Climate Change? No Problem!

As the mornings are getting colder and colder, many animals will leave for the winter or hibernate. The gray flycatchers that I mentioned in my previous blog (Companionship) are no longer visiting Sonny's cage, and I've noticed that it impacts Sonny's mood when she is outside. Sonny acts as if she is in a bad mood if the other birds are not around. Now, Sonny has shown me something that truly stands out, she has proven to me that the cold doesn't bother her at all. Being a tropical parrot like she is, I always thought she hated cold weather, but I was wrong because every morning she always wants to be taken outside even though the temperature is only around forty-five degrees around seven in the morning.

I've been scratching my head at Sonny liking the cold, and I don't fully understand what she is thinking wanting to be outside really early every morning. I began thinking to myself, "Why does she enjoy this? Your kind naturally thrives in jungles, not the cold mountains of Oregon!" But, as it turns out most parrot species are designed to withstand up to freezing temperatures. South Carolina avian veterinarian, Gregory Burkett said, "In my experience most pet birds' comfort range is 65-90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, they can withstand a much broader range of 30-80 degrees Fahrenheit." "Last winter, when my workplace lost power, the facility dropped to 42 degrees Fahrenheit for three days with no damaging effect on any of the birds. Even babies that were still in brooders seemed happy and were playing and eating,” Dr. Burkett said. So, some parrots are more than happy to be playing and flying around in the cold.

 

Field Notes 11/5/14

Dr. Burkett has also bred cockatoos in his indoor/outdoor aviary in South Carolina  for more than two decades. In the winter, the indoor "building” part of the aviary is heated to just 38 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This is connected to a larger, unheated outdoor flight. During the daytime, the birds can choose to spend their time in the indoor or outdoor sections of the aviary. "Most of the birds will spend a few hours outdoors on sunny days all winter long,” Burkett related. "The Australian cockatoos enjoy playing in the snow and will venture outdoors even when the temperature dips to single digits.” Parrots can handle almost any type of temperature, all they need is time to adjust.

Finding out about how these parrots just need a little time to adjust to any climate reminds me of people. People also adjust to the climates that they are exposed to, whether it be hot and humid or cold and windy, humans always find a way around that and survive. Survival is the ultimate task for every living thing in the animal kingdom, which is similar to humans because survival is essential to everything, the need for reproduction is key for all animals and humans. Adjusting to the environment, ensures the survival of your race.

 

Works Cited

Burkett, Gregory. "Ideal Temperature Ranges for Parrots." National Geographic Magazine. Simon Kovacic. Oct 2012. Web. Nov 8, 2014.

Body Language

Understanding what a parrot is trying to tell you can be very challenging, especially since mine can't talk. But, their body language is essential to having a healthy relationship with them. I've always wondered what all the head shaking, pacing back and forth, the head bobbing, and all these weird stuff meant for birds. There is a reason for all of it, so I dug a little deeper into it and found some interesting information. Turns out a parrot wags their tail like a dog, because of excitement. Bobbing their head is a way of getting attention, which makes sense because Sonny is a diva! I used to say to Sonny, "You're one weird and disturbing bird!" But now I have an idea of what Sonny was trying to communicate with me.
Visit peteducation.com for more info.

 

Field Notes 10/30/14 

 

Parrots actually know what hand their owner is dominant with, and I know this for a fact because every time I approach Sonny, she always turns towards my right side, which is the hand I wright with. Some parrots will only stand on the person's dominant hand because they know that is the strongest hand, and a parrot always wants to stand on a strong perch. This is pretty awesome for a bird to automatically know that about their owner.

 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVj-R_hXeuA

 

Sonny is very playful, which again is an important sign of her body language. She does certain moves indicating whether how playful she will be. Unfortunately, she is too camera shy, and she is terrified of the camera, she won't play when the camera is recording. She has a tolerance level with photography, but the key in filming birds is to make the bird feel safe and natural in the surrounding environment.

 

                                  http://www.cockatielcare.co.uk/cockatiel_information.html

I think it's a great learning experience to understand a bird's body language because there is always new material to learn, and these birds are very funny as well. I feel very lucky to have a cockatiel, they might be the best pets a person could have.

Works Cited



Moustak, N. Parrots for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons Inc. New York, NY. 2005. Web. November 1, 2014.