The top photo is from a documentry I was in about Moab and free flying birds there with Chris Biro and Susan Hilliard along with the Womach Bros :)

You can see the videos on you tube here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WapCpNigQGs

i have a question- ive had a sun conure for about 7 months now(hes 1.5 yrs old), and i’ve been thinking about getting a grey. everywhere ive read, they say greys don’t get along with other birds, or that they ONLY like one person.

my conure, although he likes me the most, still will play with my sister and dad. ideally, i would like them to play with each other..I wouldn’t house them in the same cage, but i was just wondering if it would be a good idea. thanks!

Mila for the female bird
and Bruce for the male bird seems okay but still arguing…

well, it was nice reading your blog.

Ruben and Linda.

I have noticed her/him (can’t tell yet) sample almost everything in the veggie bowl. I gave her some edible greens that are considered rare in the states, katuk leaves, moringa leaves and perennial peanut. These might be my saving grace. They are loaded with micro-nutrients and have ample protein and calcium. She has devoured all three: especially the katuk and perennial peanut forage. I was hoping she would develop a stronger affinity for moringa because it is the highest nutritional (potentially the most nutritious plant leaf in the world).

I worry because the person we purchased her from said the seed mix was fine. His breeders have been on the seed mix for over 20 years.. Go figure..

I will be back to learn more from your site.. Thanks again..

Mark

Thank you for your kind words. I had never heard of a moustache parakeet until your comment, actually. And this is what I found of their diet;

“They are also generally excellent eaters and will sample new foods that other birds may pass up. ”

“In the wild this species feeds on fruits, berries, flowers, nuts, seeds, nectar, and leaf buds. They are also seen as pests in some regions because they also enjoy feeding in rice fields.”

Source: http://www.centralpets.com/animals/birds/parrots/prt1178.html

Hope that helps! Just made sure the seeds are given as treats as they are very high in fat!

We just purchased a baby moustache parakeet. She/he still makes begging noises to me.. I guess she thinks I’m mommy.. or daddy..

I’m finding it hard to hold the bird without her regressing. Also there is not a lot of information on these asian parakeets available on the internet or bookstore. Do you have any recommended sites for a diet for a bird like this. It is packed with seeds. I live in cape coral florida; so tropical fruits and foods are relatively easy to access all year.

great blog site! i accidentally happened upon it and it’s loaded with great info.

i’m from the US but i live in costa rica now. so, as you can imagine, i see plenty of swainson’s toucans and the other toucan family species here in the wild.

i see plenty of toucans flying around. sure, as you’ve mentioned, they’re not the most skilled fliers and most often you’ll see them just flying from the top of a tree to a lower portion of a different tree upon which they’ll hop upward to the peak of that tree. but they don’t seem to me to have an aversion to flight.

as for using their beak as a weapon, i’ve never seen any evidence of that. their beaks are so lightweight and they lack the beak strength of parrots and macaws, so i think their beaks would be fairly useless in defending themselves from other birds. they’re nest raiders who like to eat the eggs and chicks of other birds, but if they’re caught too close to a nest by the parents they’re chased away and i’ve never seen them try to fight back.

when i see swainson’s in the wild, it’s usually a single bird in a tree top calling out with it’s beautiful but somewhat melancholy cry. occasionally i’ll see them in pairs and rarely in small groups, but that’s usually when they’ve found a tree loaded with fruit and they’re eating.

though i’ve seen them pick up lizards or large insects to eat, i imagine the largest part of their diet is fruit in the wild. i often see them in guarumo trees (cecropia) because i think they like the little fruits or seed pods from these trees. they absolutely go nuts over ripened cuadrados (a shorter, stubbier, almost rectangular banana family fruit) and papaya de monte (a wild papaya that has a rounder, sweeter fruit than a regular papaya).

i love the photo of the sleeping toucan in one of your other posts. i have never seen that! i wonder if they sleep with their red posterior exposed to deter night-time predators. red is usually a warning sign in the rain forest and most predators stay away from bright red animals since they’re often toxic or possibly even venemous in the case of the coral snake.

drop me a line to my email address, i’ve got lots of questions for you. i’m not keeping any toucans or parrots at the moment but i’m starting to raise pheasants and other fowl.

maybe you guys would like to come down to costa rica sometime. i’ve got a property on the pacific coast that is frequented by scarlet macaws and one on the caribbean slope where i’ve seen and heard the rare green macaw on several occasions. and i’ve got plenty of toucans and aracaris everywhere. i even have a small property up in the mountains outside of the central valley and about this time of year i start to see the emerald green toucanets nesting in the cavities of a large dead tree there.

pura vida!
mike