#psittacine

HORNED PARAKEET Eunymphicus cornutus ©Lars Petersson

This medium-sized parrot lives in humid pine forests, rainforest and laurel forest habitats, but will accept scrublands or savannah.

Its most striking feature is a two-feather black crest, with the crest feathers tipped in red.

Small family groups, or pairs, will forage in the canopy for their diet of nuts and seeds.

Horned parakeets will nest either on or near the ground, and also in hollowed-out logs, or nest hollows in dead trees. Uncommon among parrots, horned parakeets have been reported nest-sharing. The number of eggs laid is usually 2–4. Incubation lasts 21–22 days and the time from hatching to fledging is approximately 5 to 6 weeks.

Main threats to the horned parakeet are the black rat, the wildcat, the introduced Rusa deer, logging, La Nina (wet) years, and Psittacine beak and feather disease, a severe virus which is known to affect ~42 species of parrots. Humans poaching the birds for local trade is rare, because the birds' nests are difficult to find, and more importantly, there are no ingrained local customs regarding keeping birds as pets. source 

Photo below: ©Joel Sartore/PhotoArk

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HEY BIRDBLR! I need your help?

I have a classmate who owns an amazon who is an older bird I think.. maybe not.. maybe like 10 or something..I could be completely making that up. ANYWAYS. She obviously loves the bird but I got the feeling she wasn’t a Bird Person when it comes to modern husbandry and stuff- a healthy diet, enrichment, toys, training. She says hes allowed out his cage all day because the door is always open, until night time where she puts him up. He mostly sits and watches people go about their business. He can be friendly but will get nippy if you try to fetch up when hes high up somewhere. Thats really all I know about him.

I dont have my lovely psittacines anymore, and I was talking about them with her, I showed her an old photo of bart/pichu and she was really like, Whoa, wtf why is their cage so full of that stuff? (toys, perches, etc) ...which gave me a sinking feeling and when I asked about hers, she said he has like..1 toy or something. SO YEAH

Image: http://www.wideopenpets.com/avian-rx-what-is-feather-plucking-and-why-do-birds-do-it/

Feather picking is something you are likely to come across if you’re working with psittacines. While it may seem benign and cosmetic, feather picking can be an important sign of an underlying problem, either medical or environmental. 

When faced with these cases, your first step should be a THOROUGH history.

Some important questions to consider (as well as standard husbandry/history):

- Is the bird housed alone? (If not, you will need to try and differentiate self-plucking or plucking by the cage mate).

- Describe the birds cage: size, substrate, perches, decorations, toys, location in house, location in room, noise level in area.

- Is the bird allowed to free roam? If so, is it supervised?

- What time do you turn off your birds lights; when do you turn them on in the morning?

- Have there been any changes to the birds life? (ie. moved house, moved cage, new people, new animals, less interaction time, less flight time, etc.)

- When did the bird start plucking?

- Has the bird plucked before? If so, describe (when did it start, how long, what feathers, when did it stop).

- Does the bird rub or scratch itself on cage objects?

- When does the bird pluck/chew? Does it interrupt other behaviours to do so?

- Is there cigarette smoke, air freshener, candle use in the home?

- Is the bird sprayed or bathed regularly? How often?

- Was the bird hand-reared or parent-reared?

- Does the bird have a favourite owner?

- Have any eggs been laid?

- When did the bird last moult? Describe.

- Does the bird have clipped wings? How long for?

Often, plucking is caused by a combination of factors. Therefore, it is important to identify as many as possible in order to resolve the issue.

Possible medical causes include: allergy, parasites, skin irritation, pain, reproductive disease, systemic illness (esp liver), PDD, air sacculitis, heavy metal toxicosis, solliculitis, malnutrition, neoplasia.

A thorough clinical exam should be performed after obtaining your history. After the physical exam, a full dermatological examination should be performed.

Unfortunately, the list of causes is too large to go into further detail. It is important to have an understanding of the different medical conditions that can lead to feather plucking in order to evaluate the history and physical exam.

With knowledge from the history and physical exam, you should be able to stream-line further diagnostics (ie. CBC, biochem, skin scraping, etc).

If husbandry can be improved, have a detailed conversation with the owner about what to change and HOW to change it. Send home handouts as there can be a lot to discuss.

If you want to hear more about any of the possible causes for feather plucking, let me know! I can do posts on those topics too.

A Sweet Survivor: Meet (a Very Naked Lovebird Named) Rhea

Follow @rhea_thenakedbirdie to learn more about Rhea and see what she’s up to.

Monk Parakeet amidst Feral Pigeons and White-Winged Doves Myiopsitta monachus / Columba livia domestica / Zenaida asiatica