Updates and Musings About Life with Parrots
There are two parrot-related fundraisers I want to share with you! Lafeber Fundraiser for Phoenix Landing Lafeber, maker of the Nutriberry treats my birds love so much, will be donating $1 worth of free bird food to Phoenix Landing for every new fan to the Lafeber/Nutriberries Facebook page through the end of June. It doesn’t…
Read More...Which is smarter, a parrot or a corvid? Actually, that’s a trick question. As this excellent article in Discover Magazine points out, you can’t boil animal “intelligence” down to a simple measure of how an animal performs on an arbitrary, human-designed test. Animal intelligence isn’t a single thing. There is no standard IQ test for…
Read More...This is amazing. Watch this African Grey solve math equations. (I was going to say “simple math equations”, but when you think that the bird needs to be able to add, subtract, recognize numerals, and know the number of dots on the side of the die… well, that just blows my mind.) You thought YOUR…
Read More...Frostie the dancing parrot shows off how to whip yo’ hair.. um, I mean “crest”.
Read More...Over at the Pet Connection Blog, Christie Keith points out a study that reinforces something a few of us have already known instinctively: posting pet adoption ads that scream of desperation might get a lot of views and pity, but it doesn’t help the cause (either long term or short term). The article talks about…
Read More...Wired magazine just covered a new study that lends us new insights into why and how Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo shakes his tail feathers. Previous studies with Snowball showed that some animals (including some parrots) “move rhythmically to music in a way that other animals don’t, demonstrating that dancing is not uniquely human” and that…
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On February 11, parrot welfare organization Phoenix Landing rushed to save the lives of 26 parrots facing euthanasia at the Catawba County Animal Shelter in Newton, North Carolina. These birds, ranging from tiny parakeets to large macaws, were part of a group of nearly 200 animals seized by local law enforcement from an abusive situation late last year. With no…
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I have to admit that one of the best byproducts of sharing my life with parrots, and starting this blog, is the relationships I’ve been able to build with other bird lovers. One of the people who I’ve been particularly happy to “meet” is Rebecca O’Connor, who writes the Heckled by Parrots blog and is…
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We recently chatted with Irena Schulz, founder of the avian rescue Bird Lovers Only, which is best known for being home of Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo. Just over two years ago, Irena posted a video of Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys and this Medium Sulphur Crested Eleanora Cockatoo skyrocketed to viral video fame. Irena…
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We recently helped Phoenix Landing launch a new blog to keep the parrot-lover community updated on new classes and events, enrichment ideas, avian health news, and of course announcements about Phoenix Landing and its many adoptable birds (the foundation has over 300 birds in foster care right now!). But that’s not all. Phoenix Landing’s founder…
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