This can occupy as much as 6-18 hours of a wild parrot’s day. This cornerstone of daily activity includes the search for food and the act of extracting, eating, and processing it. To a parrot, these can suggest a more intimate interest. To avoid the impression that you are a willing mate, avoid prolonged cuddling, allopreening, or perching on your shoulder. Even just having your bird nearby on a perch, stand, or travel cage, wherever you are at the time, is good quality time. Talking, dancing, training, and playing games with your bird are excellent ways to fulfill your bird’s need for social interaction. As our birds’ surrogate flock, we need to fulfill this role without inadvertantly taking on the role of mate. These flocks can be very noisy and active. Commonly the birds will spend brief periods of time allopreening (preening the feathers on eachothers’ heads) or otherwise interacting and vocalizing with a flock. Most wild parrots are social creatures except, perhaps, when they pair up and concentrate on raising young.
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At the very minimum, birds that are not allowed to achieve lifestyle balance probably experience more stress and do not behave and interact with their human flock to their full potential. Birds that do not enter breeding condition, but still cannot satisfy their needs for activity, mental exercise, or social interaction, can also exhibit some of these problem behaviors.
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Undesired behaviors that can result include feather or skin destructive behaviors (feather picking/plucking), obsessive compulsive behaviors, territorially defensive behaviors, and screaming or other attention-getting behaviors (e.g., separation anxiety).
Resulting medical conditions include osteodystrophy (loss of bone calcium), hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver), egg coelomitis (inflammation of the abdomen from internally ovulating), oviductal or ovarian cancer and cysts, egg binding, cloacitis (inflammation or infection of the cloaca), cloacal prolapse, and stroke. Because physiological changes for breeding are so intensive, it is believed that birds that are constantly in this condition are prone to a variety of medical and psychological illnesses. For many captive parrots, this is enough to be reproductively active on a continuous basis, often without being able to ever complete the cycle and enter a phase of rest and repair. This extra time and dietary energy can be utilized for breeding even if the other required elements, such as a mate or nest site, are minimally available. In captivity, basic needs are met easily and so there is an enormous surplus of time and energy intake and a minimal amount of physical activity required. A natural equilibrium becomes established, which may or may not allow for extra activites. In a wild setting, birds work hard most of the time to find food, watch for danger, and take care of themselves. This is the first step to recognizing how we can change a pet bird’s behavior through manipulation of the environment, diet, and our social interaction with them. It comes down to budgeting of time, nutrients, availability of mates or nests, etc. However, if the three basic categories occupy most of a bird’s time and energy, the annual activities, particularly reproduction, may not take place at all. Once these areas have been satisfied, there are additional behaviors and activities that take place on an annual cycle, such as reproduction, molt, or, in some cases, migration.
Maintenance activities include all the things that a bird has to do to maintain its physical health outside of eating, such as sleeping, preening, and bathing. Social interaction includes time spent in a flock setting vocalizing, preening, flying, and displaying. Nutrition and foraging refers to the make-up of the diet and the time and energy involved in finding, extracting, eating, and processing food.
There are three primary elements to a parrot’s daily life: Nutrition, social interaction, and maintenance behaviors. What are the Elements of a Balanced Lifestyle? Equally important is balanced activity and behavioral enrichment to allow them to engage with others and with their environment. Balanced nutrition is an important cornerstone of care. A balanced diet, a balanced checkbook, and a balanced lifestyle are important to our well-being. We can all relate to the importance of balance.