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Pet Bird Care Guide
Basic care for birds
Canaries
Cockatoos
Finches
Parakeets
Parrots
Housing - Your bird’s cage must be large enough to
allow the bird to fully extend and flap its wings without
touching the cage bars. To accommodate their tail feathers,
macaws and other long-tailed species require tall cages. Small
birds require wide cages to facilitate flying. Canaries especially
must have room to fly in order to remain healthy since they
do not climb like parakeets and other birds.
Nutrition - Birds should not be fed dry seeds and
pellets exclusively, although pellets can provide a healthy
mainstay. Provide a wide variety of fresh foods to supplement
your bird’s diet:
Fruits and vegetables
Hard-boiled eggs
Bean sprouts
TIP - Avocado and chocolate can be toxic to birds.
Fresh water should be available to your bird at all times.
Grooming - Frequent bathing is necessary for your
bird’s health. Mist your bird with water or offer a water
dish for bathing once a day. Keep your bird’s nails trimmed.
Unless otherwise recommended by a breeder or veterinarian,
have your bird’s wings clipped. Clipped wings prevent your
bird from escaping or from flying into windows or other objects.
Health - Birds tend to hide their illnesses, so it
is important to pay close attention to any change in your
bird’s behavior. The following can be signs of illness:
A noticeable decrease in food intake
Increased water intake
Bloody, watery, or discolored droppings or no droppings at
all
Wet feathers around the nostrils or clogged nostrils
Reduced movement
Toys - A variety of toys are necessary for a happy,
healthy bird. Birds who become bored are more prone to behavior
problems and self-mutilation. Also, chewing toys allow your
bird to keep his beak in top shape.
For the best advice on your pet’s specific needs, consult
a breeder or veterinarian.
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Canary is one of the most popular bird pets. People
keep canaries for their beautiful songs, and because they
make cheerful companions. Canaries belong to the finch family.
They are named for the Canary Islands, where they are still
found in the wild. The songs of wild canaries are not nearly
so melodious as those of the tamed birds that are bred for
the quality of their song. Wild canaries are dark green and
olive-colored, and are seldom over 8 inches (20 centimeters)
long. Wild canaries live in pairs, but often flock together
like their distant relatives, the American goldfinches. Canaries
build nests of dry moss and grass in branches about 10 feet
(3 meters) from the ground. A canary lays four or five eggs.
Most tame canaries are bright yellow, but some are pale yellow.
If fed red peppers, canaries may be bright orange. During
the late 1400's, canaries were brought to Spain from the Canary
Islands. English, French, Scottish, and Belgian canary breeders
have developed many varieties with strange appearances. Some
tame canaries bred in Lancashire, England, grow 8 inches (20
centimeters) long. Scottish canaries are long, thin birds
with tails that curl between their legs. Belgian canaries
have such long necks that their heads droop. French canaries
have curly patterns of feathers all over their bodies.
The best singing canaries, such as the St. Andreasburg variety,
are bred in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Different kinds
of singing canaries are named for the qualities of their songs.
Rollers, for example, have a rolling, gurgling song.
Canaries should be kept in clean cages that are large enough
to let the birds fly for exercise. Although canaries eat canary
seed, they also need green food. In addition, canaries should
be given water for drinking and bathing.
Because canaries are more sensitive to poisonous gases than
human beings, canaries have been used to detect such gases
on battlefields and in coal mines. Each year, canaries selectively
replace some of their songs with different songs. As a result,
canaries have become important laboratory subjects for studies
of selective forgetting and learning.
In North America, the name wild canary is often given to
the American goldfinch and the yellow warbler, both of which
look much like the tame canary.
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Cockatoo, is the name of several large parrots. Cockatoos
live in Australia, Indonesia, and neighboring islands. Unlike
most other parrots, cockatoos have a crest of feathers that
can be raised and lowered. A cockatoo's coloring may be combinations
of white, black, red, rose, or gray. A cockatoo has a powerful,
curved bill and a thick tongue. It has strong feet with which
it climbs about the branches of trees.
Cockatoos feed on seeds, nuts, and fruits. These birds are
serious pests in regions where there are many orchards. They
are often seen in large flocks that fly swiftly. Although
they rarely learn to talk and often scream loudly, cockatoos
make amusing pets because they can perform stunts and acrobatics.
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Finch is a general term applied to any small seed-eating
songbird. Finches include towhees, goldfinches, buntings,
and grosbeaks. They live on all continents except Antarctica
and on most ocean islands. Their stout cone-shaped bills,
strong skulls, large jaw muscles, and grinding gizzards enable
these birds to eat hard seeds.
In North America, the term finch usually refers to members
of the family Fringillidae. Many of these finches have striking
red and yellow colors. These birds also sing beautifully,
often while in flight. Finches build closely woven, cup-shaped
nests in the branches of trees and shrubs. The female lays
three to six bluish eggs that are usually streaked or spotted.
She sits on and warms the eggs until they hatch, and the male
finds food. Both sexes care for the young.
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Parakeet, is a small member of the parrot family.
Parakeets are brightly colored birds with green, red, blue,
orange, yellow, or purple feathers. Their tails are either
short and square, or long and pointed. The name also is spelled
parrakeet, or paroquet.
Parakeets usually are affectionate and clever pets. They
are natural acrobats, and can do many tricks on toy ladders
and seesaws. The most common pet parakeet is the budgerigar,
or budgie. This bird is native to Australia. It is also called
the budgerygah, or shell parakeet. It lives well in captivity
and becomes very tame.
You can tell the sex of an adult budgie by the color of the
skin at the nostrils. This patch of skin is called the cere.
In the male the cere is bluish, while in the female it is
brownish. Most budgies can be trained to talk. It is best
to start when the bird is only a few weeks old. Say the same
word or phrase over and over until the budgie repeats it.
Both the male and the female can learn many words. Some trainers
believe males learn faster.
Many people enjoy the hobby of parakeet breeding. Amateur
parakeet breeders often find the hobby both fun and profitable.
The best time of the year for breeding is in the spring. Birds
hatched in the spring will benefit from the sun and warmth
of the summer. Special housing for the birds is necessary,
because the space for one bird is inadequate for two. The
female bird lays an average of five eggs. The eggs hatch in
about 18 to 20 days. A parakeet may live 10 years or more.
Seeds and fruit are the chief parakeet foods. Wild parakeets
nest in trees and are swift fliers. Many species live in warm
parts of the world. The ground parakeet of Australia and Tasmania
nests in bushes. The lovebird is a small, colorful African
parakeet. One of the largest parakeets is the slatyheaded
parakeet of India, Thailand, and Laos. The tiny hanging parrot
of Southeast Asia is a parakeet that sleeps hanging upside
down from a tree branch.
The Carolina parakeet once was common in the United States,
ranging northward to New York and Illinois. The head of this
parakeet was orange and yellow, and its body green. These
parakeets have disappeared. Many of them were killed because
milliners wanted their feathers for hat trimming. The last
flock was seen in the Florida Everglades in 1904, but some
of these parakeets may have survived until about 1920.
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Parrot is the name of a large group of colorful birds
found chiefly in warm, tropical regions. They are popular
as pets because they become affectionate and tame, and many
can be taught to talk. Parrots range from about 3 inches (8
centimeters) to over 3 feet (90 centimeters) long. Most parrots
have thick, hooked bills, and many have long tails. Parrots
also possess short legs and feet with two toes pointing forward
and two pointing backward. This arrangement of the toes is
called zygodactyl «zy guh DAK tuhl». These strong, grasping
feet enable parrots to grasp fruits and nuts, climb, and even
hang acrobatically from tree branches. Parakeet is a general
name for many kinds of small to medium-sized parrots, especially
those with long, pointed tails.
Parrots are noisy, sociable birds that live chiefly in forested
areas. Some live in savannas (grassy, thinly wooded areas)
and deserts. Parrots commonly eat fruits, nuts, seeds, and
buds. Some also eat nectar and pollen.
Most parrots choose one mate for life. Female parrots lay
round, white eggs. They deposit the eggs in holes in trees,
on the ground, in cracks in rocks, or in holes dug in termite
nests. The monk parakeet of Argentina builds a huge community
nest out of sticks. Many pairs of monk parakeets share the
nest, which provides a safe place to lay eggs and also protects
the birds from cool weather. Other parrots may nest in artificial
nest boxes placed in trees by people.
Kinds of parrots. There are about 350 species of parrots.
About half live in Central and South America. Most of the
rest live in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby Pacific islands.
About 50 species live in Africa and southern Asia. The United
States once had its own species of parrot, the Carolina parakeet,
but it became extinct in about 1920 because of hunting and
forest destruction. A rare species, the thick-billed parrot,
lives in western Mexico and may wander into southern Arizona
and New Mexico. The Puerto Rican parrot is an endangered species.
Parrots of South and Central America. The macaws are
large parrots that live mainly in tropical lowland forests
of South America. A few species live in Central America. Macaws
have long, pointed tails and huge bills. The blue Hyacinth
macaw is the world's largest parrot. It grows up to 39 inches
(100 centimeters). Amazons are predominantly green parrots
with big, chunky bodies and short, squared tails. Colorful
spots adorn their wings and head. These birds live in treetops
in the tropical forests. Parakeets and conures are small to
medium-sized, mainly green parrots with long, pointed tails.
Parrotlets are tiny parakeets with short tails.
Parrots of Australia and New Guinea. Cockatoos live
in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands. They have large,
thick bills. Most cockatoos are white with bushy crests of
feathers on their heads. The palm cockatoo is a large, jet-black
bird. It has a bare skin patch on its cheek, which may turn
bright red when the bird is alarmed. The rose-colored galah
«guh LAH» lives in large flocks in central Australia. The
cockatiel, a long-tailed relative of cockatoos, commonly inhabits
northern and central Australia.
Lories and lorikeets live mainly in wet forests in New Guinea,
Australia, and nearby islands. They are small to medium-sized
parrots with black, red, or orange bills. Their bills are
the longest and narrowest of any parrot, and they have brush-tipped
tongues for gathering pollen and nectar. The tiny pygmy parrots
of New Guinea have extremely long toes. They creep up tree
trunks, like small woodpeckers, in the thick forest. The budgerigar
«buhj uhr ee GAHR», from central Australia, is the best-known
parakeet because of its popularity in zoos and as pets. The
rosellas, found in coastal Australia, have bold patterns of
blues, reds, and yellows on their bodies.
Parrots of New Zealand include some of the most unusual
species. The large, chunky kea feeds on fruits and grubs (immature
insects). It also eats dead animals it finds on the ground.
The kea is popular with tourists because of its habit of perching
on cars to beg for food. The large, forest-dwelling kaka has
a long, strong beak that it often uses to tear apart dead
wood in search of insects. The kakapo, or owl parrot, has
an owllike face and cannot fly. Unlike most parrots, the bird
is nocturnal--that is, it sleeps during the day and becomes
active at night. The owl parrot is close to extinction because
of mammal predators that people have introduced to New Zealand.
These predators include rats, cats, and mongooses.
Parrots of Africa and southern Asia. Hanging parrots
are tiny, mainly green parrots of southeastern Asia and the
islands of Indonesia. Their name comes from their strange
behavior of roosting upside down at night like bats. The rose-ringed
parakeet lives in tropical Africa and southern Asia. It has
a long tail, a bright red bill, anda bright green head. The
nine species of lovebirds are the only small African parrots.
They have short, rounded tails and rather large bills. They
are called lovebirds because they use their bills to caress
each other. The large gray parrot, from the west African rain
forests, is a popular bird pet because it can learn to say
words.
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Find your bird needs here at Pet Lifestyle.
Bird
Care Basics Guide This includes - Basic Care, Canaries,
Cockatoos, Finches, Parakeets and Parrots.
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