Easter Fruit Bread

This spring inspired fruity birdie bread smells as yummy as it tastes. With chunks of mango, strawberries, and coconut cubes, in a nutritious Harrison's bread mix, this spring time delight will be a winner for any bird's discriminating taste.

Bake in mini size cupcake paper holders for a size just perfect for your bird to hold in its foot, or can be crumbled into the dish for birds who prefer not to get their feet a little messy. Cooked muffins can be placed into freezer bags and then you can remove as many as needed daily for a fun treat every day until gone.

Easy to follow directions here. Fruit Bread

Warm Cozy Carriers

Ever need to take your bird outside during cold weather or rainy weather? The Come Along carrier cover can be the perfect way to travel with your bird and keep your bird warm, safe, and secure on the trip. These covers fit the Take Me Home bird carriers, but they can also be used by themselves if your bird is not overly destructive. If our bird is a big time chewer, then you would probably want to combine the Take Me Home carrier with the Come Along cover.

These smart new carriers are available for small and medium size birds, and can even be used for small animals.

Click here for more information

Should you buy organic for your bird?

As bird owners we usually ask ourselves whether we should buy organic fruits and vegetables for our birds. Is organic better, safer? What about pesticides that may cling to fruits and vegetables? In this day when budgets are tighter, buying organic is not always in the budget.

We came across a very helpful web site that may help you know when to choose organic, and when buying less expensive non-organic fruits and vegetables for your bird is okay too.

This site gives you the current top 15 foods that have less pesticides, or come to market with less than the average of unwanted extras that can be very harmful to a bird if not removed before feeding. The site also gives you a list of the "dirtiest" foods to help you know when to be careful in cleaning these foods before serving to your bird, or to buy organic if possible to lesson the chance of feeding your bird potentially dangerous pesticides.

Check out TheDailyGreen.com

How fat is my Bird's Nut?

We are often asked what nut is a good nut to feed.  Although some species seems to do better with more or sometimes less, fat, we thought we would share some information on nuts in general to help bird owners decide which nuts are best for their birds.

Pistachio nuts, again a very popular treat for parrots, contains approximately 44% fat and 20% protein;
Cashew Nuts contain approximately 46% fat and 15% protein;
Almonds another very popular nut fed to parrots contains approximately 50% fat and 21% protein;
Hazelnuts or Filberts contain approximately 61% fat and 15% protein;
Walnuts contain approximately 65% fat and 15% protein;
Brazil Nuts contain approximately 67% fat and 14% protein;
Pine nuts are a very popular nut treat and contain approximately 68% fat and 16% protein;
Pecans, often though of as a higher fat nut, contains approximately 71% fat and 10% protein;Macadamia nuts are approximately 75% fat and 9% protein.

Peanuts are not actually a nut, but rather a legume and they are considered by some as containing "good fat".  Peanuts do contain approximately 22% fat and 6% protein.

We encourage bird owners to do their own research into the pros and cons of any treats you give your bird.




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October is National Pasta Month

October is National Pasta Month so why not cook up some colorful yummy pasta for your bird.  Most parrots, and even little finches and canaries, usually love pasta. 

Pictured is Crazy Corn's Polly Pasta which is an easy pre-mixed pasta bag with lots of nutritious birdie goodies for any size bird.

Or, if you have a little extra time, put together your own special pasta mix for your favorite bird and share your recipe with all bird lovers.  Mix in some vegetables and other goodies, to make a very special pasta treat.

We would love to hear what pasta meal you come up with to please your bird!

October is National Pet Wellness Month

October is National Pet Wellness month and that should include bird wellness as well as dogs and cats. Most Avian Veterinarians recommend twice yearly bird checkups to help you keep your bird as healthy as can be.

As birds can be the focus of predatory animals in the wild, it's just natural that birds hide any illness as hard as they can. Sometimes an owner may not see a health issue until the problem is severe. Healthy bird checkups can help prevent sick bird emergency visits in many cases. These well bird visits also give you and your Avian Veterinarian a chance to discuss diet, weight, and behavioral aspects of your pet bird.

So before all the seasonal holiday festivities begin, why not make your bird a visit with your veternairan and make sure all is well within your flock.

If you need to locate an Avian Veterinarian visit here.

World's Smallest Parrot Filmed

For the first time ever the world's smallest parrot has been filed. What a wonderful event!

Smaller than a person's thumb, this little parrot is amazing. Watch the video and discover this wonderful little parrot in it's native habitat.

Read full article and view video here.

Thick Billed Parrot in New Mexico

"THICK- BILLED PARROT BRINGS BIRDERS TO ENGLE

ENGLE, N.M. -- Wildlife watchers continue to flock to the Armendaris Ranch headquarters to view a mysterious bird temporarily living in a sparse patch of pine trees shading the sun-baked Chihuahuan desert east of Truth or Consequences.

A thick-billed parrot, Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha, residing on one of Ted Turner's New Mexico ranches has brought in viewers from both North American coasts and Canada. In all, the parrot watchers hailed from 24 states and four countries. This species, you see, is considered endangered in Mexico and has not been seen in the wild in Arizona since 1938. It was previously reported in the Animas Mountains of New Mexico in 1917 and 1919.

"Nobody knows how this bird got here," said Tom Waddell, property manager at the Armendaris. He first observed the parrot in a windbreak of Mondell pines in his yard on May 7. Theories explaining the bird's occurrence range from its being blown off course by the tornado-spawning storms that raged through Texas and Oklahoma the weekend of May 3-4, to it being an escapee from the illegal parrot trade.

Waddell believes it's a wild bird. "There's no evidence of it having been in a cage or anything," he said. "All its daily behaviors, when it eats and rests, when it goes to water, are exactly like a wild bird. And it doesn't touch commercial parrot foods, either."

Read entire article here

A million acres of Amazon rainforest

"Vast new reserve declared in Peru - Courtesy of the World Land Trust

September 2009. World Land Trust (US) and their partner CEDIA (Center for the Development of the Indigenous Amazonians) are proud to announce that the Matsés National Reserve has been approved by the Peruvian national government. This will help ensure the protection of 1,039,390 acres of pristine Amazonian rainforest as well as the Matsés indigenous Amazon tribe.

Culmination of 13 year project
This long awaited triumph for the Amazonian rainforests has been worked for for 13 years by CEDIA, working with the Matsés peoples and providing technical assistance to the government Park Service (SEMARNAP). During much of this time, World Land Trust has been the principal financing source for CEDIAs efforts with the Matsés, supporting community work and provision of technical assistance to the government in an effort to save this precious area of the Amazon. During those 13 years, we have overcome numerous challenges from oil companies and illegal commercial logging operations that delayed the creation of Matsés national Reserve."

Read full article here

AFA Legislative Alert

Please feel free to cross-post the following information:

Common Birds in Aviculture to be Placed Under Endangered Species Act?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering the possible listing of up to 14 additional parrots as "Endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

If adopted, the proposal would list the following species as "Endangered" under the ESA: umbrella cockatoos, moluccan cockatoos, lesser sulphur-crested cockatoos, red-vented cockatoos, blue-headed macaws, blue-throated macaws, buffon's macaws, hyacinth macaws, scarlet macaws, military macaws, shining parrots, grey-cheeked parakeets, yellow billed amazon parrots and green-cheeked amazon parrots.

Many of these species are being successfully bred in large numbers by U.S. aviculturists and are owned by many thousands of U.S. citizens as pets.

Once listed, a species could not be sold across state lines without the appropriate federal permit, a permit that does not recognize "pet purposes" as a valid permitting basis.

AFA believes that this proposal is not supported by reliable scientific or commercial data, will discourage captive breeding of these species in the U.S. and will have a detrimental effect on U.S. interstate commerce, without any corresponding benefit to the species purported to be protected. Since none of these species has been imported into the United States since the Wild Bird Conservation Act (1992) went into effect, AFA sees no material scientific or commercial justification for the uplisting, but does see a huge detriment to aviculture and to the future of these species themselves in the U.S.

The USFWS has initiated a call for information on scientific and commercial data with regard to whether these species should be proposed for Endangered status, with comments due by September 14, 2009. They are not looking for general public comment on uplisting at this time, but are looking for input on whether there is a scientific and/or commercial basis for these species to be proposed for uplisting. If the FWS actually proposes these species for uplisting, that proposal should be open to general public comment. AFA will advise all of its members if this occurs.

AFA is developing a position paper on the scientific and commercial aspects of this call for information and will submit it by the deadline.

People concerned about the scientific and commercial pros and cons of this proposal may make their thoughts known to FWS by September 14, 2009.

Contact information for the Service and this important proposal can be found at fws.gov or by contacting the AFA Business Office at afaoffice@earthlink.net.

You can make a formal comment to FWS online by September 14, 2009 at: Regulations.gov

Or you can mail your comments to:
Public Comments Processing
Attn: FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016
Division of Policy and Directives Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203

In either case, refer to FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016.

A Fighting Chance for the Puerto Rican Amazon

The parrot has been called one of the ten most endangered birds in the world. “Don’t ask me what the other nine are,” said White, as if to emphasize the futility of comparing endangerment when so many birds, including several parrot species, are on the verge of disappearing in the wild. The Puerto Rican is certainly the rarest of the 30-plus Amazona parrot species. Despite fierce efforts to protect a wild flock and reintroduce captive parrots, the El Yunque population has hovered below 50 for decades.

The birds battle their twin nemeses: red-tailed hawks and (even in the tropics) hypothermia. “This is not the area that they chose as a refuge; this is what they were left with,” White said of their high-altitude redoubt. “This is the rainiest, most humid part of Puerto Rico. Chicks that fledge either during or before a major rainfall event have a much higher mortality rate than chicks that fledge during drier periods. If we stopped management efforts with this particular population, in a matter of years it would probably be gone, because there are so many environmental factors working against it. That’s why it’s imperative to establish additional populations in Puerto Rico.”

Read the complete article here

Learn more about the Puerto Rican Amazon at 10,000 Birds

A Cockatoo Friend of 49 Years

"MICHAEL wants toast and a cuppa, pretty please. And there is nothing 86-year-old Doreen Trainor won't do for her fabulous, feathered friend of 49 years.

She rises early when her best mate calls for his breakfast, spreading his toast with his favourite fig jam.

The cockatoo helps out when he can, pulling teabags out of the canister as the kettle boils and tossing pill bottles across the table."

Click here to read entire article.

Today is National Watermelon Day!

Today is national watermelon day and our birds love watermelon. Yummy, messy, cool and refreshing for them.

Share some today with your bird and have a slice or two for yourself.

Land for Bird once thought Extinct

"The purchase of a 479-acre property in eastern Brazil has almost doubled the size of the Stresemann’s Bristlefront Reserve established in 2007 by American Bird Conservancy and in-country partner Fundação Biodiversitas. The new acquisition, which abuts the existing reserve, includes untouched, humid Atlantic forest, one of Brazil’s most rapidly disappearing habitats, and will boost protection of the critically endangered Stresemann’s Bristlefront and other endangered birds, such as the Red-browed Parrot, Hook-billed Hermit, Banded Cotinga, and Bahia Tyrannulet.

'The bristlefront was thought to be extinct, disappearing for more than 50 years before being rediscovered in 1995 near Una, in Bahia province,' said David Wiedenfeld, American Bird Conservancy’s Assistant Director of International Programs."

Read complete story here.

Do you know where Cuttlebone comes from?

If you do, then you know cuttlebone, a white usually oval shaped bird product, many people give to their birds as a source of calcium, actually comes from the cuttlefish.

This is a pretty cool cuttlefish we thought.
Flamboyant Cuttlefish

Bald Bird Newly Discovered in Laos

Scientists have confirmed the discovery of a rare bald songbird has been hiding out in the rocky limestone cliffs of central Laos.

The new species is the only example of a bald songbird in Asia and the first new type of bulbul reported in the last hundred years.

Read more about it at:

New Bald Songbird Discovery

The "NEW" Avian Network

Want to save some money on your bird supplies? Who doesn't these days. Check out the all new Avian Network for a great source of some marvelous bird speciality stores. For a very small lifetime membership fee of only $10, you can join a community where shopping for your bird is a whole lot more personal than shopping with the large chains or very impersonal large corporation owned stores.

The Avian Network community offers species information, lots of tips and helpful suggestions for you and your bird. Not only will you shop smartly and safely because you and your bird are important customers to each and every vendor who participates in the Avian Network, the best part is every vendor at Avian Network also offers a special discount, free shipping, or other special goodie, that only Avian Network members are eligible for.

Start saving with your very first purchase, and feel good about shopping where you and your bird are special customers, and not just another number in line at the checkout.

My Cockatiel is Flying Across the County

Question: I am taking my cockatiel on a trip with me and we will be flying across the country. I have ordered the solid top carrier and wanted to know if I should put a perch inside and if so, what kind of perch would be best? Should I put something in the bottom of the carrier too?

Answer: Putting just a small hand towel in the bottom of the carrier so your bird will have better footing on the bottom of the carrier should be sufficient for the trip. If you choose to put a perch inside the carrier, be sure the perch is only an inch or two above the bottom. That way, if the carrier is tilted and your bird tumbles off the perch, the fall will not be enough to cause any injuries.

The bolt on Sandy Perches or the Safety Perches can be easily used inside this carrier as the carrier has vent holes that the attaching hardware of the perches will fit through.



You can also cut a wooden dowel the width of the carrier if you prefer and drill small holes in each end, and then attach washers and screws to the ends of the dowel through the carrier holes to hold it safely in place during the trip.

Big New Cage!

Tori and Ronnie Yellow Nape Amazons got a brand new big cage this weekend! Bigger than their old one and new toys too. They also liked the willow branches very much.

Weaning can be Fun!

Baby Dusky Conure's first day in a weaning cage. Sure are lots of things to check out in this new house.