I recently ordered a caique book from amazon.com it was titled 'Caiques' by Mary Gorman. Initially I tried to lookup Mrs. Gorman, to see her other works and her relation to aviculture. I could not find any information regarding Ms. Gorman and her parrot experience, which left me a bit wary about the books potential.
Nevertheless, I ordered it to skim over.
The information is very solid, basic information. Good for a newbie to birds, or a new owner that has no idea about caiques at all. The information does not talk about breeding, which I like because most handbooks such as this do, and its not relevant to the new pet owner. A short list of pros and cons on the book are as follows:
Pros-
solid basic information
gave good advice as to cage size
gave good advice as to what a basic diet it
gave good advice as to the needs of a caique
gave good advice on energy level of a caique
gave good advice as to not buying caiques for children
Cons:
left out the differences between young black heads and white bellies
did not tell how to distinguish a male from a female
was extremely basic, not good for a owner that already has a caique or is previously experienced
showed pictures with caiques with other species of birds with no mention of their tendency towards aggression
said caiques can be housed with multiple species
gave no solid caique references in the index
mediocre:
Did have lots of relatively nice pics, but the majority of pictures were black headed caiques, not enough white bellied caique representation
did not give solid facts as to when caiques were first kept
Overall on a rating scale of 1 - 10, I would give this book about a 4. Good solid information for a first time owner, or person researching a bird, but not for the experienced birdkeeper.
I also ordered and am awaiting another book titled Elsewhere In The Land Of Parrots. Review to come shortly.
If you are interested in buying the caique book mentioned above, click on the following link.
Book Review
Caique Beak
I've seen lots of questions around the internet lately, in regards to caique beaks. Is my birds beak too long, should I get it trimmed, what is a 'normal' or 'safe' length. Here is the skinny on caique beaks:
Caiques have longer beaks then other similiar sized parrots. What looks OK on a senegal, medium sized conure or other similiar size bird can mean 'short' or 'acceptable length' on a caique. Why? Well, caiques are built differently. Their beaks are slightly longer as an adaptation to their natural diets, which include the nectar and pollen of native flowers. To be able to access the goodies, they have to have longer beaks to reach deep within the flower or fruit.
You can see here, the beak length of a senegal parrot.
Now, compare this length to that of one of my own caiques, a female black head.
You can clearly see the difference in length. But for a caique, this length is more then acceptable, and not to be considered 'long'. I've been approached by many people, asking if their birds beak at this length is too long. Nope, thats just a caique for you.
While this is a very short and informal post, I hope this clears up some beak misconception.
Avian Artist
Thank you for everyone who has voted in our informal poll. The gathering of information is still continuing, so if you have not already voted, please take a couple minutes to do so! So far there has been an interesting correlation between males, and birds that are older then 2 years in regards to 'tailfeather tipping'. When there is a broader spectrum of input I will post the results here, in case anyone is interested.
I found this website while browsing the internet and thought I would post it here for interested parties. The site is dedicated to avian portraits. I have been watching the progression of several portraits and they are turning out beautifully.
Click the banner to be taken to the website.
Caique Poll
We are polling to see if the amount of yellow tipping on a caiques tailfeathers has any correlation with age and/or sex. Please vote now to help us gather our data!
How much time does it really take?
You tend to hear that question alot. 'Well, birds can't be that much trouble. They are in cages, after all.' No such statement could be further from the truth. In fact, its been said that having one parrot in the house can be equated to living with a dolphin or chimp. And thats just one parrot! Most people have a multiple bird household. How does one bird really affect the household and how much time does it really take to care for that bird?
I've been conducting an informal experiment. I took my camera and started photographing everything I do on a daily basis for my birds. Clean cages, weigh the birds, feed the birds, cook for the birds. Well, you get the idea. It was mind boggling how much effort one actually puts into caring properly for these amazing creatures! A photo journaling of my 'day for the birds' is soon to follow.
March is fast approaching
and do you know what that means? March 23rd, 2008 will be our 2 year anniversary! We are going to celebrate big time, with lots of pomp and circumstance :) Keep your eyes peeled for new and exciting additions to the 'CC Empire!'
If you haven't already, please check out our forums. We recently switched servers, which unfortunately wiped out all members. Please take a moment and register again! This new forum is better and faster then ever. We want you with us as we celebrate our special two year anniversary!!!
Because I've been delinquent with keeping up with the blog lately, here are some interesting caique photos I took with my new Sony Cybershot Camera
The Hierarchy of Parrot Needs
This is a post I wrote about a year ago on a parrot message board, in regards to a posters question about parrots and dependency, the need for. This was my response:
OK here it is. Bare with me as this is all pure speculation/observation on my part and I am going to be jumping around alot, K?
Have you ever heard of Maslows Hiercharcy of Needs? The theory is that once your basic needs are fulfilled- shelter, food, security- you can move 'up the ladder' and continue to fillfull lesser needs- needs that you do not need for basic survival. Needs like self esteem, postive interaction with peers. The highest need is self fulfillment- self awareness. It is estimated that very few, if any, human beings ever fulfill this need because we are continually moving up and down the hierarchy.
True parrot flock dynamics are instinctual, and based on survival. Parrots need other parrots. They need them for security- they warn each other of predators. They need each other for socialization- verbal and physical, like grooming. They need a flock so they can pick a mate and continue the circle of life.
In a cage a parrot has everything given to him. Food in a bowl eliminates the 4-9 hours a day your bird would be foraging. Toys and huts replace time the bird would spend seeking shelter and things to play with. A clean water dish eliminates hours of flying to find a fresh water source.
So whats left? Socialization of course! Verbal- isn't it fun to scream?! And physical- preen me, I itch. And your bird has 15+ hours a day to long for it, because everything else has been handed to him.
Hence the need for independence. Hence the difference between true parrot flock dynamics and human flock dynamics. In the wild, a parrot is always with another bird- in a 'flock'. At home, your bird may be around you, your dog ,your cat, your goldfish- but never have those true parrot flock dynamics.
Now- back to our handy-dandy hierarchy of needs.
This diagram is based on a humans hierarchy of needs- and is a bit more complicated then needs be, IMO. But it illustrates what I am going to be talking about well.
[img]http://i18.tinypic.com/2egh0eq.png[/img]
OK so picture a parrot. In the wild your parrot has to work to fulfill his physiological needs each day. Thats an all day job. Once those needs are fulfilled, he/she needs to find a safe place to roost for the night, and/or a safe nesting cavity to raise babies. That fulfills safety needs. Your bird has now moved up 2 places on the pyramid.
The flock dynamic, and your birds mate would most likely fulfill the love/belonging need (I do not want to get into these aspects too much because otherwise its going to lead into a lot of guesswork/anthromorphization/illogical reasoning)
Your bird is almost to self fulfillment. In humans, sell fulfillment is the ULTIMATE. We want for nothing, have everything, have no issues. I hesitate to move a bird to the esteem rung, simply because can birds have an esteem need in the sense humans do? You decide.
Either way you look at it- your bird in the wild is pretty far up in the hierarchy just by fulfilling basic needs on a daily basis. Higher up then some humans will ever get, for that matter.
Now- take a captive bird.
Physiological needs- handed to them. Why the need to fulfill if they are already there? Food, check. Water, check. Sleep, check. Clean cage, check.
Safety needs- fulfilled. A cage in an area away from natural dangers.
This leaves us at the love/belonging need.
OK so this is where dependency and the hierarchy theory ties in, for me at least. You can't want what you never missed, or in this case didn't acknowledge you already had- in this case physiological and safety needs. So it makes logical sense, if you are looking at the hierarchy- that most parrots start out trying to fulfill the love/belonging need. Whether or not it is fulfilled is based on the interaction between human and parrot.
I think that, IMHO, once the love/belonging need is fulfilled, the bird can move up the hierarchy to what we would view as fulfillment- in this case not having to be Dependant upon a human for everything. IE playing in the cage while the human is away, participating in foraging and natural preening activities, engaging in regular sleeping patterns, etc.
To be stuck in the dependent stage, would to be stuck on trying to fulfill one of the hierarchy needs. In most birds cases, its the love/belonging. Where do i fit in, in this human flock? Are they going to take me out today?
Now- interesting concept here. Compare the behaviors of a wild bird with behaviors of a captive birds, and their place on the hierarchy. A captive bird, as I said, i believed would be on self atualization portion of the pyramid, having fulfilled all other needs on a daily basis. Wild birds do not pluck- they do not bite (biting is a captive bird behavior, wild birds do not bite other then to warn of danger- they do not inflict harm with their beaks with the intent to hurt) and they certainly do not have screaming issues! they play, they fly, they make nests and have chicks.
Consider the captive bird. The captive bird is, from my perspective, usually stuck on the love/belonging part of the hierarchy. It is not uncommon to hear of, or even live with a bird that has biting, screaming, plucking/self mutilating issues. A bird that is clipped, that does not have chicks, and participate in other natural activities.
So where does this leave us?
Seems to me the bird that has more freedom- ie socialization within flock dynamics, be it human or bird, is taught to forage, engage in natural activities such as bathing, preening, playing with toys- is one to be happier because they can have lives outside their human. Being independant is not a bad thing- its being dependent that can turn into damaging.
