Bird Care For Your New Zebra Finch

Finches attain a size of 4" and ordinarily the Zebra Finch might reach up to 5 years in its natural surroundings, averaging out 5 to 10 years in captivity with a upper limit of 12 to 15years. Males and females are really alike in size, only are easily differentiated from each other because the males normally possess brilliant orange cheek feathers, a red bill (as unlike the orange bill of a female), and commonly more outstanding black-and-white designs. The bill is occasionally the only means to differentiate the sex of a Zebra Finch, because occasionally the orange cheek color is weakened or missing. Young by a likewise colored nesting couple might occasionally deviate from the parents color, with baby bird's of plain grey to entirely white. These fluctuations are commonly due to combined breeding between finch types someplace down the family unit particularly in pet store birds. All the same, the orange cheeks are a obstinate indication that an offspring Zebra Finch is really a male and the cheeks start to come out once the offspring are approximately two months old. Immature Zebra Finches will likewise feature a black bill, with the coloring coming out at puberty. While finches need really little time, a clean surrounding as well as fresh food and water each day is a must to prevent disease and sickness. The common cage maintenance includes every day cleanup of the water supply using chlorine free filtered water for your bird's drinking pleasure and nutrient saucers. Every 2 to 3 days exchange the paper on the bed of the cage and scatter it with approximately 1/8" of new grit. Each week wash and dry the full cage, including the perches. Make certain to disinfect the cage as instructed on the disinfectant which you can pick up from your pet store. Zebra Finches are really stout birds and nearly all sicknesses can be followed to unsuitable diet, filthy cages, and drafts. A balanced diet and a great deal of physical exercise will forestall most sicknesses. Know your birds and keep an eye on for actual drastic alterations as indications of sickness. A few signals of sickness to be mindful of are droppings that are not black and white, feathers that are ruffled up, lack of appetite, wheezing, and behaving weakly and exhausted. A few of the most common sicknesses and injuries your finch might acquire are broken wings or legs, cuts and open injuries, overgrown bills and nails, ingrown feathers, feather plucking, confinement spasms in the legs from a cage that's also little, weight loss, heat hyperpyrexia, shock, concussion, egg adhering, looseness of the bowels, mites, colds, baldness, scaly legs, sore eyes, tumors, constipation, and diarrhea. If you detect any of these signs, please get a hold of your avian veterinarian.

How To Choose The Right Bird Toys

How To Choose The Right Bird Toys To Keep Your Pet Bird From Getting Bored
Author: Lee Dobbins
Birds are intelligent creatures with active minds and they can soon become bored if they had not kept entertained. Birds that are bored and start to exhibit a desirable behavior such as squawking a lot and pulling out all the feathers.
One way to keep your bird amused even when you're not around is to make sure that you provide him with a variety of bird toys. One thing to think about when picking out toys for your bird is whether or not the toys match with your bird size. Toys designed for small bird like a parakeet might not be safe for a large parrot because the powerful beaks of the bigger birds can easily break the toys into pieces which can be dangerous for your pet. Different sized birds do seem to enjoy different types of toys but one toy that all birds seem to like is the ladder. You want to be careful, however, that you choose the right side letter for your bird obviously smaller birds will meet once with wrongs that are closer together. Swings and hanging ring seemed to be a bit more popular for the smaller pet birds. That's not to say that larger birds don't enjoy them as some do but in general the smaller birds seem to have a lot more fun. Hang a couple in your pets cage and you soon see him swinging around and hanging from them and just having a heck of a time. The bigger birds seem to like maize toys and puzzles especially if you can put some of their favorite treats inside the toy. They also like ropes that have leather knots which they can unknot with their beaks. This gives them something to work out of their mind instead of hanging around doing nothing. Birds have the mentality of small child and just like children birds can really get enjoyment out of a play gym. You can find these In all shapes and sizes, but typically they either sit on a table on top of the birds cage and when he is out of the cage they provide him with a variety of interesting things to play on including ladders seesaws and swings. Not only will your bird entertain himself on these though probably entertain you as well! When you are shopping for bird toys there are some you might want to think twice about buying. Although most birds love mirrors and love to look at themselves, it does might not serve the purpose you want if they actually think it's another bird they may bond with their own reflection and not care so much about bonding with people. Always evaluated toy for safety purposes toys that are not well made and can come apart and harm your bird should be avoided. Also toys that have little areas that might pinch your bird's toes or that he can get his head caught and should be avoided. Remember, your bird can get his little beak into just about anything so you want and make sure the toys are tough enough so that he can't break anything off and swallow it which could be disastrous and possibly even fatal.
Your pet bird doesn't necessarily need expensive toys to play with, many birds love things like paper towel tubes and tongue depressors. Just be sure that if you do you keep your bird toy like that that you make sure he doesn't rip apart and start eating it - it might not be a bad idea to stay around and watch them whenever you give him any new toy. Because your pet bird gets bored easily you want to rotate his toys. Put a few toys in his cage and then hide the others away where he can't see them. After a week or two remove the toys that are in his cage and replace them with the ones you hid away. You can take this opportunity to clean the toys that he has already played with, then hide them away for a week or two. When you bring them out again he'll think he's got new toys to play with!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/how-to-choose-the-right-bird-toys-to-keep-your-pet-bird-from-getting-bored-81398.html
About the Author:
Lee Dobbins writes for http://pet-birds.pet-breeds.com where you can learn more about caring for your pet bird.

The Blue Gold Macaw

The Blue-and-gold Macaw, is a member of the group of prominent tropical parrots known as macaws. It breeds in the forest and timberlands of tropical South America from Trinidad and Venezuela south to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. It extends into Central America, where it is limited to Panama. It is an endangered species in Trinidad, has probably been eradicated from western Ecuador, and is on the verge of being eradicated from Paraguay, but still remains widespread and fairly common in a large part of mainland South America. It is therefore listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International as a threatened species. It can reach 30-33.6 inches long and weighs 2-3 lbs, making it one of the largest parrots in the world. It is brilliant in appearance with blue wings and tail, black chin, golden underparts and a green forehead. Its beak is jet black and very strong for crushing nuts. The naked face is white, turning pink in excited birds, and lined with small black feathers. The Blue-and-gold Macaw mostly mates for life. It nests at the top of tree trunks and the female usually lays two eggs. The young are born without feathers; but, at ten weeks, they are covered with feathers and the wings and tail have achieved their full length. Baby macaws have black eyes, but the color changes over time from black to gray to white to yellow as an adult bird. At six months, it is hard to distinguish the young from the parents. The Blue-and-gold Macaw uses its mighty beak for cracking nutshells, and also for climbing up and dangling from trees. They necessitate a wide-ranging diet, a seed only diet will lead to health problems such as vitamin deficiency. An example of a good diet would be a prime pelleted mix for Macaws, in concurrence with a mix featuring seed, nuts, and dried fruits, with fresh vegetables and fruits fed regularly; furthermore, it is quite common to partake with their human owners of safe foods like pasta, bread, etc. There are some foods which are deadly to birds and parrots as a group. Cherry and most other Rosaceae pits and seed, avocados, chocolate, and caffeine are among the foods harmful to parrots. Chocolate and caffeine are not metabolized by birds the same way they are in humans, Rosaceae seed contain cyanogenic glycosides and avocados contain persin which are both poisonous compounds to birds. Blue-and-gold Macaws are popular as pets partly because of their striking appearance and ability as a talking bird; however, the price of a single bird may be in excess of (USD) $900-$2,000 in North America and their large size makes adjustment problematic. The blue and gold Macaw (Ara ararauna)is from the Class: Aves, Order: Psittaciformes, Family: Psittacidae, Genus: Ara, Species: ararauna.

Pets, How to Identify Birds

American Robin

The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. The American Robin is a common occupant of residential areas during the breeding season. In Fall and Winter, it can be found in large, somewhat nomadic flocks in areas with lots of fruiting trees. The length of the full grown Robin is approximately 8.5-9.5 inches from its beak to its tail. The male has a brownish orange-red breast, brownish gray upper parts, blackish head, and a broken eye ring around the eyeball. The female Robin is usually smaller then the male and has a more paler color. Robins live in North America from Georgia to Alaska and in the winter some fly as far south as Mexico. When the Robin migrates to the south in the winter it is one of the first birds to migrate to the north in the spring. The Robin often sings very early in the morning. The Robin is one of the first bird species to lay eggs, and begins to breed shortly after returning to its summer home from its winter home. Robins like to return to the same nesting places each year. Its nest consists of long strands of grass, stems, paper, and feathers, and is smeared with mud and often cushioned with grass or other soft materials. The female usually lays three to six blue eggs and sits on the nest while the male helps feed them once they are hatched. Robins like to eat fruit, berries, and insects. The Robin is from the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Aves, Order: Passeriformes, Family: Turdidae, Genus: Turdus, Species: T. migratorius. To hear the Robins song go to: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Robin.html#sound. And then click on sounds.

Bluebird

The above picture is of an Eastern Bluebird. The bluebird is one of the best loved songbirds of North America. The bluebird is approximately 7-8 inches long from the tip of it's beak to the end of it's tail. Bluebirds are attractive birds with blue, or blue and red, plumage. The female of the species is paler in color. Bluebirds migrate to the south in the winter and migrate back north in early spring. The bluebird usually builds it's nest in farmyards, gardens, and open grassland areas with scattered trees. But bluebirds also like to leave near human dwellings. The male bluebird attracts the female by singing and flapping it's wings. The female bluebird is the nest builder while the male at times will bring her insects while she is sitting on the eggs or caring for the young. The female usually lays approximately three to six pale blue or white eggs. The bluebird lives on insects and wild berries. The bluebird belongs to the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Aves, Order: Passeriformes, Family: Turdidae, Genus: Sialia. To hear the bluebird singing go to:http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Eastern_Bluebird.html#sound and click on listen to songs of this species.

Cardinal (bird)

The Cardinal is sometimes called the redbird. The Cardinal is found in both North America and South America. The Cardinal in North America lives mostly in the eastern United States from South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and Connecticut southward to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The Cardinal can also be seen in certain parts of the western states. The cardinal grows to about 8.5 inches long. The head of the cardinal has a crest of feathers that stick up. The male cardinal is mostly red with a grayish tinge on their back side. The female cardinal is more of an olive grayish brown with red highlights in their tails, wings, and crests. Male and female cardinals have reddish orange or bright red bills. Cardinals mate in early spring. Cardinals like to make their nests in the lower branches of trees. the nests are built with grass, dead leaves, and stems. They usually lay from two to five eggs which are white with colored speckles. Cardinals usually feed on seeds, wild berries, and insects. The classification of the cardinal is: Kingdom:Animalia;
Phylum:Chordata; Class:Aves; Order:Passeriformes; Family: Cardinalidae
To hear the song of this bird go to: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Cardinal.html click on listen to songs of this species.

Brown Creeper

The common brown creeper lives in North America. Their breeding habitat is mature forests, especially conifers, in Canada, Alaska and the northeastern and western United States. They are frequently observed in the southern part of the United States in the winter. They forage on tree trunks and branches, typically the bird moves around the tree upwards from the bottom of a tree trunk up, and then flying down to the bottom of another tree. They creep slowly with their body flattened against the bark, probing with their beak for insects and spider eggs. The brown creeper is smaller then a sparrow. The brown creeper has brown plummage with white streaks. The female usually lays four to seven white eggs with spots of brown on them and incubation lasts about two weeks. The creeper belongs to the family Certhidae. The brown creeper to genus Certhia, species americana. To hear the song of this bird go to: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Brown_Creeper.html
click on listen to songs of this species.

Parakeet

The parakeet is a small member of the parrot family. Parakeets belong to the family Psittacidae. They are brightly colored, with yellow, orange, blue, red, green or purple feathers. You can distinguish the sexuality of the grownup parakeet by the color of the skin at the nostrils. In the male the skin is purplish-blue, while in the female it is brownish. Parakeets are clever and affectionate pets. They are able to do many acrobatic and interesting tricks on seesaws and toy ladders. A parakeet can be trained to talk and it is best to start training when they are a few weeks old. When training the parakeet to talk you should repeat the word or words over and over again until the parakeet also repeats the word or words.
Quite a few people enjoy the hobby of breeding parakeets for fun and for profit. The best breeding time for parakeets is in the spring because birds hatched in the spring will benefit from the warmth of the summer. The eggs from the female usually hatch in about 18 to 20 days. The female parakeet usually lays about five eggs. Fruit and seeds are the main parakeet's foods.