Book Review

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.