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If you’ve been following our blog you will have read our All’s Well On The Mai Front! post which is about Mai going to a new home.
Well it’s Mai the sequel … ok not quite, for Christmas we had Paula’s Dad over to stay and obviously he didn’t wantt o leave poor little Mai at home on her own … especially on Christmas day so he brought her along to stay.
I’m pleased to report she looked very well, perhaps a little thinner, but that’s to be expected with a massive change in her situation, the same happened to Ruby, watching the Father in law spoil her all day was quite nice to see, she’s definitely loved that’s for sure.
She crashed in Coco’s cage for the night and they got on like a house on fire, we thought she’d prefer to stay with her rather than back with Ruby, what with the bullying.
Well she moved on, on boxing day but I’m sure she will be back again whenever the Father in law comes round to stay again.
Just a quick message to everyone from Paula & Rick at the African Grey Parrot Centre to wish you all a very merry Christmas hope Santa brings you everything you want, eat plenty drink copious amounts and try not to snooze too early.
Merry Christmas
Songbirds throughout Marin County are dying from salmonella spread primarily through feeders and baths where they cluster.
Salmonellosis is a common cause of death in wild birds, and it is passed through saliva and feces. A bird with salmonella poisoning usually appears lethargic, puffed up and may have swollen eyelids. It may also be found resting with its bill tucked under its wing and will usually be the last bird to take flight when a flock is startled.
“The problem is, it’s very hard to treat them once they have it. Songbirds have such a high metabolism that infection just runs through them faster than you can do anything about,” said Paulette Smith-Ruiz, assistant director of animal care for WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation hospital in San Rafael. “People think of salmonella as a gastrointestinal problem, like if you eat a bad egg or chicken. But little birds get it all over their bodies.”
Patient number 4650 is the sixteenth Salmonellosis patient at WildCare. He is an adult male pine siskin with yellow patches and olive green and black streaks. He was found in Mill Valley last Monday, and when he was brought into WildCare the next day, he was breathing heavily and the feathers around his face were ratty. He wasn’t flying, but he had no fractures or wounds. He was given anti-inflammatory medication for his swollen elbow, and he has lived in Incubator 4 ever since. He weighs 11 grams.
“He’s almost as small as the germ,” Smith-Ruiz said.
The disease invades birds’ respiratory systems, joints and all their internal organs. To give a small pine siskin the antibiotic Gentamicin, they need to use a nebulizer—which turns the liquid medication into a fine mist for the pine siskin to inhale.
A combination of 4.5 cc of sterile water and 0.50 cc of Gentamicin is placed into a small cup at the end of a tube. A machine is turned on that sends warmed air through the tube, vaporizing the medication before it becomes a mist. The mist is sprayed into the incubator where Patient 4650 is eating seeds and berries from a crème brulee ramekin.
“It’s like Viks in a vaporizer when you’re a kid,” Smith-Ruiz said. Patient 4650 breathes it in for at least 30 minutes. He hops, arduously, behind the pyracantha—or firethorn—branch with its red berries.
“It just needs to work its course through his body. Only a couple of them make it,” Smith-Ruiz said. “Any bird can get it, but pine siskins and gold finches seem most susceptible.
Salmonella isn’t seen as much in solitary birds who don’t crowd around feeders or in crows and gulls who are exposed to garbage and have built up immunity. “But the little seed eaters aren’t eating eggs or anything like that naturally, so if it hits their body, they have no immunity,” Smith-Ruiz said.
A reason why so many pine siskins are affected might be because they are eruptive breeders.
“They’ll have a big population explosion every few years,” said Jan Armstrong, communications manager for WildCare. “They don’t usually show up in this kind of number every year.”
Pine siskins are coastal migrators, and Marin County is located on a flyway. They stop along to rest and rehydrate themselves. “They see the feeders and the baths and think those are great places to eat and bathe,” Armstrong said.
“WildCare discourages feeding wildlife—it spreads disease, causes aggression and population aggregation when they should be spread out,” added Alison Hermance, webmaster for WildCare. “We recommend having native plants instead. But if people are going to have feeders, they need to be responsible and keep them clean.”
Intelligent Feeding Guidelines are endorsed by WildCare, Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Bird feeders for seeds should be disinfected every two weeks by immersing them in bleach solution, nine parts water and one part bleach. Bird baths should be emptied out daily, scrubbed with bleach solution and dried before being refilled. People should wash their hands thoroughly afterwards, since humans and cats can contract salmonella. If sick or dead birds are found, immediately remove bird feeders and baths, disinfect and rehang them after at least one month.
“It’s not a kindness to put food out. Now the kindness is to take it away, at least for a while,” Armstrong said. “Nobody wants to serve bad eats over the holiday season.”
Seeds on the ground are a source on contamination as well, especially because fecal matter falls to the ground, according to Frances Weigel, a supervisor at WildCare.
Elaine Straub has found eight dead pine siskins by her home in Sea Haven near Inverness. “I don’t want to continue spreading it,” Straub said.
“A lot of us have bird baths and feeders,” said Barbara Meral, who also lives in Sea Haven. “My bird bath had mold and moss, but now I’m really conscious about cleaning it.”
WildCare treats 4,000 animals a year, from more than 200 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. “If you find a sick bird, bring them in a warm, dark and quiet container,” said
Smith-Ruiz.
“They’re not pets. They’re wild and terrified, apart from being sick,” added Armstrong. Once they are physically able to survive again, they are released back where they are found.
Patient 4650 is currently receiving the antibiotic TMS three times a day and Gentamicin through the nebulizer once a day, in addition to anti-inflammatory medication.
But as of Tuesday night, the last entry in his patient record reads, “Disease is spreading.”
Candled Egg
Well I have some disappointing news to update you all with … you’ve probably guessed it already but it seems that none of the eggs were fertile, so looks like that busy Christmas we were expecting won’t be quite as busy as we thought after all 
.
So just to put you in the picture as to how we know the eggs aren’t fertile, we were watching both pairs on the cameras that we have in their nest boxes and noticed that one pair seemed to be leaving the box and their eggs for longer and longer periods, to the point where we had to say enough is enough.
Paula dashed outside when the greys were out of the box and she candled the eggs … they were clear … damn … so while she was there she candled the other set of eggs … they were clear too!!
Looks like it’s back to the drawing board!!
A bill that bans the capture and export of Mexican wild parrots has recently become law, giving conservationists hope that threatened Mexican parrot populations will recover from years of illegal trade. In 2007, Defenders of Wildlife and Teyeliz, A.C presented a report entitled “The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico: a comprehensive assessment”. The report showed that an estimated 65,000 to 78,500 wild parrots and macaws are captured illegally each year, with more than 75% of the birds dying before reaching a purchaser. These sobering statistics helped the Mexican Senate to pass the new bill unanimously.
Life Span
African greys have the potential to be very long lived, so be prepared for a commitment of 50 years or more. Average life spans are difficult to estimate for some parrots as the life expectancy varies widely and depends a lot on the history of the bird, stress, disease, and other factors. The range 25-50 years is often quoted for African greys.
Intelligence
African greys are extremely intelligent birds. The most famous African Grey is Alex, a bird studied for years by Dr. Irene Pepper berg. Alex has been shown to have the ability to process information and make appropriate choices with the correct choice of words, and understand concepts such as colour or shape (i.e. he is not simply displaying previously trained behaviours).
Talking
Greys are excellent mimics, and many (though not all) are excellent talkers, with a capacity of over 2000 words. Even those that don’t repeat words are very adept at repeating household noises such as the telephone or doorbell, often well enough to confuse their owners! Most greys have a large collection of sounds they repeat. As the studies with Alex have shown, greys have a unique capacity for putting their words and sounds into the right context as opposed to simply repeating them, showing their intelligence.
Behaviour and Potential Pitfalls
Their intelligence makes the African grey a very demanding pet, however. You must absolutely be prepared to spend lots of time with an African grey, providing social contact as well as mental stimulation. Greys have been described as being the emotional equivalent of a two year old human, with the intelligence of a five year old. This means they need a lot of attention and patience, along with a good deal of guidance to acceptable behaviour. And, they can be a challenge to deal with at times!
African greys tend to be quite cautious with new situations and new people, although devoted to their owners. They have a reputation as one-person birds, but that is largely because often only one person in a household spends enough time with a grey to really form a close bond.
Make an effort to socialize a grey with lots of people, although you will have to give your parrot the chance to become comfortable with any new person. A grey will happily interact with more than one person as long as the effort is made by each person to spend enough time to earn the trust and companionship of the bird.
Biting
Greys have somewhat of a reputation for biting, but this largely relates to the socialization issue. Like other parrots they will bite, especially if they feel threatened in any way. However, the trust of an African grey must be earned through patience and respect, and pushing interaction with a grey that doesn’t trust you fully may result in a bite. They are also perceptive to the moods of the people around them, so they should be approached with a calm and relaxed demeanour, or the bird may become agitated or excited. Also, a bored or stressed parrot is more likely to exhibit behavioural problems including biting, so making sure the emotional, mental, and physical needs of the bird are not being met will help avoid problems. The intelligence of these birds means they must have a lot of social interaction with their owners along with and mental and physical stimulation.
Feather Picking
African greys have a reputation as feather pickers. Parrots, including greys, will sometimes resort to feather picking or worse forms of self mutilation for a variety of physical and physiological reasons, and also if their emotional needs are not being met or they are stressed. It should be noted that any bird that is plucking its feathers needs a thorough check up with an avian veterinarian to rule out a physical cause first, and if none can be found that behavioural reasons should be explored. Any increased tendency greys might have toward this problem is likely due to their intelligence and needs for attention and stimulation.
A lady approaches her priest and tells him “Father, I have a problem. I have two female talking parrots, but they only know how to say one thing.”
“What do they say?” the priest inquired.
“They only know how to say, ‘Hi, we’re prostitutes. Want to have some fun?’”
“That’s terrible!” the priest exclaimed, “but I have a solution to your problem. Bring your two female parrots over to my house and I will put them with my two male talking parrots whom I taught to pray and read the bible. My parrots will teach your parrots to stop saying that terrible phrase and your female parrots will learn the joys of praise and worship.”
“Thank you!” the woman responded.
The next day the woman brings her female parrots to the priest’s house. His two male parrots are holding the rosary beads and praying in their cage. The lady puts her two female parrots in with the male parrots and the female parrots say “Hi we’re prostitutes, want to have some fun?”
One male parrot looks over at the other male parrot and exclaims, “Put the beads away, brother. Our prayers have been answered!”
Ok if you read what we wrote about peace returning to our house after Paula’s Dad took Mai one of a pair of African Greys we had … well … we were wrong!!!
So it actually looks like Ruby, Mai’s partner in crime was the actual culprit … she probably went quiet for the couple of days directly after Mai went as she probably thought she was next **gulp** …. well it is Chrismas after all … what bird would feel safe at this time of year 
Of course you and I know that we wouldn’t do something like that … it would be the most expensive Christmas meal I’ve ever eaten that’s for sure … and not very fulfilling either!!
Anyway whatever it is Ruby has quickly grown in confidence again and the noise is as bad as ever!!! what’s more we put her up on the perch with Coco another pet grey we own and she wasn’t very nice to her either.
Oh well back to the drawing board 
Barack The Grey
OH, THE trouble of sharing house with a celebrity. Brenda Lee, owner of an African Grey parrot named Barack, found that out three weeks ago when the truant bird flew his coop. His flight may not have got as much press as the man for whom he was named, but his escape certainly ruffled the feathers of his mistress.
“I opened the cage and as usual he climbed on to my shoulder, but on that day he decided to fly away,” Lee told The Gleaner. Lee frantically launched a hunt for the bird. She placed an ad in The Gleaner with Barack’s photo, posted flyers at stores throughout the Liguanea/Barbican area in St Andrew and got radio stations to broadcast lookout calls.
One week after his escape, she got a call from a family in Barbican who had adopted Barack after he flew into their home. It was while getting feed for the hungry bird at the Hobby Hut store in St Andrew that they saw one of Lee’s flyers and contacted her.
Previous ill luck
It was great news for Lee, a Hong Kong-born horticulturist who has lived in Jamaica for more than 30 years. She had owned two other African Greys – one flew away while the other was eaten by her dog.
“I was so relieved, I couldn’t go for him. A friend had to go get him,” she said of Barack.
The African Grey is mainly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has a lifespan of 70 years.
Lee bought Barack one month ago from a breeder in Montego Bay. She said she named him after the United States President-elect Barack Obama because he chatted up a storm on the journey back to Kingston.
This Barack, however, won’t be taking to the skies again. His owner has had his wings clipped.
Home > Parrot Blog > 2008 December
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