Flock Talk eZine Archives, Issue 124

ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 124, © 2005
No reprints without permission

New! Due to the great response received Bird & Cage has decided to extend their BIG Summer Blow-Out Sale until July 31st! So be sure to drop by for big savings on many of their beautiful wrought iron cages, made to last a lifetime for you and your birds!

The folks at Bird & Cage have made it their goal to provide birdkeepers with a great selection of good quality cages and cage accessories for great prices, along with some of the best customer service you will find anywhere.. Check out some of their cages that Robirda recommends!

It's 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 useful cage accessories.

A recent customer says,"Thank you for such a quick delivery, I expected to have to wait 1 - 2 weeks. The stand is great, I think my feathered guys will love it. You've got very reasonable prices, I'll be recommending you to all my bird friends."

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

Weaning Fact
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Weaning a young bird can be one of the most stressful times in a bird-keeper's life, as well as the bird's! To make weaning easier on yourself and the youngsters, keep perches, water, and food all low, near the floor of the weaning cage, and don't take the chicks away from their parents until you are certain that they are ready to learn to fend for themselves.

Then, put as wide a variety of easy-to-eat foods as you can find on a fairly wide surface of some sort, inbetween perches. I like to use cheap paper plates, because they will absorb any excess moisture and help prevent quick souring - but any easily cleaned surface will do.

The idea is to see that during their exporation of the cage, the chicks will walk across the plate, on top of the food. It may seem odd, but the fact is that the feel of soft, almost-squishy food underfood will stimulate the instinct to peck. This will quickly show the youngster, as he pecks at that lumpy stuff under his feet, that he is in fact standing on some perfectly edible food. Once he's made this discovery, it won't be at all long before he will be easily and happily eating on his own!

Links
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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 17th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
July 3, 2005
Kelowna, BC, Canada

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

Table of Contents

Website News: Thank you for all the great thoughts and ideas!
Canary Song CD: Save over 20% on our Canary Song CD this month!
Sponsor's Space: BIG Summer Blowout Sale extended til July 31!
Bird Weaning Fact:Encouraging youngsters to eat on their own.
Feature Article: Pet Bird Communication; Reader's Responses.
Tips 'N Tricks: Troubles keeping your bird cool? Try this tip!
Handy Links: Check here for links to major areas on our site.
Canary Book: Positive reviews from both judge and new customer.
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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We received such a flood of responses to our request for your ideas, last issue, that we were almost overwhelmed! Thanks very much to all of you for sending in your thoughts and ideas. We greatly appreciate your help and encouragement, and especially
the wonderful ideas you offered - it was clear that a great deal of careful thought was put into the majority of responses.

You will find some of those responses in this issue's feature article, and more will be showing up in future issues. So while you are enjoying your summer, be sure to stop by occasionally to take advantage of our sales, or to keep up on your reading!

Feature Article

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We were thrilled to receive so many responses to our last article on how our birds communicate with us. It only seems right to share the observations and insights with everybody, so we can all continue our research on...

Pet Bird Communication

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

Apparently birds and how they communicate is on a lot of minds these days; only two days before the publication of our article on communicating with birds, an article on avian communication was published in 'Science', a popular journal of new findings.

The study described was undertaken by Christopher N. Templeton and his colleagues at the University of Montana. The researchers recorded the chickadee songs, analyzed them by situation, studied the calls on acoustic instruments, and finally watched the birds react when the songs were played back to them.

In a telephone interview, Templeton told the Washington Post, "These birds are passing on way more information than anyone ever dreamed possible, and only by carefully looking at these calls can we really appreciate how sophisticated these animals are. They change a bunch of different features about the call, subtle acoustic features, the spacing between the notes, things we can't hear."

He went on to say that one variation even a human could spot in the calls were the number of 'dee' notes at the end of the call. "The more they add, the more dangerous the predator," he said.

Most of us know the familiar "chick-a-dee" call, but until now, few of us realized that this call can indicate the presence of a stationary predator. Variations in the call specify how dangerous the predator is, whether it is a snake or a mammal such as a ferret or a cat, and apparently even such detail as whether it is stationary or moving, flies or stalks, along with exactly where it is.

"We had no idea that any animal was able to distinguish between predators that seem similar," Templeton said. "It's life of death for them. It's just a fun bird-watching tool for us."

"Chick-a-dee" can be more than just an alert, the researchers found - it can also be a call for help, bringing in the whole flock to mob a lurking predator and drive it away.

A second chickadee call, a soft, high-pitched sound like "seet," means there is a predator such as a hawk, owl or falcon flying nearby, Templeton stated. It is a sort of "duck and cover" warning, he said.

Templeton is now a doctoral student in biology at the University of Washington. He noted that previous studies of the calls have indicated that they can also contain information about the location of food and about the flock itself.

Given this information, I found it very interesting that several readers who sent in observations of their birds' communications made similar observations about their pet birds' calls.

One writer commented, "minute differences in pitch, duration or spacing give meaning to the sounds."

Another reader observed of their canary, "When we traveled with him in the car, it was he who insisted - with loud, persistent vocal inflections he'd learned to use to get our attention, a particular frequency of sound we could not ignore - that any fool should stop driving at sunset and get some rest!"

Another reader told us, "My canary will give a single note chirp when he wants his bath water...it sounds like a smoke detector that needs a battery change, a patterned chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp with a couple of seconds between the chirps. He will keep this up even if I am standing by his cage looking at him and talking to him.

"I usually try and get his bath ready by 11:00 AM since he prefers bathing about noon. If I put the bath water in early, he ignores it until he is ready...but sometimes he desires early bathing and I get the measured chirp, chirp...

"He will also indicate in the same manner if he wants his food checked. If he runs out of his favorite seed, I get the same measured chirp, chirp, chirp... Guess he has me trained very well! I get a two note chirp, chirp when I do as he asks."

Another readers states that she knows when her canary is ready for food, a bath, or play time, because "I can hear him go, 'beep beep.'

Other pet birds were reported too. One reader says, "I have a yellow naped amazon who screams in the morning until I fill his food bowl and give him fresh water. At night when I turn out the lights he give me a small quiet laugh and says 'Awww.' I know he is letting me know he is hungry or ready for sleep."

Another reader wrote of her black-capped lory, "he raps his beak on things. He likes to rake his beak along the bars for the sound. He also bangs his beak on resonant items (plastic buckets, bowls, cooking pans, his wooden nestbox, etc.) for the sounds they make.

"You'd think that would hurt a bit, wouldn't you? Yet, he clearly enjoys doing this for attention. He's not exactly a woodpecker, and this is not the behavior I'd expect from him.

"He also likes hearing his voice inside of containers; many parrot species do this. But, Cato likes to sing into paper towel rolls, or rattle his head inside a can, and sometimes finishes his performances by looking at me and saying, 'I like it, I like it.'" She adds that while Cato is not a big talker, there is one time when he does talk a fair bit - in his sleep!

One reader wrote in that she shares her quarters with four canaries, three cockatiels, two budgies, four parakeets and an unspecified number of zebra finches. Her 'tiels are her biggest communicators, she says, "reminding me that it's time to turn their light off at night - they want to go to sleep by nine. They will call to me when I'm in another room (usually when I am trying to take a nap) - they seem to sense that if they keep up the noise long enough, I'll get up."

She adds, "They also love it when I'm cleaning up after suppertime, and shriek with delight when I call to them from the kitchen & ask if they "want some 'phagetti'?" (pasta of any kind)."

Her canaries also talk to her, she says. "My canaries respond to me when I talk sweetly to them by cheep-cheeping."

One reader wrote in about her amusing encounter with a friend's African Grey parrot. She says, "I was a guest in the house of an African gray, whose person also raised Norwegian elkhounds, several of whom would be in the house at one time.

"One day things got very quiet, so the bird decided to begin speaking. Just the day before, I had stood at his cage and, in response to his language abilities, said 'That's amazing!' He began his repertoire that day by saying in my voice with the same inflection, 'That's amazing!'

"We had a good laugh over that, the bird enjoying it as well. Then when we weren't paying enough attention, suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. The dogs went wild barking. We went to the door but nobody was there. Then we came around to the cage and looked at the parrot.

"He seemed to be laughing as he gave us another knock on the door. The dogs went wild again. What a jokester that bird is."

Given the abundance of stories about our birds, many of which have to do with how clearly they manage to indicate their needs, wants, and wishes to us, tells me that these birds quite likely have a very good idea of what they want to say to us.

Given the provocative results of the chickadee study and other similar research on avian comprehension, memory retentiveness, and communicability, I can't help but wonder what else will turn up in the future as scientists, pet owners, and bird-keepers continue in their quest to understand these unique, fascinating creatures?

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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New! Until July 31st you can SAVE over 20% off our usual price during our first summer sale! 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!"

Many canaries are moulting their feathers just now, which makes this the best time to teach your birds new songs by playing them plenty music and song. The songs of other birds will receive the most attention from a moulting pet, so you can take advantage of our sale to help to improve and expand your bird's reperatoire of songs at the same time he is renewing his feathers!

Take advantage of our Canary Song CD sale now!

Tips 'N Tricks
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Are you worried about how you can help your bird to keep cool during the heat of the summer's worst weather? Most of us realize how stressful too much heat can be, for our birds, but worry not, there's several easy tricks that can assist.

For starters, try keep a bath available at all times - there's nothing like a quick dunk into the water to help to keep things cool! Especially when it is hottest, most birds will greatly appreciate a few ice cubes added to their bathing water; this will also help to keep their feathers in good condition.

Another useful cage-cooling idea during the hottest weather is to wrap a freezer-pack in a towel and place it on top of or (depending on the bird) sometimes even inside the cage, until it has thawed. If you keep a few such packs in the freezer, you can rotate them, adding cold packs and moving the warmed ones back to the freezer to re-chill as necessary.

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.

"Thank you so much for the book on canaries. That is a really nice book. I needed one, because I bought my Mom two canaries, a male and a female, we don't know anything about them. I'm so glad to have this book, I couldn't believe how much was in there. Thank you so much!"

"Just a short note to tell you how great your ezine is... As a long time bird lover I thank you for your wonderful mag. Keep up the great work!"

"I ordered 'Canary Tales' by Linda Hogan last year...Although I fully recommend buying the book, I find Robirda's book much more complete, easier to read with less difficulty finding information."