Night Frights writ large...

By now everyone has read about the news of "birds falling from the sky" out of Arkansas and Louisiana. So far, necropsies performed on representative samples of the birds have all indicated that the creatures died of internal bleeding and blunt-force trauma, with no indications of any sort of poisoning or lightening strikes involved.


While both the political and Biblical/Apocalyptic conspiracy theorists are tripping all over each other trying to paint the unfortunate event with their own special brand of crazy, those of us who keep exotic birds in our homes recognize this for what it likely is: night frights.


For the most part, a bird's night vision is as poor as its daytime vision is acute. It's why both wild and caged birds securely settle-in and perch themselves at dusk, well before it gets dark - they don't want to be caught out in the open when the lights go out. 


That said, the fight-or-flight response is deeply embedded in prey animals, and, in the case of defenseless birds, it inevitably means flight. Birds that are frightened out of their sleep will hit the air first and think about it later. In caged birds we call this "night frights," and most of us have been awakened to the panicked thrashing of our domestic flock trying desperately to flee from some imagined threat. Panicked birds will fly full-force into walls, windows, cage walls, wedge themselves behind mirrors and furniture, etc. They can't see the "danger" in the dark, they can't see the rest of their flock in the dark, and all they know is that they're alone and something's chasing them. The only solution is to switch on the lights, let the bird/birds awaken fully, and try to put everyone to bed again. Loads of fun at 2:30 in the morning.


The birds in question, red-winged blackbirds, weigh about 2 1/2 ounces, and can fly from 17 to 28 miles per hour. You can imagine the results when something that light smashes into a building, a telephone pole, a heavy tree branch, or flies into the ground at close to 30 mph - internal bleeding and blunt-force trauma. Whether it was a fireworks display or an hungry raccoon or snake that spooked the flock, it resulted in near simultaneous panic and mass confusion, thousands of birds rising into the air, totally blind, terrified and smashing into each other, and heading off into the darkness at full speed until something solid stopped them forever. I like a good government conspiracy or alien probe story as much as the next guy, but Occam's razor demands that we accept the hypothesis that answers the question with the fewest new assumptions. I'm putting my money on night frights...


More here: 4 and 20 blackbirds, and 4,000, dead in the sky. "Celebratory fireworks likely sent thousands of discombobulated blackbirds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths in central Arkansas, scientists say..."


Here's a nice rundown of the black helicopter stuff: Counting Dead Blackbirds: Conspiracy Theories Abound In Arkansas


Worldwide phenomenon! Swedish birds 'scared to death': veterinarian

Update: "I told you so..." Fireworks likely cause of massive Ark. bird kill


Another Update: "I told you so (again).  In a thoughtful radio interview, Cornell Lab scientist Kevin McGowan pretty much confirms everything I said above: Radio Interview About Dead Blackbirds

Parrots and Humidity...

Every time I visit the Bronx Zoo's World of Birds, (which served as the model for Dan Grant's aviary in Little Birdies!) I'm immediately struck by the very high humidity as soon as you enter the main exhibit room. It's like getting hit in the face with a bucket of water. They keep it very warm - I'd guess upwards of 80 degrees, and the humidity has to be at least 70%, maybe even 80%. Not terribly comfortable for the human visitors - it's sort of like a clammy summer day - but obviously just right for its full time, tropical inhabitants.

Humidity in rain forests typically runs from 70-to-90%, never less than 50%. Given the high temperatures in those regions, thats a lot of water in the air. Compare that to a typical indoor winter environment here in New York's scenic Hudson River Valley, which might run 70 degrees and 18% humidity, and it should be no surprise that your parrot is generally itchy, sneezy and uncomfortable.

If money were no object, I'd keep my bird room at 76-to-78 degrees at 70% RH (relative humidity). But money is an issue, and I do have to live here along with the birds, so I keep it at 72/73 degrees (daytime, 71 nighttime) and 60% RH. It's not an ideal environment for a tropical bird, but at least it's not a torturous or unhealthy one.

I use a Honeywell HWM-450 humidifier. It's been running 24/7 (less a few hours each week for cleaning) during the winter months for the past three seasons, and has held up pretty well. I'm sure there are other models out there that will perform just as well.

UPDATE (Feb. 5, 2014): My otherwise dependable humidifier finally crapped-out after seven hardworking seasons. I just replaced it with the updated model, a Honeywell HWM-330.

I think humidity is the single most overlooked factor when considering our companion parrot's health and wellbeing. We're always talking about how sensitive their respiratory systems are, how sensitive their skin is, and how frequently we should spritz them with water or let them regularly bathe, but seldom discuss the obvious - that most psittacine species have evolved to live and thrive in a high temperature, high-moisture (high relative humidity) environment, and we seldom provide that for them.

For a perspective from someone living in a year-round warm, but dry environment (Texas), check out this posting: The Importance of Humidity for Companion Parrots.

Marc Morrone on finches...

What a great little clip! As usual, Marc packs a lot of useful information is a very short amount of time...

Gouldian courtship dance...

I just caught Mr. FancyPants, my red-headed, white-breasted Gouldian finch, doing his little courtship dance for one of the hens. They all finished their molt about a month ago, so everyone's looking bright and pretty. Here's a decent example of the dance for those of you who've never seen it...

Spring is in the air...

Yeah, I know it's the middle of July. But one of my Gouldian hens is finally taking an interest in one of the nest boxes that I put out sometime in April. The flock had a long, rough molt this year, and I don't think they get interested in dating until they get their wardrobe straightened out...