{"id":4156,"date":"2013-01-17T21:35:54","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T21:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/?p=4156"},"modified":"2025-07-29T23:00:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T04:00:52","slug":"see-how-they-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"See How They Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"red-breasted
Photo by David Clode\/Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my last column<\/a>, I discussed some of the unique features that help birds to fly \u2014 from hearts that pump five times their volume per second, to their respiratory system, which allows them to aerate more quickly with a larger blood volume compared to that of mammals. Their shape reduces turbulence, and their organs are lighter in weight. Yet one organ that is relatively heavy is their intestines \u2014 their guts. So let\u2019s look at the structure and function of this complex organ, and at adaptations birds use to make the most of it.<\/p>\n

From Beak to Crop & Into The Esophagus<\/h2>\n

The gut, or GI tract, starts anatomically at the bird\u2019s beak and ends at its vent. The proximal portion of the GI tract consists of the beak, oropharynx, cervical esophagus, crop and thoracic esophagus. The esophagus of birds is distensible and sits on the right side of the neck \u2014 just the opposite of what occurs in mammals. Some birds, but not all, have a distensible portion of the esophagus, which is the crop or ingluvies.<\/p>\n

The crop is an esophageal diverticulum and varies in size depending on the species and the age. Young chicks have a much larger crop than adult birds of the same species. In addition, the size of the crop decreases in size with sick birds that are not eating normal volumes of food. This is important when determining the volume to be fed when gavage-feeding critically ill birds. In psittacine birds (parrots<\/a>), the crop normally extends from the right side of the neck at the base of the thoracic inlet to the left before narrowing into the thoracic esophagus. From the thoracic esophagus, which lies on the left, the GI tract continues into the stomach.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"avian<\/p>\n

The Stomach \u2014 A\u00a0Rotatory Grinder<\/h2>\n

The stomach of birds consists of the proventriculus, isthmus and ventriculus or the gizzard. It lies on the cranial left side of the abdominal cavity. Since birds do not have a diaphragm, it is termed the abdominal coelom. The proventriculus is the proximal portion and is the glandular portion that secretes the digestive enzymes. There is a narrow isthmus or intermediate portion followed by a saclike to highly muscular gizzard.<\/p>\n

The gizzard acts to grind food, making it more readily available for the enzymes to digest. In psittacine species, there is a rotatory motion of the food in the stomach with food moving from the proventriculus to the ventriculus for grinding and then back into the proventriculus. This normal pattern can be disturbed by a variety of disease processes, with the most noted being proventricular dilitation disease or PDD.<\/p>\n

\"stomach<\/p>\n

The Small Intestine \u2014 Reduced Length & A\u00a0Clever Strategy<\/h2>\n

The anatomy of the small intestine includes the duodenum, jejunum and ilium. The majority of the pancreas lies between the 2 limbs of the duodenum. The splenic portion is located near the back of the bird and is not as closely associated with the GI tract. This portion contains more of the endocrine portion of the pancreas. The bile duct and pancreatic ducts open near the terminal portion of the ascending duodenum.<\/p>\n

In most species of birds, the jejunum and ileum are composed of a number of U-shaped loops along the edge of the dorsal mesentery, which is the membrane that takes origin from the back and hangs into and supports the intestines. From our perspective for understanding flight, birds have a limited length to their small intestines and have a unique peristalsis-retroperistalsis pattern to digest and absorb nutrients.<\/p>\n

What that means is that they reduce the length and hence the weight of the intestines \u2014 a brilliant move! Then they run the digesting foods back (retroperistalsis) and forth (peristalsis) in this shorter segment until digestion and absorption has been completed\u2014so they don\u2019t need to move a bunch of guts around like mammals!<\/p>\n

From Ceca to Vent<\/h2>\n

The next physiologic principle involves the last part of the GI tract. This final segment of the GI tract includes the large intestine or rectum and the cloaca. The large intestine begins at the level of the paired ceca. The large intestine consists of a short and straight segment and is probably homologous to the mammalian rectum.<\/p>\n

The ceca \u2014 if the species of bird has them \u2014 arise at the junction of the end of the small intestine and the beginning of the large intestine or rectum. Parrots, however, don\u2019t have ceca or they are rudimentary, and the ceca of passerines are small. Poultry and ostrich have very large ceca. The large intestine of birds functions similarly to mammals; its major task is to reabsorb water. That is an important factor for flight as well. To see how that works we need to explore the cloaca.<\/p>\n

The cloaca of birds is divided into the coprodeum, urodeum and proctodeum. Its basic organization is similar between species, except for the possible phallus in waterfowl and ratites. The coprodeum is the cranial-most compartment and it stores fecal material. The coprodeum is continuous with the large intestine, but is separated from the urodeum by the coprourodeal fold.<\/p>\n

The urine and urates are stored in the urodeum prior to evacuating the cloaca, as the ureters open into this receptacle. The oviducts or ductus deferens open into the urodeum. The more caudal fold is the uroproctodeal fold that separates the urodeum from the central and distal-most cavity; the proctodeum. The cloacal bursa opens into the proctodeum. The vent is the opening of the proctodeum to the outside.<\/p>\n

The Role Of Retroperistalsis In Water Reabsorption<\/h2>\n

Interestingly, urine from the ureters flow into the urodeum. The urine of birds is not as concentrated as that of mammals so that means that there may be a larger volume and hence weight of the water. But birds have solved that problem because they can move that urine by retroperistalsis from the urodeum into the coprodeum to the large intestine.<\/p>\n

Remember, the large intestine is designed for the reabsorption of water. So birds have again solved a problem using a physiologic function \u2014 retroperistalsis! This ability to run fluids and gut contents backwards help solve the weight problem for flight. The shorter GI tract works more efficiently while reducing weight. Retroperistalsis of the urine from the kidneys help to reduce carrying water around and allows water to be used more efficiently. Birds are their own miracle! How brilliant from a physiologic perspective!<\/p>\n

\"cloaca<\/p>\n

Birds And\u00a0The Miracle Of Flight<\/h2>\n

Humans have often marveled at the ability of birds to fly and sometimes suffered terribly in our initial efforts to join them through technology. Birds have solved the problem through aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.<\/p>\n

Also important are their adaptations to their guts that allow rotatory digestion in the stomach, peristalsis and retroperistalsis in shortened small intestines, and water absorption that allows effective water management. While their GI tract is relatively short, it works efficiently to fuel the flight that thrills us. From starling to eagle, they\u2019re all pretty impressive from a flight perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":43828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSee How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"See How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80\"},\"headline\":\"See How They Fly\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1194,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/\",\"name\":\"See How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80\"},\"description\":\"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Photo by David Clode\\\/Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/see-how-they-fly\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"See How They Fly\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds\",\"description\":\"Two Generations of Veterinarians Caring & Working for the Health of Animals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80\",\"name\":\"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/orosz-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/orosz-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/orosz-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)\"},\"description\":\"Susan Orosz, Ph.D., DVM, Dipl. ABVP (Avian), Dipl. ECZM (Avian),\u00a0\u00a0received her Ph.D, in human neuroanatomy from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine and her DVM degree from Ohio State University. She is a board-certified specialist in avian medicine and surgery, both in the United States (ABVP, Avian) and in Europe (ECZM, Avian). She is known internationally through the advances made for the health care of birds, books and articles she has written, and her lectures to veterinarians and bird owners alike. After practicing in California, she went on to become a faculty member of the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine from 1986 to 2000, where she taught avian medicine and surgery to veterinary students and residents. While there, she developed the Avian, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and an avian residency program leading to board certification in avian medicine through ABVP. This service was recognized for having the largest caseload of exotic animals at any American veterinary teaching hospital. She has a number of areas of concentration including avian nutrition, anatomy, fungal diseases, neuroanatomy and herbal medicine.\u00a0\u00a0She consults for the Lafeber Company as needed. Dr. Orosz\u00a0is past president of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV),\u00a0 has been a scientific editor for the\u00a0Journal of Avian\u00a0Medicine and Surgery and a recipient of the Dr. T.J. Lafeber Avian Practitioner of the Year award.\u00a0 She\u00a0is owner of Bird and Exotic Pet Wellness Center, an exclusively exotics veterinary hospital in Toledo, Ohio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/about-susan-orosz\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lafeber.com\\\/pet-birds\\\/author\\\/susan\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"See How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","description":"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"See How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","og_description":"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.","og_url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/","og_site_name":"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds","article_published_time":"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/"},"author":{"name":"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80"},"headline":"See How They Fly","datePublished":"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/"},"wordCount":1194,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg","articleSection":["Health"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/","name":"See How They Fly – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg","datePublished":"2013-01-17T21:35:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-30T04:00:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80"},"description":"Birds have solved the problem of flight through an aerodynamic design of their own, streamlined bodies, reduced weight, a powerful heart, and an efficient respiratory system, among other adaptations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/red-breasted-parakeet-un-f2sHv8KJ2ZA.jpg","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Photo by David Clode\/Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/see-how-they-fly\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"See How They Fly"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/","name":"Lafeber\u00ae Pet Birds","description":"Two Generations of Veterinarians Caring & Working for the Health of Animals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/#\/schema\/person\/752103108edd74a1f8ae356d1a967f80","name":"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/orosz-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/orosz-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/orosz-96x96.jpg","caption":"Susan Orosz, PhD, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian), Dipl ECZM (Avian)"},"description":"Susan Orosz, Ph.D., DVM, Dipl. ABVP (Avian), Dipl. ECZM (Avian),\u00a0\u00a0received her Ph.D, in human neuroanatomy from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine and her DVM degree from Ohio State University. She is a board-certified specialist in avian medicine and surgery, both in the United States (ABVP, Avian) and in Europe (ECZM, Avian). She is known internationally through the advances made for the health care of birds, books and articles she has written, and her lectures to veterinarians and bird owners alike. After practicing in California, she went on to become a faculty member of the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine from 1986 to 2000, where she taught avian medicine and surgery to veterinary students and residents. While there, she developed the Avian, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and an avian residency program leading to board certification in avian medicine through ABVP. This service was recognized for having the largest caseload of exotic animals at any American veterinary teaching hospital. She has a number of areas of concentration including avian nutrition, anatomy, fungal diseases, neuroanatomy and herbal medicine.\u00a0\u00a0She consults for the Lafeber Company as needed. Dr. Orosz\u00a0is past president of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV),\u00a0 has been a scientific editor for the\u00a0Journal of Avian\u00a0Medicine and Surgery and a recipient of the Dr. T.J. Lafeber Avian Practitioner of the Year award.\u00a0 She\u00a0is owner of Bird and Exotic Pet Wellness Center, an exclusively exotics veterinary hospital in Toledo, Ohio.","sameAs":["http:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/about-susan-orosz\/"],"url":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/author\/susan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4156"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43829,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156\/revisions\/43829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}