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PlaxMacaws

plax blog (8/30/14)

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Parrots! I absolutely adore them!!!
For me, parrots are the ultimate companions. They are by far my favorite creatures on the planet. They are breathtakingly beautiful to observe, with their strikingly colorful plumage patterns. Even beyond that, each of these feathered marvels boasts forth with his or her uniquely exuberant personality. They are such unique individuals... and they are so very fun to be around!

Parrots are also known for their capacity to demonstrate plenty of loving affection and loyalty to their caregivers. They're as well quite humorous to watch much of the time because of their goofball antics . As if that weren't enough, many of these comical feathered characters can actually speak human words and phrases reasonably well - and in some cases they seem to do so in a surprisingly appropriate manner.

One additional factor is that parrots tend to enjoy relatively long lives. Hence, a parrot may be a wonderful choice to consider as a potential lifetime companion for certain folks.

Having stated the above, parrots are not for everyone. They're only for folks who feel a special, permanent affection for them... and, certainly, who are well equipped to properly meet their needs. The conditions that are necessary to meet before bringing a parrot into one's family, include: 1) Substantial knowledge of the living requirements for the particular species being considered. 2) A willingness to devote adequate time to the bird each and every day for its entire life. 3) An ability and willingness to engage in a plethora of ongoing maintenance efforts to keep the bird healthy and happy forever. 4) A commitment to provide an enormous amount of dedicated attention to the bird's social needs. 5) An ability and willingness to meet the sometimes significant expense involved in properly caring for the bird. 6) A willingness to provide and pay for regular medical care from a qualified avian veterinarian. And finally, 7) A commitment of unwavering, unconditional LOVE for the duration of the bird's long life!

I love my birds more than I can say! My guys have been with me for a long time and I'm sure I couldn't live without each of them. I consider them my family members as well as my best friends. While many folks who keep and love pet birds may not always get along with one another, it certainly doesn't mean that they love their birds any less than I love mine, or that their feathered companions are not cared for wonderfully. The world is a huge place within which there are many captive parrots who need and deserve lots of love and accommodation. I will always support those who provide such important elements to our feathered friends!

Parrots are amazing!!!
Categories
Birds & Friends

Comments

  1. Lady's Avatar
    Wow, what else can anyone say but Ditto! Beautifully written Tony.
  2. spiritbird's Avatar
    Tony do you think parrots should have been made pets in our homes? There was a long discussion on this subject on AA as a result of the show a while ago on PBS. Of course the birds bred by breeders never saw or experienced what the wild life is like. However our birds still retain the wild nature. We need to do so much for them to keep our birds happy and healthy. Many bird owners do not do this so I imagine there are many unhappy, unhealthy companion birds which is very sad. TX
  3. plax's Avatar
    Thank you, Alice. Parrots are pretty darn special to me!
  4. plax's Avatar
    Dianne: That's a difficult question to answer. If humans weren't destroying natural habitat for many species at an alarming rate, and if financial prosper and the various reasons that people kill parrots in the wild weren't huge factors in the diminishment of natural psittacine populations, then the issue wouldn't be nearly as bothersome. But those tragic elements have been ongoing issues for many decades, which is beyond disturbing for me . Very sadly, the collective of mankind does as it wishes with wild birds. Wild parrots simply have no choice. Yes, captive breeding is one method to perpetuate certain otherwise vanishing species... but at what price? There are so many throwaway and abused birds in captivity that I become ill just thinking about it . A great many folks who acquire parrots are quite careless and/or reckless in terms of implementing pet bird safety measures and health accommodations. And many such folks lose interest in keeping their birds and thus pass them to others who are as well less than optimal caregivers. It's for those very reasons that rescue facilities have become grossly overpopulated with discarded birds . And there's seemingly no end in sight to the cycle.

    Breeding birds for profit is at best a double-edged sword. That is, it may help perpetuate various diminishing avian populations. But, at the same time, it results in many breeders selling birds before they have been properly weaned, and as well selling birds to anyone who is willing to pay their asking price (all in order to maximize profits). The birds that have not been weaned correctly frequently suffer permanent health complications, and often die prematurely. So while the for-profit breeding ventures may produce a lone positive (i.e., contribution to the perpetuation of certain species), there are some disturbing negatives associated with the practice. Conversely, the dedicated species preservation breeding programs are usually 100% positive if done correctly. But there are too few of those programs in progress to repair the enormous damage man has done to natural psittacine populations
  5. spiritbird's Avatar
    I just posted a thread in the Macaw forum that will take a while to digest. It is called The Story of Sebastian. I will be very interested in reading how you all feel about this story. It is about a very abused, neglected GW Macaw who ended up with a wonderful person.
  6. plax's Avatar
    Dianne: I went to the site and read the story about Sebastian. It certainly elicited my emotions. I'll offer my thoughts on the story within the thread that you started. I have some other things to take care of in the morning, so I'll submit my reply a bit later.

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