#aratinga

Photograph by Ted Wright

by Steve Raduns

I haven’t posted a picture of Marley in years! The last time you guys saw him he was just a baby. He goes everywhere with me.

Cuban Parakeet (Psittacara euops) by Allan Hopkins Syn. Aratinga euops. These endemic Cuban parakeets are the only parakeet found on the island of Cuba and are pretty difficult to observe at close range. IUCN Vulnerable species. La Belen, Sierra del Chorrillo Protected Area, Najasa, Camagüey, Cuba. https://flic.kr/p/2n3ZDvY

For the holiday season, why not order a stocking stuffed with a boatload of toys showcasing the variety of what I make? I can 99% guarantee your birb will find something they love! Why little foot toys? I have always loved the cute foot toys I'd see for sale, only to be disappointed when they were just too big and heavy for my green cheek conures. When birds holding things in their little feet is so cute, how could I cope with this lack? I started making my own. Eventually I had amassed a real hoard of toy making supplies and not enough birds to play with them, so I started sending them out as gifts. Then people started asking where my friends got their toys, and my friends told me to put up a storefront to make it easier to direct people, and here we are! Most small bird toys I've found focus on destructibles, foraging, and hanging toys. These are awesome and a necessary part of providing for birdie enrichment! Unlike budgies and cockatiels, conures and parrotlets are not grass/seed eaters and tend to use their feet more to hold things. They also enjoy dropping things! Dropped objects under perches tend to attract, well, droppings. If your toy basket is full of natural materials, you may have noticed what a pain they are to clean. So I started making toys using plastic and metal that can easily be cleaned with poop remover, put in the sink, even tossed in the dishwasher. What are your toys made out of? I primarily work with plastic and stainless steel, though I also have some lollipop sticks and paper or hemp cordage in some toys. My toys are not painted, and all color on the natural parts is done with food safe dye like vita critter. Are they safe for bigger birds? Bask strength scales quickly the bigger the bird, but I do have toys that can withstand the beaking of my mustache parakeet, including the Tough Pops and, surprisingly, the small plastic chains I use in multiple toys. For reference, a mustache parakeet is about the size of an Indian ringneck. My toys have also gone out to some aratinga conures (sun, nanday, etc) and quakers! I have not heard from anyone with a bird bigger than 120 grams, and I wouldn't recommend much of my stock for anything much bigger than that. If you have a bird bigger than a pyrrhura and you want to try, I'd be happy to work with you or direct you to one of the awesome toy makers who work with materials for bigger birds! Also, my holiday sale is still ongoing. So go, enjoy!

So since you all liked my mount doodles so much, I decided to make the bird mounts into a slightly more serious project. Here’s the sketch for mount design 1, “Aratinga.” I’m significantly out of my comfort zone drawing tack and armor, any useful tutorials are appreciated!