Revising my birds' nutrition.

One of the things I try to be consistent about with my birds is making sure they are eating the right foods and receiving plenty of variation in their diets. Animal nutrition is not necessarily an intuitive part of pet ownership. Many bird owners may not understand what they're feathery little friend naturally eats in the wild, how it should be adjusted for captive birds, or how the energy from that food gets used in either case.

Take wild and feral doves for example. Doves spend a good portion of their day flying from one foraging spot to another. You often see them crowded around city parks, posturing, cooing and pecking at the ground in search of food. What you probably aren't thinking about as your contemplating luring them closer with the discarded crust from your sandwich, are the intimates of their daily digestive battle. How much do they need to find to eat every day? How much of that energy do they use getting from one food source to another? How are they producing that much bird crap?

The truth of the matter is that there is isn't really all that much of a difference between out pet birds and their wild counterparts, except for maybe what we feed them, and how we do it. While it is important to understand what your dove would be eating in the wild, it is also necessary to factor in how captive life can necessitate a change in diet.

For instance, my doves still eat a good proportion of grains. However, they are both largely sedentary birds. Feeding them a high fat diet of seeds and grains may lead to undesirable behavior, and obesity that could cause more health issues down the line, at least according to my avian vet. Honestly, I agree.

I initially began to work on diet plans for my pigeons after the blind one began laying eggs. I was understandably worried for her health. Egg laying is very hard on a female birds body, let alone a bird that is already immune compromised. The last thing I wanted was for it to become a problem. One of the big recommendations my vet made among others (Which I'll cover more extensively in another post) was a change to a leaner diet. I carefully recorded his recommendations and that evening set to work designing a new meal plan for my Hens.

This wasn't something entirely new for me. I had already gone through this revision process several times with my Green cheek conure who started out on a balanced pellet with fruits and veggies on the side. It wasn't long before encouragement from other parrot lovers convinced me to try to improve her diet in any way I could. It became a lot of tweaking, revising, and comparing foods, and in it's more current form seems to be doing what I need it to. I have tried to better suit her needs as well as provide her a healthy variety of dried and fresh foods that I can prepare ahead of time.

So, how did I go about that process? Talking to my vet was a start. Not all veterinarians specialize in nutrition, and even among vets there are conflicting opinions on some things. But despite this, there are typically staples that all avian vets can agree upon, such as a general lexicon of what and how much your bird should be eating. This is a good place to start.

Feral rock does typically eat between 15-20% of their body weight each day. They also eat mainly a high energy, high fat diet of seeds and grains, with a smattering of fruits, vegetable matter and the occasional insect, (and in the city things like french fries and bread but I digress). A high fat diet such as this is important for a bird that spends the majority of its day on the move, essentially filling up on calories to burn calories. This high fat diet is important because these birds have such high metabolisms. They also have other things to contend with such as territory and resource defense, posturing for mates, raising young, and evading predators.

While captive birds still have that fast metabolism they don't always have much else going on. Sure racing birds, or stabled birds allowed to free fly will have similar needs to wild birds as far as food consumption goes. Hell, even birds in personal aviaries are sometimes allowed to raise young, which would require higher caloric intake. But the majority of lone or coupled pet birds, or small flocks kept in small aviaries and not allowed to breed, really don't have a need for such a high calorie diet.

Take my girls for example. They're indoor doves. They spend a lot of their time in their cages, and come out to play or hang out frequently. One is mostly blind and the other can't be arsed to do much flying. Even when I take her outside on a lead she's more content to snuggle up in the crook of my arm and enjoy the view than get any real exercise. I encourage my birds to stretch an exercise, just like I encourage them to bathe frequently. But the reality of the situation is that they just don't need those extra calories.

So instead of decreasing the volume of food they are consuming, I increased the amount of leafy greens and veggies comprising that volume. Their current diet is much better suited to their comfortable, warm, mostly sedentary lifestyle. They still eat 20% of their body weight, but the ratio has been shifted to be more conducive to their health, and keep them on the leaner end of the spectrum. There weigh has shifted and become stable accordingly, and my vet seems happy so I might as well be too. After all, I don't want them laying eggs, and they don't have a legitimate need to expend the energy necessary to warrant a high fat diet anyway.

What basically started as a way to curve egg-laying in one of my hens ended up being a pretty big, and exciting project for me. I plan to write an update here pretty soon detailing my bi-monthly bird food routine. That will also include the what of what goes into my mixes for both the pigeons and the parrot. 

Back on track with an introduction to my birds.

Lets jump right back in with how life has been going for me since Sarvey.

Shortly after leaving Sarvey I took a interesting turn in my work with animals. I ended up participating in an internship of sorts working with horses. It was a very short, temporary thing, but I figured varied experience would be a plus on my resume so there was no reason not to get some large animal experience in. The
internship didn't turn out to be quite what I expected though, and it taught me a pretty good lesson about making the best out of opportunities that may not be quite as ideal as you'd hoped, and knowing when to quit. It was definitely my time to quit. I can't really go into it too much to preserve the sanctity of my experience, but it was a challenge, and I've decided that horses are really not my thing.

Another thing I've neglected to mention in my previous blogs is that I've picked up a few birds along the way. Two pigeons and a little Green cheek Conure. The pigeons were surprise rescues, and Conure was something I considered and researched for a year before taking on. So, I may as well introduce the birds.

Matilda

Matilda was my first feathered companion. She came to me as a previously feral (and terrible at it) rescue, and for the first 10 months Our relationship was pretty rocky. She was the first bird I'd ever owned, though I'd worked with pigeons for awhile beforehand, and I was still figuring things out. She didn't like being handled or touched, which I was perfectly fine with, but at the same time she had a tendency to panic when I approached the cage, and I was worried about the implications of such behavior long-term. I ended up deciding that my ultimate goal was to get on her good side.  

I realized early on that she liked music, and her taste was actually pretty good, (Much better than my Conure's). She would sit at the edge of her cage, with the door open and coo happily to songs she liked. Sometimes she'd get brave enough to venture out on to the carpet, and would do a silly little neck wobble each time as if (and forgive the anthropomorphism) she was proud of herself for pushing her boundaries. In reality, I have no idea why she wobbles her neck. She only seems to do it when she's stressed. 

What really got her to come around was food in the end. Pigeons and Dove's are pretty food driven, and Tilda loves her seed. Offering her nothing but food from my hand seemed to tame her pretty fast. Within two days actually. After that she was extraordinarily friendly. Friendly to the point of suspicion. She would run into my hand, and preen it furiously while grunting and flicking her wings. The behavior confused me at first. I eventually settled on the idea that it was some sort of mating behavior, as she also allowed me to start petting her at around this point, as well as 'preen' her pinfeathers. Shortly after that she stepped up for me for the first time. 

Nowadays she's a pretty happy, well-adjusted bird. She still displays the same preening and flicking behavior she did several months ago. I can get her into a harness, and take her for walks (She prefers to ride in the crook of my arm), and she's relatively spoiled. 

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Dominika

First day home

I first encountered Dominika as a naked squeaking little squab with a great big life ahead of her. It became apparent early on that she was having trouble adapting though. She didn't pick up "big bird" food for weeks after the other squabs, and putting her in with accomplished seed pickers didn't seem to give her the right ideas. She never tried to fly either. She was just barely figuring out the seed thing by the time her voice was starting to change. It wasn't until I brought her home shortly after this and she walked off of a table that I realized that she had trouble seeing. All the pieces fell into place. 

Enjoying the rain

When I first brought her home, she was still a lovable little squeaker, sometimes honker as her voice was about halfway through changing. She was great at cuddling, and super sweet. As she matured she started to act more like an adult pigeon and got less and less tolerant of attention. Her vision issues meant I couldn't approach the situation the same way I did with Matilda. So instead I've worked mainly on getting her used to me doing things in certain ways to keep her stress minimal. I still get the occasional bite and twist though. At least pigeon bites aren't so bad. 

Once I've taken her out of the cage she settles down quite a bit though, and she's still a fantastic little bird. Sometimes if she's especially itchy she'll allow me to preen her pinfeathers. I didn't find out for sure that she was female until recently when I'd found she'd laid an egg. She didn't seem interested in sitting on it though, and if I'd had any doubt at all that it was hers the second egg she laid two days later pretty much confirmed it. 

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Kon-Tiki

Kon-Tiki was the only premeditated addition to my birdy family. I picked her up shortly after her wean-date and brought her home after falling in love with pictures of her. I didn't honestly expect my first parrot to be a Green-cheek Conure. I had been looking at Bronze-winged Pionus, and Bourke parakeets, and waiting for one to pop up in my are whether to rescue or through a breeder. Something about Tiki spoke to me though, so I decided it couldn't hurt to go meet her. I did, we totally got along, and I brought her home for good the next week. 

Here, let me put my face on you.

Morning cuddles

Even with all the research I'd done I wasn't prepared for the amount of work and attention she'd need, and I've made so many mistakes along the way. I've learned to love and appreciate her for what she is, and find a more complete understanding of why she does the things she does, and how to cohabitate with her. 

I've done a lot of training with Tiki, both trick training and practical training. She doesn't have the greatest attention span, but she's super treat motivated, so I can milk that quite a bit. She's a fast learner though, and super intelligent if not incredibly moody. 

Birdy brooch

I can't say I don't totally get googly eyes over other parrots still. There are so many amazing species, and I've gotten to meet a ton of individuals including a gorgeous Moluccan king parrot who, though shy, was able to become relatively comfortable with me quickly. Tiki is pretty great at expressing her distaste with me spending time with other birds, especially parrots. One of the few times she'll draw blood these days is if she feels she's having to compete with another parrot for attention. 

Enjoying a safe trip outside

Tiki has proven to become quite cuddly over time, though it's always on her own terms. She's also not really much of a talker. She prefer to make little toots and tweets, and imitate the sound of me breathing on her when she shoves her face up under my nose. She's incredibly demanding, and I get the impression she's pretty certain that she always needs to be either on me, or own whatever I'm trying to use be it a computer, or controller, or anything really. Now that her primaries have grown back in she follows me from room to room as well, and gets pretty upset when I manage to sneak out on her, which typically means browsing reddit just out of her line of sight while I wait for her to stop screaming. 

She can be incredibly frustrating at times, usually for about a week straight, but in the end the benefits outweigh the costs for me. She brings me so much happiness, and I enjoy her companionship. She amuses me with the stupid things she does, or by teaching herself a new trick. But overall, I can see my relationship with her progressing. It's long-winded, and difficult and frustrating, but having to work at it makes me appreciate it that much more. 

Zoo Time Picture post

I took a trip to the zoo yesterday. I know you guys really just come to look at pictures so here is my picture hall from the days adventure. I thought I'd also pause to plug my photography site/archive. Check it out. All of my favorite images are there. Now, without further ado, the picture post:

There was a Western Pond turtle. This was pretty exciting for me. The last time I visited I didn't realize the significance of seeing one of these in person. He was super energetic too, and very curious. He came right up to the front of the glass when I walked up to view him.

 These guys were pretty darn cute too. I've always been fond of Axolotl's, but the Black-bellied Leaf turtle was a new found love of mine this time around. Seriously, look at that face. He looks so happy just to exist.

 There were a number of snake species as well. So many in fact that I can't even begin to remember what most of them were, and the majority of the species on display aren't listed on the zoo website. I thought that was rather unfortunate, as I'd like to be able to tell you exactly what I'm showing you. If it helps the snake pictured to the left is most likely a Bushmaster... maybe. I admittedly, do not know my snakes.

 

                           

 The Clouded Leopard actually Graced me with his presence this time around. This also included a lot of pacing, yowling, and spraying everything in sight. I'm not sure, but I feel as if he might be a bit sexually frustrated. That's just what I'd like to believe though. It has absolutely no basis in fact.  He was certainly keen to show off for everyone though. In the past I've been lucky to so much as glimpse this cat, and yet this time around here he was practically rubbing about the viewing glass. Apparently spring is the time to go to the zoo if you want to see Cloudy.

 He wasn't the only cat out and about that day. Both the Leopard, and the Lions were enjoying the benefits of a cloudy, not so crowdy day. The lions were a riot. There were four cubs total handing out with mom. I'm not entirely sure where dad was. Its possible he wasn't being kept in the same exhibit while the cubs were there, or he could have been lazing about elsewhere enjoying the perks of being a male lion. Mom was mostly just watching the kids play, but every so often she would join in the galavanting, and dart around the enclosure with them.

I'm not typically a huge primate fan. A lot of the time I find them kind of unnerving, and I've seen one too many of those when animals attack shows where people try to keep them as pets and it ends with them losing their face. I know theres a lot of things about them that are good, but with me not being much of a mammal person in the first place they usually aren't my top thing to see or photograph at the zoo.

I'd like to think that I grew more attached to them today. I typically don't even have the opportunity to photograph them. They're either tucked away somewhere, too far for my lens, or there is a crowd of people too thick to bother squeezing my way through. 

I think I may have to come to the zoo on off days more often though, because the animals are much more active and cooperative on days when other potential zoo-goers just don't really want to go to the zoo. Like when its kind of overcast and drizzly for instance. That's a good day to go to the zoo. You can avoid the crowds, and avoid roasting to death in 80 degree weather.

I got lucky with the primates today, though I found myself wishing once more that I had a better lens. A lot of the issues I have with photography at the zoo involve having to use a lens that is incapable of taking a clear shot of anything more than four feet away from it. Lens stabilization would be a great thing to have too. You get much better pictures when you don't have to bother an animal with flash. Not to mention that the lighting is typically better without the added harshness of on-board flash. 

    

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I had great luck with a lot of the smaller critters, such as amphibians and reptiles. They tend to stay still more though, and I can get much closer to them. It's not unheard of for me to be able to take a decent picture of them. It's like photographing plants, or insects. They tend to stay still long enough for you to actually think a shot through before taking it. 

Tree Kangaroos are one of those that I'd really love to get a good picture of some day. Unfortunately the lighting inside is not terribly great in the first place, and the lack of lens stabilization coupled with the fact that the tree kangaroo spends it's time primarily in trees (Surprise), makes getting anything decent especially difficult. This was the clearest shot I was able to take.

The grizzly was right up front though. Whoever built the exhibit must have been a genius because he seems to have put the bears favorite part of the exhibit right next to the viewing window. I feel like this bear is always right out front. He might even enjoy people watching. Who knows. What I do know is that shooting through smudged up, water spattered, and scratched glass is difficult. Especially when you're actually being shoved aside by ill-mannered children.

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I don't know if there is a disproportionately large number of birds at the zoo, or if it's just a byproduct of my fascination with them, but I took more pictures of birds than anything else. Granted they are my favorite part of going. There is one tropical aviary where I could probably sit all day if it weren't so humid. Though they do occasionally spray the aviary with water and it feels pretty amazing. 

I can easily say that the birds are my favorite part though. This time around I was lucky enough to go with another bird enthusiast who was wonderfully tolerant of my apparent need to spend at least thirty minutes in each aviary bird-watching, and wishing I had a telephoto lens. At one point we actually ran in to a lady with a nice Telephoto. She talked about how hers was nothing in comparison to the ten thousand dollar lenses her friends possessed. 

That's a bit Flooring to me to be honest. I've never had a collective ten thousand dollars in my life. I can hardly imagine spending that much on a lens. Maybe if I won the lottery. I suppose I should start playing it if I expect that to be my ticket. 

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