ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 73, © 2003
No reprints without permission

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Speaking of products, don't miss the final days of the great cage sale currently taking place, offering visitors from Robirda.com up to $151 dollars off selected cages! This sale is on until June 15th, so take advantage of these great savings offered especially to you, before they're gone. (see the Sponsor's Space below, for more)

Normally I don't recommend a breeder's website here - but in this case I've made an exception, as this site is operated by one of the too-rare breeders who cares for his birds and educates his customers the way they should be.

This family keeps and breeds some relatively rare species with incredible pet potential, yet so often overlooked, including the rare and wonderful Goldie's Lorikeets - more fun than a whole barrel of monkeys! - and the delicate, charming toucanettes known as Collared Aracaris. If there were more breeders like this out there, we would not hear of so many 'problem parrots' being sold and resold, or so many overflowing bird refuge operations!

A website like this is a great place to start if you wish to learn how to approach ethically and caringly keeping and breeding any species of bird - and it is especially good for new breeders who care enough about their charges to wish to learn how to approach finding qualified, caring families for their birdie-babies - just follow the example set here.

If you're looking for something different, don't forget to check our home page for links to all our great products!

For all those who've helped out in so many ways, thank you for your ongoing support. We hope you enjoy our feature story in this issue! The next is due June 22nd - 'til then, we hope you and your birds will be well and happy, and enjoy the early summer. We look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
June 8, 2003

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Feature Story

Our serialized fictional tale of a lost little bird is based on real-life incidents. When we last saw our small feathered hero, he'd found a park in the heart of a big city and learned that freedom can carry a high price. After a surprise meeting, he decided to follow his potential new friend to her home, at her invitation...

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © 2003

It was a wide road I was flying across, and I knew that I was taking a chance. Even though I liked Julie, I really didn't know her all that well. Perhaps this would turn out to be yet another mistake, but I consoled myself with the thought that even so, I could use a chance to learn more about cats and hawks - and how to avoid them!

I had no doubt that even if I allowed Julie to put me into a cage, I could escape again any time I wanted. No human had reactions as fast as mine, after all! But there was always the chance that Julie might turn out to be a friend, and I was willing to risk almost anything on that.

Although I had been living on my own for only a few days, I was already tired of having to fight or beg for every scrap of food, and having to constantly be on the alert for dangers. I remembered all too clearly the small hawk who had come like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, and how it had been more chance than skill that saved me.

It would be good to have a friend again, and I was willing to risk my hard-gained freedom to see if Julie would turn out to be the friend I needed.

She reached the other side of the road and turned, watching to see if I was coming. There was a strong breeze following each car, making me labour to get across the road.

"Come on, Flicker, you can do it!" Julie called, then, "watch out!" as suddenly the lights changed and the traffic again began to move. Startled, I lost a little too much height and was almost swatted out of the air by the top of a passing truck. I blinked and rose a little higher - what an ignoble way to go that would be, after everything else I'd survived!

But finally, I was there. There was no trees to land in, but the top of a sign near where Julie was standing made a good alternative, although it left me a little more exposed than I really liked, after my time in the park.

That thought made me tilt my head back and take a quick scan of the sky, as soon as my feet had a firm grip. That hawk had been fast! Even with Julie around, he might take a chance on trying to grab me, if he saw me.

Everything looked clear though, and I looked down to find Julie watching me with her head tilted on the side, just as a bird would.

"Getting pretty good, aren't you, my lad?" she stated, rather than asked. "I am glad to see that you know enough to watch out for trouble from up as well as down!

"C'mon, let's get off this road onto my street. It's got trees, and it always amazes me how much they help make the air smell better and the traffic sound less... you are coming, aren't you?"

I stretched one wing, then looked down to where the sideroad she'd indicated joined the thoroughfare we were on. Sure enough, I could see trees, and there didn't seem to be any cars moving on it, either. By comparison, the traffic where we were was almost constant, and noisy, too.

Suddenly I felt more hopeful. Here at last was something more like the adventures I had been wanting in the first place!

"Cheeeeee-eep!" I told her, then rose onto my wings and flew towards the trees lining the street where Julie said she lived. I got there well before Julie, since this time the wind was with me instead of making me labour across it, and I bounced saucily to a lower branch and scolded Julie lightly as she approached.

She giggled at me, then said "What do you mean, what took me? I only have these two tired feet to haul me around, you know! Give a girl a break, would you?"

I bounced the branch I was swinging on again, and bobbed my head at her in appreciation, wondering where she had gotten her knack of understanding what I meant. She was so good that it was almost like talking to another bird, unlike most other humans I'd met, even old Joe, who'd loved my family so dearly.

"Hey, c'mon, quit dreaming and let's go!" Julie said, breaking into my reverie and then asking, "Are you getting hungry again? Would you like another piece of bread?"

As she was talking, she pulled out the sandwich she'd put away earlier and pulled a crumb off it, laying it carefully down on the ground then walking a few steps away.

I was getting hungry again - flying across that wide, windy road had taken a lot of energy! - and I flew down to take a few bites, then looked up at Julie.

"Chee-ee-eep?" I queried, and Julie smiled. "C'mon then, this way!" she declared, and marched off down the road.

Smiling to myself, thinking how nice it was to be understood, I wasted no time in following her, flitting from tree to tree as she walked along. The street reminded me of those I had seen from Joe's windows - narrow but quiet, with cars parked along both sides. Almost nothing else moved except the leaves of the trees, stirred by a breeze.

Occasionally a car passed down the road but for the most part, we had the street to ourselves except for a few wild birds and a cat I saw sitting in a window.

"Almost home!" Julie called cheerfully as I flitted past her to another branch and clung, waiting for her to catch up. "Do you see that little brown house, behind that clump of old birch trees? That's it, Flicker, what do you think?"

I looked where she was pointing, and smiled to myself. The house where Julie lived was small, but it had big windows and a wide porch that continued on around the side of the house. Even though it seemed half-lost behind the group of birch trees in front of it, it managed to seem as inviting as Julie herself.

The windows were lined with plants and flowers, and there were more in front and scattered about the yard. A small pond to one side contained a small fountain, which added its tiny tinkling laughter to the air, and I could hear two frogs exchanging comments behind it.

Altogether, they made it seem as lovely as the park we'd left. I flew to a birch-branch, peering at everything, then looked back to see what Julie would do, startled to find that she was standing nearby, watching me.

"Curious, are you?" she smiled, then added, "I am finding it a little difficult to believe that you actually came all this way with me - it's almost as if you understand what I say! It's odd, you know - I find you easier to talk to than most people!"

I cheeped in amusement as she echoed my earlier thoughts, but in reverse. If only she knew that just a few minutes ago, I had been thinking that she was easier to communicate with than most other birds!

I had no way to share my thoughts with her, but it made me feel as if I had made the right decision, following her home, and, cheeping encouragingly, I flew to the edge of the porch and lit on the railing, looking back at her.

"Really? You do? Well, I'll tell you what!" she told me, as she rummaged in her bag, pulling out the remains of her sandwich. "I'll just leave you a little more to eat here, and go haul out that cage I told you about, and put it where you will be able to see out the window and get a little sun for part of the day.

"Don't worry!" she added hastily as my head feathers flattened as I remembered being stuck in a small cage in full sun, with no shade anywhere in sight, "I'll see to it that you'll have lots of shade, too! In fact, that cage is so big that I don't think it would be possible for the whole thing to be in the sun all at once, not in this house, anyways!

"Here," and she leaned over a little to place a large breadcrumb on the end of the rail where I stood. "You eat this, and I'll be right back, okay?"

As she disappeared into the house, I hopped over to the crumb and bent my head to eat, remembering everything that had happened to me and how different it had been from what I'd expected. This was more like what I'd wanted, but I couldn't help wondering if the future that finally greeted me would be as different from what I expected now?

"Have faith that there is a home waiting for you, and a human waiting to love you - never stop looking until you know you have found them," she had said.

I held the memory fast, and watched the door as I ate.

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © 2003

*** Watch for the continuing adventures of our little feathered hero, coming soon!

For A Limited Time Only, A Special Deal For You!

The folks at Bird and Cage Co have made it their goal to provide birdkeepers with a great selection of quality cages for the best possible prices - and if you live in the continental US, there's an even nicer bonus - for now at least, shipping is free!

But the good news doesn't stop there! In response to the eager interest displayed in these cages by our readers and visitors to Robirda.com, Bird & Cage has decided to offer a special deal to those buying their cages from our site.

Until June 15th, you can save up to $151 dollars on selected flight cages from Bird & Cage - all you have to do is order your cage(s) from the review pages on Robirda.com, and when ordering, be sure to enter a note in the comments field that you first saw the cage here.

See Robirda's reviews of these and other cages.

If you note that the ends of the quills (where the feathers were attached to the body) have been chewed on and are flattened, with the contents sucked out, this could indicate the existence of a dietary problem needing to be addressed. When it is, more often than not these 'habitual' pluckers will stop.

This problem is often caused by a lack of Vitamin A in the diet. Birds require a lot of Vitamin A, more so than most mammals, and when it is lacking in their diet, they are driven to look for another source in their environment.

The bottom of the feather shaft, when freshly plucked, contains a little oil, and this oil helps to satisfy their craving for Vitamin A. If a bird lacking Vitamin A should happen to discover that he (or she) can get this oil by plucking feathers from himself or cage-mates and then sucking it out of the feather shaft, they are likely to begin to repeatedly pluck other birds in their group.

This kind of action is often described as a 'learned' behaviour, and the bird in question is usually banned from the community flight, and kept in a cage alone.

But the fact is that once the dietary lack is corrected, in most cases this 'habitual' plucking will stop! So don't just assume that you have a bird who has learned a bad habit, and banish him to his own cage - instead, take a look at the whole picture, and try to correct the underlying cause of the feather plucking, rather than just dealing with the symptom.