care-sheets

CARE SHEETS

Patricia J. Latas DVM, Arizona Bird Clinic

Birds are an amazing evolutionary phenomenon.

The entire evolution and natural history of the Class Aves is defined by one thing: flight. All physiological and anatomical features of any bird reflect this awesome history. Even ostriches, rheas, emus, and penguins retain features that exhibit their flighted ancestry. Consider: lack of teeth; large brain; hollow bones; advanced cardiorespiratory system; compact center of gravity; super-efficient digestive tract; streamlined reproductive system; feathers; and high metabolism.

In the wild, birds burn a tremendous amount of energy simply maintaining normal body temperature (what a budgie needs in one day to stay alive could keep a desert tortoise going for about a year). When they fly, the metabolic rate increases logarithmically. To keep this rate going, most birds seek out high-energy foods and have the ability to lay on fat in a single day. In addition, the foods found in natural habitats rarely resemble the foods in our croplands or on the grocery store shelves. If you live near a natural area, just try to imagine what the native birds are eating out there. It is certainly NOT millet, apples, or spaghetti. The nutrients in native foods are complex, and birds eat many parts of the plant (the pod, buds, leaves, resin, etc.). Often a "fruit" resembles an acorn, and only the outer skin is scraped off and eaten.

Most birds have adapted to constricted habitat requirements, and may have specific dietary needs. For example, most tropical habitats are deficient in iron, and some tropical bird species have developed an "iron-hoarding" mechanism. When they eat grocery store items, they are quickly overloaded with iron and die from iron storage disease. The same can be said about protein (more below on this topic) and phosphorus. High phosphorus levels are found in flowers, fruit, and meat. A natural drive to consume high-phosphorus items would be adaptive in the native habitats that are deficient, but in captive animals it can lead to severe and fatal calcium deficiency and heart disease.

Many of the bird species that we have as companions come from habitats that are severely restricted. Although a tropical forest appears lush and exuberant, the harsh reality is that food is very difficulty to find. Many tropical species fly dozens of miles everyday, in the sunshine and rain, and forage on a diversity of plant types.

Many of the Australian species are adapted to a feast-or-famine habitat. Food is extremely hard to find, and of exceedingly poor quality. When high calorie foods are available to budgies, cockatiels and cockatoos, they eat as much as possible and reproduce as much as possible. The next feast is unpredictably far off. Hence the many reproductive disorders we see in these birds as pets, on a rich, predictable diet.

To keep our companion birds healthy, we have to remember their natural history and wild heritage. There is no possibility of providing complete natural foods, exercise, biodiversity and weather conditions in a captive situation. So we, as caretakers, have to be responsible for compensating the dietary needs of our avian friends.
see: Basic Care NO! and YES!