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

African grey sitting on perch in lab — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

I recently presented an hour-long lecture to veterinary students on the cognitive and communicative abilities of African grey parrots. Given that I had only about 45 minutes to present the material (so as to leave time for questions) and lots to say, I organized the talk as I often do these days: I provided very little background and immediately went into the descriptions of the various current studies in my laboratory.

I wasn’t thinking about the fact that many of these young adults, although familiar with my work in general, had never read my journal articles nor had previously heard me speak. So when one of them asked about how I had actually trained Alex, Griffin, and now Athena, to use English speech meaningfully, I was momentarily surprised. Then I realized that it had actually been quite some time since I had described my techniques in talks, and even in professional papers, preferring just to refer to earlier publications. As a consequence I thought I would take this opportunity to provide this information, along with a bit of background.

Training Referential Communication

In the 1970s, after reviewing what was then known about vocal learning in parrots (actually, not very much at the time), language acquisition in children, and psychological constructs of social learning in humans, I formulated a type of instruction, termed the model/rival (M/R) system. The approach efficiently teaches a parrot both how to speak and how to use its speech appropriately. It is based on methods developed by Todt (1975) and Bandura (1971), and it uses three-way social interactions among two humans and a parrot, as a way to demonstrate the vocal behavior that is to be learned (Pepperberg, 1981; see photos).

The parrot observes two humans handling and speaking about one or more items and how these individuals interact with each other. As the parrot watches and listens, one trainer presents objects and queries the other trainer about these items, with such expressions as “What’s here?,” “What color?,” giving praise and transferring the named item to the human partner as a reward for correct answers. Incorrect responses are punished by scolding and by temporarily removing items from sight.

Thus the second human serves both as a model for the parrot’s responses and its rival for the trainer’s attention, and also illustrates the consequences of errors. The model must try again or talk more clearly if the response was deliberately made incorrectly or garbled; that is, the model is subject to what we call the “process of corrective feedback” and the bird observes this process in action. The parrot is also included in the interactions: it is queried and rewarded for successive approximations to correct responses, and training is adjusted how well it is performing. If a bird is inattentive or its accuracy regresses, trainers threaten to leave.

Unlike M/R procedures others have used (Todt, 1975; see discussion in Pepperberg & Sherman, 2000), we interchange roles of trainer and model, and include the parrot in interactions. This procedure shows that a questioner can also be a respondent, and demonstrates the specific effect of particular vocalizations. Role reversal also counteracts an earlier problem: birds whose trainers always maintained their respective roles responded only to the particular human questioner (Todt, 1975). With our technique, birds will respond to, interact with, and learn from any human.

M/R training uses only intrinsic reinforcers: to have the closest possible link between labels or concepts to be learned and the appropriate vocalization, the reward for uttering “X” is access to X, the object to which the label or concept refers. Earlier unsuccessful attempts to teach birds to communicate with humans used extrinsic rewards (Pepperberg, 1999): a single food was used that neither related to, nor varied with, the label or concept being taught. This procedure delayed label and concept acquisition by confusing the label of the targeted item or concept being trained with that of the food reward. We never used extrinsic rewards. Use of the label to request the item from the start also shows the bird that uttering labels is really useful.

Later, when we had to train more complex tasks but had to use the same objects (e.g., for studies on labeling the number of items in a set), and the birds were no longer terribly interested in these objects, we trained them to use the phrase “I want X” and “Wanna go Y” so that they could request whatever reward they wanted—be it a piece of cashew, a tickle, or to return to their cage and an end the session.

Although training a bird in this manner may seem to be something relevant only to scientific studies, it can be quite important in the daily life of a companion bird. One wouldn’t accede to all of a parrot’s requests (much like one wouldn’t do so for a young child—just so many cookies can be consumed in a given day!), but it seems only reasonable to give a parrot at least some control over its daily life. Think of how you would feel if absolutely every aspect of your day was decided by someone else.

One of my friends actually asks her bird to choose among the acceptable fruits and veggies that can be put in its bowl each morning. We don’t do that for our parrots, but we’ve thought about it, as she claims that it cuts down on a lot of waste. We do, however, let our birds choose where to spend their free time, and to decide which toys they want as rewards. We find that our birds really seem to like having some choice in their lives.

Bandura, A. (1971). Analysis of modeling processes. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Psychological modeling (pp. 1–62). Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.

Pepperberg, I.M. (1981). Functional vocalizations by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 55,139–160.

Pepperberg, I.M. (1999). The Alex studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Pepperberg, I. M., & Sherman, D. V. (2000). Proposed use of two-part interactive modeling as a means to increase functional skills in children with a variety of disabilities. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 12, 213–220.

Todt, D. (1975). Social learning of vocal patterns and modes of their applications in Grey Parrots. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 39, 178–188.

More Birds With Dr. Seuss-Like Looks

March 2, 2017 by Laura Doering

March 2 is National Read Across America Day (hey, why not read to your bird?!) and coincides with the birthday of children’s author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), best known for his colorfully illustrated, rhyming children’s books like “Cat in the Hat” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and “Green Eggs and Ham.” His books are filled with animal characters, including birds. For the most part, Dr. Seuss’s birds look familiar, but their feathers and shapes are best described as otherworldly. We’ve previously shared some real-life birds that look like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book, and here are some more fantastical Dr. Seuss-like birds to check out.

King Vulture

When describing birds that are breathtaking, a vulture probably doesn’t come to mind. But one look at the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) and it’s hard not to take a deep breath and think “Wow!” This large bird from Central and South America has a mostly white body, but the skin on its head and neck is a kaleidoscope of colors, such as purple, orange yellow, blue and red. Some say it is so named because it shoos away other vultures when they’re found success in scavenging for a carcass. Perhaps other birds are so transfixed by the King Vulture’s appearance that they stand aside and let the King by to have first dibs.

Hawk-Headed Parrot

Dr. Seuss had a way of drawing a parrot-like bird but with a twist. The hawk-headed parrot (Deroptyus accipitrinus) certainly is a parrot with a visual twist.

closeup on head of a hawk-headed parrot with feathers upright — Photo from Ruth Rogers, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This parrot native to the Amazon Rainforest not only has a dizzying array of color — a dark brown face with white streaks, green wings, flanks and tail, and a red and blue barred breast — it has a colorful “headdress” of feathers that it raises, usually when excited.

With raised neck feathers, the hawk head’s look is transformed before your eyes. Hawk-headed parrots are kept as companion animals, although less commonly so than other companion parrot species.

The Andean Cock-Of-The-Rock

Andean cock-of-the-rock bird perched on a branch outside — Photo from Devin Morris, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupicola peruvianus) has the honor of being the national bird of Peru. The male (pictured) has a large disk-like crest and bright orange plumage. The female, on the other hand, is noticeably different as she is darker and browner. The male’s courtship display is elaborate, as males are known to have confrontation displays with other males, where they face each other and bob, jump and flap while squawking and grunting and showing off their repertoire of sounds — all to impress females, a sort of bird dance-off if you will … in a Dr. Seuss world it would go something like, “The Rock goes hop, hop hop …”

Red-Crested Turaco

The red-crested turaco (Tauraco erythrolophus) looks like a Dr. Seuss-styled bird crossed with a dinosaur. It is the national bird of its native Angola, and its call is said to sound like that of a monkey’s.

In the wild, turacos feasts on fruit, flowers, figs, leaves, termites, and even snails. Turacos are also referred to as the “go-away” bird, as that is what its call sounds like.

Parrots Find Creative Ways To Delay Bedtime

February 22, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Dr. Pepperberg nose to beak with an African grey parrot — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

I often describe African grey parrots as having the cognitive abilities of a 5 to 6 year old human child, but having the social skills closer to that of a 2 year old. I can point to a number of scientific papers that provide the support for the first claim, but when I’m asked how I can justify the second, I have to fall back on anecdotal evidence comparing my birds with my friends’ toddlers. One particular behavioral setting does, indeed, provide lots of such anecdotes: that of the bedtime struggle.

A Bedtime Story…

Every human parent to whom I’ve talked seems to go through the same nighttime difficulties with their young child — generally, a preschooler, and most often a child somewhere between 2½-3½. The child gets into bed — and then wants another story read, a drink of water, another hug, or fears a monster in the closet. Interestingly, we see very similar behavior patterns in our parrots, who spend the day mostly outside of their cages, but have to be put inside when we leave for the day.

Parrots Like Routines

Just like human parents, we have certain set routines that signal the end of the day. We do a final cage cleaning, changing cage liners, making sure that there is fresh food and water, vacuuming the area around the cages, etc.; finally, the main lights in the lab go off while a night light stays on for a brief period to suggest dusk. The birds know these routines as well as we do. But, just like human toddlers, our birds don’t seem to want to accept that these actions indicate that it is time for us to leave.

Alex initially would go through a series of requests: “Want some water!” (even though there was a dish of fresh water a few inches from his beak). “Want tickle!” “Wanna nut”, “Wanna go gym”, “Come here, pay attention!” (This last usually accompanied by outspread wings and what one could only describe as a look of fear at being left alone.) In fact, trying to avoid all these behavior patterns was why we started the now famous good night routine — telling him to be good, that we were going to go eat dinner, that we loved him, that we’d see him tomorrow. He learned these phrases, and duetting them with us seemed to calm him down and reassure him that bedtime (or, to be more precise, cagetime) was a normal part of life.

So far, neither Griffin nor Athena seem to want to take part in much of any good night routine that I have devised. When I try to put Athena back on her cage, she literally tries to wrap herself around my hand like a pretzel. Sometimes she’s so flipped over that I have to place her, back down and feet in the air, on the top of her cage. She even stopped saying her early attempts at “I love you” (I wuv wu) when she realized it was associated with my departure.

And although Griffin was part of the same routine used with Alex when he was alive, Griffin’s gotten into a different one now. He still gives me a good night kiss (a gentle nibble on my nose), then goes back to his cage to eat the last bits of soft-food dinner before it is removed for the evening. He “floofs” and seems totally calm…until I approach the door to the laboratory. Then both he and Athena engage in a combination of parrot shrieks and “Come here”, “Wanna nut”, etc. while I try to slip out. Relenting and going back to them does about as much good as it does with a human toddler — it just encourages more of the same!

Despite the struggle, I take heart in two facts: First, child psychologists argue that these behavior patterns also demonstrate developing cognitive processes — ingenuity in figuring out how to get what is wanted by adapting existent behavior patterns, and maybe even the beginning of some negotiating skills (see, for example, http://drcraigcanapari.com/curtain-calls-limit-setting-and-bedtime-battles-behavioral-sleep-problems-in-kids-part-2/. Second, in the wild, Greys that have been foraging in small groups during the day come together at night in extremely large flocks, sometimes of several hundred birds, probably as protection against predators (Juniper & Parr, 1998) — so our birds are likely just protesting against what seems quite abnormal to them, that is, the departure of individuals whom they treat as flock-mates during the day. (Who knows: Maybe the desire of our human ancestors to group together at night for protection is also the source of toddlers’ behavior?)

Not to worry, however: Both birds do calm down fairly quickly after we depart. We have used an infrared video cam to make sure of that. After they realize that we really are not coming back, they both seem to find comfortable positions on their sleeping perches in their respective cages, and are fairly quiet until the dawn light comes on the next morning.

Juniper, T., & Parr, M. (1998). Parrots: A guide to parrots of the world. New Haven: Yale Unviersity Press.

Hatching Success For Orange-Bellied Parrots

February 15, 2017 by Matt Rowe

Orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) sitting on a branch — Photo by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Our world is changing in so many ways. One of the ways that’s alarming is the rapid endangerment of a number of our exotic birds in the wild. Due to many reasons that do not exclude illegal poaching, habitat changes that include ongoing depletion of environmental essentials, and natural elimination by predatory creature, our beautiful birds in the wild are finding it harder and harder to maintain an exclusive means of survival.

Fortunately, there are many helpful agencies that have formed with the intent of assisting birds of all kinds to survive and, hopefully, jumpstart an expansion of their species by satisfactory mating and hatching of eggs without the aforementioned threats eradicating any hope.

One of those agencies is the Healsville Sanctuary. Located in Australia, this sanctuary is within the Zoos Victoria collective, a zoo that deals only with native Australian creatures. They specialize in breeding animals in the express hopes that they can be returned to the wild and learn to thrive without fear of encroaching dangers, natural or illegal. One of those is the Orange-Bellied Parrot. Long known to be near extinction with approximately fourteen birds in protected wild habitats, it was feared that we may have lost that battle.

Successful Hatches

Late last year, something miraculous happened at Healeville Sanctuary. After many frustrating attempts to encourage the birds to adapt to a changing habitat, the sanctuary was able to create an encouraging — and hopeful — event. That event was the laying of more than a hundred eggs by the birds and the successful hatching of 42 of them. Using a variety of different measures in diet, and habitat tweaks, the Orange-Bellied Parrot began to successfully hatch their eggs. In December of 2016, the first chick was hatched starting what is now considered to be the most fruitful of breeding seasons since the captivity insurance program was initiated.

Dr. Dejan Stojanovic from the Australian National University has dedicated his services to helping the endangered species adapt and thrive. After hatching, there are certain things to be aware of including the birds’ period of readying for independence. That growing period is fast lasting approximately two months before they are ready. Because of the accumulated data acquired by close studies and experimentation, this most recent group contains 40 chicks within the program.

Sadly, in January, 16 of the adult parrots died as a result of a bacterial outbreak. This is being investigated and hopefully stabilized before it spreads further. The Orange-Bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program (followed here on their Facebook page) details events of the program as they unfurl hereby keeping an interested public in the thick of it all. They inform of all nest boxes and the successful amount of nestlings that are found and nurtured within them.

The Healeville Sanctuary itself is spread out over 74 acres of native Australian landscape, and is home to kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, reptiles, Kookaburras, bats, the orange-bellied parrot, and other native Australian animals. They are a hope to the life of creatures that might otherwise be depleted if no one was there to help. The umbrella zoo is a not-for-profit entity that is dedicated to fighting extinction.

Should you find yourself in Australia, and would like to visit the Healesville Sanctuary, you need only to visit the zoo during pre-set hours, usually the standard 9 A.M to 5 P.M. timeframes. The costs are $12 per person with occasional special pricing in effect. There you can see not only the Parrot exhibits, but all of the Australian creatures that are cared for by the zoo.

Inside The Mighty Avian Heart

February 1, 2017 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

yellow-crowned Amazon parrot standing on perch with head tilted to side — Photo by David Clode/Unsplash

The most striking features of birds is their ability to perform very rigorous functions in harsh environments such as diving deeply in cold water, flying at high altitudes, and running in hot deserts. This requires that their cardiovascular system (CVS) must be able to meet the demands of providing adequate delivery of oxygen to vascular beds that are taxed by extreme metabolic demands. The CVS must also efficiently remove metabolic byproducts to maintain function and hence performance.

Avian Heart Function And Adaptations

The avian heart is four-chambered. The right heart receives blood from the systemic circulation and pressurizes the pulmonary circulation. Blood returns to the left heart, where the left ventricle then pressurizes the systemic circulation. Both the right and left ventricles receive blood at the central venous pressure before they enter their respective outflow tract. This resistance to blood flow (peripheral resistance) is less on the pulmonary side when compared to the systemic side. For this reason, the left ventricle has more muscle mass to overcome the increased resistance on the systemic side to produce the same flow rate as that on the pulmonary side.

The relative size of the heart in birds is inversely related to a species’ body mass — the larger species of birds have reduced heart mass in comparison to the smaller ones. This arrangement differs from mammals as their body mass is directly proportional to the size of their hearts. This difference between birds and mammals may result from the fact that the heart from larger birds, such as the barnacle goose, can grow much larger (hypertrophy) prior to migration such that their hearts are proportional to their weight. Hummingbirds have proportionally larger hearts for their size, most likely because of the high aerobic demands of hovering flight.

The 4 chambers of the heart are completely divided into 2 atria and 2 ventricles. The right atrium tends to be larger than the left in most birds. The atria contract to empty blood into the ventricles during ventricular diastole, the time when they are not contracting. The left ventricle is cone-shaped and extends to the apex of the heart, while the right ventricle is a crescent-shaped cavity that does not go to the apex. Its right wall forms the interventricular septum that separates the 2 chambers. This allows the left ventricle to generate systolic (contraction) pressures that are 4 to 5 times greater than those produced by the right ventricle. Additionally, this anatomy is important for interpreting ultrasound diagnostics of the heart. Birds also have coronary arteries and veins that provide oxygen to this rapidly beating heart. There are different dynamics of these vessels so that birds that fly at high altitudes can dilate these vessels to continue to provide the oxygen they need to keep flying.

The pulmonary and systemic circulations have 3 main components: arteries or distributing vessels, the capillaries or exchanges vessels with the tissues, and the veins which store blood prior to return to the heart. The arterioles and venules are muscular vessels on either side of the capillary beds and act to control blood flow, thereby indirectly controlling the exchange of materials across the capillary bed with the tissues. Pressure that is generated by cardiac contraction drives the blood flow through the systemic and pulmonary circuits. Vascular resistance results mainly from the diameter of the blood vessels. Vessel size is controlled in part by muscular tone derived from the autonomic nervous system. All of the vessels are controlled by innervation from the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems except for capillary beds.

Companion Bird Cardiovascular Health

Cardiac disease is not uncommon in pet birds, particularly the longer-lived psittacines that have largely been on high fat diets, with little exercise. Signs of cardiac disease may be subtle as most of our companion birds do little flying. When they do fly, they may breathe hard after exertion and their recovery to normal respirations will be longer than 3-5 minutes. Instead, the owner may notice decreased activity, pickiness regarding food items, reduced appetite, weakness and general lack of interest in activities in the home, such as playing with toys. Owners will relate that their parrot will be sitting on the perch and suddenly has increased respiratory effort and may have short periods of open mouthed breathing or they may not vocalize like they had previously. While this may also be from respiratory disease, your veterinarian needs to rule out if these signs could be cardiovascular in nature. Your bird may have a period of disorientation or may fall off the perch but then often recover relatively quickly. These are just some signs to watch for particularly as your parrot ages. Sometimes there may be no signs and there is just sudden death.

Until recently, equipment was not available that could evaluate avian heart function as well as aid in the diagnosis of atherosclerosis. The physical examination by your avian veterinarian should include watching your bird for a while to look at their posture, their overall character and attitude, and mobility, along with the respiratory rate and quality of breathing. The next step is to do a hands-on exam where the heart is auscultated with a pediatric stethoscope on the ventral chest in multiple locations to listen for soft murmurs or detect any changes from normal. Unfortunately, a normal auscultation does not rule out heart disease so additional tests may be performed.

In addition to auscultation, radiographs provide basic information regarding overall health along with heart size and the presence or absence of calcification of the great vessels to the heart. At our practice, we have observed that birds that do limited flying are more susceptible to heart disease along with those that eat seeds high in fats (like sunflower seeds) and other fatty foods. Radiographs help to determine if there is metabolic bone disease from the lack of flight and changes in the large vessels of the body along with the kidney — an organ that has a large number of blood vessels. Those with atherosclerosis will have calcification of the large vessels along with an increased brightness of the kidney on the radiographs.

Additional tests include monitoring blood pressures, measuring the electrical conductivity of the heart with an ECG, and performing an ultrasound of the heart. Future tests including computed tomography are just around the corner for our bird patients.

What Is A Geriatric Parrot?

January 25, 2017 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

yellow-crowned Amazon grooming — Photo by David Clode/Pixabay

The term geriatric relates to old age, but do we really know when a parrot is old? That is a very difficult question as the answer depends in part on the life expectancy of that species of parrot. Unfortunately, we have limited information on that.

It’s only been about 20 years that we have known the age of hand-reared parrots. We’ve had data on the life expectancy of parrots in the wild, and for many years, assumed that life with us would make them live longer. But that seems to have been very wrong. It appears that nutrition, exercise and genetics all play into the life span of our parrots. It is better to define geriatric birds as those for which medical conditions associated with aging begin. In other words, if they show physiological signs characteristic of aging, then then are geriatric.

Parrots Age “Slowly”

We know that birds as a group enjoy remarkably slow aging rates and long life spans for their size. Dr. Ottinger reported that, “The remarkably slow aging that characterizes many members of the class Aves relative to similar-sized, non-flying mammals appears, at least in part, to be correlated with an evolutionary history of low adult mortality rates. Even small (<100g) songbirds, like barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) often survive in the wild up to 5 years or more; captive zebra finches (15 to 20 g) routinely live over 8 years.” She also stated that, “The long life spans and slow aging rates of birds are even more remarkable when considered in light of their high gram-specific rates of energy expenditure.

The oxidative damage hypothesis, currently a central theory in biogerontology, posits that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during normal oxidative metabolism are responsible for many of the molecular changes underlying aging-related physiological declines.” So, despite their high-energy expenditure, they don’t age at the rate you might expect or show the anticipated physiological declines.

Interestingly, Dr. Ottinger provided research evidence that “Avian defenses against oxidative damage may include a complex array of mechanisms, including antioxidant enzymes and structural defenses, such as lower levels of saturated fatty acids in cell or mitochondrial membranes. Birds may also have superior forms of protection against — and repair of — damage to DNA and other cellular components by pro-oxidant molecules.

Even more intriguing, however, is the possibility that bird mitochondria employ specialized alterations of the mitochondria “machinery” itself, including adaptive proton leak that may result in the production of fewer ROS in the first place. That means that there would be less damage to internal membranes, thereby allowing birds to live longer than mammals of comparable size.

Age-Related Ailments in Birds

The maximum recorded longevities (MRLs) of wild birds average 1.7 times greater than MRLs of captive mammals, and captive birds on the whole outlive captive mammals by a factor of three. While birds in the wild live much longer than mammals of similar size, birds in the wild do die from diseases associated with old age. Avian diseases of aging are generally similar to those seen in mammals, and include atherosclerosis, neoplasms including cancers, senile ocular cataracts, biochemical alterations in collagen and other connective tissues, and reproductive changes, including neoplasms, malignancies, and endocrinological deficiencies.

According to Zoo/Exotic Pathology Service, which looked back over years of data on older birds, budgerigars and lovebirds were considered older at 6; cockatiels at 12; and larger parrots including Amazons, macaws and cockatoos at 30. In our practice at Bird and Exotic Pet Wellness Center, we are observing these changes at the age of 20!

Cardiac disease has been historically underdiagnosed in pet birds. Atherosclerosis is reported most often in Amazon parrots, particularly in blue-fronted Amazon parrots, African grey parrots, and macaws, according to Drs. Reavill and Dorrestein. Commonly these lesions cause increased arterial resistance that affects the heart. Early changes in the heart include hypertrophy of the left ventricle followed by left ventricular dilation, dilation of the left atria, right heart dilation, and right heart failure. Right heart failure can lead to congestion, atrophy, and, subsequently, cirrhosis of the liver.

Many birds die because of a decreased blood supply to the brain as a result of severe narrowing of the carotid arteries. There may be a history of the bird going through periods of a loss of awareness of their surroundings in the days or weeks before their death. We commonly see parrots that have fallen off their perches and appear dazed for a short period of time, have seizures or changes in mentation. When looking at changes in the skin, the most commonly reported problem is dermatitis followed by skin tumors. Cataracts are common in birds as they age as well.

The lesions of hepatic fibrosis, bile duct reduplication, and aggregates of granulocytic extramedullary hematopoiesis are the typical findings in chronic liver disease in birds. Amazon parrots, cockatiels, macaws, and budgerigars seem to be more commonly recognized with chronic liver disease. Grossly, the affected livers are variably shrunken, pale, and fibrotic. The capsule is often thickened and the edges of the liver are rounded.

Degenerative lesions of the joints are more common in older psittacine birds. Causes include previous trauma or infection, or metabolic conditions, such as gout. Degenerative changes of muscle wasting and joint stiffness were reported in a group of aging macaws and were most prominent in birds over 40 years of age. Joint stiffness was characterized by a limitation in the range of motion of the joints, particularly the hock (intertarsal) joints. There were also twisting deformities that developed at the carpi, causing the primary flight feathers to twist laterally. New studies show that the bone degenerates when birds do not fly.

Ovarian tumors are the most common problem with the reproductive tract in parrots and in males there can be senescence of testes. Concerning the respiratory system, chronic interstitial fibrosis is reported in geriatric parrots and results in exercise intolerance. Pathologic examination revealed loss of functional lung tissue, pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, and right heart failure. Hematology revealed an elevated packed cell volume as a result of an increase in erythrocyte size and an increased hemoglobin. These are tests that can be run by your avian veterinarian.

Captive birds are blessed with adaptations that in theory allow them to live up to 3 times their comparably sized mammalian counterparts, but eventually it seems old age can lead them to the same panoply of geriatric diseases, including atherosclerosis, neoplasms, cataracts, connective tissue problems, reproductive changes, kidney failure, and cardiac disease. Like mammals, they can suffer from reduced mentation, dermatitis, skin tumors, liver disease, degenerative joint disease, ovarian tumors, and breathing difficulties.

Different species have different life spans, but geriatric parrots are those that are showing physiological signs characteristic of aging. It is up to us to provide the best care in terms of nutrition, habitat, social interaction, and exercise to ward off the afflictions of advanced age.

Parrots Can Play Mind Games

January 18, 2017 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

The Best Laid Plans…

African grey parrot, African gray — Courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

Nonscientists think that research always goes according to plan, that nothing unexpected ever happens. Of course, anyone who lives with a parrot might know otherwise, and that person would be correct. It’s not a common occurrence, but every once in awhile, our birds surprise us, and although many times the surprise provides exciting insights into their intelligence, occasionally the surprise is a bit less pleasant.

On the exciting side, we found, for example, that Alex learned the label “carrot” by asking us what we were eating, and “orange” by asking us its color (Pepperberg, 1999). He was able to transfer his understanding of the concept of “absence” from the lack of either similarity or difference in the attributes of two objects (Pepperberg, 1987) to the total absence of a numerical set — a limited concept of zero (Pepperberg & Gordon, 2005).

Athena, our youngest, never having been trained on the label “water” (although she heard us talk about it as we refilled her dishes every morning), reminded us one day — by uttering a very close approximation — that we forgot to replace her water bowl after lunch. Griffin would often produce labels after listening to our training sessions with Alex, even if he had never been trained himself. He learned labels such as “seven” and “eight” that way.

On the less pleasant side, both Griffin and Alex (we think Griffin learned from Alex) sometimes show us that they are finished with sessions by giving us all the wrong answers and carefully avoiding the correct ones — something that they could not do just by chance — it’s just not statistically possible! So, for example, Griffin, who knows his colors quite well, might refuse to label a green cup, calling it “yellow”, “orange”, “rose”, and “blue”— and then repeating all the erroneous color labels. Interestingly, however, we were able to use those data to suggest a level of intentionality and possibly consciousness in Grey parrots (see Pepperberg, 2012).

IMG_2121Most recently, however, Griffin really outdid himself. We are doing a study on various forms of choice, and usually he gets to choose between things like a nut (clearly a treat) or a dried berry (something he likes, but not as much), or between things like the nut or a raw carrot (which he hates), between combinations like a nut or a nut and a carrot (does the carrot make the nut with which it is paired less appealing?) or sometimes between one or two nuts.

The choices are presented in small metal cups that are placed on a tray, and he really likes these sessions because he always ends up with some kind of treat. Unfortunately for him, however, we also had to put in some control choices one morning — so his choice was between one or two carrot pieces. He looked in one cup and then the other, grabbed a cup, banged it furiously on the tray — and then threw first one cup and then the other cup at the poor student presenting the choice. Fortunately, the student was able to duck. I’m guessing neither the student nor Griffin is looking forward to the rest of these control trials!

Pepperberg, I.M. (1999). The Alex Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Pepperberg, I.M. (2012a). Emotional birds—or advanced cognitive processing? In Emotions of Animals and Humans: Comparative Perspectives S. Watanabe & S. Kuczaj, Eds., Springer.com

Pepperberg, I.M. & Gordon, J.D. (2005). Numerical comprehension by a Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus), including a zero-like concept. J. Comp Psychol.119: 197-209.

“The Macaw Project” Documentary Takes Flight

January 11, 2017 by Matt Rowe

The internet has become an embedded force for many things since its worldwide adoption. It has become a powerful economic base, as well as an unmatched forum for knowledge. There is little doubt as to the bad that has occurred since its acceptance. But there can be no denial of the extraordinary good that has come to fruition through its pathways. We can list many examples. We could, in fact, do it all day long. Your ability to gain a wealth of information that applies to your bird, even from Lafeber.com, is an amazing draw from the resources of the internet. Here’s one story for you.

Several years ago, the Tambopata Macaw Project, located in southeastern Peru, was formed as a long-term research forum to study the impacts of the changing ecology of the region and how such changes impacted the macaws and parrots found there. One employed individual was George Olah, whose main goal was to learn the history of the native macaws in the lowland Amazonian rainforests. During his time with the project, he was profoundly moved enough to change his path of study to that of Conservation Biology. His new goal was to achieve a PhD so that he might be able to make important strides in conservation management for the area. It was his realization that human interference was drastically changing the environment that the Macaw lived in.

Documentary Takes Flight

One thing that Mr Olah became interested in was the creation of a documentary that would spur public awareness of the issues the region faced where the macaw was concerned. He involved two filmmakers, a Hungarian zoologist by the name of Cintia Garai, and fellow Hungarian filmmaker, Attila Dávid Molnár. The three interested individuals took to the internet to initiate a crowdfunded effort to produce the documentary. The end results provided the documentary crew with well over 100% of the requested funds needed. That’s the power of the internet at work. With the acquired monies made available to them, the three set out to create The Macaw Project.

The Macaw Project is a first of its kind documentary in that it is filmed from the perspective of the researchers. The film is intended to be used as a platform to inform the public and bird-lovers interested in the preservation of these magnificent parrots and macaws. In it, new ideas and technologies are explored and explained, such as the use of drones to easily see birds from overhead that would be impossible to see from the ground of the dark rainforest. During the film, local communities dependent on ecotourism are visited, as well as a research center. Other locales include inaccessible locations (to tourists) that are explored in their full and undisturbed beauty. Of interest within the film are the spotlighted dangers posed to the environment by illegal gold mining, tree-logging, and other endangering and exploitative industries. Of course, the dangers of illegal poaching are seen as well.

The 26-minute Macaw Project documentary is finished and is being shown at the Australian National University (ANU). There is hope to air the film on Australian television to help increase awareness of the dangers to our macaws and parrots of the Amazonian region found within the scope of the film. The filmmakers are also hopeful to achieve a theater experience that could further increase the awareness of the endangered birds. This could go much further in that once viewers are made aware of the dangers, they may be moved to help in a myriad of assistive ways.

We’d like to encourage your further exploration of the preservation of our wild birds by use of the internet. You can start here. We hope that soon, The Macaw Project film will be available to be seen by everyone! We wish the filmmakers luck in the furtherance of their intent.

You can view the trailer of The Macaw Project here.

Physics Of Bird Flight Inspire Scientists

January 4, 2017 by Matt Rowe

Science has made life a different experience for many in the world. That includes the many creatures within its helpful sphere that have benefited from advancements that have significantly improved their lives. From the physical aspects of those science-led advancements like 3D printing of beaks, feet, and shells, to the dedicated study of specialized areas like preservation improvement. It also assists in the developing understanding of species and how they experience their world, thus bettering the lives of our beautiful creatures.

Some areas that are gaining footholds are the study of how birds think, and how they do the physical things they do. One of those is the physics of flying. Currently, there are but a few theories on how birds fly. Essentially, we assume that birds fly with the same physics planes do. The prevailing forces involve abilities to lift and to sustain guided flight though the air.

Theoretically, it is assumed that birds create wingtip vortices, much like airplanes do. What this means is that a created circular spin of air that leaves the area of the wings create a ‘vortex drag’, thus making it difficult for birds to fly effortlessly, as it seems they do from our vantage point. However, ‘vortex drag’ is important when it is necessary to slow down and land without injury or incident. Nevertheless, with all of our assumptions of flight, it was time for a team of scientists at Stanford University to look into the world of bird flight and see just how close our understanding was to the reality of bird flight. What they discovered surprised them.

Parrotlet Obi Put To The Test

For these series of tests, the team trained a Pacific parrotlet, who was named Obi — as in Obi-Wan Kenobi — to fly through a small study field. To create this useable test platform, the team placed two perches approximately three feet apart from each other. Between those perches were the tools used to determine lift and thrust and to actually view the physics that create flight. The tools used were twelve strategically placed cameras, and a laser sheet to map the flight pattern and air disturbances created by the wings of Obi. In order to acquire the visual of the disturbed air, a mist of extremely fine water particles was sprayed between the two perches. Obi’s simple job was to fly between the two perches. The laser flashed brilliantly at the rate of 1,000 times per second while the cameras captured Obi’s flight between perches at the astonishing rate of 1,000 photo captures per second.

To protect Obi’s eyes from the fast flashing laser making up the scanning field through which he flew, a custom-designed, 3D-printed pair of goggles was fitted to the bird’s head. The lenses used in the goggles are the same used by the scientists in the study.

What the team soon discovered was that the vortices created by the bird’s flight rapidly dissipated almost as soon as they were created. The assumption was that the circling air patterns (lightly explained above) would sustain for a time. Because of this discovery, the usual assumptions of lift and sustained flight were greatly challenged. During the ongoing course of the study, different tests were implemented to check on the validity of the standard models of lift and flight. All of the tests showed different results that didn’t conform to the standard theories.

The recorded streams of data will help engineers in several areas of flight including our understanding of how birds attain flight and sustain it. Other beneficiaries of the study include the perfection of robotic wings in order to create better precision for flight. As a direct result of the surprising findings generated by Obi and his tests, further studies will be finely tuned to better understand bird flight and to narrow the safer and more effective realities of flight for our own use.

The complex and finely detailed results of the study were made public in the scientific journal, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics on December 6 of 2016. It can be perused at your leisure at this link that leads to the IOPSCIENCE website. From within the article, you can download a 16-page PDF of the complete writ.

Parrot Conservation Surprise Challenge: Bees

December 21, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

As people were gearing up for the Holidays, I had the great fortune to drive with a dear friend and client to Chicago for The Avicultural Society of Chicagoland — The TASC 2-day learning event. There were a variety of great speakers for the event and I had the good fortune of meeting one of them who was new to me, Dr. Caroline Efstathion. In this column, I would like to share her wonderful and heartwarming work.

The Birds And The Bees

It seems that Caroline loves parrots and owns a number of them. She said to me over dinner that she tried, but was unsuccessful, at getting accepted to vet school no matter how hard she tried. But she thought that she would continue a life of science and was accepted into a master’s program in biology and, after that program, into a PhD program in entomology at the University of Florida. But she was most interested in … you guessed it … parrots. So how could she bring her two primary interests, entomology and parrots, together? Well, she learned from some of the parrot people that one of the leading problems with nesting cavities for parrots in South America and Africa is that those cavities are often taken over by — Africanized honey bees! Bingo!

She has been involved in dealing with this issue in several endangered parrots species, including the Cape Parrot of South Africa and the Lear’s macaw of Brazil.

Cape Parrot

Both species require nesting cavities. With the Cape Parrot, appropriate cavities must be available in specific trees, dead yellowwoods, but there is a shortage of these, in part because of habitat loss, and also because honey bees are looking for similar cavities in which to build their nests. Researchers looked at the problem and decided to provide artificial nest boxes that could be hung in the trees. To their dismay, the first nest boxes made of palm material only lasted two years in the moist climate, they were too low, and bees still moved in. Placing more durable boxes 30 to 60 meters high was step two. They even tried to discourage bees by placing a cleaning fluid on the outside of the box per a protocol, and to discourage bees by using used x-ray film on the underside of the top. Some bees moved in within 24 hours, and 100% of the boxes had bee hives as of 2014.

So what to do? Dr. Efstathion introduced a push-pull system to discourage bees from entering the nest while attracting them to traps nearby. A bee repellent could “push” bees away from the nest, and two bee traps with chemical “lure” would attract or “pull” bees. Trapped bees could then be removed and placed in managed hives by beekeepers, as the bees are important to pollination and to agriculture. In this way, nest site competition could be reduced between parrots and honey bees.

In 2015, some of Dr. Efstathion’s Avian Preservation and Education Conservancy members along with a team from Explore Trees installed 20 artificial Cape Parrot next boxes and 40 bee trap boxes at the property. To date, several bee trap boxes have been occupied by bees, which have then been transferred to a farm to managed bee hives. All parrot next boxes remain bee free.

In addition, an educational component was added, in which local school children were told about the Cape Parrots and how unique they were to that area. The children also learned about the issues parrots were having with bees and how honey bees were important for the environment and their community. Children had the opportunity to extract honey, make candles, and put on a bee suit. Many of the children got to taste honey for the first time. Local farm workers also received training on how to manage bees for pollination and honey production. The project is ongoing.

Lear’s Macaw

Only about 1,200 Lear’s macaws exist in the wild, and the species is threatened by habitat disturbance, poaching, and nest site limitations. This endangered macaw nests exclusively in sandstone cliffs and nest site limitations may be a major factor in limiting its reproductive success. Unfortunately, invasive Africanized bees have become more common, probably occupying some nest cavities that would otherwise be suitable for Lear’s macaws. In addition, researchers have trouble safely gaining access near active nests when bee colonies are also near. In March of this year, APEC members traveled to the Caatinga region of northeast Brazil, to assess how bees are affecting the recovery efforts of the macaws. They noted competition for some nest sites and safety hazards for monitoring and research efforts where bees are near macaw nests. They also noted possible opportunistic poaching of chicks by local honey harvesters working the cliff faces and habitat destruction (trees that could host additional bee hives have been cut down to get honey).

In October of this year, APEC planned to join with Brazilian biologists and a team from Explore Trees to begin an action plan to control Africanized bee colonies in the macaw nesting areas. Bee colonies were to be removed and a push-pull protocol implemented to prevent bees from reoccupying cliff cavities. Recognizing the need for local support, interested farmers will be provided with hive boxes, protective equipment, and instruction on how to obtain bee colonies for honey production. It is hoped that the Lear’s macaw will benefit from the absence of bees and the threat of poaching and local farmers will have an incentive not to cut down trees to obtain honey, have a new source of sustainable income, and help keep poachers out of the area.

The push-pull method of managing bee populations shows promise in providing a means to make nesting cavities more available for both the Cape Parrot and the Lear’s macaw. In addition, it can provide a source of income for local farmers by making use of the same bees that have, until now, posed a problem. It is fortunate that Dr. Efstathion found a way to blend her love of parrots and entomology!

More about both of these programs can be found on APEC’s website: http://www.avianpec.org.

The Night Parrot: Nocturnal Rarity

December 14, 2016 by Matt Rowe

In an age where miracles seem to be rare, it’s always great to witness one unfold and the steps taken to create a happy story about them. Until recently, it was thought that the Night Parrot, indigenous to Australia, was a long gone bird lost to the tragedy of extinction. Since that assumption (made because the bird had not been authentically sighted for many decades from the early 1900s until not long ago), official verified sightings of the bird have been incredibly rare leading to the idea that they may not exist in sufficient numbers to even count. In fact, the Night Parrot is considered the rarest of all birds listed as endangered.

The Night Parrot is approximately 9-10 inches in height with a yellow and green feather covering. Its habits are predominantly nocturnal, which gives the Night Parrot its distinctive name. It’s said that the main source of food is the seeds of the grasses that help shelter it.

The Night Parrot has been the subject of strong interest by wildlife photographer John Young, who has spent more than 15 years and an estimated 17,000 hours in an attempt to discover a living Night Parrot in the wild. Young was able to provide photos of the mysterious bird along with a short video, thereby giving validity to their continued existence. But he is far from the only interested parties in the elusive bird.

Capturing The Night

An ornithologist by the name of Steve Murphy, along with his partner, Rachel Barr, was able to capture and electronically tag one. It wasn’t long before the installed tracker sent back data showing that the bird flew long ranges in a short period of time. Using the received data, Murphy and Barr were able to locate a roost where they discovered the tagged bird well hidden from the outside world. After night fell, the parrot emerged to fly with others of its kind. The couple’s current plan is to catch two more and attach more sophisticated trackers for future evaluation of the shy and quiet species.

Recently, scientists Nick Leseberg and James Watson from the University of Queensland made news when they were able to photograph a young Night Parrot, thereby helping to further document the realization of the difficult to find bird.

Between them all, there are extraordinary hopes that not only will the once abundant Night Parrot thrive yet again, but that they can be visually enjoyed in the wild. Thus far, the actual locations of the Night Parrots discovered by both John Young, and the duo of Steve Murphy and Rachel Barr, have been kept a closely guarded secret in order to keep potential poachers from utilizing the locations to capitalize on the rarity of the bird. All of the previously mentioned interested parties have been respectful of the needs of the bird. When necessary, they have retreated to allow the bird its spacing.

Safe Zone

Fortunately, Queensland (in Australia) has established a safe zone for the Night Parrot. Its location is kept secret. In addition, strict fines are levied by the government to discourage illicit curiosity and ill-intended visitors. The landscape is covered with the sort of vegetation that helps to keep it hidden. In addition, because fire is considered one of the decimating factors in the declining numbers of the Night Parrot, there are plenty of natural land gaps that would naturally help to stop the advancement of fire. This would give the birds a short distance to safety within their comfortable and familiar safety zone.

As the limited investigations continue, it is hoped that we can become assured of the Night Parrot and its efforts to remain a viable part of our ecological system. For now, it’s a grand thing to know that a once thought extinct parrot is still with us. They’re just well hidden.

Donations to the effort to help save and give a fighting chance to the Night Parrot can be done at the site of Bush Heritage (here).

Feather Duster Budgies

November 16, 2016 by Matt Rowe

Mutations, despite their rare appearances in nature, are, nevertheless, strange things that happen with DNA being assaulted by many things. Oddly, the mutations when they occur (with few exceptions) are recurrent. One such super rare mutation is what is known as the Feather Duster budgie.

A budgie is an accepted term for what is known as a budgerigar, or, more commonly, a parakeet. The normal, colorful parakeet can be easily found and acquired at any pet store. They’re plentiful and far from being in danger of extinction. And they make wonderful pets for many, many lovers of birds. The parakeet is a small bird in comparison to their much larger cousins that seem to hog all of the attention. The budgie is found wild in the grasslands of Australia. They are naturally green and yellow with black in their wings. These seed-eating beauties are the most popular pet in households after dog and cats. They possess the ability to mimic speech and can become chatterboxes.

In captivity, parakeets have been bred in other colors including blue and white feathers. Some are even bred with crests on their heads. But there are some that absolutely catch the eye of bird-lovers. One of them is the ultra-rare previously mentioned Feather Duster budgie. Their unique mutation is an accidental one, a mutation in a recessive gene that does not spontaneously pass on to their offspring.

Curly Feathers

The Feather Duster budgie is even unrecognizable as such at its birth. In fact, it isn’t until the feathers begin to grow out that it is recognized for what it is becoming. Their feathers grow profusely and eventually begin to curl. The growth of the mutant’s feathers does not stop as a normal parakeet’s feathers would. Even as it molts, it will keep a rich overgrowth of curly feathers.

There are some sad downsides to this mutation, no matter how beautiful it may be. One is the shortened life span of the parakeet. Typically, this mutated parakeet will not live much past its first year of life if it even lives that long. They lose much of their mobility and perching capability as a result of the overgrowth. Thankfully, their ability to eat is not hampered in any way. However, it is noted that the mutated parakeet simply cannot eat enough to support their overgrowth of feathers. However, this thinking is being challenged by some stating that there are necessary components of the diet that need to be addressed, thus creating a unique food to sustain the bird. The noise a Feather Duster parakeet makes is contrasted against that of a normal parakeet.

Over time, there have been several Feather Duster budgies that have gained a level of notoriety. One was Whipper, who became famous not only for its unusual looks but also in the fact that it seemed to defy the odds that usually proved fatal to others of its genetic mutation. Whipper was owned by Julie Hayward in New Zealand. Whipper was believed to be blind. Nevertheless, Whipper was as healthy as any bird. It is not known if Whipper survived past his first year of life as his existence was reported back in 2011. Nor has it been discovered if any others have been born since that time.

Flight & Exercises To Keep Your Bird Moving

November 9, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

chrisshank_at_cockatoo_downs — Chris Shank at Cockatoo Downs

I recently had the great opportunity to chat with Chris Shank of Cockatoo Downs, one of the founders in promoting the free flight of parrots. We started this phone discussion because of better recognition and increased concern for the health and welfare of our companion parrots. Research studies presented at ExoticsCon and other conferences point to the need for our parrots to fly or at least flap more and exercise more.

While feeding our birds a good and wholesome diet is important, that alone will not keep them healthy. Just like us, exercise is critically important. Exercise allows parrots to retain bone strength and keeps joints working properly, it may help to reduce fat deposits in blood vessels and it has shown to improve heart performance. Along with that, it promotes proper perfusion of organs, particularly the kidney and liver.

cockatoosflying_free_images — Wild cockatoos in flight.

Chris and I started this discussion many years ago when I had the opportunity to visit Cockatoo Downs in Dallas, Oregon, and experience the wonder of watching her free flying cockatoos! And with the ExoticsCon conference offering a lab, many vets, vet techs and others got to see a glimpse of her unique perspective on flying birds. Since I unfortunately could not attend, I thought that I would give her a call and we could chat about flight for the parrot owner and some things to get them started.

Chris noted that, “Many hand-raised companion parrots are typically not fledged by their breeders when the birds are weaned. The window of opportunity to learn how to fly for all parrots is just at weaning. If not given the chance to learn at that time, it can be difficult for the parrot to learn to fly later as an adult. Flying takes lots of mental and physical ability and this is where training by the caretaker comes into play to help the parrot learn how to use her wings.”

Create Opportunities

For birds that have missed that fledging opportunity, it appears harder to get larger birds to fly compared to smaller birds. While it can be very frustrating to get them to move, owners can get them to at least do some walking, flapping and movement, particularly in outside aviaries.

Chris indicated that at the heart of flying your bird is positive reinforcement training. She suggested that one could look at recall and positive reinforcement training information (available at: http://www.goodbirdinc.com) by Barbara Heidenreich, a professional animal trainer and co-presenter with Chris at the lab for ExoticsCon. Chris suggested that owners could start with recall training using that bird’s favorite treat! The idea it that you treat the bird when you ask it to walk toward you on a countertop: when the bird steps in your direction, give a small treat with a word of encouragement. Then you should ask for the same task several times to reinforce the behavior of “come.”

As these sessions continue and the distance lengthens between you and your bird, you will then want to have the bird repeat this from a perch. They need to step to your hand and both of you need to be comfortable with this. Still remember to treat the bird when you ask them to step or come. Then as you gradually move your hand away from the perch and they have to stretch, they may give up. Alternatively, that magical moment will happen where the bird flicks its wings in anticipation of flight to your hand. In that brief moment, they will collect air under the air foil of their wings before alighting to your hand. That action takes lots of reinforcement and time, and she said that owners will get discouraged, but they need to persevere! The bird will have to jump with uplifted wings and use the air to get to you. Once they get the idea, the owner should gradually increase the distance so that they will fly to your hand.

That process will vary with the species of parrot and the individual and its past experiences. Again, it seems easier for smaller, more aerodynamic birds that have longer tails and a more narrow shape to their body.

For those birds that can’t fly due to injuries or other medical conditions, there are other activities that can provide exercise for your bird. Playing on a “boing” (a large rope spiral) particularly when doing flapping upside down to get at a toy, is a great tool to get them flapping. With that we discussed enrichment to motivate activity. Foraging with a variety of toys that are appropriate for your species of bird is important. Cockatoos are masters at turning large wing nuts to, say, open a box, while Amazons just don’t figure that out — so that toy would not be appropriate for Amazons. Boxes with part of their daily food stuffed into them is one form of foraging and it may take a series of steps to get there. Then once they master that, position the foraging toys in the cage so that they have to approach them upside down. This will help your birds to learn balance and to use the muscles of their wings.

When doing foraging, Chris suggested that you might have to change how you feed your parrot. She might supply only the pellets for the morning feeding and they might be part of the foraging box or toy. To get them motivated, it might be the favorite foods or the treats that helps them learn how to forage to receive their daily food requirement. There are a number of good references on foraging but remember that you need to work and observe your bird to understand what is right for them.

Create Flight Space

Over the winter, as your bird is more able to fly in small spaces or distances, you might design a flight safe room for them. Hanging boings in key locations is a great idea, along with providing curved shower curtain rods in corners so that they have something to land on and not hit the wall. Those places that you want them to fly will be key foraging spots, and will allow them to fly from place to place with a safe landing spot. And those spots will also be where they can spend time chewing toys and taking advantage of foraging opportunities, not chewing furniture or woodwork!

Chris has given many workshops and had an advanced course this past summer but will let us know her upcoming schedule for next year. She is a great teacher and builds confidence for those that learn from her. And she is a very wonderful parrot lover … and I hope to get to watch her in action again soon.

Day In The Life Of Pepperberg’s Parrots

November 2, 2016 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

I’m often asked about the daily routine in my lab. Many people wonder just how much time the parrots spend in training and testing, and how we balance their other needs — socialization, play, etc. The short answer is that the lab is run a lot like a children’s pre-school, with lots of time for recess, and with different schedules for weekdays and weekends. The long answer can be found below.

First, let’s discuss a bit about the environment. The lab is in the basement of a building on the Harvard campus. The reason for being in the basement is for the safety of the parrots. We can have much greater security without windows and being away from most of the “comings and goings” that are part of university campus life. (We did have space on an upper floor during a short period of basement renovation — although it was absolutely beautiful, Griffin and Athena were often distracted by the red-tail hawks that would fly by. We always wondered if the hawks were scouting out their potential dinner!) As a consequence of our basement habitat, the first thing happening every morning is that, at about 8:30 a.m, a small “dawn” light comes on. That way, the birds are not at all startled when the banks of overhead full-spectrum lights turn on at about 9 a.m. to provide the equivalent of daylight.

At 9 a.m., the first students appear. Their jobs are to open the cages so the parrots can come out, and to start breakfast. Breakfast means cleaning and refilling water bowls and dishes of dry food, and chopping the seasonal assortment of organic fresh fruits and vegetables that are provided in addition to their dry food. The parrots get to do what they want while breakfast is being prepared. Usually, they preen or watch the students pretty closely. Griffin and Athena each have a few specific food preferences, but they both really like the mashed organic yam that is warmed up and fed by hand.

Time To Get To Work

About 10:30 a.m., when breakfast is finished and they have had some time to digest their food, both Griffin and Athena have their first work session. An hour is blocked out for each session, but the birds rarely work the entire time. So, for example, in a session in which we are teaching Athena English labels to identify objects, success is rewarded by the object itself and that means that she can chew or play with it for as long as she likes, while she hears us repeat the label in various sentence frames (“Oh, you are chewing paper.” “You have a big piece of “paper”).

Sometimes more of the hour is spent in allowing her to play with these items than asking questions or modeling the answers, but that’s fine. She’s having fun and realizing that her vocalizations get her what she wants, which encourages her to use those sounds appropriately. Sometimes both birds are sequentially doing the same task, but are at different stages, so a student can alternate between birds. Sometimes one student distracts one of the parrots with toys so that the second student who is in the lab can test the other parrot on a particular type of task (see attached video of our visual search task).

At the end of the hour, both birds get what we call “physical therapy.” Although Athena likes to climb up and down her cage and play with her many toys, Griffin is more of a “perch potato,” and thus needs to be encouraged to be active. Our veterinarian and her assistants have come up with a number of different types of activities — things like climbing up and down a slanted surface — in which both parrots are engaged. Sometimes we have the birds hold on tightly to our hands as we run around the lab, encouraging them to use their wings to “fly” without actually taking off. Such exercises keep their flight muscles in tune, even though our space isn’t really big or safe enough for actual flight.

The birds then get lunch — some cooked organic grains with various supplements in addition to their dried food — and subsequently a shower. We then give them time to nap, “hang out” on a cage or with the students, and have us do some preening (see last month’s blog).

In the wild, this would be the hottest time of day, when they would be resting, so we try to recreate that type of situation. Each day during this two hour period, we also thoroughly scrub and disinfect one bird’s cage and do a quick clean-up of the other, alternating cages each day. I try to come into the lab at this time, preening Griffin first, then Athena, and I catch up on what has happened in the morning session.

After lunch, we schedule three hours of sessions, although, as in the morning, the birds aren’t actually working for anything like three full hours. Usually, one bird is being distracted with toys or preening for an hour while the other is being trained or tested, although sometimes they work on the same type of task. Interestingly, if Griffin isn’t in a session, he often says, “Wanna nut,” which is his signal to us that he really wants to do a task for which he might get a bit of raw cashew as a reward. Athena, who hasn’t yet learned that phrase, might use some very loud parrot squawks for the same purpose. Depending on what type of task is scheduled, I might stay in lab to run a session; afterwards, I’ll go back to my office to write, or leave to teach or attend a seminar.

By 5 p.m., the day has pretty much ended, with the birds now getting dinner … again, some more cooked organic grains along with their dried food. They spend as much time eating as they like, although it is usually Athena who is more interested in dinner than Griffin. They can play with toys, rest in their cages, or choose to be with the students.

I usually return to the lab about 6 p.m. for another round of preening and, again, to learn what has happened in sessions. At 7 p.m., I leave and the students begin the evening closing chores … cleaning and refilling bowls of water and dried food, removing all uneaten grains, vacuuming, etc. By about 8 p.m., birds are put inside their cages and it is “dusk”; the main banks of lights go off and they have a night light for about half an hour so they can get settled for the evening. By 8:30 p.m., the night light goes out so that they can have the same 12 hour period of darkness that they would have in equatorial Africa.

Weekends are different only in that we rarely schedule any training or testing sessions. Everyone needs a break from routine! However, if Griffin insists on requesting nuts, the students will do some reviews, and, of course, Athena can watch and learn. Students, however, do continue to talk to the birds about the activities in which they are engaging, play with them, and interact as much as the birds demand.

We think that our birds have a pretty good work-life balance!

Free Flight: Lessons From ExoticsCon

October 26, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

macaw flying with clouds and blue sky in background — Photo by Sasel13/Pixabay

ExoticsCon had a number of lectures that suggested or provided information regarding birds that fly compared with those that mainly sit or are caged as companions. From the studies of Scott Echols, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice), described in my last column, we learned that metabolic bone disease resulting in the loss of bone in key areas of the skeleton is often seen in birds that have no or limited flying. It does not matter if they are chickens, birds in zoos with limited space to fly or those in our homes that do not fly much: all seem to have bone loss that contributes to a variety of problems.

As echoed by Kenneth Welle, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice), “It’s very clear from seeing the aging population of pet birds, that exercise is something that most birds lack. While there are certainly other exercises that parrots can engage in, flight is the most natural and vigorous. Exercise allows and helps maintain cardiac, vascular, muscular, and mental health.” The use of flight for mental stimulation is very important — birds were designed to fly and the scenery rushing past them stimulates the optic cortex of their brain. The wind rushing over their feathers results in stimulation of their sensory cortex, another way that flight affects the brain.

Dr. Welle also pointed out that as we realize that we are keeping highly intelligent animals with us in our homes, parrots require enrichment to provide for their psychological needs. He suggests that with some parrots we should consider free flight. He states, “While there are many ways to [provide enrichment], expanding a bird’s environment to include nearly unlimited spaces, then a much higher degree of enrichment becomes possible. Exposure to fresh air and natural sunshine is an added benefit.”

The natural sunshine is also important for the brain as birds can see into the near ultraviolet spectrum and this enhances the breadth of what they can see. The visual picture that is changing as the bird flies is an important factor for enriching the brain. Dr. Welle explained: “Flight requires a fairly significant amount of mental activity as well as physical activity. Navigation, wind adjustments, and other fine motor skills are partly mental. Allowing these activities can promote mental development that may not be allowed to develop otherwise.”

He suggests that most active people who own birds, leaving them caged while they are doing their activities, could instead have a bird that is free flighted can allow them to be part of some of those activities. These birds may be able to go on hikes or walks, or hang out when the owner is working in the yard or picnicking.

Assess Risks Before Allowing Bird Flight

So now we think that we want to work with our birds to become free flighted — but there are a number of significant risks! One that most parrot owners are concerned about is escape. Dr. Welle explains that most parrot escapes are the result of the bird’s inability to navigate, turn, and land correctly. An unskilled bird can gain altitude but may have difficulty slowing, turning, landing accurately, and performing other fine motor skills. This often results in the bird flying straight away from the owner and landing only from exhaustion in a tree somewhere. Then they lack the ability to return.

One of the essential components of successful free flight is allowing a bird to learn these skills in an area where they will not get lost. Some of that is indoors, later it is outdoors in large open expanses with little to land on besides the familiar owner or a perch. The skills build from there. In fact, birds that are well trained to this behavior have far less risk of escape than an unskilled, untrained bird that accidentally gets out the door.”

Another significant risk is for the beloved bird to be killed by a raptor. Dr. Welle goes on to provide his take on what birds are most successful in training for free flight — those are the parrot species that are brightly colored, loud and large. The small green parrots can easily be killed by Cooper’s hawks and are very hard to find in a group of green trees! Finding a red or a blue macaw is much easier than an Amazon or green-cheeked conure in a tree or wood lot!

Who Should Fly?

So the birds that are good candidates are those that can already fly well indoors as “free flight will require the ability to turn, slow down, move up and down, and otherwise navigate in three dimensions. Full wings are a requirement.” These skills need to be taught to your bird indoors first. This suggests that flight is not inherent and that flight skills are learned in the wild as well. Those basics were discussed and taught by Chris Shank at Cockatoo Downs — a field trip for those who took the class while at ExoticsCon!

Both Chris and Dr. Welle discussed positive reinforcement and the need to train the trainer! Positive reinforcement training is a requirement to successful flight training. “Flight to the hand is the most basic and essential skill for a free flight bird. It is equivalent to the step-up behavior that every bird should learn. It is also one of the easiest to teach to the bird.

Using a target or a treat lure, the bird is encouraged to fly to the hand. Initial flights may really be a step. Then they increase in length. Ideally, the bird should also be taught to fly back to the perch. This is more difficult to teach. After flying to the hand, the bird is bridged and rewarded. They are returned to the perch to consume the reward. At first this is from just a step from the perch.

Once they learn the routine, they can be launched back to the perch. It becomes a game,” Dr. Welle said. One of the principles in these short hops to longer distances is the ability of the bird to learn to land. That is a very important step and even if you don’t fly your bird outside, the information presented above is an important goal for your bird flying in your home as well.

While Dr. Welle showed videos of him free-flying macaws in a large open field, Chris Shank shared with participants her free-flying cockatoos and the elements needed to do that. I had the great pleasure to spend several days with her at Cockatoo Downs learning those basic skills and I suggest that you consider her courses for free flight by bringing your bird with you or using some of hers! Free flight or at least flight indoors is an important activity for enriching the life of your bird. While the information here is just a beginning, it might help you get started.

Vampire Finches And Ghost Birds

October 20, 2016 by Laura Doering

vampire finch using beak to poke at the ground — Photo “darwin’s finch 3” by Anna, CC BY-NC 2.0

Finches are found in a variety of colors and personalities — from colorful Gouldian finches to the sociable society finch. These little birds can make wonderful avian companions if given the right housing (a spacious flight cage or aviary, please!), the right food (did you know Lafeber makes food just for finches?!) and the same level of care afforded to other pets. But there’s one finch you might not want in the home, especially if you have other pets — the vampire finch.

The vampire finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis) got its nickname from the way it has adapted to supplement its diet, which is to use its sharp bill to peck away at the backside of other animals (namely two types of sea birds, the Nazca booby and the blue-footed booby), and drink their blood. The theory goes that this “blood thirst” behavior first began as a pecking behavior that the finches used to clean parasites from the booby’s feathers, but they adapted to supplement their diet with the booby’s blood. A key word here is “supplement” … the vampire finch consumes other foods, such as seeds and invertebrates.

This rare finch is indigenous to the Galapagos Islands, which is home to 14 finch species collectively referred to as Darwin’s finches, and they are often cited as examples of natural selection related to adaptation. Ironically, another finch in the vampire finch’s habitat is the vegetarian finch (Platyspiza crassirostris), which is primarily a plant eater.

Ghost Birds

photo of taxidermied ivory-billed woodpecker on a branch indoors — Photo from James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There have been a few ghost bird sightings throughout the years, and before the you pick up the phone to call the bird division of Ghostbusters, know that a “ghost bird” is a rare species that eludes discovery or re-discovery. A famous ghost bird that made the news rounds in the U.S. was the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), one of the world’s largest woodpeckers and native to the southeastern United States.

Sadly, like many other bird species, habitat loss is credited to wiping out the ivory woodpecker’s population, to the degree that the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) lists it as critically endangered and possibly extinct, with the American Birding Association (ABA) going a step further and listing it lists as a Class 6 species, a category the ABA defines as “definitely or probably extinct.”

A reported sighting of the bird in 2004 in Arkansas sparked a multi-million dollar search, which, according to an Audubon online reporting, “led to several follow-up sightings, a blurry video, and a firestorm of media announcing that the Ivory-bill had been rediscovered. But when the team failed to find indisputable evidence, the throngs of searchers recoiled and the Ivory-bill was tucked back into the drawer with all the other museum specimens of bygone birds.” Audubon is currently hosting a blog titled, “The Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Heads to Cuba. Can two determined birders track down the most elusive—and possibly extinct—bird out there?” You can follow its daily blog to find out.

One ghost bird that was not only found but photographed, proving its existence, is the elusive moustached kingfisher. Chris Filardi, a bird expert at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, and his team spent two decades searching for the elusive bird that was found in the remote forests in the Solomon Islands.

In his blog post, Filardi described a ghost bird such as the moustached kingfisher, “We search for them in earnest but they are seemingly beyond detection except by proxy and story. They are ghosts, until they reveal themselves in a thrilling moment of clarity and then they are gone again. Maybe for another day, maybe a year, maybe a century.”

For many bird enthusiasts, the story has a bittersweet ending. Filardi euthanized the bird to collect it, which has traditionally been the scientific standard for documenting a species existence. The act stirred a great deal of controversy. This article, published online at Independent.co.uk, offers an extensive look at the debate that ensued.

Dr. Pepperberg Dishes On Parrots & Preening

October 5, 2016 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

In the wild, parrots often engage in what is termed “allopreening”— one bird will preen the head feathers of another, generally to remove feathers that are either ready to molt or to help crack the keratin sheath that envelops emerging feathers after the molt (we use the term “popping a quill” in the lab). The behavior is usually reciprocal. Most often, birds that allopreen each other are mated pairs, and the preening helps maintain their pair bond.

Some studies on flocks of captive budgerigars suggest that young, unmated parrots may have particular “buddies” that engage in such reciprocal behavior, but such behavior might have more to do with establishing social order (NB: see article by Abassi and Burley, 2012). But what happens in a situation where birds cannot form such bonds? Such can be the case for a single companion parrot and for birds that are (for many good reasons) kept in individual cages and apart from one another when outside the cage. Many birds figure out compensatory behavior patterns — rubbing their heads against cage bars or toys, and scratching vigorously with their feet. But these patterns do not provide much social interaction, something that is the “norm” for a flock animal like a parrot.

As a consequence, many companion birds have also figured out another compensatory pattern — getting their owners to do the job! Parrots often solicit humans by putting their heads down and rubbing against their humans’ fingers; some will even learn to request “Tickle,” “Scritch,” or “Scratch.” Despite being subjects of scientific study, the birds in my lab are no exception, and they have influenced their trainers’ behavior in some striking ways.

griffin-spoon-tickles — Photo courtesy of Dr. Irene Pepperberg

Griffin, for example, likes “spoon tickles” (see picture). When he was a chick, he would sometimes nip a student who tried to preen quills that weren’t quite ready to pop. One of the students in the laboratory figured out that she could use the tip of a spoon instead of her fingers to scratch his head, and thus avoid any unwanted responses from him. The system works particularly well for new students who have never interacted with parrots before, and even for experienced students who are still quite wary of Griffin’s beak. Nowadays, if Griffin is sitting on a laboratory counter and wants preening, he will often pick up a spoon and drop it over the edge to attract a student’s attention. At the very beginning, however, Griffin didn’t quite understand how the system worked. One day, as a chick, he picked up a spoon himself, held in against his head, and waited. When nothing happened, he shrieked and THREW the spoon — he hadn’t realized that he needed a human to make the spoon do the work!

Both Griffin and Athena have also made it very clear that they have preferences for students who have strong, longish fingernails — they choose to spend a lot more time with such students. As a consequence, in order to curry favor with the birds, many of the female students have been investing in special nail kits that strengthen and elongate their nails,! Silver and blue polishes both seem to be a bit hit (see picture above). Maybe because those colors make the nails look more “beak-like”?

Abassi, P., & Burley, N. T. (2012). Nice Guys Finish Last: Same-sex Sexual Behavior and Pairing Success in Male Budgerigars. Behavioral Ecology, 23, 775-782.

Presley The Spix’s Macaw Legacy

September 28, 2016 by Matt Rowe

Our world is a vast place with its many living residents. Humans, animals, insects, and birds of all kinds share the resources available to each of us. This sharing of the world connects us all in some grand way. But, as will happen, by whatever reasons that include malicious intent, ecological mishaps, or a dying out of a species for various reasons, we find that we are a fragile thread of existence.

One of our magnificent birds, the Spix’s macaw, so-named for the German naturalist, Johann Baptist von Spix who acquired a specimen on his journey into Brazil back in the early 1800s, has been on the endangered species list for many decades. Even when von Spix collected his bird, the species was already in rapid decline due, in large part, to deforestation. Unfortunately, since the arrival of the New Millennium (2000), no Spix’s macaw birds are believed to be alive in the wild. There are an estimated 80 left in captivity, held mostly by officially sanctioned facilities so as to enhance their dire numbers, Of that number, there are a few estimated to be in private ownership. One of those was Presley.

Presley’s story goes way back to the late ’70s when he was illegally acquired by a household in Colorado after the original trafficker of the extremely rare bird was being investigated. When the new owner came into possession, Presley was loved by the family. After showing a love for rock music, Presley was named after the famed King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. After twenty years in 2002, Presley became depressed when his African grey female companion died. The owner called a veterinarian and it was discovered that Presley was indeed an ultra-rare bird, one that was not to be privately owned. An amicable arrangement to turn over the bird to governing federal agencies was gained, and Presley was returned to Brazil in the hopes that he could become a vital part of the recovery program.

In 2014, Presley died but not without leaving a legacy. It’s said that the Dreamworks animated films “Rio,” and “Rio II,” had its central character, Blu, fashioned after Presley’s life story adding a dramatic twist. But Presley’s legacy can become a more legendary one in that after his death, his testicles were removed and frozen to preserve them for a future time when technologies have advanced enough to make full use of them. Use would include extraction of valuable cells that could be mined for even more valuable stem cells that would aid in the process of fertilization.

As it happens, there is an available technology developing that would allow for Spix’s macaw reproductive cells to be used in another macaw. This process has a potential to produce new babies that, when grown to a suitable age and independence, can be released into the wild with the hopes that a thriving community of them could be sustained.

Science is at a remarkable pace of evolution at this time in our existence. Taking advantage of a great and dedicated collective hive mind which can help to increase our sadly low numbers of these magnificent blue creatures, our unstable community of Spix’s macaws might just proliferate and defeat the odds. If that happens, Presley will have played a top role in making that happen. In death, he is still alive as an icon and as a spirit of hope.

Bird Vets Flock To Portland For ExoticsCon 2016

September 21, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

Dr. Scott Echols with Drs. Nico Schoemaker and Yvonne Van Zeeland at the Lafeber booth at ExoticsCon in Portland, Oregon.

ExoticsCon — Building Better Birds!

Veterinarians and vet techs who are deeply involved with birds, small mammals and reptiles flocked to Portland, Oregon, in the summer of 2016 for the ExoticsCon Veterinary Conference. There is an excitement to learn new things and new thinking that I would like to share. The first area that I think is important is that we vets are seeing a large increase in our pet birds with metabolic bone disease. Now you say: “But I feed my bird all kinds of great foods.” And that has certainly helped our companion birds lead longer lives and is very important. But one thing that is sitting out there quietly — and that is literal in this case as well — is metabolic bone disease. And what it is and why is that becoming a problem, you ask?

Metabolic bone disease is a general term for any noninfectious problem of the bone that causes a reduction in bone mass. Bone is composed of cells and an extracellular matrix that is firm, which produces the rigidity of bone. Extracellular material (ground substance) contains glycosaminoglycans (GAG), fibers and structural glycoproteins. But bone is under stressors and those stressors influence the cells and the matrix that they produce. Bone is a strong, flexible and semi-rigid supporting tissue. It can withstand compression forces, and yet it can bend. Bone is not static but ever changing due to these stressors and for our discussion — lack of stressors. And in addition to the cells and the matrix with fibers, bone has a very good supply of blood to bring calcium and other nutrients that can be stored — such as calcium for making egg shells in birds.

One form of metabolic bone disease is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a loss of structural bone that leads to bone fragility and susceptibility to fractures. Spinal degeneration and/or transient irregularities in intracellular calcium metabolism may lead to the abnormal muscle activity and paralysis seen with this disease. In chickens, this was described as cage layer paralysis due to chickens being cage-bound and not walking or flying to build bone strength. Common boney abnormalities of chickens with cage layer paralysis include an S-shaped keel, rib deformities (swollen vertebral-sternal junctions) and thin and easily broken bones. Vertebral fractures and damage directly to the spinal cord are likely what results in the paralysis that derives it term cage layer paralysis.

According to Dr. Scott Echols in his paper on Metabolic Bone Disease, he says that “Birds that tend to not fly much have generally poor bone density along the thoracic girdle (coracoid, furcula and proximal humerus) and distal neck/proximal notarium vertebrae. Birds that tend to not walk or climb much generally have poor bone density along the synsacrum, proximal femurs and sometimes extending down the legs. Birds that tend to not walk or fly much have the aforementioned deficits plus a more generalized radiolucency along the entire spine. That means the vertebral column and the bones of the wings and legs lose their mass and are very fragile.”

There are several factors that may help with this problem of osteoporosis. One factor is diet. Deficiencies of phosphorus, calcium and cholecalciferol have been shown to result in osteomalacia or softened bones. All-seed diets are deficient in calcium and cholecalciferol. But avoiding osteomalacia has not been shown in chickens at least to reduce the incidence of osteoporosis. Particulate forms of calcium in chickens appears to improve their bone density. It is thought that particulate calcium remains in the gut longer (than do powders) and is more consistently available through the day and/or night for egg shell production.

According to Scott Echols, DVM, Dipl. ABVP (Avian), seed-based diets “… are generally considered to be nutritionally inadequate for long-term health. How exactly seed-based, pellet-based, fruit- and vegetable-based, combination and more diets relate to bone development and, more interestingly, long-term bone maintenance for captive birds is not exactly clear. Unfortunately, the general recommendation of feeding an appropriate diet (often consisting of a species-formulated pellet-based diet plus added vegetables and some fruits) for captive parrots (and other species) is currently the most common advice avian veterinarians give concerning captive parrots. The appropriate diet must be considered not only for the species in question, but also that animal’s lifestyle, health status and more. There is no one magic diet.”

One recommendation that Dr. Echols made was to make sure that the diet has balanced omega fatty acids. He pointed out that most commercial bird foods are made from corn and soybean components, and these diets are typically high in omega-6 fatty acids (O-6 FA). On the other hand, balanced diets with the omega 3 fatty acids (O-3FA) are important for bone health. The O-3 FAs reduce the concentration of arachidonic acid and subsequent production of PGE2, which is pro-inflammatory for the body, including bone. However, the opposite is true with O-6 FA as that increases the PGE2s, resulting in a stimulation of bone resorption. That is not what we want to happen! The Lafeber foods, including Nutri-Berries, Avi-Cakes and Senior Nutri-Berries, are balanced nutritionally, and the O-3 and O-6 fatty acids are balanced as well.

Dr. Echols said that “for granivores, seed-based diets are typically high in phosphorus and/or low in calcium and are likely the most common dietary cause of low grade MBD. Additionally, research supports that diets either high in O-6 fatty acids and/or low in O-3 fatty acids may be another risk factor for osteoporosis and other forms of MBD.”

So it appears that we need to pay attention to not only the balance of various components of the diet including the minerals but also the balance of omega fatty acids. And according to Dr. Echols — another big factor is EXERCISE! His work using “radiographs and CT shows that in our companion birds inactivity does seem to play a role in avian bone density.” Dr. Echols pointed out that “The obvious remedy is to increase bone-loading activities such as flying, climbing and walking for pet birds. This can be accomplished by providing larger space, creating an environment that encourages movement (e.g., foraging, outside play time, flight training) and even forced exercise (e.g., moving the food and water bowls away from the bird, training the bird to flap or perform various activities). What is not clear is just how much activity (and for how long) is needed to improve structural bone formation.”

My next column will take a look at Dr. Ken Welle’s approach to flying his birds, as well as other information from the conference. Stay tuned!

The World’s Oldest Cockatoo Passes Away: Celebrating Cookie

September 7, 2016 by Matt Rowe

Cookie the cockatoo on branch in habitat at Brookfield Zoo (Leadbeater's cockatoo aka Major MItchell's cockatoo) — Photo from [ Nimesh M], CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The world incurred a loss in August of 2016, as Cookie, the world’s oldest cockatoo, passed away at his Brookfield Zoo (IL) home. He was 83 years of age. As history recounts, Cookie arrived at the Brookfield Zoo in 1934, not long after its official opening. He arrived from an Australian Zoo located in Sydney at the young age of 1, and represented the species at the famed Illinois zoo for many years.

In 2009, Cookie was retired from public view when he acquired osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, conditions that plague the aging with risks of easily broken bones and swollen joints. After Cookie retired, his health and mood improved, which supported the action taken to ease his stress levels of public display. It was likely that Cookie gained years to his life by this thoughtful decision. Nevertheless, age won out when Cookie died on August 27, 2016.

The “Guinness Book of World Records” officially recognized Cookie as the world’s oldest known cockatoo in captivity in 2014. Typically, these cockatoos (known scientifically as Cacatua leadbeateri and also referred to as Leadbeater’s cockatoo, after the British naturalist, Benjamin Leadbeater) live 40 to 60 years. Cookie beat that average by more than 20 years, topping the high-end of expectation.

Cookie was a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, so-named because of the observations of Major Tom Mitchell, an explorer of Australia whose prose showered praise for the noted bird’s beauty during his days in the forestry of the country. This species of cockatoo is white with pink colorations found in the bird’s face, nape, forehead, and belly. For females, the upper chest is usually white, and their pink coloration is paler than the male. The cockatoo’s crests are especially colorful with bright red and yellow bands that are immediately noticed. These unique and beautiful birds are also known as Pink Cockatoo. The Major Mitchell Cockatoo species are found in the inland areas of Australia. Interestingly, the Major Mitchell Cockatoo is the ONLY cockatoo with a multi-colored crest providing the bird a part of its notable uniqueness.

Cookie was a source of pride for not only the Zoo, but also for many who followed his growth and passing years. When he reached age 60, the press was there to commemorate the milestone. When he retired, they were there to note the time. After Cookie retired, he did make public appearances on special occasions, such as his birthday. Cookie was so well known that he received his fair share of mail from all areas of the world.

Cookie was known to be somewhat cranky with a disposition to be “vocal” about things that displeased him. It was said that if he didn’t like a person, the disliked person was aware of it. Cookie had only one word in his vocabulary – “Cookie.” When he wanted attention or was happy, he would say his name repeatedly.

News of Cookie’s passing was recognized worldwide. The Chicago Zoological Society released a beautiful two and a half minute video that can be found on YouTube (here). It shows his fans and his caregivers at the Zoo enjoying his life as he lived it.

The world will miss you, Cookie.

In fact, we already do.

New Pepperberg Parrot Research: Recognizing 2D Objects

August 31, 2016 by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D.

Photo by Bro Takes Photos/Unsplash

One marker of advanced intelligence, in humans and nonhumans, is the ability to transfer an acquired concept to a novel situation. African grey parrot Alex, for example, went from stating, “None” if nothing (color shape, material) was either same or different between two objects, to stating, “None” when asked about the complete absence of a set of objects in a number study — that is, showing a zero-like concept. He wasn’t as advanced with respect to labeling shapes: Trained to identify solid wooden objects of roughly the same size but varying form as “one-, two- three-, four-, five-, six-, eight-corner”, he transferred those labels to other shaped items of different materials, sizes and colors; however, he was limited to three-dimensional (3D) objects. Could our younger parrot, Griffin, similarly trained, now go further, transferring, for example, from 3D objects to 2D drawings? Furthermore, could he possibly identify the types of occluded objects and optical illusions shown in Figure 1 below? The formal terms for such abilities are, respectively, “amodal” and “modal” completion. (Note: objects involved in modal completion are also called “subjective contours” and Kanizsa figures, after the scientist who designed them.)

This study, co-authored with a Harvard colleague, was particularly interesting because demonstrating such abilities in nonhumans has been difficult. Although neither a human brain nor visual system seem needed for such capacities — many studies, on insects to nonhuman primates, find appropriate responses to 2D objects that are partially occluded or partly represented in outline form by subjective contours — the results are actually ambiguous. The tasks are designed so that subjects might be focusing on simple aspects of the object without understanding what they are really seeing (e.g., matching the angle in the ‘pacman’ of Figure 1 to a test angle without necessarily recognizing the imaginary triangle). However, given that Griffin understood symbolic representation — i.e., he could vocally identify various shapes as did Alex — we could test him just like humans, who are usually given a few stimuli and simply asked to label what they see.

We asked Griffin to label figures drawn on paper, something he had never before done. In the amodal task, we used variously colored figures for each shape he could label, of different sizes, occluded by black circles (e.g., asking ‘‘what shape blue?”). Griffin had not been trained to label either circles or the color black making it unlikely that he would attempt to label them. We also used other black shapes as occluders, to see if being able to label occluders would distract him from the task. To ensure that Griffin was responding appropriately to occluded figures, we also asked him to identify irregular shapes that were not occluded (“detached probes”) — e.g., figures that looked as though a bite had been removed, with an appropriately sized adjacent circle (Figure 2a). For the modal task, figures were constructed using black ‘pac-men’ to form imaginary figures, again for each shape he could label, of different sizes, on colored paper. Controls (‘‘probes”, one or two for each of the #-cornered shapes) involved placing additional circles or ‘pac-men’ near the figure so Griffin could not simply quantify black objects (e.g., Figure 2b). Each trial was unique with respect to color, size of polygon, or size of occluder/pacmen. He was given only 38 trials for each type of task.

Unlike most experiments that test nonhumans by repeatedly presenting identical probes during many (again) repeated training trials, and either reward the subject for all probes (potentially encouraging guessing) or, after decreasing rewards to a set percentage similar to the proportion of probe trials, for none of the probe/test trials (potentially discouraging possible correct attempts), we decided that the strongest test would be to observe Griffin’s response to single presentations of each probe—thus avoiding issues of familiarity, training, or encouraging either guessing or discouraging correct attempts.

Griffin identified all non-probe figures at statistically significant levels, and was 100% on all probes. Importantly, he was correct on his very first trials, showing that no training was occurring and that transfer from 3D to 2D figures was immediate. Interestingly, for the detached probes (e.g., Fig. 2a), where no occlusion occurred, he responded to figures never before seen (irregular shapes) with the number of visible corners. For modal test stimuli, in contrast to amodally completed stimuli, where there is nothing in common between his 3D training objects and test stimuli, his accuracy was identical to that for the amodal stimuli. He also was not counting pac-men or numbers of circles, because no errors correspond to their quantity.

Against Griffin’s remarkable success, much data exist showing that, as noted above, animals generally either do not show these completion phenomena at all or show some degree of success only after having undergone considerable training with very closely related stimuli. In other instances, actual tasks differed considerably among laboratories (with respect to, e.g., motion, 2D vs 3D stimuli, CRT vs LCD monitors [i.e., flicker fusion effects] and pre-exposure to stimuli) with the consequence that results also varied considerably.

What could account for Griffin’s success? Other creatures must solve problems involving at least some form of amodal completion in their daily lives. For example, processing information about a partially hidden predator and reacting is safer than not, even if some false alarms exist. Modal completion may rely on similar processing; imagine three black circles on a colored background that are occluded by a triangle of the same color. Griffin’s results may be a consequence of two capacities, although others may also be involved. First, he already understood symbolic representation: that a sound could stand for a physical object. Thus understanding that a 2D picture could represent 3D reality, including depth perception, would not be surprising. Interestingly, baboons failed when tested for amodal completion in a task involving only 2D figures but did succeed (although only after several hundred training trials) when stimuli provided cues indicating that the occluder was indeed in front of the targeted object (e.g., seeing the occluder actually move over the object that was being occluded). Second, Griffin was raised in an extremely rich environment for a laboratory subject, providing him with the same kind of experience that seems to enable young children to succeed on such tasks. Thus he saw and manipulated real-world 3D objects, of all forms, materials, and colors, both in full view and occluded, during a period of over 16 years before the study began. Such experience may be a prerequisite for carrying out these tasks. Whatever the reasons for his success, what is striking is that he did succeed without the training needed by other nonhumans, thus exhibiting the ability to transfer: an ability that shows advanced intelligence.

Finches Talk To Their Eggs And Other Fascinating Bird News

August 25, 2016 by Laura Doering

close up on head of blue-fronted Amazon that is tilting head to the side — Photo by DennisBuntrock/Pixabay

If you’re like most people and get your news fix online, try going a step beyond the top stories by searching specifically for bird news. You might be treated to some fascinating results. Check out these intriguing bird-centric stories, which range from parrots playing video games to zebra finches telling their eggs when to hatch to how the males of a bird species called the southern pied babble favor their own biological male chicks over their “stepchicks.”

Parrot Gamers?

Most informed bird people know that companion parrots thrive with enrichment, whether that is food enrichment, toy enrichment, social enrichment and everything in between that works a parrot’s senses. Researchers at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVM) Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center are taking parrot enrichment to the digital age by creating video games that appeal to very specific audience — parrots! The prototype game is akin to the classic “Whack-a-mole,” but instead of using a foam mallet to whack moles’ heads back down into their holes, the bird yells at the screen to make pop of images go away. As the project’s lead researcher, Dr. Donald Brightsmith said, ““It would be nice to come home and know that your animal had been exercising during the day,” Brightsmith said. “Video games such as this would allow pet owners to increase the bird’s activity and increase the bird’s mental stimulation, with an interest in improving the physical and mental health of the birds.” Read all about it.

Contact Calls To The Egg?

zebra finch perched on branch — Photo by Jeannette1980/Pixabay

Here’s an interesting fact: Scientists have known for awhile that birds capable of fending for themselves upon hatching (think of the impressionable duck who might imprint on someone, or something, other than its mother), can hear through their eggs. But they weren’t exactly sure what happened inside the eggs of birds that hatch dependent on their parents (parrots for one do!). Thanks to researchers at Deakin University in Australia, we now know that finches for one do communicate with their eggs. Learn — and hear for yourself! — how the finch’s incubation calls changed when nest temperatures rose, and how climate change might influence an egg’s embryonic stage.

Where Have You Been?

zebra finch pair perched on branch in aviary — Photo from Pixabay

Zebra finches, apparently, make excellent couples. They are monogamous, share parenting duties and, like most strong relationships, they are good at communicating with one another. They also know how to keep schedules, with scientists observing that they rotated nest and foraging duties in 30-minute shifts and had vocal exchanges during the switch over. See what happened when researchers kept the male past his 30-minute foraging time — running late doesn’t go over so well with zebra finch females.

Birds Can Show Favoritism

two Southern Pied Babblers perched side by side on branch in tree — Photo by Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In many ways the southern pied babbler, a black and white bird found in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, follow the “It takes a village to raise a child” mindset. They live in groups ranging from three to 14 birds, and chicks are raised by both parents as well as other adult birds. But researchers have learned that there is a “favored chick” sentiment at play, as the male southern pied babbler appears to play favorites when it comes to the males of his own offspring verses his “stepchicks.” See how this form of birdie nepotism unfolded when researchers took a close look at their family dynamics.

Beyond The Olympics: Birding In Brazil

August 10, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

While attention is turned to the athletes competing at the Olympics in Brazil, bird people turn to ask what about birding in Brazil? When consulting the bird guides for Brazil, one learns quickly that the guides are regional. That is because a national guide would be too large for portability in the field because, frankly, there are too many species! In fact, Brazil boasts over 1,825 species with others being discovered or named continually. Brazil is considered one of the planet’s richest centers of biodiversity and represents 60% of the species found on the South American continent! With that comes the flip side — Brazil has the largest number of endemic (234) and threatened (116) species of any nation in the New World — that means it represents over one fourth of all of the species that are in trouble.

When you look at a map, you learn that Brazil is impressively large — it is the fifth largest nation on our fragile planet. It is larger than Western Europe. In fact, it has about the same area as the continental U.S.! Just like in the United States, travel distances are vast and need planning. One of the areas that is most frequented for ecotourism is the Pantanal, which I was able to visit. Most of the ecotourism in Brazil frequents that region, home to many parrot species from hyacinth macaws to the rare yellow-faced parrot.

The Pantanal is a vast seasonally flooded wetland comprising about 80,000 square miles! The tropical rains begin in November and end around June. This results in the northern portion of the Pantanal flooding in January, while the southern portion receives the flood waters about two months later with flooding occurring about 2 times during the rainy season. The waters come from an even larger distinctively Brazilian tropical savanna habitat – the Cerrado. This one of the largest biomes of over 740,000 square miles. During the wet season, waters from the Cerrado pour into the large rivers of the Pantanal and there they temporarily flood the grasslands and gallery forests. This produces a large accumulation of water birds as well and contributes to the biodiversity of species. However, as the use of herbicides and fertilizers in the Cerrado increase, this produces a negative impact on the purity of the waters needed for plants and animals of the Pantanal.

When the waters flood the land, the over 450 species of birds disperse but as the land dries out, they congregate to feed. This is particularly true of the water birds. One of the stars of the show is the Jabiru stork. Standing up to 55 inches tall, it has an enormous bill with a bare black head and neck with a red collar. They can be found in large flocks but more commonly in pairs. I must say that they are very impressive to see and listen to with their bill clacking, particularly when they guard their enormous nests.

The Pantanal is made up of mostly privately owned cattle ranches or fazendas that have been increasingly involved in ecotourism. There are a number of conservation-minded ranchers who are very involved in recovery of a number of species of wildlife, most notably the hyacinth macaw. At one time, the Pantanal boasted a large number of hyacinths but, like many species, there was a huge decline from trapping and other problems. In the 1980s, only about 1,500 individuals were left.

Since the 1990s, the Hyacinth Macaw project or Projeto Arara Azul headed by Neiva Guedes has helped turn the corner for this magnificent macaw! In 15 years Neiva and her organization has tripled the numbers of Hyacinths in the Pantanal. The hyacinth eats the hard seeds in the center of the acuri and the bocaiuva palms. These are the only macaws with beaks massive enough to crack open the hard shells. In contrast, other species of parrots and macaws can only eat the outer husk. However, these palms need a certain type of grassland and those grasslands are dependent on cattle grazing on them to exist. Additionally, the cattle often eat these extremely hard fruits of the acuri and the bocaiuva palms while grazing, which then pass through the cattle’s’ digestive tracts. This takes off the hard outer casing, leaving the hard inner seeds available for the hyacinths to easily find and feed from the dung of the cattle! This is a great symbiotic relationship of coexistence. But one major problem has been that the cattle eat or trample the young palms along with the manduvi trees that hyacinth nest in.

Through the efforts of the Hyacinth macaw project, ranchers are now protecting these palms for eating and nesting while fencing off areas with these palms and trees to feed from and to provide nests for their offspring. About 70% of the hyacinths nest in manduvi trees that are more than 80 years old. They prefer flat-bottomed hollows in these trees, which are large enough to accommodate the macaws and their chicks. Ranchers that are involved in ecotourism are fencing off areas and planting smaller trees around these old valuable trees to protect them from the strong winds that can topple them. Man-made nest boxes are also being erected in strategic areas to enhance nest site availability. We were able to spend a day and a half with the Arara Azul staff as they checked nest boxes and performed their functions in the city of Campo Grande. They have translated their success working with the hyacinth macaws to the blue and gold macaws. They have used some of the same principles of creating or preserving habitat to the city. By bringing these beautiful blue and gold macaws right up front for viewing as they raise their young in a bustling city, more tourists and local citizens are able to appreciate the importance of habitat for all wild animals.

So as you root for our young athletes at the Olympics, you can think about — and maybe participate in — Brazil’s vast ecotourism to help parrots continue to live in its wilds. Ecotours are increasingly plentiful and an important source of revenue to locals for their sustenance and also for the maintenance of habitat for indigenous wildlife. I participated in one sponsored by Phoenix Landing, with proceeds helping to support their efforts to promote and protect the welfare of parrots. And on that trip, I saw so many wonderful birds from the Hyacinth macaws with young to the Quakers with their very social nesting arrangement. There were many sights to behold.

From Pub To Parrot Aviary And Zoo

July 27, 2016 by Matt Rowe

Compassion for creatures abandoned or lost is a beautiful thing when it is in full display. Many feel the pinch of sadness to learn of an animal with no home. But with limited resources, the ability to assist in extraordinary ways is usually not an available option. However, there are some who find it impossible to leave a creature to the uncertainty that they are often faced with. And then there are those who go the extra mile when such resources are available. One of these is Andy Cowell of Kent (UK), who has cared for as many as 200 stranded animals of all kinds at one time on his farm. Some of those creatures are majestic parrots and macaws.

But, even available space can be severely taxed when there are more animals than spots to adequately and comfortably house them. Several years ago, when Mr. Cowell learned of the intention of a local brewer to shut down its pub garden, he took immediate action by laying out a plan to them. The plan was to use the closed pub as a sanctuary for his rescued creatures. More so, it was a wish to open a zoo for the area to enjoy while providing the best care and homing for the animals. In time, a neighboring farmer had gotten word of the desire to create a safe home for these animals. The farmer donated 5,000 pounds ($6597 USD) to help build a macaw aviary.

Andy Cowell, his wife, Kelly, and their two children live at the pub along with the animals. Among the animals they provide sanctuary to, there are great grey owls, kunekune pigs, a collection of chickens and geese, marmoset and squirrel monkeys, a South American raccoon, and some macaws.

Since that momentous decision, the pub garden has been reopened boosted with the added attraction of the zoo creating a unique dining experience. In addition to the zoo, a miniature railway has been built to expand the allure of the spot. Currently, the Cowells have had all the necessary zoning approvals in order to showcase a full zoo. The only thing left is for the zoo to be fully licensed by the various agencies in place to prevent exploitation of animals. It is hoped that full licensure will be completed by late summer, and that the complete zoo itself can be opened in the Autumn of 2016.

The 17^th century Fenn Bell Inn has a large, beautifully paved patio that provides a stunning view of the garden and pond. When the zoo is in full operation, the visitors to the pub will be able to view the exotic animals including the parrots and macaws in the newly constructed aviary. Eventually, there will also be an outside bar, the previously mentioned outdoor seating area, and a play area constructed for the children.

This establishment has come a long, long way from the overflowing farm sanctuary of Andy and Kelly Cowell. It’s amazing what vision, compassion, the generosity of like-minded neighbors, and good old-fashioned hard work will provide to those who have heart. With the conversion of an old closed pub into a profit-generating re-designed pub that boasts of extras like the macaw and parrot aviary, the creatures are guaranteed to be well cared for.

Complex Intelligence Defines Bird Brained

July 20, 2016 by Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)

Bird Brains Aren’t That Simple!

blue-and-gold macaw perched on branch against black backdrop — Photo by Dormeur74/Pixabay

We often taunt others about being a “bird brain” with the connotation that they are stupid or scatter brained! Why have we thought that, and why might science now suggest that … well, a bird brain just might be … “brainy!”

It all started when we humans compared the smooth-surfaced brain of birds to that of mammals. Reptiles and birds have a smooth-surfaced brain termed a lissencephalic brain. As we look at the surface of the brains of mammals, we see that those brains contain convolutions. These convolutions are called gyri (the rounded parts) and the sulci are the fissures between. And when we look at the numbers of convolutions we find that they increase significantly with primates and humans.

This finding led scientists to suggest that those animals that do not have convolutions (i.e., reptiles and birds), must have a simpler brain capacity, operating more at a reflex level without the capacity to think like those species with convolutions. And the corollary would be that as the numbers of gyri and sulci increase, the cognitive abilities of that species would also increase. The thinking was that there was an evolutionary development so that reptiles came first, then birds arrived with added parts to the nervous system, which laid the foundation for the more complex brain of mammals — leading to the ultimate brain with its significantly increased convolutions — humans!

But there are cracks in that theory of “brain power,” so to speak, and I previously reported on the theory of sociality and intelligence. The conundrum was created by a series of studies beginning in the previous decade that directly compared the cognitive abilities of parrots and crows with those of primates. The studies found that the birds could manufacture and use tools, use insight to solve problems, make inferences about cause-and-effect relationships, recognize themselves in a mirror and plan for future needs, among other cognitive skills previously considered the exclusive domain of primates.

It was recognized that those bird species that are highly social like parrots and those that live in large flocks need greater intelligence to maintain that social structure, intelligence that also helps them solve those puzzles that scientists created for them. This created quite a problem for scientists to explain — how could they do that without those darn convolutions?

When comparing areas of the forebrain of birds and mammals, birds did not have more space but less space. The forebrain is the area of the brain that can think into the future. The forebrain is also called the prosencephalon, the region of the developing vertebrate brain. This forebrain includes the telencephalon, which contains the cerebral hemispheres and those are the convolutions. Under these, are the other regions – the diencephalon, which contains the thalamus, hypothalamus, epithalamus, and subthalamus. The forebrain plays a central role in the processing of information related to complex cognitive activities, sensory and associative functions, and voluntary motor activities. It represents one of the three major developmental divisions of the brain; the other two are the midbrain and hindbrain.

Well this past month, scientists who have been working on this conundrum have advanced the reason that birds have solved the problem of complex intelligence without gyri and sulci. The study was published in the National Academy of Sciences and here is the reference if you would like to read it in detail:

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jun 28;113(26):7255-60. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1517131113. Epub 2016 Jun 13. Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain. Olkowicz S¹, Kocourek M¹, Lučan RK¹, Porteš M¹, Fitch WT², Herculano-Houzel S³, Němec P⁴.

It appears that the part of the brain that corresponds to the forebrain, the pallium in birds, has a much higher concentration of neurons or the brain cells packed in the same amount of space than many primates. These scientific colleagues studied the brains of 28 species, including the blue-and-gold macaw, African grey parrot, Goffin’s cockatoo, cockatiel and budgerigars, and all of them had more cells in that forebrain area per mass than mammals, including some of the primates. For example, the blue-and-gold macaw had more neurons than the macaque even though the macaque brain is larger and has those convolutions.

“We found that birds, especially songbirds and parrots, have surprisingly large numbers of neurons in their pallium: the part of the brain that corresponds to the cerebral cortex, which supports higher cognition functions such as planning for the future or finding patterns. That explains why they exhibit levels of cognition at least as complex as primates,” said Herculano-Houzel, who recently joined the Psychology Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

That is possible because the neurons in avian brains are much smaller and more densely packed than those in mammalian brains, the study found. Parrot and songbird brains, for example, contain about twice as many neurons as primate brains of the same mass and two to four times as many neurons as equivalent rodent brains. This could potentially provide the basis for their cognition that rivals primates.

One of the important implications of the study, the neuroscientist said, is that it demonstrates that there is more than one way to build larger brains. Previously, neuroanatomists thought that as brains grew larger neurons had to grow bigger as well because they had to connect over longer distances. “But bird brains show that there are other ways to add neurons: keep most neurons small and locally connected and only allow a small percentage to grow large enough to make the longer connections. This keeps the average size of the neurons down,” she explained.

This study opens up many questions regarding the brains of birds. One is that with all of those brain cells, does it require more energy to run the brain in birds compared with mammals? Why would this system of small cells be better for birds that fly? Even the emu had more cells in the pallium compared with mammals of similar brain size. Why did the mammal brain diverge using a different system? These and other questions are very exciting. But it just verifies to bird owners what we already knew in part — bird brains are not that simple and we know now that is because they have a large number of small neurons packed in their forebrains!

Wild Spix Macaw Sighting

July 6, 2016 by Matt Rowe

The popular, Oscar-nominated, 3D computer-animated, full-length feature “Rio” told the story of Blu and Jewel, two rare blue macaws making their escape from unscrupulous animal smugglers. The two blue macaws in this story are representative of a real-life species referred to as Spix’s macaw.

The Spix’s macaw is a historically rare bird once found in a small region of forestry located in Brazil. The vibrantly colored bird is named Spix’s macaw after a German biologist by the name of Johann Spix, who first wrote up detailed descriptions of the rare bird back in the early 1800s.

Since, Spix’s macaw has only been sighted just a limited number of times in the wild. The last time was in 2000 after a visual sighting was confirmed. After that, the sightings went cold, and a growing fear of their extinction in the wild was enough to logically assume the worse. And so, a little over fifteen years ago, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had listed the probability of Spix’s macaw as being likely extinct in the wild.

Fortunately, all of that changed just a few weeks ago when a farmer spotted one flying in the air from where he was working. Upon return with appropriate video equipment, the farmer was able to capture the stunning bird on film with approximately 2 seconds of video as the macaw flew from tree to tree. After confirmation by SAVE Brazil (Society for the Conservation of Birds of Birds in Brazil) professionals, a feeling of elation followed the reality of actual Spix’s macaws in their natural habitat.

As with all of our exotic birds (and an increasing number of other animals), the concern is the unnecessary eradication and poaching of our natural living things. Over the years, a large number of creatures have been placed on critically endangered lists. Once on this frightening —and growing — list, a worldwide effort is undertaken to protect the remaining population in their habitat. As of now, there are approximately 130 of the Spix’s macaw being cared for in captivity in the hopes that once released the birds may be able to sustain themselves better in their naturally narrow habitat, thus possibly guaranteeing their population growth.

With the sighting of the rare bird, the hope is that it can be relocated, and therefore, studied more closely so as to be able to provide the tools for the captive Spix’s macaws to better survive once released. That’s a great thing and certainly one to rejoice in. Watch the rare footage of the Spix’s macaw as it flies in the air.

You can help in this research effort by electing to donate and support the work of BirdLife International and SAVE Brazil. Start by clicking this link to help you decide your place in the ongoing efforts to help our feathered friends in the wild.

A Safe And Sane Fourth Of July For Your Bird

June 29, 2016 by Laura Doering

orange fireworks exploding in night sky — Photo by Dorkie/Pixabay

If your bird startles at the sound of a slammed door, car alarm or other loud, unexpected noise, the Fourth of July might not be the easiest holiday for your feathered friend to handle. Here are some preemptive steps to take to help your bird remain stress-free around Independence Day.

Understand that Fourth of July festivities don’t just start at sundown on the July 4th — or end on the same day.

Some people set off fireworks the day(s) leading up to the big day, regardless of whether fireworks are illegal in their particular municipality. Anticipate random blasts the weekend leading into the Fourth, as well as the days following the holiday, when some are tempted to use up leftover fireworks.

Rethink bringing your bird outdoors.

With sunny weather, it’s tempting to want your bird to join in on the outdoor fun. But if you’re relying on your bird’s wing feather trim to keep them from flying away, be aware that many birds are capable of flight even after a recent wing-feather trim. If your bird is harness-trained and you choose to take them outside for some time in the sun, remind yourself not to get too close to the barbecue (the smoke of which can irritate your bird’s respiratory system), other pets or near items they could injure themselves on should they become startled and jump off of you. And realize, that most birds would not appreciate a first-row seat to a fireworks show, so if your street is host to fireworks displays, keep your bird in their cage indoors.

Opt out of offering Fourth of July leftovers.

Food that’s been baking in the sun a good part of the day, including fruits and vegetables, should be tossed into the trash (or compost!) and not tossed into your bird’s bowl. If you’re hosting a Fourth of July bash, stash some of the fresh produce and other healthy food you’re prepping for guests in the fridge for your bird to enjoy over the upcoming days.

Give your guests the bird-rules rundown.

Make sure every houseguest knows that offering your bird a taste of their food or opening the cage or poking fingers through the cage bars is a no-no. Better yet, post a rules list near your bird’s cage — you might want to point out that the sound of fireworks might put your bird on edge, and your normally docile parrot might uncharacteristically lash out to protect the area in and around the cage.

Turn the TV on or play a music CD for your bird to help lessen the sound of fireworks.

This doesn’t mean blasting music, which in and of itself can stress a bird. Go off of a listening level that would be comfortable for you. Some pet bird enthusiasts and behaviorists recommend creating a CD of calming music specifically for the feathered members of your household that you accustom your birds to. When potentially stressful events like the noise from July Fourth celebrations pop up, your bird will associate the music with calmness.

Cover your bird’s cage and/or move them to a sleep cage in a quiet room.

Let your bird enjoy a peaceful bedtime while you enjoy the light show.