Heat Stress In Birds

heat stress

What is heat stress? Heat stress in birds is when a bird’s core body temperature is raised uncontrollably to a dangerously high level.  A bird’s body temperature is normally between 39-43C/101-109F.  If their temperature rises higher than this, it can quickly become a serious, often life-threatening problem. Birds are not like us, they do not…

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The Specialised Diet Of Lorikeets and Lories Explained

Rainbow Lorikeet

My flock contains a few parrots that require a specialised diet, which makes mealtimes a little more challenging at my place. This is particularly true for my lorikeets. Lorikeets and lories are known for their need for a specialised wet diet. In the wild they largely feed on pollen, nectar and wild fruits. Some species…

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What To Do When You Find A Baby Wild Bird?

baby blackbird

Baby birds are one of the most common wild bird rescue situations that I deal with during the warmer months. At the time I’m typing this, I’m literally waiting for the night to end and daylight to come so I can follow-up on a case I dealt with yesterday. It might be summer here in…

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An Easy Foliage To Use With Pet Birds

Blue and Gold Macaw

Having seen photos in recent blog posts or on facebook a few people have been asking about the foliage in my cages? What exactly is it? What do the birds do with it? What do I do to prepare it before I give it to them? Galah/Rosebreasted Cockatoo: Morgy is waddling around on top of…

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Training Tips Taken From Wild Birds

wild raven

There are few things that I enjoy more than watching wild birds go about their everyday business. Lately, I have been lucky enough to have a pair of ravens nest within metres of my bedroom window. Ok, sometimes we’ve had our disagreements (any wild bird can attack). Generally though, I’ve been very happy to have…

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Any Wild Bird Can Attack

Wattle Bird

It’s early spring in Australia. Deciduous trees are starting to turn green again, cherry trees are starting to blossom and cyclists are starting to look like they belong on a reality television program called “Aliens are here among us”. Or at least the smart cyclists do, the not-so-smart ones will be learning the hard way…

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Protecting Your Bird From Poor Air Quality

Air quality and birds

Occasionally something may happen in the area that you live that can create poor air quality. It wasn’t that long ago that there were reports of pigeons falling dead out of the sky in Singapore due to a dangerous deterioration in air quality. Fires in a neighbouring country were polluting Singapore’s air. It got so…

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Heat Stress in Parrots and Other Birds

Albatross

The summer we’ve just had in Australia has been a bad one. We’ve had extremes all over the country. One half is under water, the other half is melting and that’s NOW. It’s not even summer anymore, it’s supposed to be autumn here. Yet I’m slowly cooking here in a record-breaking heatwave that exceeds what…

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What the Habits Of Wild Birds Can Teach Us

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

There is a golden rule for Wildlife Rescuers in Australia. When you rescue an animal and rehabilitate it for release, it must be released back to the location where it was originally found. It’s actually illegal to release it anywhere else without a written exemption from the appropriate governing body. If you can’t release back…

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The Aftermath Of Bushfires

Bushfire

Wild galah flock at Hughenden in Outback Qld. A community who have seen both flood and fire in the past. Arguably Australia’s most famous poem, “My Country” by Dorothea Mackellar still accurately describes Australia more than a hundred years after it was first penned. It also helps capture why when Australia has a natural disaster…

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