Flock Talk eZine Archives, Issue 123

ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 123, © 2005
No reprints without permission

New! Bird & Cage is having their BIG Summer Blow-Out Sale - but it's only on until June 30th, so drop by soon for big savings on many wrought iron cages!

    The folks at Bird & Cage have made it their goal to provide birdkeepers with a wide selection of good quality cages and cage accessories for great prices. Check out some of their cages that Robirda recommends!

    It's almost time for the annual moult, and that means this is a great time to be sure you have all the accessories you need on hand. See some cage accessories Robirda recommends.

    A recent customer says,"I want to thank you for your excellent customer service. Your responses to my queries were timely and effective. I appreciate that so much. I have a friend thinking of a cage like mine for her canary. I will certainly pass on the news of the excellent service I received, as well as a great cage. Thank you so much."

    For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.

Feather Fact
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When your bird is moulting, and it seems as if you are finding feathers in every spot you could have imagined - along with many that never would have occurred to you - you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that each bird - yes, even a tiny finch or canary! - can have as many as 2000 to 3000 feathers to replace during the annual moult. That's a lot of feathers, so it's no wonder that they seem to be everywhere - they probably are!

Links
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- Home
- Products
- Basic Care
- Breeding
- Photographs
- Screensavers
- Flock Talk
- Canary Cam
- Birds Board
- Canary FAQs
- Books & eBooks
- Activity Swing
- Tug 'N Swing
- Care Sheets
- Bird Cages
- Cage Accessories
- The Nest
- Questions?
- Contact
- Links Pages
- Personal
- Privacy Policy
- Site Map
- Testimonials

Stories Wanted
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Send us your stories of how your birds confuse and puzzle, interest and amuse you, and we will share them with the rest of our readers in a future issue. Just send an email here.

For you
& Your Birds,
With Love
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We rely on you to help keep this publication and its associated websites alive. If you find help you need in this ezine or on one of our websites, please consider joining our sponsors.

Read testimonials or find out more about becoming a sponsor. If you're looking for something different, check our home page for links to all our great products!

Our next issue is due July 3rd. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
June 19, 2005
Kelowna, BC, Canada

"Hi Robirda! Your advice was most welcome; I'm particularly grateful about the recipes! I sent you the same amount the vet charged me; you have done no less than he did for my bird. You are a real blessing to all of us canary lovers the world over."

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird eZine
Flock Talk!
For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Table of Contents

Website News: We need your help answering these questions!.
Sponsor's Space: BIG Summer Blow-Out Sale on, only til June 30!
Bird Feather Fact:Why you find moulted feathers everywhere!.
Bird Site Review:A variety of foods and supplies for your bird
Help Needed:Share your favourite websites, tips, and products.
Feature Article: Translating Birdspeak; communicating with birds.
Canary Book: Positive reviews from both judge and new customer.
Tips 'N Tricks: Need help cleaning up feathers? Try this tip!
Handy Links: Check here for links to major areas on our site.
Canary Song CD: Great canary songs, no distracting background.
Ask Robirda: Get reliable answers to bird behavioural questions.
For You & Your Birds: We couldn't do any of this without you!
Subscribe & Unsubscribe information for Flock Talk.

Website News

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This issue we are asking for responses from our readers on two issues. One is covered in the feature article, and we hope to receive comments from many of you regarding this idea.

Our other question is this; we are considering making a video intended to help show people aspects of bird care that don't come across well in text or still pictures; the idea is to help show new owners and/or breeders how to more easily perform necessary management tasks such as catching, holding, & clipping birds, checking general health, banding youngsters, etc.

We'd like to know if any of our readers would be interested in such a product, and if so, just what kind of information you'd like to see included in it? It would also be helpful to have an idea if VHS (tape) or DVD formats would be preferred. Please send your comments and thoughts here.

Feature Article

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Our birds (and their people) all have their own special little ways of communicating with each other, but when it comes right down to it, how much of the time do you know just what your bird is trying to tell you?

Translating 'Birdspeak'

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © June 2005

We speak laughingly of how our birds 'train' us to provide them with this or that commodity on demand - but how often do any of us wonder if there's actually anything behind this idea?

Okay, it might sound a little off the wall to consider such an idea seriously - but the fact is that research published in Feb of this year indicates that birds in general tend to be much more intelligent than science had previously believed.

Previously, the long-standing scientific belief was that birds tended towards stupidity. Definitions of avian brain structure and function laid out in the late 19th century held that birds had little to no higher brain functions at all, operating almost entirely on instinct with little to no conscious thought.

Within the last decade or two, great progress has been made towards understanding the intricacies of our world, yet comparitively little progress was made in the field of our scientific understanding of our birds.

At the same time, scientific evidence of what appeared to be logical thought among several varied species of birds continued to appear, thowing previous conclusions of avian intelligence into question.

Then came discoveries that our modern birds are likely to be the closest living relatives to extinct dinosaurs. This fact joined the others to prompt ever-increasing numbers of scientists and researchers to query just how firm our actual scientific understanding of birds really is.

As a result, a world-wide consortium of 29 scientists from a half-dozen different countries decided to work together to prove or disprove new and old theories, and at the same time provide firm, statistical evidence as to the actual reality behind bird brains, their physiological structure, and their function.

Much to a great many peoples' surprise, the resulting evidence indicates that not only are many species of birds capable of much more intelligent thought than had been previously suspected - but in some cases, our birds' brains may come close to rivaling the human capacity for abstract thought!

This is all very interesting, and provides gratification to many longer-term birdkeepers. The fact is, anybody who has kept birds for any length of time has almost certainly been outsmarted by them on occasion, as well.

In the past, this was a rather humbling experience, but now we can realize that we've actually been outwitted by a creature whose body-mass-to-brain ratio and brain complexity is not too different from our own, and who possesses a brain that is, in its own way, just as intricate as the human brain - if rather differently constructed.

New credibility has arisen from this reanalysis of avian brains, and lends support to collected evidence of many behaviors that previously seemed rather odd, coming from presumably dumb birds.

New Caladonian crows have been observed to create specialized hooks and spears for use during foraging expeditions, while Japanese carrion crows have been observed placing walnuts on paved roads. Once the nuts have been cracked by passing cars, the crows wait for the lights to change, apparently knowing that it is only then safe to swoop in for a feast on the nutmeats.

Some species of birds have phenomenal memories; the Clark nut-cracker has shown that it can hide up to 30,000 seeds, and find them again as much as six months later. Meanwhile, labratory tests on magpies have shown that they become aware at an earlier age than any other creature tested, that an object that disappears behind a curtain has not vanished, but is only hidden. And as anybody who owns or knows an African gray parrot can verify, these birds not only talk, but many have a rather sharp sense of humor, and can make up new words.

In fact, research on the deservedly famous African Grey Alex, has shown that he is capable of distinguishing important differences in numbers, colours, size, shapes, and textures, and understands if they are present or absent. He can talk well enough to converse, and can even sound out the letters of a new word similarly to the way a child will.

Meanwhile, research into songs has shown that baby songbirds 'babble' in a manner very like human infants, using the left sides of their brains while learning their eventual adult songs.

This is all very interesting, but it seems to me that it is time to take it a step further. Most of us know that our birds have their own set of calls that they use to communicate with each other and us; but apparently nobody has yet tried to find out if each bird has their own unique approach to communicating with their humans, or if entirely different birds come up with similar techniques and sounds to mean similar things.

Most of us know our own birds' individual calls quite well, and can tell you whether we are being scolded, begged from, admired, or reminded of missed 'appointments'. We laugh that we are regularly reminded when its time to provide food, baths, treats or drinking water, and those of us with tame pets know very well what a demand to be allowed out to play, means!

But there's been very little - if any - actual comparison of these calls from keeper to keeper, and I can't help but wonder just how similar these different demands would sound, coming from different birds. Does a pet conure use the same sort of sounds and motions when asking to be allowed out to play, as a tame finch? Does a pet canary act similarly to a pet cockatiel, when he's upset with his owner's forgetfulness?

I think it's about time we compared notes, and began telling each other how our birds go about communicating with us. If we can get enough information, perhaps it will be possible to compile a kind of 'dictionary' of 'bird-speak' we could all refer to - something I've wished I had access to, many a time!

We'd like to include notes about all the different bird species kept as pets, ranging from chickens, pigeons, or doves, to finches, parrots, canaries and any other avian kept as a pet.

Share your experiences with the rest of us, and let us know if your birds speak with you, and how they go about it; just send your ideas here.

We'd like to discuss your ideas and perhaps even have some stories to share with you in future issues of Flock Talk, so send in those ideas, and help us all to learn how to better understand BirdSpeak!

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © June 2005

Canary Book

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Recently Robirda's book "Brats in Feathers" was reviewed by Mr. G.B.R. Walker, one of the most respected canary authors and judges on the planet. His comments make it clear why this book has been getting such a great response from its readers.

Mr Walker said, "...it is an excellent introduction to a first time canary owner, and a useful reminder to those that have owned a pet for a time... The chapter on training was particularly well received. I have never seen anything like this in written form before, and frankly had never considered it.

"The basics always remain the same, and you have covered them well. A new breeder following your guidelines should be successful... I loved the photos from the cam, and was most impressed by Jim's chapter."

A recent customer tells us, "My father bought 'Brats in Feathers' from you, since he received your book, he has read it from front to back. My dad is 85. Five weeks ago he got his first (canary) babies, he was so thrilled... out of 4 eggs the hen laid, 3 survived. They are SO beautiful! Any day now, there should be 4 more. Without the book to follow, we don't think we would have been this lucky. There is so much detail! Also his male birds are singing nicely, your CD came in handy too."

Brats in Feathers is available as a book, or two (non-printable) ebooks. You can find more details, including a link to download sample chapters, at www.robirda.com/books.html

"Everyone always asks me why my birds are such beautiful singers and breed such magnificent babies...I tell them that I learned from Robirda! While they give their birds all kinds of 'magical' formulas, I just follow your guide to 'keep it simple.' My birds are now very healthy, and there has been no recurrence of the infection. Thank Goodness!" R.C., Florida

"Even after I made all sorts of changes, my canary still hardly sang. But after I ordered your CD, he sings and sings - I guess he just needed someone to show him how he was supposed to be spending his time! Thanks for such a nice CD."

Song CD
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Our canary song CD offers great quality for one of the lowest prices you can find on the market - and unlike some vendors of canary song CDs, we don't lie about what kind of recordings you'll get, or its intended use. Our CD of Robirda's canaries singing has no distracting background music, and includes 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging 4.9 minutes long, for a total of 58 minutes and 48 seconds of pure canary songs.

Listen carefully to our 10 second sample in mp3 format, and you will be able to hear the different positions of each bird! Note too that the CD quality is much better than this sample mp3.

A recent customer told us, "Just a quick message to thank you for your prompt delivery of my CD. Your CD has done wonders for my canary, he hasn't sang for months and now he tries to out sing the CD, very fulfilling for me to watch! Thank you for a great product!"

Learn more about our Canary Song CD!

Site Review
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For Your Bird

If you've been having trouble finding just the right kinds of safe and healthy foods for your birds, this is a website you may want to take a look at. They sell a wide variety of hard-to-find bird foods of all sorts, many extremely useful to bird keepers.

If that isn't enough, they offer a reduced shipping rate on many of their goods, so unless you are lucky enough to live near a reliable dealer with a broad range of bird products, this is one site you might want to visit. You could wind up getting just what you need, for less than you'd expect!

Tips 'N Tricks
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Sweeping up all those loose moulted feathers that are soon going to be everywhere, can seem almost impossible sometimes - but dare to pull out a vacuum, and you'll get to watch the feathers really fly!

To make clean-up chores handier when dealing with all those tiny fly-away feathers, just take one of the bottles for misting houseplants, and lightly spray all those heaps of feathers before you tackle them with the broom.

You'll be amazed at the results - not only do damp feathers stop flying about everywhere, but they will helpfully stick to the broom, making it even easier for you to gently sweep them up and out of the way!

Ask Robirda
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Need help with your birds? Even avian vets sometimes consult with Robirda on small-bird housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions! They, and her other customers, find Robirda's answers to be detailed and reliable, caring and supportive. Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better! See robirda.com/ask.html

"You have the most informative and helpful small bird site on the Web. I have found your information priceless and inspiring."

"Robirda's website, bird board and e-zine are invaluable tools for any birdlover."