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The Aviary
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NEWSLETTER
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Did You Know?
by Nora Stanley
This article originally appeared in SQUAWK, the newsletter of the Big Apple Bird Association and is reprinted with permission.
Quote from the author: Sometimes a bird in hand is a burden!
- All birds have an ocular ring of 12 bones in each eye socket, to support the structures in the eye.
- Some birds should not have their wing feathers clipped. This is especially true for softbills (finches to mynahs), which need their wings for balancing as well as for flight. Recently, a friend called with a problem about a newly purchased budgie. The store owner had clipped the bird's wings so my friend could tame the bird. A red spot developed on the bird's breast because it landed on its chest whenever my friend tried to work with it. I advised him to take it to the veterinarian immediately. Upon examination, a wound was found from the bird's repeated landing on its breast. The sharp breastbone (sternum), had split the skin. Luckily the wound was easily stitched and successfully treated with antibiotics.
- According the a recent P.B.S. series, Dinosaurs, birds are not evolved from reptiles, but are believed to be direct descendents of the dinosaurs. According to the latest theories, dinosaurs are believed to have been warm-blooded, like birds. Gizzard stones have been found in some intact fossils. such as the brontosaurus. In "Eggmountain" Montana, fossilized hadrosaur eggs and young were found in colonies very similar to those of penguins or gulls. Fossilized food was even found in some nests, indicating that the adults fed their young. Fossil footprints have shown that some adult and immature dinosaurs travelled in groups, as if migrating.
- Canaries can learn new songs each year during the molt. Canaries grow new glial cells in their brains, according to researchers at Rockefeller University. This was a startling finding, because it had been believed that as all animals (and humans) aged, that they progressively died off. Song canary breeders play tapes of good canary songs, and sometimes music (from opera to "crooners") in order to ensure the best song in their birds in the fall. Even champion song canaries that do not receive song training during and after the molt, can "forget" their best songs in later years.
- The aborigines in Australia ate many parakeets, by roasting the adults or just eating the chicks. The name "budgerigar" means "good food".
- Birds are smarter than people used to believe. Of course, you probably know about Alex, the talking African Grey who can distinguish between shapes, colors and textures of different objects presented to him, but behaviorists have found that crows can count up to six; a species of European chickadee uncaps milk bottles and drinks the cream; and, as some parrot owners have discovered, their pets are adept escape artists, even capable of opening their locks! To quote a good friend, "For all the size of their brains, birds know quite a lot!"
- Safer cleansers: A) For cleaning bird toys and dishes, dissolve baking soda in hot water, then add vinegar. When it stops foaming, rinse clean. B) Put baking soda in your drain and pour vinegar into it. This safely cleans your drains. C) For stained dishes, tube feeders, etc.: Dissolve dishwashing powder in hot water (about 1 cup/gallon water) and add bleach (1/4 cup/gallon). Stir occasionally until clean; rinse very well.
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