Like other parrots, cockatiels are natural-born communicators. In their native Australia, cockatiels live in flocks, where contact calls are crucial to alerting others in the flock if a predator is too close for comfort. No doubt, there are many other vocalizations going on in a wild cockatiel flock — from happy foraging sounds to “Yes, you can perch here,” and “Did you hear that?” chirps and squawks.

Parrots typically are most vocal at sunrise and sunset, including cockatiels. However, that doesn’t mean a pet cockatiel will not vocalize intermittently throughout the day. In fact, a happy, playful cockatiel will not check the clock to see if it chirp or whistle time. Male cockatiels, in particular, are inclined to burst into a whistle song when the mood hits them, especially if they spy their reflection in a mirror or other reflective object like a lacquered vase; but that doesn’t mean they won’t whistle a song to just themselves or to you. Here are some common cockatiel sounds:

The Contact Call: “Where’d you go?!”

Cockatiels are social by nature and use vocal cues to warn of perceived threats and to keep the flock together.
Photo by Jim Bendon, Karratha, Australia

A pet cockatiel will most likely attempt to keep household members’ movements in check with contact calls. When you leave the room, your cockatiel responds with a chirp or sequence of chirps, as if to say, “Where are you going, and when will you be back?” A cockatiel’s contact calling isn’t strictly reserved for people the bird is affectionately bonded to. Even a “hands-off” cockatiel is inclined to send out a contact call from its perch spot in the cage when you leave the room. You can help put your cockatiel at ease by answering its contact call with a quick whistle back when you turn a corner out of its sight.

The Alarm Call: “Attention! Attention!”

A pet cockatiel might sound an alarm call if something startles it. This call is a louder, more intense chirp that continues until the bird calms down. Just about any sudden sound or movement, such as a truck rambling down the street, a crow flying past the window or a dog being walked on the sidewalk outside, can result in an alarm call. Inside the home, there are even more sights and sounds your cockatiel might feel the need to vocally comment on, such as when you move a chair across the room, sweep the floor, drop a dish or the phone rings.

Happy & Content

The sound of beak grinding is a telltale sign that a cockatiel is happy and relaxed. This is often accompanied by facial feathers that are fanned out over its beak and relaxed, fluffed body feathers. A sleepy cockatiel might grind its beak shortly before falling asleep.

Leave Me Alone!

An uptight cockatiel will have an uptight look — the feathers will be held tightly in — and it might also let out a quick hiss to show its disdain.  One sound you don’t want to hear from your cockatiel is “hissing.” A cockatiel that feels threatened might retreat to a corner of its cage or travel carrier and hiss like a snake. This is sometimes the case with cockatiels that are not used to interacting with people, such as an unsocialized cockatiel being brought from the pet store and into a new home. It is especially important to not force interaction if the cockatiel is frightened. Instead, allow the cockatiel time to adjust to its new environment.

Ready For Bed

A cockatiel might send out a bedtime call, such as some attention-grabbing chirps, when it is ready for some shuteye. It is your cockatiel’s way of reminding you to go to bed, too.

Inquisitive chirp

A cockatiel that is unsure of something might emit a single ”What was that?” chirp, as if it is not quite sure if what to make of the situation. This might be your cockatiel’s way of asking, “What do you think of that sound?”

Talking ’Tiels

Like most parrots, cockatiels are also capable of talking. A cockatiel’s vocabulary is generally not as extensive as other parrots, such as African greys and Amazon parrots, but some can be taught to say a few words or phrases, such as “Hello,” “Pretty bird,” “I’m a good bird,” etc. Male cockatiels are more inclined to speak than females. The key to getting a cockatiel to talk is to repeat a specific word or phrase and then moving on to another word/phrase once it masters it.

Your cockatiel vocalizes to communicate with you. Just as you would check to see why the dog is barking, you should also check to see why your cockatiel is squawking, especially if it sounds urgent. Is there a cat outside the window? Did something fall near its cage? And if your cockatiel is by itself in another room, its chirps might be its way of reminding you, “Hey, I’m over here … talk to me!”

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I really can’t remember when I first met Liz — it was so long ago. Avian medicine was in its infancy, and we would attend meetings and hang onto every word. Those words would provide clues that might help us save birds’ lives. There were few pieces of information written, so we relied on the experiences of others to help us move forward in the field of avian medicine.

Most meetings of the Association on Avian Veterinarians were small enough that you got to know those in attendance pretty quickly, and it was there that I first heard Liz talk. She came by her credentials from the road of experience — as a veterinary technician who had seen a lot of parrots and, like all of us, knew that we needed to help them adjust to a life in captivity.

She came to lecture to veterinary students and veterinarians back in the early ’90s at The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.  I think that was my first time to sit down with Liz over a period of days and talk ”parrot.” Her deep voice (a bit gravelly), quick wit, and even quicker assessment of the situation, were hallmarks.

I remember the first thing that Liz wanted all parrot owners to do when they first got their bird and especially if they were having a problem: she wanted them to take it to their avian vet! She needed them to learn from their vet the “bad birdie” diseases and how to keep them safe. We all knew then that husbandry issues – the lack of quality care, from food to cages – had a hand in killing birds. As a veterinary technician, Liz knew how important it was at getting care right. In a more recent conversation with her, we discussed that even fewer new bird owners, and even bird owners in general, do not seek yearly exams and help from avian veterinarians.

Liz was even more alarmed at Internet doctoring and many owners’ lack of general knowledge. She alluded to the hazard of Internet misinformation and mystery sources with her famous quote, “The danger with internet quotes is that they can rarely be verified…  Abraham Lincoln. ” With this, she again demonstrated her wit and cut-to-the-chase style of communication.  She knew that this problem has only escalated and is a detriment to parrots!

Another topic that we had recently discussed was her rewriting of the veterinary issue topics in her articles. The first issue is “Is it TRUE you can’t tell when a bird is SICK?”  She relates in one of her articles that a novice bird owner actually picked out a bird because he was “real nice and quiet.” Her recommendation was to … you guessed it … take your bird to your avian vet! As she related, it is NOT normal for a parrot to be quiet. And in this case the bird had psittacosis, a disease that can be transmitted to people and make them very sick! The point is that birds often have subtle symptoms when they are first sick, and these early warning signs are very important clues. That means that when an owner sees a bird on the bottom of the cage, the time to go to the vet … is NOW!

“When dogs are sick they stare at you with mournful eyes and they practically pull on your pant leg and say I DON’T FEEL GOOD! This is because (as a predator species) the body language is so different… and with birds the body language is unfamiliar.” Liz related that she had a problem with her female, blue-and-gold macaw, Sam, and so she took her to her avian vet. She said that she knew that there was a change but “telling the difference between a normal biological change and that a medical problem developing is the job of a competent avian veterinarian.”

As she told vet students so long ago, when working with owners she would refuse to work on their bird’s behavior problem until they had been “vetted,” that is, the bird was thoroughly examined by a veterinarian. She also insisted that birds go to qualified vets. In one of her articles, she related how a bird owner said her vet had told her that her bird had a runny nose due to an allergy. Liz, in her quintessential, direct manner, questioned the qualifications of “this vet! ” She stressed that the vet be “competent in avian medicine.” And to determine a vet’s competency, Liz had a routine question that she would pose to the receptionist — “What was the most recent continuing education avian veterinary seminar the vet attended?” As she said, there are fewer veterinarians who are willing to spend their own money and their own time to attend a continuing education seminar having to do with birds. Her attitude was “my own bird deserves state-of-the art medicine, and yours does too!”

Another issue that we discussed recently was her article, “The ToP 18 ways to drive an Avian Veterinarian CRAZY.” This is a classic article and those of us who only see birds and exotics really understand and unfortunately nod our heads in recognition, albeit sadly. Those words still rattle us vets 15 years later. One common item to share is number 5 from an owner: “Don’t do annual check-ups with their birds, only bring in a bird when there is an emergency.” Unfortunately, this still drives avian vets crazy. Birds deserve yearly exams just like dogs and cats!

I will always remember Liz at the podium discussing how we vets would grab birds up in a towel – acting, as she said, like a Harpy eagle! “And how and what does the parrot think?” she asked the veterinary audience with her eyes almost bulging! “No wonder they scream and are in a panic!” She went through a calm, slow approach with the towel, and we all benefitted.

Once she came to visit my avian and exotic animal hospital, and she patiently answered questions and worked with a variety of owners, from those wanting a 5-minute “silver bullet” session to ask questions about their birds to those who paid to spend an hour with her and their birds. She was able to assess and provide care from biters to screamers to complex problems. I remember how Liz replied to an owner who said her young Amazon parrot had not bitten her. “Yet!” was Liz’s one-word response. I often think of that word when owners say similar things. And I smile, and think ”Yet “in Liz’s voice.

Liz reminded us that parrots are intelligent sentient creatures. She wanted so much for humans and birds to live well together. Her words over the years ring true to all of us in our search to enhance the lives our companion birds. Liz was very special, just like the parrots that she loved. We will miss her words of wisdom.

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Swift parrot (photo by JJ Harrison)

World Migratory Bird Day (www.worldmigratorybirdday.org), which takes the second weekend in May, is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. The survival of migratory birds is closely tied to the availability of well-connected habitat networks along their migration routes. What about parrots, do they travel to one region or climate to another at specific times of the year?

Parrots do not migrate in the sense that they fly hundreds or thousands of miles during certain times of the year, such as during breeding season or before the onset of winter. Almost all parrots are sedentary, that is, they reside in an established range throughout the year. There are two parrot species, however, that do migrate in the truest sense of the word — the swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) and the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster).

Swiftest Fliers

Swift parrots, which are about the size of a lory but have a longer tail, breed in Tasmania in the autumn, and then migrate to mainland Australia in February and March. This journey takes them across the Bass Strait, a shallow channel of water approximately 150 miles wide that separates Victoria, Australia, from the island of Tasmania on the south. As their name suggests, swift parrots are fast fliers, and they travel the furthest of any parrot —reported to be as many as 1,243 miles (2,000 kilometers) a year.

The swift parrot’s migration follows the available abundance of food sources. They are nectar feeders, and like lories and lorikeets, they have a brush-like tongue. According to the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Services Department, swift parrots arrive in Tasmania in August/September to nest in eucalyptus tree hollows. There is also an abundance of blue gums eucalyptus, which flower in September to December (springtime in Tasmania); these are the months when swift parrots lay their eggs, which take a little over three weeks to hatch. The parrots and their fledglings have a plentiful supply of nectar from the flowering blue gums. Around March or April, swift parrots return to mainland Australia.

Orange-Bellied Parrot

Orange-bellied parrot
(photo by JJ Harrison)

The orange-bellied parrot, which is slightly larger than a budgie, also migrates from Australia to Tasmania, arriving around October and staying until the end of March before crossing the Bass Strait back to Australia at the start of winter (June, July, August). According to the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities , orange-bellied parrots migrate yearly from their  breeding site in south-western Tasmania, in a northward direction, along the western and north-western coast of Tasmania and through western Bass Strait to spend the non-breeding period on the Australian mainland. They return using the same route.

The orange-bellied parrot’s range in Tasmania is in coastal southwest, Tasmania, while the swift parrot’s is mostly in southeast Tasmania, but with a wider overall range. Unlike swift parrots, orange-bellied parrots are not nectar eaters; they eat regional seeds and grasses.

Critically Endangered

The swift parrot is currently listed as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List category; orange-bellied parrots are IUCN Red Listed as critically endangered. Unfortunately, both the swift parrot and the orange-bellied parrot face the same challenges many migratory bird species face — namely diminishing and/or changing habitats. Agricultural land clearing of blue gum eucalypts and suitable nest sites are main threats to swift parrots. BirdLife International lists their population as between 1,000 and fewer than 2,500 mature individuals.

BirdLife cites the clearance of more than 50 percent of the original grassy blue gum eucalyptus forest in the swift parrot’s breeding habitat and the selective logging of larger trees from the remaining forest patches as main threats to the species, as well as collisions with windows, vehicles, fences and other man-made obstacles. On the Australian mainland, agriculture, residential and commercial development is said to have had a significant impact on the swift parrot populations.

Orange-bellied parrots face even more challenges, especially since their breeding grounds are limited to a narrow stretch of land in Tasmania. A report by the Orange-Bellied Parrot Recovery team listed their population to be around 50 mature individuals as of June 2010.

According to BirdLife International, the primary threat to the orange-bellied parrot is fragmentation and degradation of overwintering habitat by grazing, agriculture and urban and industrial development. Competition for winter food availability with introduced seed-eating finches, and portions of its former breeding habitat being vacated because of a change in the fire regime are other possible threats.

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust (www.tct.org.au) has information for ways to help support the swift parrot and other native species. The orange-bellied parrot has a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/savetheobp) dedicated to helping its survival, as well as regularly updated photos of orange-bellied parrots in the wild.

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Many of us who share our homes with pet bird are pros at repurposing items. From using newspaper as cage liner, cardboard as chew toys, to wadded-up paper to hide foraging treats, we bird owners can be quite creative in our thriftiness.

Here are a few other items that can get a second life before going into the recycle bin.

Little Spoon/Big Help

Like to occasionally indulge in a Haagen-Dazs mini-cup ice cream treat or sample some of the 31 flavors at your local Baskin Robins ice creamery? Don’t toss the cute little plastic “spoon stick,” as it can come in handy when you need to scrape bird poop off of the cage surface and off of your bird’s toys or to break up dried poop from non-carpeted floors.  The little spoon’s design is compact enough so as not to break when you press down hard on it — it’s strong enough to handle the pressure needed to scrape away at droppings — and the blunted, hard-plastic edge is less likely to leave scratch.

A Perfect Place For A Placemat

When I came across this laminated placemat with a bull’s eye design, I knew exactly what to use it for … perfect for the poop drop zone beneath the cage.

Hold on to your old placemats if you buy new ones. A plastic or vinyl placemat can come in handy when placed under the spot your bird likes to perch while it is outside the cage. Many birds, for instance, enjoy perching on their opened cage door. Instead of a towel or rug to catch your bird’s droppings, try a plastic, laminated or vinyl placemat, which can be cleaned using less water and in less time. Simply rinse it down with warm water; no washing machine needed. While a newspaper also offers ease of use in this capacity, a placemat is more likely to stay in place if your bird flaps its wings or a breeze blows in from an open window or door. And a placemat will blend in better with your décor than yesterday’s news.

Another Reason To Stock Up On Nutri-Berries

Save your Lafeber Nutri-Berries, Premium Daily Diet, or Pellet Berries tubs to store toys, treats and your bird’s accessories. The 12-ounce tubs are a perfect place to stash foot toys and treats like millet spray. The 4- and 5-pound bucket tubs are big enough to store larger toys and other accessories like food cups, hidie huts/tents, flight harnesses and grooming supplies. Better yet, the tubs have flat tops, which makes them stackable to help you save on space. Use a Sharpie on the lid to write what’s inside the tub to keep them organized.

“Egg-Cellent” Forage Fun 

Use a clean, empty cardboard egg carton to create a fun foraging playground for your bird. An added bonus … the carton’s cup shape is a perfect fit for holding Nutri-Berries!  If your bird is an expert forager, you can close the lid for it to chew through to reach the treat-filled cups inside; for rookies, leave the lid open and cover the cups with shredded paper or tissue.

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I had the pleasure of working with many avian experts throughout my years as editor of Bird Talk magazine, but none was quite like avian behavioral consultant Liz Wilson. What made Liz stand out was her candid approach to teaching us the nuances of parrot behavior. Liz’s writing rarely needed editing because she always cut right to the chase; she didn’t inflate her words to come across as more scholarly. Instead, she gave us her common-sense approach to understanding our birds’ motivations. She often emphasized the cons more than the pros of opening our homes to a pet parrot because she felt obligated to discourage those who couldn’t deal with not having a “perfect parrot,” reminding us that people aren’t perfect, so why on earth would we put such unattainable expectations on any other living thing?

Liz was not shy about talking people down from buying or adopting a parrot if their reasons for doing so would likely end on a sour note for both the person and the parrot. According to Liz, if you wanted a parrot that talks, you’re better off buying a radio to listen to because not every parrot chooses to talk and you have to be OK with that (Liz liked to emphasize certain words with italics so we wouldn’t gloss over them.). If you wanted a bird because they are pretty, Liz suggested you buy a beautiful stuffed animal of a bird to look at because birds are so much more than eye candy. Make no mistake, however; Liz did not have a “holier-than-thou” mentality. She was as self-depreciating as they come, and she freely admitted each and every mistake she made during the four decades she shared with her beloved female blue-and-gold macaw, Sam. Liz was OK with bird owners making mistakes; she just didn’t want us repeating them.

In the more than 10 years I worked with Liz, I can’t recall her missing a single deadline; in fact, she usually turned her assignment in a few days early. She infused enough wit and charm into her writing to keep us wanting more.

Liz once mentioned that she always bought one new item while out grocery shopping — a new vegetable, spice, tea condiment, etc. — even if it was something she’d likely not buy again, just to broaden her horizons. She said she loved the fact that life is full of endless possibilities. I can’t think of a better way to honor Liz than to make it our mission to see what life has to offer and to extend that opportunity to our pets.

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Liz’s family generously shared with us a little about her beginnings.

Liz Wilson was born in Birmingham, Ala., and her family also lived in Scarsdale, NY, Paris, France, and Connecticut. Liz graduated from DePauw University in Indiana, and later graduated from the vet tech program at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., where she was an adjunct faculty member for many years. Liz also worked extensively with wildlife rehabilitation for seven years.

With prior training in elementary education and psychology, Liz began working with companion parrot behavior in 1989 and gained recognition internationally as a parrot behavior consultant thanks to her engaging lectures at avian veterinary and avicultural conferences, and at bird clubs both in the United States and Europe. She challenged bird owners to take a closer look at their own behavior as a catalyst for their birds’ behavior and offered a realistic glimpse at the benefits and challenges of sharing one’s life with a pet parrot. Liz wanted people to open their hearts and homes to a pet parrot for all the right reasons and didn’t shy away from talking someone out of getting a pet bird if it wasn’t in the bird’s best interest. In her articles, Liz often lovingly referred to her husband David Hearn, as well as her beloved 60-plus-year-old blue-and-gold macaw, Sam.

Liz’s passion to expand the avicultural community’s understanding of parrot behavior inspired her to establish the Association of Parrot Behavioral Professionals in 2001, which fostered collaboration among her colleagues, as well as created an invaluable source of information for bird owners. In 2005, she moved this organization into the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) where it became its Parrot Division.

Liz was dedicated to parrot welfare, education and helping re-home parrots in need. She was the Education Vice President of the Phoenix Landing Foundation, a position she held since 2004, and was also a member of the Parrot Education and Adoption Center (PEAC) and served on the adoption committees for both its San Diego, CA and Anchorage, AK, chapters.

“Over the years I’ve met many people who had their views shaped by a simple truth spoken in raw honesty by Liz. Since she was dedicated to the life of the parrot, she was not patient with those who thought a situation was all about them, or that they did something right and the parrot did it wrong. That’s a good thing; parrots need this kind of advocate, someone who doesn’t dance around the edges of the hard issues. Parrots often pay the price for our stupidities, and Liz was bound and determined to help people get ahead of those, for the parrot’s sake. Liz, I really don’t know yet what we are going to do without you, as a friend and as a colleague. But I promise you, Phoenix Landing will always put the birds first, and we will do our best to promote education in your honor and good name.  Love always to you and all the parrots now by your side.

Much of her life revolved around the avian community and what she could do to make a difference. Her writings have transcended generations of bird keepers and have educated people around the world.  She was loved and admired by colleagues, friends and  clients.

Clockwise: Liz Wilson, Maggie Wright, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Dr. Laura Wade- ABVP, Dr. Cyndi Brown- ABVP, Rose Lawlor and
Lisa A Bono, ACPBC, at the Alex Foundation Fundraiser 2005

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Avian Ocular Anatomy & Physiology

Birds are the most visually dependent class of vertebrates. Even though humans are highly visual, the information transmitted to our brains is only 40 percent of that transmitted by pigeons and chickens. Birds of prey have even greater visual acuity. Pigeons can discern subtle color differences, and other avian species are able to record and remember over 6,000 images of caches where food is stored.

Eye position in birds can be lateral in the skull or directed frontally, particularly in predator species such as raptors. Species with laterally placed eyes, such as parrots, have a larger visual field (300^o for pigeons) versus frontally directed eyes (150^o for barn owls). However, as the visual field increases, binocular vision decreases. In binocular vision, both eyes focus on the same object, and eye movement is coordinated. Monocular vision occurs when only one eye is focused on one object at any particular moment. That type of vision is the norm for our parrots.

The eyeball consists of the small anterior cornea, a variable intermediate region, characterized by scleral ossicles and the posterior sclera. These sclera ossicles provide the rigid shape to the eyes of birds, which is not the way mammal eyes get their shape.  Types of eyeballs include:

• Flat eyeball — diurnal birds (active during the daytime) with narrow heads; a short bulbar axis results in a small visual image on the retina and lessened visual acuity.
• Globular eye—diurnal birds with wider heads, including passeriforms, most parrots and birds of prey; a cone-shaped intermediate region results in greater visual acuity
• Tubular eye—nocturnal birds of prey; the intermediate region is relatively elongated.

The shape of the avian retina is relatively flat, meaning that its surface lies near the point of focus for all directions of incident light. The wall of the eyeball consists of:

• Outer fibrous tunic — cornea and sclera
• Middle layer — vascular layer
• Inner layer — nervous (retinal) layer

Fibrous Tunic

The outermost layer, or fibrous tunic, maintains the shape of the eye. The cornea is relatively small, particularly in underwater swimmers. It is strongly curved in tubular and globular eyes. The refractive index between the air and the cornea is relatively larger compared with that between the water and cornea, and is nearly the same underwater.

The sclera in birds is reinforced with a continuous layer of hyaline cartilage, except at the scleral ossicles. These ossicles form a continuous ring of overlapping bones that support and form a base of attachment for the ciliary muscles. Mammals maintain their eye pressure with the fluid that is made internally. Birds also make fluid in their eyes, and this fluid is drained out by the scleral venous sinus, or canal of Schlemm. This sinus is at the sclerocorneal junction or limbus of they eye, and it needs to stay open to drain fluid or it will cause an increase in pressure like in mammals that get glaucoma.

Vascular Tunic

The middle layer of the eye consists of a continuous layer — the vascular tunic. It is composed of the choroid, ciliary body and iris. The choroid tends to be thick, highly vascular and darkly pigmented, and it provides a significant portion of the nutrition to the eye. The tapetum lucidum, a highly reflective surface in many species, has been observed in only a few species of birds —the goatsuckers, which are nocturnal. The choroid continues as the ciliary body and then the iris.

The ciliary body suspends the lens with its processes, the ciliary processes and its fibers, the zonular fibers that encircle the lens. The ciliary processes are pressed firmly against the lens with its muscles that provide accommodation. These muscles are striated in birds, and they are directly attached to the lens capsule. This unique feature allows birds to rapidly adjust their vision as they fly. These muscles are most highly developed in hawks because they require rapid accommodation as they descend in a dive to hit their prey target with great accuracy.

Accommodation is much different in birds compared with mammals. In mammals, the ciliary muscles result in a passive change of the thickness of the lens. Birds, however, use a variety of active mechanisms for accommodation of the lens. These mechanisms include:

• Using the posterior sclerocorneal muscle to force the ciliary body actively against the lens to change its shape
• Using the anterior sclerocorneal muscles to distort the center of the cornea (hawks, owls)
• Having a softer lens with powerful sclerocorneal muscles to force the lens to bulge through the pupil (diving birds). Water reduces vision because there is no longer corneal refraction, which accounts for 20 diopters.

The iris is often dark but may be highly colored. Male cockatoos often have a black iris, while females have a brown one.

The pupil is commonly rounded; pupils with an irregular margin may result from avian leukosis. Pupillary size is regulated by striated, rather than smooth muscles — the sphincter and dilator muscles of the pupil. Movement and size are rapidly changed in birds, but because of willful movement, a bird’s pupils often not respond to light in a pupillary exam because of stress. Birds also have the ability to regulate the quantity of light reaching the retina by migration of pigment in special cells embedded into the retina. With light adaptation, the pigment migrates to shield the receptor cells.

Lens

As indicated, the lens of birds is softer than that of mammals to provide rapid accommodation. Part of this softness results from the lens vesicle, which is fluid-filled. It lies between the annular pad (Ringwulst) and the body of the lens. The annular pad encircles the equator of the lens and is most pronounced in diurnal predators. In primates, the lens filters light below 400 nm, making it impossible to detect ultraviolet light. On the other hand, birds are able to visualize wavelengths down to 350 nm, allowing them to visualize many things we cannot. They are able to discern males from females in what we think are sexually monomorphic species. They can detect ripeness of food items because of this quality and hawks can visualize urine trails of mice. Now that is something very different than mammals and provides them with unique abilities to see things that we cannot see.

Retina

The retina of birds is relatively thickened and does not contain blood vessels, as occurs in mammals. This allows the entire space to pack in more “pixels” to see with. The retina consists of a non-nervous pigmented epithelium and a nervous layer composed of rods, cones, bipolar cells and ganglion cells. The ganglion cells collect to form the optic nerve at the optic or blind spot.

The rods and cones are the receptors in the retina. Rods are sensitive to the intensity of light, so nocturnal birds have mostly rods. In order to increase sensitivity to low amounts of light, several rods synapse with a single bipolar cell and several bipolar cells synapse with a single ganglion cell. However, the sensitivity of the owl’s eye may be due to its ability to gather more light (2½ times brighter than humans). Their ability to hunt in near darkness may result from their sense of hearing.

Cones are responsible for visual acuity and color vision. In diurnal passerines and predators, one cone synapses with a single bipolar cell, which synapses with a single ganglion cell. This one-to-one projection to the brain greatly enhances visual acuity, or the sharpness of detail.

Factors that affect visual acuity include:

• Relatively large eye
• Accuracy of focus on the regions of the retina because of the shape of the eye (ie, tubular)
• Magnifying capacity of the fovea
• Absence of blood vessels
• The visual acuity or one-to-one projection of receptor cells to ganglion cells
• Amount of contrast between an object and its background

The central area of the retina is the place of maximal optical resolution and may have a fovea. This fovea is commonly deeper than that of primates, thereby increasing visual acuity. The fovea may have one of three arrangements:

• A single, round central area in each eye, close to the optic axis. A horizontal central area is present in water birds and those that live in open plains, which allows the eye to fix the horizon at its reference point.
• Two foveate areas — one in the central area and a laterally situated temporal one. This is common in fast-moving birds, which require accurate perception of distance at relatively high speeds.
• A single foveate area temporally placed, as in owls.

Color Vision

There are three visual pigments in birds, with a possible fourth, that are sensitive to near ultraviolet wavelengths. In birds, cones additionally have an oil droplet within them with five different absorbency spectra. The droplets’ function is not entirely known, but they may directly produce color vision or may enhance contrast by acting as intraocular filters. For example, yellow droplets could remove much of the blue from the background, increasing contrast between an object and the blue sky.

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This is Part 3 of Liz Wilson’s series on accidental rewards. Please also read “Part 1: What Are You ActuallyRewarding?”  and “Part 2: Excessive Screaming.”

Several years ago, I regularly groomed a very sweet African grey parrot named Tommy (not his real name). Our relationship entailed some sweet talk and a gentle towel wrap, plus the trimming of his wing feathers and nails ‑ nothing more than that. During the years that I worked with him, Tommy never tried to bite me. So I was understandably quite startled when his owner started complaining that Tommy was biting her. Amazed, I asked, “What are you doing that’s getting him to bite?” The answer was, “Nothing!”

There is no such thing as a parrot biting for no reason. No such thing. It is, however, common for a parrot to bite for no reason that humans understand. BIG difference.

I questioned the owner further, and it turned out that Tommy was most prone to bite when the owner was petting him. So I asked, “Does Tommy gently push your hand away when you are petting him?” The owner looked surprised and said, “Yes.” Indeed, Tommy would push her hand away repeatedly before he would bite. When queried further, the owner said that when Tommy bites her, she goes away.

The owner obviously did not recognize that by pushing her hand away, Tommy was very courteously asking the owner to stop. By continuing to pet the grey despite the parrot’s gracious requests, the owner was clearly sending the message that Tommy’s opinions do not matter.

I explained the ABC approach of applied behavior analysis in more detail in Part I of this little series, titled What Are You Actually Rewarding? Briefly stated, A = Antecedent, or what comes right before the target behavior; B = target Behavior; C = Consequence, or reason why the behavior continues. Applying this formula to Tommy’s situation, we have the following:

A = Owner is petting Tommy when he does not wish to be petted

B = Tommy bites

C = Owner stops petting him and goes away

So this well-meaning but clueless owner is teaching her very sweet grey that biting is the only means of communication that she understands.

Improved Communication

My friend and colleague, Certified Parrot Behavior Consultant Jamie Whitaker, points out that parrots use their beaks to express their feelings. As she put it, “A bite isn’t automatically a statement about likes and dislikes as much as it is a way to communicate something.”

Years ago, many of us who worked as parrot behavior consultants talked about “taking a bite,” that getting bitten was a part of living with parrots. While I still feel that way to a small degree, my focus now is on preventing the bite, not surviving it.

Preventing a bite means finding better ways to interact successfully with your parrot. If you watch its body language and are sensitive to its feelings, your parrot will not need to resort to biting. After all, a parrot is not a little automaton that we own. It is an intelligent and sentient creature that has its own opinions. If it is pushing your hand away, or leaning away from your hand, your parrot is very emphatically telling you that it does not like what you are doing. So you need to stop immediately and find another approach.

Does this mean, as some people have said, that you should never make a parrot do anything it does not want to do? Of course not. Life isn’t like that. If my house is on fire, I’m not going to ask my blue-and-gold macaw Sam if she feels like coming out of her cage so we can evacuate. But instead of battling daily over every little thing, a much better approach is to teach your parrot to choose to do what you wish it to do.

Non-Confrontational Approaches

Many decades ago when I was asked how to deal with biting, I would happily rattle off a formulaic, one-size-fits-all response. Then I gained more experience and the more I learned the more I realized my early approach was wrong. If you have a parrot that bites you, you need to figure out WHY or you will never successfully resolve the problem. Once you figure out the why, changing what leads up to the bite is often all you need to do to eliminate the behavior.

One client had a small parrot that would only bite when she tried to step the bird off the kitchen table after breakfast. Further questioning revealed that she would then give the bird a bath and he didn’t like bathing. Once she patiently taught the bird to enjoy having a bath, the problem was resolved.

Another client’s parrot bit him when he tried to step it up off the top of its cage. It is natural for a parrot to be territorial, so he needed to work with the bird away from the cage. He taught it that stepping up politely ALWAYS earned it something it really enjoyed, like a tiny bit of a sunflower seed. Once again, the issue went away.

A third client’s parrot would get rowdy and aggressive when she had visitors. This problem was easily resolved by not trying to handle the bird when strangers were present. Once the bird settled down and the client recognized it was simply afraid, she figured out how to keep the parrot feeling safe when new people were around. When the bird gained sufficient confidence that it was not being threatened, its defensive aggression disappeared.

Simplistic Approaches

Due to the space limitations of this column, I have offered simplistic explanations for resolving what are often complicated problems. The important message is stop trying to change a behavior before you have any understanding of what is triggering it. Using the ABC approach is an extremely valuable tool for analyzing a situation. Once analyzed, it is often clear how you need to change circumstances to resolve the problem.

The post Rewarding The Wrong Thing—Part 3: Accidental Rewards for Aggression appeared first on Lafeber Cares - Pet Bird Food.

When a pet bird has a change in or loss of voice, this will localize lesions to the trachea, or more specifically the syrinx. The syrinx is the “voice box” of the bird, a collection of membranes and muscles located at or near the tracheal bifurcation (the termination of the trachea, where it divides into two principal bronchi). When compared to the cat or dog, the bird trachea is relatively wide until the level of the syrinx. The airway normally narrows at this point, creating turbulent airflow. This turbulence means that some disease agents, such as an inhaled foreign body or Aspergillus spores, are most likely to drop out in the syrinx.

Signs of Tracheal or Syringeal Disease

Signs of tracheal disease are usually not very subtle and may involve cough-like noises and gurgling breath sounds. When the syrinx is the site of disease, common findings include a loss of voice or a change in voice. Birds often emit a high-pitched squeak or clicking sound with each breath. In some cases, these noises can be heard for days or weeks before the bird becomes truly dyspneic (has difficult or labored breathing).

Signs of dyspnea, or increased respiratory effort, include open-mouth breathing, increased sternal motion, tail bobbing, and/or tachypnea (rapid breathing). The bird might also hold its wings away from its body and sit in a wide-based stance.

Tracheal disease is usually seen in conjunction with upper or lower respiratory problems. Therefore, it is possible that a pet bird can have more subtle signs of illness, such as a fluffed and ruffled appearance and a prolonged respiratory recovery rate (RRR). A bird that takes longer than three to five minutes to breathe normally after being manually restrained has a prolonged RRR. A prolonged RRR may be observed with a host of problems, including respiratory disease, obesity and/or heart disease.

Important Differential Diagnoses

There are only a few diseases that commonly cause tracheal disease in birds. The likelihood of each condition can vary depending on the bird’s species and medical history:

1. Aspergillosis
Fungal infection caused by Aspergillosis fumigatus is a very important cause of tracheitis in raptors. Aspergillosis is less common in companion parrots; however, disease is more prevalent in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), Amazon parrots (Amazona spp.), Pionus parrots (Pionus spp.) and macaws. The likelihood of a fungal infection is increased if the bird is housed in an environment in which there is poor sanitation, high relative humidity and high temperatures, which can increase the load of fungal spores. A bird with a weakened immune system due to steroid administration or concurrent illness (particularly when treatment involves long-term antibiotics) is also at greater risk for aspergillosis.

2. Exposure to Mites/Worms
Sternostoma tracheacolus mites of the trachea, air sacs, and lungs are seen in the Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae), and less frequently in canaries (Serinus spp.). In addition to difficulty breathing, wheezing, squeaking and loss of voice, clinical signs can also include sneezing, nasal discharge and head shaking.

Syngamus trachea is a nematode, which can be found in the tracheas of backyard poultry, pheasants, guinea fowl, and many wild birds, such as corvids. Infection occurs either by direct ingestion of the third-stage (L3) larvae or through ingestion of a paratenic host, such as an earthworm. Therefore, infection is much more common in birds with access to the outdoors. The smaller male and larger female worms are locked in a state of permanent copulation creating a characteristic “Y” shape. Young birds are most severely affected as the worms migrate through the lungs, leading to pneumonia. Adult worms attach to the trachea and bronchi, where lymphoid nodules form at the points of attachment. Hemorrhaging and formation of large quantities of mucus can plug the trachea leading to dyspnea, gasping or gaping, asphyxiation and even death. Pheasants seem particularly susceptible, with mortality rates approaching 25% in some outbreaks.

3. Foreign Body Inhalation

Mechanical obstruction of the trachea can occur secondary to inhalation of foreign bodies, such as seeds or seed hulls. Inhalation of millet seed seems to occur most commonly in cockatiels or similarly sized birds. Onset of clinical signs is often peracute in the bird suffering from a seed foreign body. The bird might appear completely fine until respiratory distress suddenly develops while the bird eats.

4. Goiter/Iodine Deficiency

Goiter is an important cause of voice change or voice loss in the budgerigar, or parakeet (Melopsittacus undulates). Goiter, or iodine deficiency develops, in “budgies” fed all-seed diets lacking vitamin/ mineral supplementation. Clinical signs develop secondary to compression of the trachea and/or crop by the enlarged thyroid gland. In addition to a clicking respiratory noise, voice change and dyspnea, affected birds might also regurgitate.

What To Expect: Care & Treatment
A change in your bird’s voice or loss of voice, as well as any sign of labored breathing, warrants a prompt checkup by your avian veterinarian. If the bird is dyspneic (has labored breathing), the clinician’s initial response is often hands off. Dyspneic birds can die soon after presentation with the additional stress of restraint. Therefore, the veterinarian or clinic staff will want to minimize handling and place the bird in an oxygen-rich environment. If the bird is in a relatively small cage, the vet can place the entire cage within a large oxygen cage.

While the bird is resting, a complete health history can be obtained.

After taking a complete history and providing supplemental oxygen, the bird may improve enough to handle an abbreviated physical examination. The avian veterinarian might order whole body radiographs that include the trachea, as well as a complete blood count, and other diagnostic tests.

About the author: Dr. Christal Pollock is a veterinary consultant for Lafeber Company. Dr. Pollock completed an internship in small animal medicine and a residency at the University of Tennessee in avian and zoological medicine before working as a clinical instructor in the zoological medicine service at Kansas State University. She is board-certified in avian medicine and serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery. 

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