 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 ISSN 1492-8132 Issue Number 52, Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved, No reprints without permission A lot of us use clothespins to clip various and sundry items to a bird cage. These often work, but for the times they don't - why not try an alligator clip? They are cheap, available in almost any hardward store, and easy to use - and they grip firmly enough that they are useful for everything from clipping greens or cuttlebones to cages, to such things as stabilizing shaky nestpans or perches!
Do you have a great tip or trick you use all the time? Are you always telling others true stories of your bird's antics? Share them with the rest of us by sending an email here, to Robirda. Now when you need some help with housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions, you can get a personal answer from Robirda. Learn more here. This issue's question; "I've been using paper towels on the bottom of my bird's cage, and want to switch to something cheaper. What do you think of the gravel paper sold in pet supply stores?" Robirda's answer; "Hello! I don't like the graveled paper sold for covering the bottom of bird cages, at all! This also goes for gravel-paper perch covers. Either will give your bird sores on his feet. Imagine walking around in bare feet on sharp gravel all day - ouch! Birdie feet are just as sensitive as yours, when it comes to such things. "Some stores sell precut plain paper cage liners, but make sure you buy the right size to fit your cage. It's often easy and much cheaper to cut your own. Some folks use large rolls of plain brown paper, while others get the roll ends of unprinted newsprint from newspaper manufacturers. Many of us just use regular printed newspaper - and yes, these days most newsprint is safe to use. "You will sometimes hear that the inks used for printing newspaper is toxic - this was once true, but no longer is, in most countries. (It's always a good idea to check and make sure, though - all you have to do is phone to find out what kind of inks are used). "I hope this helps - happy cage-lining!" Coccidiosis is a disease of the intestines of birds. Affected birds suffer severe intestinal upsets that may include diarrhea, blood in the droppings or sudden death. Warm wet conditions allow the organism to survive in the aviary and multiply. Coccivet is an effective treatment and preventative in an efficient water soluble formula that is added to the drinking water for 5 - 7 days depending on the severity of the disease. For more info visit birds2grow.com - Products - Flock Talk - Birds Board - Articles - Basic Care - Breeding - Photographs - Canary Cam - Canary Book - Birdsong CD - Bird Cages - Accessories - Canary FAQs - Questions - Ask Robirda - Bird Links - Privacy Policy - Sponsorships - Site Map
Your Birds, With Love
Our next issue is due Sept 1st - until then, may you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!
Robirda
|
 For breeder or pet bird owners who care. Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 52nd issue! Share your thoughts, ideas, tips or stories, send an email here, to Robirda. (No bird questions, please - see the links near the end of this 'zine for ideas on finding answers). .
http://birds.cornell.edu/ If you want to keep up on the latest news and research in the world of birds, this is a website you will definitely want to keep an eye on! A note on their home page reads, "This lab is a membership institution interpreting and conserving the earth's biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds." - and that pretty well says what you can expect to find here. Some of the latest press releases include a ground-breaking audio guide to parrot voices, reports on a new project involving urban kids in bird research, and how a nest-box cam reveals the habits of cavity-nesting birds. (As we all know from the Canary Cam, this kind of thing can produce some great guides to birds' mating, nesting, and rearing habits!) Check it out, you'll be glad you did!  We're beginning to hear more and more these days about how and why our birds do what they do. Many bird behaviours have been known to puzzle and mystify us, but too often the explanations we can find are almost as confusing and conflicting as the very behaviours they attempt to explain! Yet its a simple fact that there are some general 'rules of thumb' that can be applied to any birds, large or small. This issue I would like to share one avian behavioural consultant's perspective on pet bird behaviour. This wonderful article just may inspire you as you go about learning more about understanding...
by Greg Glendell, I work as a parrot behaviourist, but am also involved with BirdsFirst; an organisation dedicated to bird welfare. Behaviourism should not be confused with psychology, from which it 'evolved'; the two are now separate (though still related) areas of study. Behaviourism confines its area to observable behaviours of people and other animals. Psychology looks at how the mind works - what people (and other animals) might be thinking. Thinking is not an observable 'behaviour'. Some psychologists may develop their knowledge of behaviourism and some behaviourists may delve into psychology, just as some theologians might get into philosophy and vice versa; but as scientific disciplines, there are clear distinctions between the two. I do not really understand (and never use) the term 'psychology' when relating to creatures other than humans. I have absolutely no idea what any bird thinks about anything. And I do not know how anyone could ever claim to know such things. The minds of people are difficult enough as it is to delve into! Delving into the minds of creatures who have been separated from us by millions of years of evolution down a very different track, is beyond my comprehension. I sometimes speculate as to what a bird might 'feel', but this remains merely speculation. Human behaviourists (and, yes, psychologists) have, in recent decades made incredible progress in determining the causes of a whole range of 'problem' human behaviours from autism and obsessive compulsive disorders to depression and self mutilation. The work of these people has helped many others return to health who might not otherwise have done so. Regarding captive birds, the amount of poor advice given by behaviourists is considerable. Generally this stems from a complete lack of understanding of any of the principles of behaviourism, combined with a failure to accept or understand the nature of birds and how they live: most importantly, the incredible mobility that flight affords birds, and the serious behavioural problems that can be caused by confinement. But behaviourism is not rocket science; in fact the essentials of it are alarmingly simple. The behavioural traits and motivational principles which unite a horse with a parrot or a president with a prime minister (etc) are universal. The apparent differences are due to many factors, not least of which is the form of the animal in question - but the appearance of differences is often artificial. Here is where I'd like to comment on human psychologists getting involved in bird work. The principles of behaviour, behaviour modification and behavioural motivation are universal. It doesn't matter whether the creature in question is an octopus, a human, a horse or a parrot. The same principles apply. The details of how methods are applied though, have to be appropriate to the form and function of the animal in question. If this were not the case things would be very different. To use an example taken from another discipline, it would be like having different laws of chemistry for carbon compounds than for oxygen compounds, or laws of physics for electricity which were different from the laws for ionizing radiation. What a mess! The principles for animal behaviour are universal. The real problem is that most amateur if even well-meaning 'behaviourists' neither understand them, nor use them. I do not assume that having a degree carries any automatic 'respect' or credibility (I have one myself). Having a degree in something doesn't mean you are a good person, or that you are competent to impart knowledge to others; generally, it just means you passed a test some years back. The mechanic I take my car to has no degree, but does have, indirectly, my life and that of thousands of others in his hands. I fly with pilots who have no degrees in anything and I have had various things stuffed into my body by medical nurses who, frankly, were learning on the job. And most of the food I eat is probably prepared and processed by folks who wouldn't know a bacterium from a bantam. The tyranny of labels is an easy trap to fall into. Having a degree in something doesn't automatically mean that one is competent in that subject; and NOT having a degree in something doesn't automatically mean one knows nothing about it either. As a behaviourist, I use ethological methods in working with birds and their keepers. This involves understanding and 'de-coding' the bird's natural behavioural repertoire. With this information, it is relatively easy to predict a bird's behaviour in a range of circumstances. Where a bird is kept in captivity, the relationship between it and its keeper can be improved considerably. Often results can be achieved within a few days. As an add-on to this approach, one can improve one's 'relationship' with wild birds as well, and this allows a greater empathy to develop between oneself and the other wild creatures we meet and try to help from time to time. I am of the view that all people who are involved with birds should strive to understand bird behaviour; and I consider this to be an essential requirement. Such knowledge allows us to replace a naive and often misguided 'sympathy' for birds with a deeper, truer empathy for their real needs. It is also an utterly fascinating experience to be able to better understand why birds do the things we see them doing. I believe parrots should not be bred in captivity; it is not their purpose to be sustained in captivity for our 'benefit', and the sooner this trade can be ended the better. But the thousands of birds already in captivity need far better care than most receive at present, and this comes through developing a better understanding of all aspects of their lives. Where birds are captive, you do not have to clip their wings or keep them in cages all the time, or deprive them of the kind of social interactions they must have. Nor does anyone have to 'dominate' them. When you empathise (rather than sympathise) with birds, it's blindingly obvious what kind of care they need. I do not mean that such care is easy to offer just because it is obvious. Some birds, and in my experience I include cockatoos, grey parrots and macaws, generally find confinement so at odds with even their basic behavioural needs that they seem to suffer more than many other species in confinement. When I watch Red, my Timneh grey flying around the fields, playfully diving and chasing other birds, or my sun conure, zapping around like a flame-red arrow through the trees screaming as she darts and twists on the wind, I believe that it is possible to keep birds well in the company of people. The trouble is, most folks are not able to do these things with their birds, and so their birds' lives are more seriously compromised. If more so-called behaviourists would adopt a more scientific approach to their work, they would be in a position to make the lives of captive birds far better. They would not offer advice based on the keeper's 'needs', but on the birds' real requirements. They would encourage keepers to keep their birds in such a way that they could carry out as many of their natural behaviours as possible in captivity; this includes flight. Behaviourism cannot offer all the answers to all behaviour problems, anymore than veterinary care can cure all birds' ailments every time. If behaviourists would use proven scientific methods rather than fanciful unverified techniques they would provide a much better level of advice than most do at present. However, many practices associated with keeping birds in captivity (and which still go unquestioned) will need to be scrapped. These will include most wing-clipping practices, cage confinement, and the encouragement of breeding. Knowing how difficult it is to keep parrots well in captivity, I am always very sceptical of parrot 'behaviourists' who are also involved in breeding parrots. Well, that's my piece. So, with apologies to those who might not be behaviourists - please take this in the spirit intended. In a way, anyone who ever interacts with birds IS involved in their birds' behaviour, and the more we strive to understand them, the better will be the care we can give to all birds.
Greg Glendell
We've all heard how dusty seed and dirty cages, lack of adequate nutrients, or bad air and dirty water, can affect the health of our pet birds - but too few of us realize that there is another common ailment in pet birds that these kinds of conditions can encourage. It very often goes undetected, and is too often fatal - especially in homes who do not have an experienced and caring avian veterination to refer to. I am talking about 'aspergillis', a fungus that too often is found to be growing in a bird's air sacs. This fungus has until recently been very difficult to test for, and since the symptoms of its presence can be very similar to those produced by air sac mites or other respiratory diseases, too often its presence is only detected through post-mortem testing. For more on Aspergillosis, read the article by an avian vet, posted at PetTribune.com To find an avian vet near you, check the listings at the web home of the Association of Avian veterinarians, http://www.aav.org
Summer is when the bugs come out - and when fall comes, you will find many of them trying to move indoors with you and your birds, to escape the cold. That's when I find the most use for Avian Insect Liquidator - it can be sprayed directly on the bird cages without harming the birds or their food, and it easily eliminates most bug pest - even those terribly hard-to-get-rid of nuisances, ants and fleas! A.I.L has proven to be very useful, and on occasion I've even found myself wondering how on earth I ever managed without it! If, like me, you live in 'bug heaven', and find yourself at your wit's end what to try next, I highly recommend you give A.I.L. a try.
|
|
|
|
Flock Talk Archives 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Dedicated to all those who try to help others on our journey to a better tomorrow.
Copyright © 1994-2008 by Robirda Online. All rights
reserved.
Home | Products | Articles | Basics | Breeding | Photos | Flock Talk | Questions | Contact | Personal | Privacy | Wings-Up Seal | Testimonials | Links | Map