An old video of some cockatoos foraging in Glenbrook, New South Wales, Australia, a small town just west of Sydney in the blue mountains. This was shot on one of my trips there in 1999. Audio is a little choppy at the beginning.
Requires Quicktime to view.
Here is a quick video of Alex, the African Grey parrot of Irene Pepperberg. The work they have done with animal communication and the exploration of his cognitive abilities is amazing.
Source unknown… if you know what show this came from, let me know.
“Under the regulation agreed today, only specific countries or regions which have already been approved to export live commercial poultry will be allowed to export captive birds to the EU”
Read the full article at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11708674.htm
What this means for parrots? It used to be that wild parrots, illegally trapped could be imported and sold in the EU. There was a temporary ban on this until June 30th… now as of July 1st, it is law.
Even though this was done under fears of the avian flu, this is a significant, landmark decision. This means a smaller market for poached birds. Now birds will have to be genuine, captive bred birds. For conservation, this is amazing!
Here is a video taken a few years ago of my cockatoo playing outdoors.
Please note that I have spent a considerable amount training the bird to fly to me and at the time of this video his wings were trimmed slightly.
Reason #4 not to get a parrot: Noise
Inviting a parrot into your home can be noisy adventure. As creatures who are designed to communicate with each other in dense rain forests, they need to be loud. Can you handle this? Read on!
My pet cockatoo can scream so loud it makes my ears ring. I’m sure my ability to hear has been damaged by years of parrot ownership.
Intelligent creatures communicate with each other in many different ways. One of those ways is a vocally. Sometimes the screams of these birds can be heard for miles throughout the forest. I’m guessing your home does not span miles.
If you own your own detached home, this may not be a problem. After all, you can make all the noise you want in the privacy of your own home.
If you own a duplex, townhome, condo, or apartment, this may be a problem. As much as you love parrots, your neighbours might not love parrots.
When your parrot has a screaming fit, how will you respond. Even after having a bird for years a screaming fit can be stressful. Can you determine why your bird is screaming? Are you encouraging your bird to scream? Is your bird screaming just because he is happy? Is something spooking your bird and they are letting out an alarm call. An airplane goes overhead and I’m sure I get what equals the cockatoo equivilant of an aerial predator alarm call. Construction equipment comes down the main road and I get the cockatoo equivilant of a ground predator alarm call. Both a little different, both very interesting, and both extremely loud.
When I rented my first apartment the lease had a specific item listed in it. No parrots or other noisy birds. This wasn’t some special lease agreement, but a generic form from the office store. Just from the wording of this you can obviously see that parrots fall into the category of noisy birds in general. Breaking this term would be grounds for eviction. I thought I’d play it cool and mention that I had a little bird. I’d thought I’d play on a common mistake. I mentioned I had a cockatiel, hoping that the discussion would end. The apartment managed asked me right away “Did you say cockatiel or cockatoo? Because a cockatiel is okay. A cockatoo isn’t” As I signed the lease agreement for the large apartment complex I hoped that the manager would never find out I had a cockatoo.
That is something you need to consider. Noise. Will that level of noise fit with you across your life? Perhaps you need to look carefully at the species you are considering and the level of noise they make.
In the wild, I must admit, it’s pretty amazing how loud these creatures can be. But will it fit into your home? Ask yourself carefully before buying!
David Cooper
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