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.