Site Directory.
Hello, and welcome to my site! This blog is primarily about parrots, and contains several articles I have written for various parrot magazines, primarily Parrots. A couple things were also written specifically for this blog, and I also post interesting news stories about parrots and other birds as I find them.
Please click HERE if you would like to go to a directory of the site with a list of all the posts I’ve made. There are articles about wild parrots, caring for captive parrots, and parrot behavior, along with news articles about parrots.
Click this link to read more about me and my animals: Introduction to the site.
Peggy, my Jenday Conure
Parrots as pets; Training Parrots
Today, I have two articles to share. One is regarding the potential pitfalls about owning parrots which appeared recently in my local newspaper. The second one is about handling and training parrots – and if a parrot owner knows how to properly train their parrot, there’s a lesser chance that the parrot will end up at the zoo. At the end, I have placed links to a few resources on how to teach a parrot different behaviors in a humane manner that should be enjoyable to both parrot and owner!
Article One: Talking about parrots
Do your research if you are considering a bird for a pet, expert says
Sydney mumbles a lot, so does Lucky.
Ruby? She’s a bird of few words, but when she does speak, “Hello” is a favourite, so is “Oh my god.”
Rhett, on the other hand, is a veritable motor mouth by comparison, with a vocabulary of more than 100 words.
“They don’t talk on command,” says Jesse Popowicz, “but they talk.”
Jesse is Edmonton Valley Zoo’s parrot keeper.
She takes care of a blue and gold macaw, a sulphur-crested cockatoo and a pair of Eclectus parrots.
“Each of the birds was a private donation from a pet owner that could no longer care for them,” says Jesse, which is a cautionary tale for people who are considering birds as pets.
“Sydney, our cockatoo, has been here for over 30 years. Lucky, our macaw, was donated because she began to show aggression toward the owners’ family.
“Rhett and Ruby, the Eclectus parrots, were given to us because their owners were having a family and didn’t have time for the birds any longer.
“We get calls all the time from parrot owners who want to give us their birds, for whatever reason. We have to turn down the majority of them.
“Parrots are highly intelligent and social birds that require specialized care and a long-term commitment. Some, such as macaws and cockatoos, can live upwards of 80 years.
“They are loud and destructive and require huge amounts of attention, and that’s just for the well-adjusted birds.
“Generally, as they grow sexually mature, parrots will often bond to one particular person in the family and begin to show aggression to others. They have very strong beaks and can inflict a fairly serious bite.
“To put it in a way that helps people understand, these animals have the intelligence and emotional maturity somewhat equivalent to that of a human toddler.
“They need mental stimulation, time for play, and will often act out in temper tantrums if they don’t have a regular routine.
“Often they will turn aggressive toward themselves or their owners if their needs are not being met.
“This, combined with their long lifespan and the time needed to care for them, inevitably makes a lot of owners think twice about wanting to keep them. This is when we get phone calls.”
Jesse says if you’re interested in getting a parrot as a pet, first do your research.
And, she says, don’t go to pet stores.
“Their objective is to sell you a pet, not educate you,” says Jesse. “Find a reputable breeder and ask questions.
Article Two: Interview: Barbara Heidenreich about clicker training parrots
Barbara, it so happens that this morning I got an email from a fellow Examiner, Catherine Wallace. She wanted to know if clicker training could solve the problems she was having with her Umbrella Cockatoo, Skylar.
Here’s her story – Catherine saw an ad for the Umbrella Cockatoo, and for six weeks she drove 90 miles (each way) to visit Skylar. She loved Skylar and he always seemed happy to see her. The day came when she brought Skylar home to live with her other parrots, a Moluccan Cockatoo and a Noble Macaw. During the trip Catherine stopped for a Chik-Fil-A lemonade and fed Skylar through the straw as she drove home. He even learned a new whistle!
Within a week of bringing Skylar home, things changed dramatically. Skylar ran from Catherine, he bit her, and one day actually attacked her, causing injury to her face, and to her sweet soul. In the meantime, Skylar became best friends with Catherine’s husband.
Barbara, what are the warning signs we should look for before being bitten?
There are two common circumstances when a parrot will bite. The first is because the parrot is afraid or uncomfortable. You’ll notice the parrot will lean away from you and his eyes will be looking for an escape route. His feathers will be held tight against his body, he’ll stand up as tall as he can, with eyes wide open and beak possibly slightly open. In this case the bird will bite because he feels cornered and sees no way out.
The second circumstance is aggression. Parrot aggression can sometimes be territorial in nature. In the wild parrots form strong pair bonds. Parrots will try to protect their territory and their mate by driving other birds away. Aggressive birds will show the same kind of behaviors as excited birds. Since overly excited birds can easily flip to aggression, whenever I see any of these signs, I will back off and wait until the parrot is calm to proceed with my training. The signs of aggression are eyes pinning (when the pupils contract), crest up, tail fanned out, and certain feathers will be fluffed up like those over the shoulders and nape of the neck. The parrot may hiss as well.
Catherine says that Skylar loves her husband, and hates her. This seems to be a common experience with parrots in the household. What can be done about it?
It’s true that parrots will often latch onto one person, like they would a mate in the wild. But this behavior is not inevitable and it can be modified. For instance, I used to train parrots in a show. There were several trainers and we all had to be able to handle every bird. Sometimes we could see that a parrot was becoming more attached to one trainer. That trainer would then spend less time with that particular parrot. In a family situation, the person who the parrot likes best needs to address the situation by limiting reinforcers. In other words, when Skylar is on Catherine’s husband’s shoulder he should not give any treats. Let Catherine become the treat dispenser in order to increase her value in Skylar’s eyes.
What often happens is that the parrot picks a person, and that person ends up spending more time interacting with the parrot than other family members, which then reinforces the behavior. Especially if you have a young bird, be sure to expose the parrot to lots of people and link the experience to positive reinforcers (treats).
Catherine reports that if she gets up early before sunrise, Skylar will allow her to pet him. I actually have recently adopted an Amazon who won’t let me touch him – until late in the evening, just before my bedtime. Why is this?
In the wild, when birds roost at night, they preen each other. It seems your birds feel relaxed when it’s dark out. So you see, biting is not a permanent state. It occurs under certain circumstances.
How can Catherine handle the bird when he runs from her or bites her?
I always tell people not to start with asking the bird to ’step up’ on their hand. That takes a lot of trust on the bird’s part and the parrot may not be ready yet. Many parrots learn to be afraid of hands when people try to insist a bird step up.
Is this where clicker training comes in?
Yes! I advise people to ‘target train’ the parrot first. It’s easy, it doesn’t require your hands on the bird, and is a basis for other behaviors you’ll teach.
What can you use as a target?
I use my closed fist, mainly because it’s convenient – I always have it on me! But many parrot trainers use a chopstick. In Catherine’s case, since Skylar seems afraid of her hands, a chopstick could work well.
What do you recommend for treats?
Every species and every individual bird will have different favorite treats. Cockatiels and small conures like millet spray, so I will break off a piece of millet spray. Larger birds like seeds and nuts – sunflower seeds, pine nuts, almonds – always raw and unsalted. Be sure to cut up the nuts into small pieces. You don’t want the parrot to get full too fast.
Are you saying the parrot should be hungry when you train?
No. A hungry bird is too anxious. I like to think of it as the bird has had dinner but has a little room left for dessert. And only use the treats for training. Whatever you’re using as a training treat, don’t feed it with the parrot’s regular meal. Make it special so he will be motivated to earn it.
Do you have any particular philosophy on parrot keeping? Should they be around the family? Do you leave their cage doors open?
I am very flexible on that. For instance, I have a Blue-Fronted Amazon who never learned to fly. His cage door is always open and he’s allowed to be on his cage. However, my other Amazon is a very good flier. We only let him out when we’re around to supervise and make sure no doors are accidentally opened. Then I have two Cockatiels and I wanted them to learn to fly. So, they live in our bedroom with the door shut so they can fly around all they want. You have to do what’s right for your situation. If you have a bird that flies well, you don’t want to leave his cage door open in a household where children are running in and out all the time. By the way, I’ve just filmed a DVD on how to retrieve a parrot that has flown outside. It will be available on my website soon.
How does clicker training affect the relationship between the parrot and owner?
My tag line is “Fostering the human-animal bond with positive reinforcement.” You can have a parrot who steps on your hand because he has to, or you can have a parrot who steps on your hand because he wants to. I would rather have a parrot who enjoys being with me. You need to let go of the idea that the bird has to obey or be dominated. Parrots respond really well to positive reinforcement. The training enhances the relationship. When the animal responds to you voluntarily, it’s really cool!
Barbara’s informative website is: http://www.goodbirdinc.com/
Okay, webmaster here again. I’ve used the general strategy described above (target training parrots using clicker training before asking step-ups) and it works great with aggressive or scared parrots.
I’ve written about clicker training here:
Clicker Training as a tool to help manage aggressive parrots.
The “Good Bird” website linked to at the end of the article is also a very useful resource and you can subscribe to a magazine about parrots there. There are also videos and books to order.
I personally like the book, “Clicker Training for Birds” by Melinda Johnson as well.
Play Behavior in Wild Parrots
I wrote an article a little while ago about play behavior in wild parrots. It focused a lot on the parrots of New Zealand, since the play behavior of three species from there (Kea, Kaka, and Kakapo) has been well studied.
The article has been published in the “Companion Parrot” magazine, which can be downloaded over here:
http://www.members.companionparrot.com/
The issue has a lot of other articles about play in parrots as well. Plus, by signing up, you can get access to various forums and can read a lot of other parrot-related articles.
Enjoy!
Owned by a Cockatoo
Webmaster’s Note: Here’s a short article from the “Beaufort Observer” about the challenges of keeping cockatoos as pets.
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-c-2009-09-21-238456.112112_Owned_by_a_Cockatoo.html
I met Bubba, an Umbrella Cockatoo and his family about seven years ago. Besides mom and dad, there were two cockatiels, Hawkeye and Alphalpha, Majeska a *Goffin Cockatoo and three kitties, Ruby, Emma and Butch. Being a wildlife rehabber with backyard songbirds my specialty for the state of NC for many years, brought about my recommendation as a possible pet sitter for this family.
Cats, little birds and docile birds were routine to me but the giant, raucous emotional Bubba was going to broaden my knowledge considerably. In this crew was one needy cat with an attitude and Bubba with more attitudes than stars in the sky. However, we have managed over these years to all become friends. For the first four of these years I never touched Bubba because his dad told me his mood could change in an instant and he was capable of inflicting terrible wounds on human flesh.
During this time Bubba was distraught and even cried when his folks were away. One day I decided I had enough of the hands off policy and carefully stroked the back of his neck. We bonded like peas in a pod in that second and have never looked back. Even if it is months between my visits he lights up like a Christmas tree when I walk into his room. I validated his feelings of need and loneliness when I stroked his beautiful feathers and eventually tenderly touched his feet and finally kissed him on the top of his soft head.
If you think, you would enjoy welcoming a bird to your household…research, research, research! No matter how many cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs etc. you may have had in the past, you need to increase your understanding and knowledge of birds, especially the larger ones and cockatoos in particular, if this is what might be blipping on your mental radar.
There are 17 species of cockatoos, most of which are in the genus Cacatua. The majority of them, colored mainly in white, but others come in grays and pinks, blacks, and in the Palm’s case, deep blue. They range in size from the Goffin, at about 12″-13″, to the huge Goliath Palm cockatoo, at 27″ long. Their life span is 40-60 years and up. There have been some reported cases of cockatoos living to be over 100. Cockatoos are LOUD. They love to love scream and will for the sheer joy of screaming, usually once or twice a day.
The most mentally and emotionally complicated cockatoo to deal with is the Moluccan with the Umbrella a close runner up. Not just anyone can provide for the many and complex needs of these special birds. Testimony to this fact is that most parrot rescues are full of Moluccan and Umbrella cockatoos because novice owners have no idea what they’re getting when they buy a cockatoo.
The Molucaan and Umbrella cockatoos for sale at pet stores as young birds are affectionate, playful, and cuddly—a trio of traits guaranteed to win customers’ hearts. Impulse buying of any pet is a bad idea. Impulse buying a cockatoo can precipitate a disaster. With a life span of up to ninety years, every bird in captivity, will require more than one owner and most will spend some time in a rescue if not a good chunk of their lives.
Unlike dogs and cats domesticated for thousands of years, birds in the parrot family may only be a generation form living free and wild. As adults, they develop all the instincts of the wild and at times, these instincts come into direct, annoying and often painful conflict with human behavior. Remember Bubba’s mood shift that may cause him to bite? In the wild, this is part of how they communicate their feelings to other birds. Coming away with a mouthful of feathers is one thing…a beak full of human flesh is quite another.
If I have painted a negative picture of owning one of these wonderfully smart and famously entertaining birds, that was not the purpose of this article. I have definitely had the welfare of the birds and humans front and center throughout.
Research, investigate, inquire and then make an educated decision. Maybe contact an avian rescue and save a parrot or cockatoo in need of love and an understanding home. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of parrot rescues in the United States, housing an incredible number of these birds. This link will take you to just one of them! www.cockatoorescue.org
Bubba’s mom told me recently, “I don’t think people really realize the sadness of seeing these amazing creatures locked up inside the confines of a cage. It is really a mistreatment in itself and realizing this, I would never, ever, do that to a creature again. Many of these birds are wild-caught, and have known what it is like to be free. Even the first and second generations are sad to see a cage since they are made to soar. “
She went on to say, “Cockatoos often bond with one “favorite person” and will often mistake the relationship as a “mate” not as a friend, causing them to feel threatened when that favorite person has other relationships. This can be a very sticky love triangle, especially during mating season, even causing them to be dangerous.”
*Goffin Cockatoos are active, inquisitive, playful, affectionate, love human attention, but usually not as demanding as other cockatoos. They are the smallest cockatoos and with good care in captivity have a life span of forty years, usually considerably longer in the wild.
Webmaster Again: I quite liked this article, although since almost nobody has studied Goffin’s Cockatoos in the wild, we can’t really know how long they live out there. The comment I submitted for this is as follows:
Great article. I have an eighteen-year-old male Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. He’s a wonderful bird and I enjoy his company but he is a handful! He’s quite loud and loves to chew on everything, so I’m always needing to replenish his chew toy supply. He needs to be out of his large cage daily for several hours while he’s being supervised, so this type of bird is a very bad idea for people who aren’t home a lot. He also gets wood splinters everywhere (from his chew toys) and he’s dusty, as all healthy cockatoos are. I had to get a big shop-vac to clean up after him.
He’s smart and even uses sticks to scratch his back (and I didn’t teach him that!) but because cockatoos are so high maintenance I tend to discourage most people from owning them. I also encourage those who think they can handle such a bird to seek out an older bird in need of a home.
And here’s the comment submitted by the administrator of mytoos.com:
A very well written and knowledgeable perspective. At Mytoos we daily see people pop up with cockatoos that they bought as chicks and that have now reached maturity. Most have been through several homes already. There is nothing wrong with these birds, the people that have them just do not understand them and how to live with a wild animal, which is basically what they become because the instinct to reproduce is second to none. Thank you for doing your part to educate others!
Charlie King
Related Posts:
Inexpensive and easy ways to keep your cockatoo busy
The Evolution and Behaviour of the Extraordinary Eclectus Parrot
I recently wrote an article about the behaviour of wild Eclectus parrots for “Parrots International” magazine. It’s online now, so please click on the link below to read it:
http://www.pipress.org/2009/08/eclectus-parrot/
The site www.pipress.org is fairly new and has a lot of interesting articles and posts about wild parrots and parrot conservation. There are also articles about caring for pet parrots. Be sure to take a look!
Parrot News: World’s Smallest Parrot Filmed
My comments: No it’s not a parrotlet! The smallest parrots are actually from New Guinea and are called “Pygmy Parrots.” Following the article is a short bit I wrote on Pygmy Parrots for an article I am working on about parrot taxonomy and evolution.
The world’s smallest parrot has been filmed in the wild for the first time.
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
The tiny bird, which is not much bigger than an adult person’s thumb, is smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest.
An expedition team filming in Papua New Guinea for the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano caught two of the buff-faced pygmy parrots on camera.
Another adult, which weighs less than half an ounce, was also trapped by the expedition team’s bird expert.
On average, buff-faced pygmy parrots ( Micropsitta pusio ) stand less than 9cm tall and weigh 11.5g (0.41oz).
They are found across the northern lowlands of the island of New Guinea from the west to the southeastern tip, up to an altitude of around 800m.
Males and females look similar, but females have less prominent markings on the head.
The birds have green feathers with yellowish plumage on their underparts; while their cheeks, face, and crown are more buff-coloured, hence their name.
BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan first discovered a tiny nest belonging to two parrots deep within pristine rainforest.
The birds nest in termite mounds, using their beaks and claws to dig their way in before laying eggs in the hole created.
Buchanan staked out the nest from within a camouflaged hide, and was rewarded after a long wait when two birds returned.
He filmed the pair at their nest entrance, as the male and female reinforced their bond by rubbing against one another.
Later, another parrot was trapped unharmed by Dr Jack Dumbacher, an ornithologist from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, US, who had accompanied the BBC expedition team.
Buff-faced pygmy parrots do not eat fruit and nuts but lichen and fungi.
However, so little is still known about their dietary habits that it has proved difficult to rear the birds in captivity.
During the expedition, the team also managed to sight a rare Salvadore’s duck ( Salvadorina waigiuensis ), a bird that is adapted to living in fast jungle streams.
The Salvadore’s duck, or Salvadore’s teal as it is also known, is the only duck species endemic to the island of New Guinea.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists the bird as Vulnerable, and its total population may be slowly declining.
Other birds sighted included fruit doves that were completely naive to people, suggesting they had never been hunted in the past, and a king bird of paradise, with its crimson feathers, violet-coloured feet and a pair of tail streamers each ending with an emerald disc.
Broadcast of The Lost Land of the Volcano series will begin on BBC One on Tuesday 8 September at 2100 BST.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8236000/8236410.stm
Published: 2009/09/08 01:15:39 GMT
© BBC MMIX
<end of article>
You will have to go to the site to see the video, although the BBC videos don’t work for me. Here are some screen shots:
Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot
Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot
Here’s some more information about these little-known parrots:
Subfamily Micropsittinae
The parrot subfamily Micropsittinae contains only one genus, Micropsitta, which contains six species. Together they are referred to as “pygmy parrots.” These are the smallest of all parrot species and are even smaller than the parrotlets. Unlike the parrotlets, these parrots are not available as pets. They have never really been kept successfully in captivity, because they die very soon – often, mere hours – after being captured. I don’t know exactly why they die so quickly in captivity and other parrots don’t, but they could have nutritional requirements that could be difficult to meet in captivity. For instance, unlike most other parrot species, pygmy parrots will nibble on and eat lichen and fungi. Captured pygmy parrots will also often refuse to eat fruits, seeds, or insects offered by their captors. Such tiny animals tend to have very fast metabolisms for their size, and so can die of starvation very quickly if they do not eat.
The smallest of the pygmy parrots, the Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot (M. pusio) is only a mere eight centimeters (3.1 inches) long. Other species may be up to 9.5 centimeters (3.7 inches) long. Pygmy parrots often climb along the sides of tree trunks, much like woodpeckers and creepers do. In addition to their woodpecker-ish habits, the morphology of the tails of pygmy parrots can help birdwatchers identify them, as their shafts extend a bit beyond the webbing, so it looks like there’s a little needle stuck on the tips of their tailfeathers.
Pygmy parrots occur on the island of New Guinea and some surrounding islands. They are reportedly quite easy to approach, and none are considered to be endangered or threatened. They nest in tree cavities or in arboreal termite mounds. They are quite social and one species – the Yellow-capped Pygmy Parrot – roosts communally in nests. In one case, six adults and two nestlings of this species were found in one nest[1]. This is astonishing because usually only one pair of adult parrots (plus their young) will use a nest cavity. However, there are a few more social nesters among the parrots. For example, one Quaker Parakeet nest may house several families.
[1] According to: Forshaw, J and Knight, F. 2006. Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA.
A Trip to New Zealand: The Land Where Birds Rule
(Note: This was originally published in Good Bird Magazine)
Last month, I wrote about my brief visit to Sydney, Australia, where I was able to see wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos at the botanic gardens and visit the Taronga Zoo. The brief visit to Sydney was a stopover on my way to my final destination, Christchurch, New Zealand. My primary reason for heading to Christchurch was to attend a conference, but I also planned to travel around the country to view some of its fascinating bird life. Because New Zealand is so isolated, no land mammals, besides a pair of bat species, have ever managed to colonize it without human assistance. As a result, many of New Zealand’s bird species have been free to occupy ecological niches normally held by mammals, so a diverse array of unusual, and often unbird-like, birds have evolved there.
While I was in Christchurch, I visited a few places where I could see some native birds in captivity. My first stop was the Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House, which was near the conference venue. Several freshwater and marine animals, and several species of native reptiles, were on display. There was also a kiwi enclosure housing two North Island Brown Kiwi. Kiwi displays are generally kept dark during the daytime, because kiwi tend to sleep in dens or burrows during the day.
Both kiwi were out when I went in to see them, and they were much larger and even more unusual looking than I had pictured them in my mind. Not only are they flightless, but they have lost their wings completely, and possess only small, clawed stubs in their place. These were hidden well under the kiwis’ shaggy, hair-like feathers. They also have cat-like whiskers on their faces, which seem help the birds find their way around in the dark. Their feet are very large and raptor-like, and have padded toes that allow them to move about silently. Their feet looked strong and the claws sharp, which presumably allow them to dig their burrows and defend themselves from intruders. Despite their sweet appearance, kiwi are very territorial.
While I watched the kiwi, they trudged about their enclosure, repeatedly thrusting their long, slender beaks into the deep soil and leaf litter, sniffing and feeling around for insects. Unlike most other birds, kiwi have a superb sense of smell and their nostrils are on the tips of their beaks, rather than being up at the top, as they are in parrots. Their eyesight is rather poor, which is unusual for a bird, so each kiwi often bumped into the walls of the enclosure. It was no big deal to them; they simply turned around and continued to single-mindedly search for insects. With their nocturnal habits, mainly insectivorous diet, and habit of resting in burrows, they seemed to me like a bird counterpart of a hedgehog.
Later on, I headed to the Orana Wildlife Park, which has many native animals on display, in addition to several other exotics, primarily from Africa. Many of the native birds were in a very large walk-in aviary. Kiwi were housed in a darkened kiwi house, and there were many wild birds in the pools around the park. Of all the birds I saw, the native Tui in the walk-in aviary stood out most. It was a gorgeous, dark, iridescent bird with a white, lacy cape around its neck and a pair of white disks under its throat. However, its song is what really grabbed my attention. It was quite complex, and consisted of some lovely, clear whistles interspersed with other noises, like coughs and clicks. Tui, it turns out, can produce a huge variety of sounds, because they possess two voice boxes. Some of the notes they can produce even go beyond the range of what humans can hear. And, like parrots or starlings, they can mimic sounds very well. However, they are not related to either one, and are part of the honey-eater family (Melphagidae). Some captive individuals even learn to mimic human speech very well. Tui are common and I saw many in the wild later on.
A Yellow-fronted Kakariki at the Orana Wildlife Centre
A Tui at the Orana Wildlife Centre
After the conference was over, I headed north to Wellington, which is on the southern edge of the North Island. My main plan there was to head to Kapiti Island, which is five miles off of the coast about a 45 minute drive north of Wellington. The island serves as a haven for several endangered bird species. Offshore islands are often set up as wildlife refuges because they can be cleared of introduced predators. Many of New Zealand’s native birds and reptiles are endangered because introduced rats, cats, possums, and stoats prey on them. Because New Zealand’s endemic birds evolved in the absence of mammalian predators, many of them have no natural defenses against them.
Unfortunately, the ship to Kapiti Island did not sail while I was there. So, I decided to drive about two hours north to the Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre. There was a visitor centre there, with many educational displays and a cage of baby Tuataras, reptiles native to New Zealand. There was also a large forest preserve, with some rare birds to view in large, natural aviaries. Many of them are part of breeding programs intended to produce young that could be released back into the wild into the forest preserve or on offshore island sanctuaries.
One of the highlights was the chance to see two Takahe. Takahe were once thought to be extinct, but some were found in 1948 in a remote part of the South Island. Takahe are a species of rail (Rallidae) and are large (63 cm long) and flightless. They are very striking with their dark purpley-blue bodies, moss-coloured backs, large, bright red beaks and matching short, red legs. There are only about 250 of these birds left, mostly on offshore islands and the mountains of Fiordland, in the far south.
The Takahe grazed in their large enclosure while I watched them. In the wild, they eat tussock grass, focusing mainly on the more nutritious base and leaving the tougher tops behind. They’ll also dig for roots and corms. Most rail species are shorebirds, but Takahe are capable of living in a variety of habitats, including alpine regions.
Takahe
I spent a couple hours walking in the forest, watching and photographing the free-living birds that lived there. These included dozens of North Island Kaka, the large, brown and red forest parrot endemic to the island. Many of them were bred in captivity at the centre. A mix of captive bred birds and wild birds caught elsewhere were first released into the forest in 1996. The population has grown, likely due to predator control programs and the predator-proof nest boxes that were put up for them.
The Kaka weren’t always easy to spot, but I saw several flying above the trees. Their earth-toned feathers make them blend in well with their surroundings, but their loud calls often gave their locations away. Additionally, there was a very large, metal, parrot-feeder set up in a clearing in the forest, which made kaka viewing much easier. The kaka are given supplemental food each day there at three pm. When I approached it around two, several birds followed me, thinking I had their food. I didn’t, but the kakas were very interesting to watch. They are quite acrobatic, and often hung upside-down in the trees. They also gnawed on tree branches a lot, whose bark they can easily tear off with their very large, heavy beaks. They do this to find insects and grubs to eat.
A North Island Kaka chews on a branch
At three, workers came to give the kakas their daily ration of corn and nuts. The Kaka were quite competitive at the feeder and often tried to steal food from each other. Smaller birds also arrived to clean up any bits the kaka dropped to the ground. The kaka were also given a solution of jam and water in a bottle to drink out of. Such a sugary solution is a part of their natural diet, because, like lories, kaka have bristled tounges that allow them to lick nectar off of flowers.
The next day I headed to the Te Papa Museum back in Wellington, which has a large section devoted to natural history. Unfortunately, some of the most magnificent of all of New Zealand’s birds exist now only as fossils or models in museums, because about 40% of New Zealand’s birds went extinct after humans arrived. These include the moa, a group of fifteen or so flightless birds, one of which stood up to 12 feet tall and weighed up to 550 pounds. They were likely hunted to extinction by the Polynesian settlers who arrived sometime between 800 and 1300 AD.
The moa were primarily grazers, with the taller forms being able to browse off of tall trees, like giraffes. They were the bird version of grazers like deer, bison, or wildebeests; or even like rabbits, as some species were small. Of course, where ever groups of large herbivores exist, there will be something around that hunts them. For the moa, this predator was, of course, another bird. It was an eagle – the mighty Haast’s Eagle – which was the biggest eagle to ever exist. They weighed from 22 to 28 pounds and had wingspans of about nine feet. The wingspan was actually somewhat small for its overall size, so they had to flap hard while in flight. They could, however, maneuver through dense forests. The Haast’s eagle probably went extinct when its prey, the moa, disappeared. The museum had a large model of a Haast’s eagle coming down on a giant moa. Models of other unusual, extinct birds were on display as well, which included tiny, flightless wrens, the endemic Whekau (or laughing owl), a huge, flightless goose, and the huia, a large, iridescent blue-black bird belonging to the wattle-bird family (Callaeidae), which is found only in New Zealand. Many of these went extinct after European settlers introduced cats and stoats to the island.
Model of a Moa and a Haast's Eagle
Next, I headed back to the South Island and took the TranzAlpine train across the Southern Alps, from Christchurch, on the Pacific Ocean, to Greymouth, on the Tasman Sea. The journey was awesome. The train first heads over the Canturbury Plains, and then it moves onto the foothills of the Alps. Once in the Alps, the train heads through the mountainous Arthur’s Pass National Park. Shortly after leaving the tiny village at Arthur’s Pass, the train enters an 8.5 km long tunnel. The scenery consists primarily of snow-capped, grassy mountains when the train enters the tunnel, and when it emerges, it travels through a deep green, thick rainforest.
Mountains on the South Island
While in the mountains, I tried to picture what the landscape would look like had there still been herds of moa grazing the hills. I also kept a look out for one of the birds that still lives there – a large, olive-colored parrot, reputed to be among the most intelligent of all the birds. These birds – Kea – live only in the mountains of the South Island. Their colours are somewhat drab, except the scarlet-coloured feathers on the underside of their wings. However, their personalities are anything but drab. They are infamous for creating trouble for people by tearing rubber parts off cars, picking through garbage and backpacks, finding their ways into cabins, and even killing sheep.
I rented a car in Greymouth and headed south down the coast. On the way, I did some hiking in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park. Then, it was on to Queenstown, in the middle of the south half of the South Island where I turned south, then West, to get to Te Anau. It was a fantastic drive through some gorgeous landscape, but alas, I saw no Keas. However, many bird species, like Pukeko, a more slender version of the Takahe, and Paradise Shelducks, one of New Zealand’s endemic ducks, were easy to spot. There is a also Wildlife Center in Te Anau, which has many native birds on display in large, outdoor aviaries. Some are animals that were injured and were being rehabilitated for release back into the wild. There was a pair of Takahe on display and an aviary full of Antipodes Island Kakariki. These are similar to the more common Red- and Yellow-fronted Kakariki, although they are a bit larger and are solid green. What makes Antipodes Island Kakariki remarkable is the natural habitat that they manage to survive in. They are native to the subantarctic Antipodes Islands, which lie about 650 km southeast of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s a weird place to find parrots: there are no trees there, and it’s often chilly and windy. The island is uninhabited by people and is classified as a nature preserve, and a permit is needed to land there. They share the Antipodes Island with the Reischek’s Parakeet, Cyanoramphus erythrotis, which used to be classified as a subspecies of the Red-fronted Kakariki.
Pukeko
Male Paradise Shelduck
Female Paradise Shelduck
After Te Anau, I headed north up to Milford Sound. It was there that I found the bird I was looking for. I arrived at the sound and got out of my car to go for a walk. One of the first birds I noted was a beautiful White Heron standing in the water. These heron are very rare in New Zealand; only about 120 live there. While watched the heron, I heard a loud, shrill cry. Kea! There was a family of three up by the parking lot. Kea often hang around parking lots, since the cars make interesting chew toys to them.
The three kea seemed to be a mated pair and their offspring. Juvenile kea can easily be differentiated from the adults because juveniles have some orange color around their beaks which disappears when they hit sexual maturity. The juvenile was extremely noisy and constantly squealed at and bumped into his parents. He tended to approach them in a hunched over posture, because adult kea are very tolerant to juveniles in that pose. However, once he showed the red color under his wings to his parents, the juvenile was quickly pinned and verbally reprimanded by one of his parents. Apparently, showing the red under the wings is a threat, so the juvenile was acting a bit like a mouthy teenager. As long as he didn’t show the red under his wings, nearly anything he did was tolerated by the parents.
Juvenile Kea
Food is tricky for keas to find in the winter, so the two adults spent a lot of time digging in the ground with their long, sharp beaks for roots to eat. Keas are generalists and will eat nearly any edible thing they find. Unlike other parrots, they can actually be carnivorous and will eat the young of other bird species and the carcasses of dead sheep. Occasionally, they will kill adult sheep, by pecking at their backs until they bleed. The sheep may then die of blood loss or an infection.
A Kea digging for roots
I watched the keas until it became dark, and then I headed up to the motel. I dragged my suitcase in from the car and spotted a kea underneath a truck. Looking around with the flashlight, I found another two. Were these the same ones from before? At any rate, I was glad I got extra insurance on the rental car, but I wondered if it covered kea damage. I went into the motel room to read, and I could hear the keas running around on the boardwalk outside my room. They squealed a bit too, and when I went to sit outside, they gathered around me and wrestled with each other a bit. They were not shy of people at all.
The next, and final, stop on my trip was to be Stewart Island, a 1746 km2 size island a one-hour ferry ride from Bluff, a town on the south end of the South Island. Stewart Island is a great place for bird watchers, as the island contains no stoats, which are extremely efficient bird predators. It is also sparsely populated, with only 420 people living there, mostly in the town of Oban. As a result, bird life is abundant there.
On the ferry ride to Stewart Island (or Rakiura), I managed to see several mollymawks (medium albatrosses) gliding gracefully over the waters. With wingspans of about two meters, they were a magnificent sight. I also spotted a few seals and shags (cormorants) from the ferry, and there were a few oystercatchers along the beach where the ferry landed. South Island Kaka and Red- and Yellow-fronted Kakariki are easy to find right in the town of Oban, as were Tui and Bellbirds. Tui and Bellbirds have clear, ethereal-sounding voices, so the dawn chorus in the forest on Stewart Island is very beautiful.
Oyster Catchers on Stewart Island
From Oban, a five-minute boat ride can take you to Ulva Island, a 266 ha island set up as a bird sanctuary. It has been cleared of introduced predators, and has several walking trails for visitors. I headed over there in the morning and asked the boatman to come back in four hours to pick me up. It really only takes an hour or two to walk all the trails on the island, but I ended up wanting more time there. Birdlife was super-abundant and most of the birds did not seem too afraid of me. The first one I saw was a small Stewart Island Robin, which actually came and tugged on my pants when I sat down to listen for birds. Saddlebacks, rare brown and black birds, would also approach me quite closely.
Saddleback on Ulva Island
Stewart Island Robin on Ulva Island
Weka are common on Stewart and Ulva Island. These are chicken-sized, brown, flightless rails and they are truly fearless. I saw a few along the beach and they treated me as though I wasn’t even there. One picked through a clump of seaweed for food as I sat nearby taking pictures.
Weka on Stewart Island
Other birds on the island weren’t quite so bold. I saw several Kakariki darting through the trees and foraging on the ground. They have a reputation of being quite active in captivity, and they are like that in the wild, too. They were too fast for me to get any decent photos of. I could also hear the flapping wings of Keruru (native pigeon) from high in the canopy. I could often spot them with binoculars, and they are quite attractive. They are at least three times the size of the rock pigeons that are common in cities in North America, and they are white with green heads and green and purple wings. South Island Kaka were also present on the island. They weren’t always easy to see, but hearing their calls was never a problem, and I also saw a lot of trees with bark that had been peeled away by Kaka.
Later on, I tried to go “kiwi-spotting” along the beaches on Stewart Island during the evening and the following morning by trekking along different beaches. Kiwi are usually nocturnal, but on Stewart Island, they will come out on the beach to forage at dawn and dusk. I did hear a few, as they are quite loud, but I saw none. I did see more Kaka, Kakariki, fernbirds, various seabirds, ducks, raptors, native pigeons, bellbirds, Tui, fantails, white-eyes, and Weka by hiking around.
Bellbird
I took the ferry back to the South Island and headed home. The big disadvantage to traveling to New Zealand is the 12-13 hour trans-Pacific flight. However, it was an excellent trip and one I would definitely recommend for bird and nature lovers.
Links
A Talking Tui at a Bird Recovery Centre
Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre
Related Posts
Meet the Kea, New Zealand’s Mountain Parrot
Wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
While I am posting on the topic of travel, I think I’ll share some pictures of wild Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos I took while I was in Sydney, Australia. I was only there briefly, and I decided to go to the Botanical Gardens, since I have an interest in botany and in birdwatching, and there are lots of wild birds living there. The most conspicuous animals there are the Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) and the flying foxes (large fruit bats).
A tree full of flying foxes. They all came in to roost at about 7 am.
Flying Fox
Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are not endangered and are quite common in their range in Australia. The subspecies that occurs in Sydney is Cacatua galerita galerita. This type of cockatoo is actually rarely kept as a pet outside of Australia. Most pet C. galerita are of the subspecies that occur in New Guinea and the surrounding islands. These would be C. g. triton and C. g. eleanora. They are a little bit smaller than the Australian Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, and the triton subspecies has a blue eye ring. The eleanora and triton subspecies are often called “Medium Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.”
The Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea) occur in southern Indonesia and are critically endangered.
A pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
I was in Australia during the austral winter (late June) so the cockatoos weren’t breeding. Some large parrots will still visit their nests during the non-breeding season and I assume that’s what the two birds in the above picture were doing. Many large parrots display strong nest sight fidelity and will use the same nest sight year after year if they can. However, occasionally a nest will be taken over by other animals and a very poor quality nest sight may be abandoned.
‘Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
The birds in the pictures with dirty-looking feathers are the juveniles, probably from that year’s crop of babies. Wild juvenile Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos often have a brown-grey “wash” to their feathers.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
A pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos has a disagreement
A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and a Sacred Ibis
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo eating the base of a piece of grass.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
The bird in the above photo spent some time chewing on branches. Wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos can actually be quite destructive and have even been known to chew on people’s houses. As pets, these cockatoos need to have many different items to chew on, particularly non-toxic branches from trees. I give my Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo all sorts of wooden items to chew on and he spends a lot of time reducing them to splinters.
Flock of cockatoos foraging on fallen fruits
The cockatoos at the botanical gardens were not terribly afraid of people and this guy came right up to me while I was sitting on the ground. He started nibbling on my coat and when I stood up, he started to chew on my boot. My pet Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo likes to chew my boots as well.
A sulphur-crested cockatoo preens his/her buddy
Pairs of parrots often preen each other, and this is called allopreening. Pet cockatoos often enjoy having their heads preened by their people. I do this all the time with my cockatoo. I’ll usually remove any dried sheath that’s ready to flake off of any newly sprouted feathers he has. New pin feathers are covered in a sheath as they sprout and this sheath starts to become dry as the feather grows and is ready to break out of the sheath. When preening a bird, I do have to be careful not to preen any new bloodfeathers. A bloodfeather is a new feather that’s growing in that still has a blood supply. These are easy to identify in a cockatoo – the blood supply can easily been seen through the sheath.
That’s all for this post! Next I think I’ll post an article I wrote for “Good Bird” magazine about my trip to New Zealand.
Related Posts:
Inexpensive ways to keep your cockatoo busy
January 2009 News (the second article is about destructive cockatoos).
Brazil Trip Part Seven: Reptiles, Fish and Invertebrates
Here’s my final post about my trip to Brazil, with photos of the reptiles, invertebrates and fish I saw.
For reptiles, I saw several lizard species and two species of caiman. No snakes! I actually like snakes and was hoping to see a yellow anaconda, which occur in the Pantanal region. They are smaller than the green anacondas that occur in the Amazon that are famous for being the world’s heaviest snake species.
Small lizards were everywhere and they tended to be quite skittish since a lot of different animals will prey on them. I had to be very still and quiet to get pictures.
Two lizards seen in Pirenopolis
I saw several of the below species running around. The males would court the females by bobbing their heads and inflating a colorful throat pouch. Males would also try to chase each other away.
Lizard seen in Pirenopolis.
Yacare caimans are everywhere in the Pantanal. They eat fish and have very poor eyesight so birds aren’t afraid of them. They are not dangerous to people either.
Caimans
Caiman hanging out by the boat dock.
Caimans in a small lake.
Caiman close up
I also saw a few green iguanas and ameivas. The small iguanas and ameivas were very skittish, but they had to come out in the day to bask to raise their body temperatures. The iguanas would also graze during warm parts of the day.
Iguana along a riverbank.
Iguana
Very young iguana. They're a bright green when they are young and their colors become duller as they age.
Ameiva heading into its burrow.They have beautiful colors.
This is a broad-nosed caiman I saw at a farm near Bonito.
Lizard seen at a farm near Bonito.
The town Bonito attracts a lot of ecotourists and there are a lot of farms nearby that offer hikes, boat trips, and horseback rides. However, Bonito is most famous for the rivers in the nearby countryside that are very clear and are full of colourful fish. So, snorkeling is a popular activity offered at a lot of farms in the area. I went snorkeling at a place called “Rio de Prata,” and was able to rent an underwater camera in town. It was awesome – the river was very clear and there was a huge variety of fish – everything from schools of fluorescent little tetras to catfish to large Pacus.
Butterflys are quite common. I particularly liked this one, with clear wings:
Other butterflies:
And that’s it! Obviously, I enjoyed the trip a lot. I actually hope to go back to Brazil someday with my husband. He’d love the Pantanal region and I loved it enough to want to go back. It’s wonderful for people who enjoy bird-watching and seeing wildlife since animals are everywhere. I’d also like to see more of the country including the Amazon and the Atlantic rainforest.
Related Posts
Brazil Trip Part One: Yellow-chevroned Parakeets and Peach-fronted Conures
Brazil Trip Part Two: Blue-fronted Amazons and Nanday Conures
Brazil Trip Part Three: Quaker Parakeets
Brazil Trip Part Four: Hyacinth and Greenwing Macaws, with a bonus Conure
Brazil Trip Part Five: Other Birds
Brazil Trip Part Six: Mammals
Today’s post is not at all parrot-related, but I wanted to show some photos of the various wild mammals I saw in Brazil. I managed to see marmosets, capuchin monkies, howler monkies, capybaras, agoutis, three different deer species, white-collared peccaries, ring-tailed coatimundis, giant anteaters, a crab-eating fox and a giant river otter.
First off: the rodents! I saw quite a few capybara, which are the world’s largest rodents. They are fairly common in the Pantanal region, and there’s a large herd of them at the Parque das Nacoes Indigenas in Campo Grande. They’re semi-aquatic so are often found near water and during the hottest part of the day they often stay partly submerged to keep cool. They are herbivores and spend a lot of time grazing on grass and aquatic plants. They do most of their grazing in the morning, late afternoon and evening. A group of capybara would gather after dark by the guest rooms at the lodge I stayed at in the Pantanal region. They would graze on the grass with the sheep and goats.
Capybara seen at the Parque das Nacoes Indigenas in Campo Grande
Capybara herd seen at the Parque das Nacoes Indigenas in Campo Grande
Capybara seen right outside my room at the Xaraes lodge in the Pantanal.
The other large rodent I saw was the agouti, a smaller relative of the capybara. The below picture was taken at the Parque das Nacoes Indigenas in Campo Grande.
And now for the primates! I didn’t get any decent pictures of the howler monkies I saw in the Pantanal, but I did get some of marmosets and a capuchin.
A marmoset I saw by the hotel I stayed at (Pousada Mandala) in Pirenopolis.
A pair of marmosets I saw in Pirenopolis. The owners of the hotel would put out little pieces of banana for the monkies to eat.
A capuchin moneky I saw at a nature sanctuary (Fazenda Vaga Fogo) near Pirenopolis.
This last set of photos were taken in the Pantanal region.
A giant anteater.
A giant river otter eating a fish. I saw this guy several times during a canoe trip.
A coatimundi, which is a relative of the raccoon. I saw several groups of these during the trip. They usually went into the woods when they spotted us.
Herding the cattle. There are lots of cattle ranches in the Pantanal region.
A domestic buffalo.
And that’s it for mammal pictures! The next group will be of reptiles.
Related Posts in this series:
Brazil trip part one: Yellow-chevroned Parakeets and Peach-fronted Conures
Brazil trip part two: Nanday Conures and Blue-fronted Amazons
Brazil trip part three: Quaker parakeets
Brazil trip part four: Hyacinth and Greenwing Macaws, plus a bonus conure.
Brazil Trip Part Five: Other Birds
Today, I am going to share photos of some of the “non-parrot” birds I saw in Brazil.
This first set of photos is of birds I saw in and around Pirenopolis, a town about 150 km from Brasilia. It was a nice town to visit. It seems that Brazil has a somewhat dangerous reputation, judging from the reactions people gave me when I mentioned I was heading there. Honestly, some people reacted like I said I was heading off to Somalia or something. I know that some areas would be stupid for me to head off to alone. However, Brazil’s a huge country and some parts are safe, even for a lone female traveler, as long common sense is used. I never really felt threatened at any time during my trip and I can be pretty paranoid.
Anyway, on to the birds!
A burrowing owl outside its den in a horse pasture. They were surprisingly common.
Whistling Heron
A (ringed?) kingfisher. Kingfishers are one of my favorite bird types. They're very beautiful.
Red-legged Seriema. These were quite common in open areas, such as in cattle pastures.
Toco Toucan eating palm fruits.
This next set of pictures was taken at the Parque das Nacoes Indigenas in Campo Grande, which was right across from the hotel I stayed at. This park is quite big and has a lot of birds, in addition to a herd of capybara. There are also museums around it and a restaurant.
A Campo Flicker.
A Great Kiskadee. These guys are very common, both in the countryside and in cities. This guy was banging the heck out of that nut to break it into bite-sized pieces.
And now for bird pictures taken in the countryside of the southern Pantanal region.
Crested Caracara. They are very common in the Pantanal. They're pretty flexible and will scavenge but can also hunt. They're like a raptor crossed with a crow.
Chestnut-eared Aracari, a small species of toucan.
Rheas, South America's version of the ostrich.
Screamers, screaming.
Guinea Fowl, a domestic bird that originated in sub-Saharan Africa. I just found it funny that they would chase the truck like this.
Wood Storks.
And finally, some Bare-faced Currasows I saw at a farm near Bonito:
The male.
A pair. The male is the black one.
The next post in this series will show pictures of the mammals I saw.
Related Posts:
Brazil Trip Part One: Yellow-chevroned Parakeets and Peach-fronted Conures
Brazil Trip Part Two: Nanday Conures and Blue-fronted Amazons
Brazil Trip Part Three: Quaker Parakeets
Brazil Trip Part Four: Hyacinth and Greewing Macaws, with a bonus Conure!
