About Parrots

Large and small parrots are available in pet stores everywhere.  Parrots are frequently kept as pets, and it is not unusual for individuals to have more than one parrot.  Keeping parrots, however, is a demanding business that requires a great deal of time and patience, and it is not everyone who has sufficient amounts of either.

As a young girl, I always had a parakeet and enjoyed teaching him to talk.  My parakeet seemed to become attached to me, and was a great source of laughter, entertainment and joy.  He danced to music, repeated funny phrases, even mixing up “pretty bird” with “dirty bird” saying “pretty, dirty, bird.”  As a nine-year old girl, that would send me into giggles.

He was noisy at times, but would settle down when the cage was covered and slept through the night, quietly entertaining himself until I uncovered him and the day began. 

The owner of a budgerigar or canary deals with a domestic bird that has been bred in captivity for generations.  The owner of some parrots, however, may have to cope with awild bird that was probably flitting about in the jungles of its native habitat only a fwe months ago. 

He has on his hands a bird that has not yet digested the drastic change from a native biotope in the African, Australian, or South American jungles to a cage in a living room; a bird taht will therefore tend to be very shy because its past experience with human beings has been bad. 

We’ll discuss in some details how much patience and effort the owner of a parrot will have to invest before you can win its confidence and make them hand tame.

Parrots are “intelligent” and cannot be treated like birds on a lower level of biological development, nor can they be trained like a dog and taught to obey.  If they make a nuisance of themselves in the home, chewing on valuable furniture, for example, or nipping holesin clothing or biting through electrical wires, this is usually because they are bored.  Only if you parrot is propery occupied will he refrain from doing things that can damage your home or be harmful to him.

Ornithologists, the branch of zoology that deals with the study of birds, agree that the parrot disorder known as “feather plucking” in which the bird plucks out all its own feathers is psychic in origin.  Any parrot owner who does not keep this in mind, who leaves his bird sitting in its cage all the time, and talks to it only rarely through the bars will ineviably wind up with a phlegmatic (having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional) pet that will become both physically and mentally ill within a short time.  Also, the bird will give him very little enjoyment because it will learn only a few words or may not learn to talk at all.

Popular varieties of parrots, such as cockatoos, macaws, and Amazons, as well as the small varieties like the lories and lovebirds will be discussed on this site.

Because of their different origins, these birds differ in their natures and in their nutritional needs.  It is also crucial that the parrot owner undestand the behavior of his feathered pet, and their amusing, exotic, and appealing behavior and characteristics.

In their native countries, parrots have been kept as domestic birds since time immemorial.  In the jungle villages of the Amazon basin, for example, almost every Indian hut has its pet parrot.  Indian women take parrot chicks from their nests and raise them on chicha, an Indian beer made from boiled sweet potatoes.

The indiscriminate capturing of parrots by animal dealers and native peoples and the changes in, and destruction of, their habitat have brought some varieties of parrots to the verge of extinction.  Dealers will stoop to any method of capturing the birds as long as it is quick and effective.  They cut down trees to rob nests and burn a sulfur smudge untul the birds fall out of the trees unconscious and can be picked up off the ground like dropped apples.  Some years ago, more than a million parrots were caught every year for sale as pets.  Up to 50% of these birds died as a result of capture and shipment from people who did not know what they are doing and don’t care.

Among young birds the mortality rate was even higher.  Concern about this high mortality rate caused improvement in shipping and housing conditions over the last decade.

Every imported parrot has to be examined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  With commercially imported birds, this routine examination is done following a 30-day quarantine period.  After quarantine every parrot is given a numbered band that certifies that the bird has been legally imported and his in fact been examined by a USDA veterinarian as required by law. 

Any imported parrot without a band should be regarded as a potentially contraband bird that may have been illegally imported.  The most important reason for examining birds after import is to see if they have Newcastle Virus, which is a threat to the U.S. poultry industry.

Spare your parrot the discomfort of wearing his band.  Remove it as soon as you ahve your bird at home.  He can injure himself with it as he will try to chew it off.  It is quite sufficient if you keep the band available among your other documents.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I love the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)!  What a beauty!  Their iridescent green and red feathers are gorgeous!  The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are the smallest breeding birds in the East.  They are so small and active that you may mistake them for large instects, such as bumblebees and hawk or hummingbird moths.

You can easily attract these fearless winged “mites” to your backyard by providing water, offering nectar feeders and including plants that bear red, orange, or yellow tube-shaped flowers in your naturescape.

Distinguishing Features:

Note:  Look for the flash of iridescent green and red feathers as they dart around flowers and feeders.  Listen for the humming sound of their wings, which beat up to 75 strokes PER SECOND. 

Size:  3-3.75 inches

Color:  Males are metallic green above and white below, with dusky green sides, dark forked tails, black chins, and brillantly colored throats that flash ruby red when the sunlight catches them at the right angle and otherwise appear black.  Females are metallic green above and white below, with a buffy wash on their sides.  They have green tails tipped with blackish feathers; the three outermost tail feathers have white tips.

Voice:  Makes excited, high-pitched squeaks and twitters.

Range:  Summers throughout the East from Canada to the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Coast to central Kansas, excluding the southern tip of Florida where a few may winter.

Habitat:  Females construct nests using plant down, flower petals, fibers, and bud scales, they decorate the outside with lichens held on by spider’s silk or webs from tent caterpillars’ nests.   Nests are attached with spider’s silk to tops of gently slanted branches; completed nests resemble lichen-covered knots approximately 1.5 inches in diameter.

Eggs:  Lays 2 pea-size white eggs; 1-3 broods each breading season.  The female incubates the eggs; incubation takes 11-16 days.  Fledglings leave the nest 20-22 days after hatching.

Food:  Flower nectar and tree sap, sugar-water nectar in feeders, and small insects.

Habits:  Especially attracted to red flowers and feeders.  In helicopter fashion, they hover while feeding and are the only family of birds that can fly backward.  They actively defend their feeding territories from other hummingbirds as well as much larger birds.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, is slender, small-headed and has a long square-tipped or slightly notched tail.  Sharp-shinned Hawks are secretive, seldom-seen birds of prey, that frequent woodlands.

Sharp-shinned Hawks will visit your backyard if you have pines and other conifer trees for nesting and if large insects, small mammals or small-to-medium size birds are redialy available for food.

Distinguishing Features:

Sharp-shinned Hawks have small heads.  Look for the square-tipped or slightly notched tail that distinguishes them from Cooper’s Hawks.

Size:  10-14 inches – Lika ll North America hawks, females are larger than males.

Color:  Adults have blue-gray upperparts and reddish-barred underparts, with white undertail coverts and a boldly barred square-tipped tail.  Immature birds have brown upperparts and white underparts heavily streaked with dark reddish-brown.

Voice: Often silent but make a cackling “kik,kik,kik,kik” sound when defending their nests.

Range:  Permanent residents from southern Maine south along the Atlantic Coast to northern Maryland, through West Virginia to central alabama, and north to Ohio and southern Michigan; also permanentin West from Wyoming and western Colorado west to the norther Pacific Coast, and up the coast to southern Alaska.  Winters throughout the U.S. between these two ranges.  Summers north of permanent range into Canada.

Habitat:  Frequents woodlands and usually nest in pines and other conifers and shrubs.  Each year they build new bulky nests of sticks, often placing nests on large limbs against tree trunks.

Eggs:  Lays 4-5 white-to-pale blue eggs with large brown patches; 1 brood per breeding season.  The female incubates the eggs; incubation takes 32-35 days.  Fledglings leave the nest about 23-27 days after hatching.

Food:  Feeds primarily on birds ranging in size from sparrows to starlings.  They also feed on large insects and small mammals. (Watch out, kittens!)

Habits:  Sits quietly on partially concealed perches and makes quick dashes to snatch up prey.  Northern birds are highly migratory.

Identifying Birds – Which Is It?

Identifying birds is both fun, and relaxing.  Let the world around you, and these flying flowers take you away from your everyday cares!

The “Which Is It?” checklist will help you identify birds.

Where and When; Habitat; Impression; Comparison; Habits

Identification Flashes; Sounds

Important Details; Tail and Wings

Where and When:

Where refers to geographic region.  Birds are among the most mobile and far-ranging species on earth, but almost all birds spend most of their lives within rather strict geographic ranges.  So, one important clue to a mystery bird’s identity is where you see it. 

Occasionally, an individual or small group of birds turns up in an unexpected location, much to the delight of ardent birders, but this is uncommon.  If you are having trouble identifying a new bird and think it might be a rare and accidental visitor to your geographic region, invite an experienced birder to check out the stranger.  In the excitement of seeing an unfamiliar bird, beginning birdwatchers often misidentify an expected local species.

When refers to the season of the year, another important clue in identifying a mystery bird.  “When” will be different for many species depending on what part of the US or Canada you live in.  The examples below refer to birds that range in the Southeast.  This is just a sample.

Permanent residents – live in the same geographic region all year long: Blue Jays, Northern Mocking birds, Eastern Bluebirds, and European Starlings are permanent residents in the Southeastern United States.

Summer residents – breed and raise their young in one region and then leave to winter in warmer regions.  Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Puple Martins, Wood Thrushes, and Red-eyed Vireos are summer rsidents in the Southeast.

Winter visitors – come to a geographic region only during winter months, after their breeding season.  Purple Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Hermit Thrushes are winter visitors in the Southeast.  If you feed birds only during the colder months of the year, you will see mostly permanent residents and winter visitors.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Transients – pass through a geographic region only once or twice a year during their spring and/or fall migrations.  Southeastern transiets winter in Central American, South America, or the Caribean and breed in geographic regions in the northern US and in Canada, and we may see them in our years for only a few days or w3eks each year.  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Tennessee, and Magnolia Warblers are transients in the Southeast.

Blackpoll Warbler

Accidentals – are birds taht are not expected in a particular geographic region anay time of year.  Most new birdwatchers “see” many accidental species, but as they gain experience they realize they may have made erroneous or hasty calls.

But, look carefully!  An accidental bird may just choose your backyard as the place to give the birding world a thrill!  For exmple, there is a story of a birdwatcher, during the month of October, a Green Violetear Hummingbird stayed for more than one week at a feeder in Asheville, North Carolina, about 1,500 miles north of its normal Mexican range.

 Green Violetear Hummingbird

Important Details: “Crests” – Cardinals, some species of jays, titmice, and waxwings have long, well-developed crests or topknots.  Some species of flycatchers and finches have shorter, smaller crests.

Important Details: Underparts – Doves and some other species have plain, unmarked underparts.  Other species, like thrashers, ahve streaked underparts, while thrushes and others have spottted or round markings.

Identification Flashes:  sharply contrasting feathers – The eye-catch flash of sharply contrasting feathers will help you identify Northern Flickers and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Important Details:  shape of the bill – Seed-eaters, like Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, have cone-shpaed bills that help them crush seed coats.  Insect-eaters, like Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, ahve small, tweezerlike bills that help them pick up their prey.  Meat-eaters, like Red-tailed Hawks, ahve hooked bills that help them tear apart their prey.

Habitat – Most birds live in environments that meet their specific requirements for food and cover.  When you see a mystery bird, note the type of vegetation where it is, that will give you a good clue to its identity.

Impression – First impressions of a mystery bird will give you clues for comparing it with birds you already know.  Notice if the stranger looks like a crow, jay, robin, sparrow, wren, dove, or other common bird.  Also notice its approximate size.  It’s hard to accurately estimate a bird’s size in inches, centimeters, or feet, but you can judge whether it’s sparrow size or smaller.  robin size, crow size or larger than a crow.

Comparison – Decide whether your mystery bird looks like a species you already know.  If so, you have a head start in identifying it.  Identifying a mystery bird involves comparing a newcomer with other species and eliminating species whose geographic ranges and features don’t match the newcomer’s. 

For example, you may deduce that a new bird is a woodpecker of some kind because it looks and acts like a woodpecker.  Make notes about its size, field marks, and the sounds it makes, and then compare it to the descriptions of woodpeckers in books or magazines.

Habits – Your mystery bird’s habits give you important identification clues, es[pecially if the bird looks like another species.  Make notes about how the stranger behaves. 

Ask: 

• Does it feed only on the ground or only on the hanging feeder? 
• Is it solitary or does it come and go with a group of similar birds? 
• Does it walk , like many ground-dwelling birds do, or does it hop, like many tree-dwelling species do? 
• If it climbs trees, does it back down the tree in a hitching fashion like a woodpecker?
• Does it walk headfirst down the tree like a nuthatch, or spiral slowly up and aroaund the tree like a Brown Creeper?
• Does it cock its tail over its back like a wren?
• Does it bob it ’s tail up and down like a phoebe?
• Is it resting in a cavity or in the open?
• Does it fly in a direct line?
• Does its flight path undulate?

Identification Flashes: Many birds have colorful contrasting patches of feathers that produce eye-catching flashes of color when theya re exposed.  Sometimes these flash amrks are enough to identify a mystery bird without seeing its other field marks.

Identification flashes include the white outer tail feathers of flying Eastern Meadowlarks or Dark-eyed Juncos and the white oval patches on the outer winys of flying Northern Mockingbirds and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  Other quick clues include the bright white rump patches of Northern Flickers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, the yellow rump of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, the crimson crown of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and the brightly colored speculum on the trailing edge of the wings of many ducks.

Sounds:  The songs male birds sing during the breeding season and the calls birds make year-round are often species specific.  Professional ornithologists doing bird-census work may identify more than ninety percent of the birds in an area by sound rather than sight.

Most bird species inhabit treetops, the darkest part of the woodlot, or other places where they may be difficult to see, but their songs and calls reveal their presence and their identity.  Some species, partcularly the small flycatchers in the genus Empidonax, are so similar in appearance that it is difficult to tell them apart with accuracy even when holding the bird in your hand, but their sounds are very different.  Nothing beats listening to these vocal vertebrates, and as you learn their calls, you will be able to identify and more fully enjoy the birds in your backyard.

Birds and Other Backyard Wildlife

The naturescaping you do to attract birds will attract other wildlife as well, including squirrels, chipmunks, opossums, rabbits, skunks, bats, raccoons, snakes, lizards, box turtles, salamanders, frogs, and toads.  Your life will be easier and your enjoyment greater if you welcome all of these creatures instead of trying to exclude predators or other “undersirables.”

Some people have birds they just don’t like come to their feeders.  Starlings, jays, hawks, House Sparrows, and other birds you maynot especially want to watch will come whether you want them to or not.  You will probably react very negatively if you see a hawk preying on the birds at your feeders, but this doesn’t happen very often, and it is part of the necessary balance of nature.  You can protect the birds from hawks, by placing your feeders within 10 feet of shrubs but remember that cats on the hunt might enjoy hiding in the bushes as well.

Hawks and other birds of prey usually need an open area to successfully stalk their prey.  Birds have keen vision and are very aware of movement, and it’s very difficult for birds of prey to get close to a group of birds at a feeder without being spotted while they’re still too far away to be more than a passing threat. 

When a bird sounds the alarm that a hawk is nearby, every bird at your feeders will sit dead still.  Not until the hawk flies off and the all clear call is sounded with the birds begin to move again.  hawks are not as common as the bird species they may prey on, and you are most fortunate to have the opportunity to see one on your property.

If you don’t want to feed jays, grackals, Mourning Doves, Rock Doves, and crows, surround your feeders with wire mesh that has holes small enough to keep out the “undesirables” but large enough to let smaller birds reach the food.  Unfortunately, the wire mesh won’t keep out smaller birds such as European Starlings, House Sparrows, and Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Another way of attracting specific birds and discouraging others is to offer foods preferred by the “desirable” species.

Keep in mind there are no good or bad birds or other creatures, each one is instinctively playing the role its species has evolved to play in the natural world.  As birds and other wildlife accept your offerings of food, shelter, and water, you will be able to watch closeup how the various species interact.  You’ll be fascinated, no doubt!

A Dusty Bath for Birds

Dust baths help absorb excess oil on birds’ feathers and discourage mites and other feather parasites.  Sparrows, jays, robins, titmice, caardinals, and wrens regularly take dust baths. 

Wet dust bath areas provide mud for Barn Swallows, Purple Martins, American Robins, Eastern Phoebes and other birds to use for their nests.  Butterflies also frequent wet dust bath areas to “puddle.”

You can create “natural” dust bath areas by scraping the vegetation away from a three-foot-square sunny area.  Till the top layer of soil to a fine consistency, and keep the area vegetation free.

You can build a dust bath by constructing a two-foot-square wooden tray with two or three-inch sides.  Fill the tray with fine loose soil and some ashes, and place it on the ground in an open area.