Ornithology: Share and discuss scientific articles on parrots!

vljenewein

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Rocky & Adrian - Budgerigars
Here is a scientific article on a study of Budgerigars and Bourke Parrots. Discusses the Diurnal nature of the Budgies.
 
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Laurasea

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A good refresh reference.

Might as well add

And if ever dealing with a starved bird, like an escaped burd rescue .
Escaped birds thst are recovered should be offered applesauce as a quick liquid plus an easy soft food . Most haven't found water or food while lost. It can be dangerous to offer water by syringe so don't do it. But ok if they drink on own. The benefits of the applesauce is its tempting and has some ready available sugar so kind works to replace electrolytes too. Which helps week birds. But its ok to offer their regular food if they are willing and able to eat. Most hopefully won't need tge following emaciated protocol

Everyone who has parrots should have a scale and make a habit of weekly weigh in. It can save your birds life. As most sick birds will drop weight well before you have any indication thst they are sick. And prompt veterinarian care at this point usually equals an easy quick treatment and recovery.

By the time the burd is sick enough and can no longer hide it, they are usually 24 hours from death. And then only an emergency vet visit and extreme nursing is likely to save them.

Its also a great tool for the female bird . As a quick weight gain indicates they are carrying eggs. Then you can closely watch for signs of egg binding a life threatening emergency. It can also be possible to bump them out of breeding cycle and have them re absorb the eggs. I have managed this twice by moving cage and rearrangement of everything inside the cage. The theory behind that is that now they are in a new territory and it might not be ideal for brooding eggs. I read that and tried it on my female who had a rapid weiht gain was broody and hormonal . Its probably not going to always work or work for every bird buts it an idea. Once you can already feel an egg or they lay an egg don't do this . As you want them to go ahead and finish the cycle and lay their eggs and no stress. Definitely offer calcium by cuttlefish bone and or eggshells that have been boiled . Healthy females on a good diet should be able lay normally.
 
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Laurasea

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Laurasea

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since we often have IRN questions stashing this useful link
 
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Laurasea

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Id been meaning to show examples of how to use a cheap digital kitchen scale for weights
So here are 4 techniques
Place burd on scale and hover hand above them ( didn't turn it on )
20220125_112853.jpg

Or zero out a sturdy dish with treats and have them stand on or in
20220125_113026.jpg

Or place a treat on scale then place bird on scale
20220125_113803.jpg

Or for an untamed budgie that you need to check weight. I usually have a long plastic pasta storage container i use, but used this so can see burd, I zero out first before putting bird in
20220125_115933.jpg
 
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Laurasea

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More nutrition stuff

Except from above article:
"Birds with calcium deficiency and nervous behavior including feather plucking will often show other serious and sometimes life threatening signs.

While all captive birds can experience African Grey's are exceptionally susceptible to the calcium deficiency. This is well documented in the literature."
BirdSupplies.com
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Calcium Deficiency in Parrots

EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BIRD CALCIUM FOR A HEALTHY, HAPPY BIRD​

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by Diane Burroughs September 08, 2021


LOW BIRD CALCIUM​

Hypocalcaemia, the term used for abnormally low calcium levels.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF LOW BIRD CALCIUM?​

• Heart disorders
• High cholesterol due to improper enzyme synthesis
• Muscular pain and contractions caused by weak nerves
• Rickets in young birds
• Difficulty in climbing cage walls and moving around due to muscle weakness
• Loss of balance
• Lack of co-ordination
• Trembling
• Nervousness
Parrot Feather Plucking
• Seizures
 
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Laurasea

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Not that common but good to know
 
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Now yeast
Has a nice graphic of bird's gi system

I've experienced yeast issues in twice in 2 different parrots.

The first was with my green cheek conure Ta-dah. Cause unknown, otherwise healthy adult female ~5yrs old.
Symptoms:
Feathers smelled like yeast
Weight loss ( at the time I didn't know, didn’t weigh my burds at that time)
Extremely mild Symptoms of
Mild tail bob at rest, the kind only a paranoid parront notices
Napped a couple of more times than her normal
Stopped taking daily baths ( she normally takes one almost daily)
Took her to an avian veterinarian.
Weight 69 grams( bought scale and started weighing her at this point, when she recovered her weight was 74 grams and has maintained thst weight for years since)
Vet said her 69 grams was normal and perfect ( ah nope)
Vet didn't see tail bob
Vet did smell yeast agreed she smelled like yeast
Vet said she is fine and healthy
I asked for cytology and culture ( preformed in house by unschooled labor that she trained, not a licensed veterinarian tech or lab tech) no yeast found.
I insisted that she is not fine.
Id spent 800 at this point
Vet gave an estimate for 1,800 of more tests she could run.......
If I'm going to a board certified avian veterinarian and paying top dollar i expect a higher quality of service. I found out her in house " lab" was not accredited. It was a way for her to charge higher prices, for poorer quality services. No quality control or oversight. https://a2la.org/accreditation/veterinary-testing/

Consulting another avian veterinarian. Treated for yeast, and fully recovered, gain weight, tail bob dissappear, started back her daily baths.

Second time in my Quaker Penny adult female 10plus years, fatty liver, ( history of neglect) following a very prolonged treatment of antibiotics for infection.
Symptoms:
Passive regurgitate multiple times a day
Loss of appetite
Would only eat small amounts of soft food
Seemed to act nauseous
Weight loss
Informed avian veterinarian
Started on nystatin
Started feeding baby burd formula
Fully recovered in about a week
 
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A quaker parrot dominance / social structure/behavior study!
Excerpt :
" Although both captive groups of Monk Parakeets developed hierarchies that were moderately linear, steepness values for both groups were very low, indicating that the outcome of aggressive interactions between adjacently ranked individuals was relatively unpredictable (Whitehead 2008). In comparison to other groups, Monk Parakeets have some of the lowest dominance steepness measures currently reported (Figure 8)"

" We found evidence that supported pairs as the fundamental unit of social structure, although these close associates were not always heterosexual breeding pairs and were sometimes trios."

" Parrots represent an intriguing possibility for comparative research on the origin and evolution of social complexity because they share many characteristics with hominids and other primates. Both parrots and primates have similar relative brain volumes (Iwaniuk et al. 2005), are long-lived (Austad and Fischer 1992, Munshi-South and Wilkinson 2006, Young et al. 2012), have extended developmental periods (Iwaniuk and Nelson 2003, Emery 2006), live in complex social groups (Dunbar and Shultz 2007, Hobson et al. 2013), and show evidence of advanced cognition (Iwaniuk et al. 2005, Roth and Dicke 2005). Parrots also share additional characteristics with humans, which display the highest social and cognitive complexity of any species (Wilson 1975, Herrmann et al. 2007). Parrots are among the few taxa that display vocal learning, which is a defining characteristic of humans but is not widespread in nonhuman primates (Jarvis 2004). The structure of socially learned parrot vocalizations often varies regionally (Wright 1996, Bradbury et al. 2001, Buhrman-Deever et al. 2007, Wright et al. 2008), and social factors are known to have a strong influence on vocal learning (Snowdon and Hausberger 1997, Bradbury et al. 2001, Salinas-Melgoza and Wright 2012). Because vocal learning is fundamentally a socially driven phenomenon, deeper understanding of why parrots learn calls from certain individuals could provide insight not only into factors that affect vocal learning in parrots, but also into the evolution of vocal learning and social complexity. The high fission–fusion dynamics likely present in many parrot species may also more closely resemble the high fission–fusion dynamics of human groups (Aureli et al. 2008) and may provide insight into the selection processes that drive sociality in our own species.

The present study of Monk Parakeet socioecology provides the first detailed account of social structure in any parrot species. Our results showing that Monk Parakeet social structure is built on the basis of preferred dyadic bonds, and linear, but shallow, dominance hierarchies are evidence that Monk Parakeets have individualized relationships. These individualized relationships are maintained despite potentially high fission–fusion dynamics. Individualized relationships also extend past the preferred pair bonds to involve other group members (Hobson et al. 2013). "
 
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Laurasea

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Amazons seem to be one of the more studied species.

 
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Sharing your life with parrots will make you a better person if you let it. You will learn tolerance, to read non verbal communication. That relationships are a continous LIVING thing, taking committed time together, shared experiences, positive affirmation, proving your trustworthiness every single day, Sharing, negotiating, compromise. Working through squabbles and then letting it go.

Parrots are highly social and dependant on each other and the flock society. And like humans their social structure is complex , individuals forming their own friendships and alliances, choosing their own mate based on their criteria.

So a big portion of their brains and life is dedicated to relationships.

A big part of that is communication! Studies show they name their babies, have regional dialect, accents.

So they are vocal , they contact call, they alarm call, calls for letting others know the found food/resources ...and much more.

But they also need to be able to communicate without calling the attention of predators. Or in the midst of a loudly shouting foraging/roosting flock . So they have highly evolved non verbal communications. Unlike any other species on earth, due to their intelligence, complex social structure, and prey status. Yes all creatures communicate nonverbal, but not to the extent/artform that parrots do.

Some of these communications are with feathers, how tight of fluffed they are from their body, flatting some or raising some, and ruffle others especially, especially nape or crest feathers, or around the beak. Also with tail feathers, flared, wagging, position raised, lowered, relaxed. Wings too. Changing the reflectivity, flashing colored feathers, changing the ultraviolet level during breeding possibilities of other as well. They can also adjust the sound their feathers make in flight. Doing stealth flying, or loud feather/flight sounds. To sneak in to steal something, avoid detection. Or to loudly announce they are coming in for a landing. Or to to be intimidating. Or loudly exploding in flight for alert alarm, confusing the predators

Eyes, many are probably familiar with eye pinning and they can control pupil size, looking with one or both.

Body movement /postion. Crouch, leaning, bobbing, stylized strut. Bouncing, jumping perch to perch.
snake neck or neck weaving, giraffe neck telescoping neck, or drawing it in a lot like a turtle, wing shrugs, wing cupping, wing twitches/tics, alternating wing rubs ( settling, relaxing, contentment), wing droop, varying tightness of wings to body, wing flapping/ drumming . Head height, head position, head tilted, head movements ( rapid head twitching in a gcc excitement or anger). Preening.

Beak positione, level of beak openess, tongue postion, tongue movements, letting tongue hang out a little( in gcc happy bliss), grinding , clacking, rubbing. Beak tip touching ( explore , taste) , beak clasping, beak grabs, beak sparing, beak banging, beak stabilization, yawning, beak bite intensity, beak pushing away ( hands, object) beak holding, and bites, scrape. Preening.

Feet, toe Tapp, lifting, reaching, shuffeling touching, grip intensity, drumming with object( black palm cockatoo for one),
Flashing/ flushing skin patches.

And so much more!

Make the effort to learn this. Practice. Observe. Video interactions and play back to see what you missed in real time. Watch YouTube or video of parrots. Some of us are naturals at this, and some of us are going to have to practice, all of us need to make the efforts.

Because miscommunication is a big problem between people and parrots. And they will turn more to biting if that's all we are understanding. And reading them helps with training, behavior modifications. Introducing people or other parrots.

So I will link some articles

 
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Laurasea

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I had this one in Penny's and my sick flock thread.
Its a good one as if you were like me, you didn't know systemic illness could cause our unique parrots eyes to change color. I saw this with chlamydiaosis
From above
" It is common for birds to have reddening of the eyes or surrounding structures alone with no other symptoms."
" And, since the sinuses are intimately associated with the eye, many birds will also have symptoms of upper respiratory tract disease, such as sneezing or nasal discharge."
  • Possible causes of red eyes include:
  • Bacterial infections. Bacteria can infect any portion of the eye and is a common cause of sinusitis. Common types of bacteria causing eye disease include: E. coli, pseudomonas, pasteurella, staphylococcus, streptococcus and mycoplasma.
  • Chlamydiosis. This is also known as Psittacosis or parrot fever.
  • Fungal infections. Aspergillosis,
 
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Laurasea

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I had this one in Penny's and my sick flock thread.
Its a good one as if you were like me, you didn't know systemic illness could cause our unique parrots eyes to change color. I saw this with chlamydiaosis
From above
" It is common for birds to have reddening of the eyes or surrounding structures alone with no other symptoms."
" And, since the sinuses are intimately associated with the eye, many birds will also have symptoms of upper respiratory tract disease, such as sneezing or nasal discharge."
  • Possible causes of red eyes include:
  • Bacterial infections. Bacteria can infect any portion of the eye and is a common cause of sinusitis. Common types of bacteria causing eye disease include: E. coli, pseudomonas, pasteurella, staphylococcus, streptococcus and mycoplasma.
  • Chlamydiosis. This is also known as Psittacosis or parrot fever.
  • Fungal infections. Aspergillosis,
Because I had to search so hard for that article.
Here are examples of that in Pikachu
Red hue, sick
20220405_092330.jpg

Normal
original_652b6018-0464-4e63-ad29-92aed8f3f8a2_20210219_111344.jpg

Its much more subtle in brown eyed birds like Ta-dah. This is her sick, notice tge darkness of her eye, plus the skin around her eye has darkened slightly or you might see a tint of pinkess all the way to red skin in some.
20210213_174032.jpg

Here normal. No its not just the light. I'm not sure if I kept more examples. And the pictures were shared and discussed / confirmed with my avian vet at the time
20210128_100912.jpg

once you have seen in person, you can tell better, the pupils become less distinct
 
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