Your Feathered Friends’ Feet
WPT Staff
Whenever your bird is not flying it will be using its feet. It is therefore crucial to keep them exercised and healthy.
Plants for Parrots
World Parrot Trust
Giving your parrot browse and greenery to chew on is a great way to encourage natural behaviour. Experiment with different types and use this to provide occupational enrichment.
Parrot Nutrition Guide
World Parrot Trust
While it may not be possible to duplicate the exotic fruit and nectar found in the wild, it is still easy to offer our birds a range of natural, nutritious foods.
Birdie: A Re-feathering Success Story
Evet Loewen
Guest author Evet Loewen describes meeting Birdie, a small parrot with big problems, and taking her home to help her heal.
Kiwa: The Story of a Macaw Rescue
Desi Milpacher
A look at how a chance visit to a breeding facility inspired an incredible rescue.
Arranging Antecedents: A Positive Approach to Solving Behaviour Problems
Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, CPBC
The author details a personal learning and teaching experience for herself and her parakeet.
Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release: Saving Peru’s Native Parrots
Rosa Elena Zegarra and Catalina Hermosa-Guerra
WPT-supported efforts continue to stem the illegal wild-bird trade in Peru.
Teach Your Parrot to Target
Pamela Clark
Teaching new behaviors has a way of automatically reducing problem behaviors.
A Parrot’s Fine Cuisine Cookbook and Nutritional Guide
Karmen Budai and Shean Pao
Avian experts continue to see poor nutrition as the cause for many serious illnesses, even death, in parrots.
This book offers articles from experts on the importance of raw, whole foods, the nutritional powerhouse of soaking and sprouting, avian teas, safe and toxic foods, pellets: pros and cons, a nutritional list, and much more.
A Parrot’s Fine Cuisine Cookbook & Nutritional Guide will give you insights into the evolving topics of avian nutrition. Join the authors in their mission to raise the bar of parrot health through increased dietary diversity. You will also find over 60 unique and healthy recipes, created with love and passion to offer the best we can in avian nutrition.
A Parrot's Fine Cuisine Cookbook is a beautiful book with full color photos, illustrations or graphs on almost every page.
Click here to purchase your copy on Amazon »
Authors: Karmen Budai, Shean Pao.
ISBN: 1732320608
Pages: 122
Dimensions: 20.3 x 0.7 x 25.4 cm (8 in x 10 in)
Publisher: Quietlight Productions Inc.
Release Date: 2018-05-08
EAN: 9781732320604
Click here to purchase your copy on Amazon »
Solutions That Might Benefit the Rescue/Adoption Situation
EB Cravens
Author and parrot care expert EB Cravens discusses practical and proactive solutions to the issues of rehoming parrots.
Slowing Parrot Trafficking in Indonesia
Desi Milpacher
In a new effort of cooperation the WPT has joined with local and international NGOs, local zoos, and a new Indonesian government, to help tackle the massive issue of illegal trade in parrots.
Yellow-backed Lory Headed for Extinction?
Rosemary Low
Chattering and Yellow-backed Lories (Lorius garrulus garrulus and L.g. flavopalliatus) are great favourites with aviculturists, prized for their beauty and appealing personalities. On the Indonesian islands where they occur they are popular cage birds for the same reasons. Unfortunately, in countries where aviculture has a more serious tradition, Chattering and Yellow-backed Lories have declined almost to the point of rarity. Despite the thousands imported into Europe before 1987, there are now very few breeding birds. In Australia, they have never been common.
There are the only a few islands on which the species occurs: Bacan, Obi, Halmahera and Morotai. Unfortunately, the yellow-backed subspecies are being trapped almost to extinction particularly on the island of Obi in the Northern Moluccas, and elsewhere in its small range. It formerly occurred on Morotai’s tiny satellite island, Rau, but the chances of it still surviving there are almost non-existent. Throughout Indonesia, many species of interest to trappers which were confined to small islands are now likely to be extinct, due to trapping and habitat loss. The djampeanus sub-species of the Scarlet-breasted Lorikeet (Trichoglossus forsteni) is one example. These extinctions are too recent (or as yet unknown) to be found in the literature.
Severely Affected by Trade
In Indonesia, illegal trapping of parrots continues on a vast scale. Importation of the Yellow-backed Lory into Europe was banned by EU legislation in 1987 due to the excessive trade which was endangering its survival. But many other regions imported any parrot species, caring nothing for their survival. Export of this lory (all subspecies) was legal, with quotas set at 5,900 each year in 1990 and 1991. These quotas have been routinely exceeded since then, as the lories are extremely popular as pets among local people and are trapped and exported from eastern Indonesia in larger numbers than any other parrot. On the island of Obi trapping is carried out using glue-laden branches from the breadfruit tree and the lure of a captive Yellow-backed Lory in a cage. When caught, the unfortunate birds are wrapped in leaves and taken to trappers’ homes where kerosene is used to remove the glue. In humans, breathing in large quantities of kerosene can cause dizziness, headaches and vomiting. What it does to the delicate respiratory system of a bird is unknown.
The lories are then sold at low prices to local people (equivalent of about US$10) or higher prices to international traders offshore (US$50). Kept crowded in small cages, they are taken in small boats where they meet larger ships of international traders and transferred at sea. There are reports of soldiers and miners, who work on various islands around Indonesia, buying parrots and taking them home in sawn-off water bottles and plastic tubes. Because of the way the birds are handled the death rate must be very high.
Chattering and Yellow-backed Lories have been so heavily trapped in some areas that they can no longer be found. Consequently, the species has been classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1994, but due to the continuing rate of unsustainable trapping, Endangered would surely be a more appropriate category. Legal trade ceased in 2003, but there was a ready market for them in many other countries, especially in the east, so illegal trade continued. Their Vulnerable status was assigned on the assumption that 5,000 Chattering Lories are illegally trapped each year across their entire range. However, in July 2012 John Mittermeier and Eden Cottee-Jones visited Obi while carrying out research for the University of Oxford and Louisiana State University. (See Autumn 2015 PsittaScene article “An Overlooked Trade Hotspot: North Moluccas”.)
The two estimated that 5,976 Yellow-backed Lories are trapped annually on the island of Obi alone. This compared with estimates of 1,092 for the Violet-necked Lory (Eos squamata) and much smaller numbers for Eclectus Parrots. Their estimates were gleaned from interviewing trappers and other local people. They found that 32% of householders had caught parrots for themselves. Their reasons for keeping them were for entertainment or as toys for the children.
Work on Obi urgently needed
Mittermeier and Cottee-Jones recommended urgent fieldwork to estimate the population on Obi. This has not happened. They state that given the small number of trappers on Obi “a series of stakeholder meetings at the key trappers’ villages may be sufficient to launch a no-take zone system.”
I would suggest that a conservation education programme, targeting the villagers who catch lories for their own use, would also be very valuable, hopefully reducing the numbers caught by individuals who were not selling them. Investigation is also needed into the current situation on Bacan.
If no actions are taken, it is extremely likely that the Yellow-backed Lory will be trapped to extinction. That is unthinkable. If you can donate or raise money which can be used for education purposes on Obi and Bacan or to help improve the conditions of confiscated lories there, please make a donation to the Lory Conservation Network of the World Parrot Trust.
© 2017 Rosemary Low
Reflections on Parrot Rescue and Adoption
EB Cravens
Author and parrot care expert EB Cravens weighs in on the realities of parrot rescues and adoption.
Hope for Fighting Bolivian Trade: CREA
WPT Staff
WPT-backed facility established in Bolivia to ease the rehabilitation efforts of wild parrots caught in illegal trade.
Restoring Bonaire: Echo
World Parrot Trust
Ensuring the survival of species that rely on the dry forest.
The Parrot that Chews
WPT Staff
A chewing, climbing, foraging parrot is a happy one, and that's half the battle of keeping birds healthy.
Height Dominance in Parrots: Fact or Fiction?
Lisa Desatnik
A question often asked by owners is: should companion birds be allowed on caregivers' shoulders?
Happy Health Parrot Guide
WPT Staff
Things to consider before selecting a parrot as a pet; ways to keep your pet parrot healthy and happy.
Budgies and Bush Birds - Alice Springs Bird Tours
https://www.facebook.com/budgiepic/
Why Adoption Makes Sense
Ann Brooks
Phoenix Landing's Ann Brooks explains the positives of parrot adoption.
Wild-bird Trade: Then and Now
Desi Milpacher
An examination of the trade over two decades of WPT history.
An Overlooked Trade Hotspot: North Moluccas
H. Eden W. Cottee-Jones and John C. Mittermeier
Little is known about the wild bird trade in some parts of Indonesia.
The Parrot That Screams
Lee McGuire
How to effectively handle an over-exuberant bird.
The Parrot That Fears
Lisa Desatnik
Is that out-of-the-blue fear really out-of-the-blue?
Common Household Poisons
World Parrot Trust
Our feathered friends need protection from the man-made chemicals and toxic plants that may be present in their homes.
The World Parrot Trust's team of avian experts have compiled this important list in order to ensure that companion parrots like yours enjoy a safe environment and proper diet for a long and healthy life.
Wild Diets, Captive Options
Jamie Gilardi & EB Cravens
Offering companion parrots a nutritionally diverse selection of natural and wild foods as part of their daily diet.
Release for Restoration
Jamie Gilardi
How captive bred parrots can make a direct contribution to the conservation of parrots in the wild.
Reintroduction Considerations
Steve Milpacher
Release and reintroduction of parrots; clarification of criteria used to guide the process.
Parrot Hero - Susan Friedman
World Parrot Trust
Susan Friedman, Ph.D has helped pioneer efforts to apply to animals the scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard of Applied Behavior Analysis.
Sprouting for Parrots
Jamie Gilardi
Sprouting seeds and legumes for your parrot can offer a valuable new source of nutrition as well as enrichment.
Conservation Hero - Stewart Metz
World Parrot Trust
PsittaScene interview from the August 2012 issue. Stewart Metz was the Director and CEO of the Indonesian Parrot Project, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of Indonesian Parrots. (Dr. Metz passed away on September 15, 2017.)
Tale of Two Psittacines
Bethany Jackson and Claire Raisin
Wild populations of Red-crowned and Echo Parakeets struggle to overcome Beak and Feather Disease Virus.
t>Benefits and Limitations of Milk Thistle as a Nutritional Supplement for Birds
Desi Milpacher
This relatively unadorned plant may be fairly commonplace – but it just may have a lot to offer as a therapeutic agent in the field of medicine, both human and veterinary.
Human Foods: Are Some Dangerous for Parrots?
Desi Milpacher
What you feed can hurt your feathered friends, often in unexpected ways.
Signs of Illness in Companion Parrots
World Parrot Trust
Things to watch out for that could be important indicators of illness.
Observing the Maroon-fronted Parrot
Steve Milpacher
Travel with WPT Business Director Steve Milpacher for his event-filled visit to view wild parrots in the field.
Interview with Steve Martin of Natural Encounters
World Parrot Trust
Insights into working with animal behaviours.
Behaviour Fundamentals
Susan G. Friedman
Filling the behaviour-change toolbox
A Toy to Climb All Over: Hanging and Gym Toys
Desi Milpacher
Learn just what it takes to entice a pet parrot to climb up and down and over and across... and keep him healthy and happy.
Hide and Seek Foraging and Puzzle Toys
Desi Milpacher
Parrots in captivity must be given the opportunity to satisfy their natural inclinations to forage.
50 Things a Companion Parrot Owner Should Know About Parrots
Desi Milpacher
A list of things a companion parrot caregiver should know about parrots is always a good idea... and here's 50 of them to consider for your feathered friend.
Long Live the Parrot
Anna Young
A closer look at how many years we can expect our companion parrots to live.
Parrot Hero - Steve Martin
World Parrot Trust
One of the best-known animal trainers in the world, Steve Martin has pioneered the art of training birds and animals through positive reinforcement.
Feather Destructive Behaviour - Finding Solutions, Part 2
Pamela Clark
Provision of enrichment, behaviour modification and training as part of a process to address feather destructive behaviour in parrots.
Palm Cockatoo News - Vocal and Visual Identification
Christina Zdenek
Evaluation of two noninvasive techniques to identify and track individual Palm Cockatoos.
Feather Destructive Behaviour - Finding Solutions, Part 1
Pamela Clark
Understanding how to identify and eliminate risk factors for feather destructive behaviour in companion parrots.
Problem Prevention
Pamela Clark
Important steps in anticipating and preventing problem behaviours with companion parrots before they begin.
Biobrasil
Inkanatura
Nature Cayman
Wild Parrots Up Close
http://www.wildparrotsupclose.com/
Hope For Feathers
http://www.hopeforfeathers.com
Avicultural Society of Australia
Avicultural Society Of New South Wales
http://www.aviculturalsocietynsw.org
Eclectus Parrots - Australia
http://www.eclectusparrots.net/
Hong Kong Parrot Club
Kakariki Conservation
Parrot Society Of Australia
http://www.parrotsociety.org.au/
Parrot Society Of New Zealand
AAV (Association of Avian Veterinarians) - International Listings
http://aav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=1803
Bird Lovers Only
http://www.birdloversonly.org/
Bird Hotline
Everything You Wanted To Know About Cockatoos
Feathered Friends Forever
http://www.featheredfriendsforever.org/
Lost, Stolen Or Found Parrot - UK
http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/lost-parrots.php
Midwest Avian Adoption & Rescue Services
Parrot Adoption Education Program (MN - USA)
Parrot Education & Adoption Centre
Parrots First
Parrot Rescue Centre
http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com/
Phoenix Landing Foundation (VA - USA)
http://www.phoenixlanding.org/
Priceless Parrot Rescue (NY - USA)
http://www.pricelessparrot.org
Shyne Foundation (FL - USA)
http://www.shynefoundation.org
The Garuda Aviary (AZ - USA)
Wings Of Love Bird Haven (Texas - USA)
The Oasis Sanctuary
https://the-oasis.org/
African Conservation Foundation
http://www.africanconservation.org
Arkive.org
American Bird Conservancy
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Indonesian Parrot Project
http://www.Indonesian-Parrot-Project.org
Paradise Park - Home Of The WPT
http://www.paradisepark.org.uk
Project Birdwatch - Indonesia
http://www.indonesian-parrot-project.org/
Rare Species Conservatory Foundation
The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation
http://www.mauritian-wildlife.org/
The Rainforest Foundation
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/
Tropical Rainforest Coalition
Wild Parrots Of Southern California
Wildlife Conservation Society
Starbird
Carly Lu’s Flight Blog
Flight School
http://www.parrottraining.org.uk/
Feathers And Tails
Parrot Rescue 2nd Chances (MD - USA)
http://www.secondchancebirdrescue.com/
Sanctuarius (CO - USA)
City Parrots - Urban Scarlet Macaw & Parrot Conservation
Profauna Indonesia
Cayaya Birding - Guatemala
http://www.cayaya-birding.com/