Overview
The brilliantly colored lories and lorikeets are quite definitely parrots, and yet they depart radically from typical parrot behavior and breeding biology, and in their internal anatomy. As you will see, a good deal of this may be explained by the nature of their diets.
Physical Description
The 56 species of lories and lorikeets are among the [...]

Research conducted recently at University of California (Irvine) has revealed that female budgerigars choose males whose contact calls closely resemble their own. Males, in turn, pay more attention to similarly-sounding mates than to females whose calls differ from theirs, grooming them often and defending them vigorously. When paired with such females, male budgerigars also devote [...]

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Nesting
Most parrots lay their eggs within holes in trees, using little if any nesting material.
Lovebirds build true nests. Females wedge dried grasses and other nesting material into the feathers of their rumps for transport to the nest site.
Monk parrots build huge, communal stick nests. Escaped pets [...]

Almost all pet birds known collectively as “soft bills” (those which are not parrots) consume live insects as part of their natural diets. Insects are especially important during the breeding season – in fact, the sudden availability of insects, either in captivity or the wild, is an important trigger in bringing many species into breeding [...]

Introduction
Parrots and their relatives have such a long history as pets (the first written record of a parrot in captivity is that of a plum-headed parakeet in Greece in 400 BC) that it is easy to forget how spectacularly adapted they are for life in the wild. Today I would like to pass along some [...]

Researchers at the University of Bristol determined this month (May, 2008) that starlings and other birds moved away from feeders if watched by people, but continued feeding if the observers remained just as close to the feeders, but turned their eyes away.
Interesting….but I think bird keepers have known this to be true for quite some [...]

Few birds actually live up to the reputations we assign them – owls, for example, have been shown to be less “wise” than most other species when it comes to learning from their mistakes. The ringdove, however, does indeed seem to possess the calm, peaceful demeanor that we have come to associate with doves (although [...]

The beauty, intelligence and talking abilities of parrots have long endeared them to us as pets. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all kept parrots, and seemed to hold them in high regard.
An oft-repeated story suggests that parrots, most likely one of the Amazons, may have figured prominently in the history of the New World [...]

In a recent article I reviewed the basics of light quality as it relates to the health of pet birds. Another aspect of lighting deserving careful consideration is your bird’s photoperiod, or the length of its day and night. The vast majorities of birds kept as pets are native to tropical habitats, and are exposed [...]

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Diet
Fruit comprises a major portion of the myna’s diet, with figs being a particular favorite. Mynas also consume seeds, buds, insects, spiders and other invertebrates, lizards and tree frogs. They will occasionally raid the nests of other birds, taking both eggs and nestlings (a habit that [...]