Avian Conversations

(May/June, 2000)

by: Tom Riggs and Ross Bishop

THE AVIAN DESERT

Ross: Sometimes someone can make a small comment that opens up whole avenues in our thinking. That happened to me with a comment by Dr. Terry Martin, an Australia veterinarian. What he said really struck me. Now, I know a lot of people who keep finches and softbills struggle with creating the right conditions for their birds, and often cannot figure out why some birds don't breed.

In Australia, Grass Parakeets are found distributed through much of the country. Not every species is found all over the country, however. As you may know, Australia ranges from deep thick rain forest in the North to totally parched and dry open land in the outback, with almost every possible variation found in between. Most of the country is hot and dry. Various species of Grass Parakeets find environments suitable for them and localize in those places. So, although Grass Parakeets are found throughout most of the country, that is not true for every species.

People in the U.S. and Europe who breed Grass Parakeets have found some significant differences in the various species reproductive successes depending on climate. For example, Splendids breed better here in the arid and dry Southwest than on the coast. With other species it's the opposite. And, of course, there are notable exceptions which throw the whole theory into a hand basket, but on the whole, the theory seems to hold true.

OK, that leads me to Dr. Martin's comment. Terry has raised and shown finches for a long time. So he's a rare avian vet who is knowledgeable about finches. Anyway, the thing he said that struck me was "Remember that Australia is a hot dry country - so if you keep your birds in a desert they often remain healthier. That is why Australian birds are so successful as pet birds, pet owners always keep them in deserts!"

Kaboom! It hit me. Our homes are warm and dry. Many people keep their birds indoors - in virtual deserts. I went to my indoor aviary and looked at my Tricolors and other Munias - notoriously difficult to breed here. I thought about their home in southeast Asia, in the rice fields and reed beds. In Java when you get up in the morning the humidity in the air is so thick you could almost cut it. When the sun comes out it gets quite hot. Your clothes stick to you in minutes. These are the conditions you need for growing rice, reeds and obviously, Munias. And, here they are in my warm (not hot) and comparatively dry, aviary (indoor desert).

Speaking of artificial environments, that brings up another subject, replicating natural daylight hours. Most of the birds we keep are southern hemisphere birds and because the seasons there are opposite, the natural light cycle is different than ours. I don't know if our birds are changing because they are born and raised in the Northern hemisphere, but I have noticed a marked change in my birds since I started paying more attention to their natural patterns.

During the summer most of my birds are in the outdoor aviary, so I can't do much about things there. But, when I bring them in during the fall and winter I do pay attention to their natural light cycles. I asked Benjamin Whitworth, one of the Australian members of the "finchlovers" email list to obtain sunrise and sunset hours for Australia for us, and he was kind enough to do so. The times are for Brisbane (and they are rough averages), but they will give you a general idea of the light cycle your birds would be on if they were living in the wild (these numbers are not corrected for daylight savings time):

Average Daylight Hours for Brisbane, Australia

To the extent that you can control the hours of daylight, I do believe that birds do respond best to their natural conditions.

TOXINS

Tom: Toxins are out there and they can be absolutely disastrous. What I avoid like the plague is pesticides of any kind. They can get around in the oddest places. I remember a situation with the Birds of Paradise at a major zoo. They developed an ant problem in the aviary and the curator asked the pest control person to do something about it. Five days later the Birds of Paradise began to show symptoms of poisoning and eventually died. They had apparently picked up the ants or the poison had gotten into their water -- something. This process was supposed to be completely safe and professionally applied. I have also been fortunate in that I have never had an infestation of mites or anything like that. I think that this is because my aviary sanitation is good. I have had mice come into the bird room on two occasions. I will not poison them, I live trap them. All you need is one grain of poison to get into the aviary and plop! You've got a dead bird.

Ross: The risk from pesticides comes in a couple of ways. The most potent is usually in trying to treat the invasion of some pest into the aviary like bugs or mice. The caution here is to be really careful not only about where you put the chemical agent but also how and where it might migrate. Stuff gets into the air, you can carry it on your clothing or shoes, pets can transfer it around - you have to be really careful because that which is unexpected or unplanned often happens with disastrous results. Those things are almost impossible to trace, too. Even if the bird does not die immediately, it's immune system can be compromised, it gets a respiratory infection and dies or stops breeding and you will never know the cause. In addition to chemicals, some foods are dangerous to birds. Amongst these are chocolate, avocado, rhubarb, caffeine, alcohol, apple seeds, the pits of cherries, plums and apricots and possibly onions (although the jury is still out on this one). Peanuts, although not dangerous themselves, often carry a fungus that can be fatal to birds.

Although this is not a direct risk, something that is not well understood is that birds do not have the enzymes necessary to break down lactose and digest milk sugar. Milk sugar, being essentially non digestible to birds, will cause an upset in their digestive systems. This generally manifests itself through diarrhea. I understand that in the "old" days people used to feed birds bread soaked in milk, and I guess some of that habit still carries over today.

Dr. Alicia McWatters points out that the milk sugar in cheese is broken down somewhat by the enzymes produced by the bacteria used to make cheese, but cheese still contains 20%-50% milk fat, therefore it should be fed in moderation. Yogurt and kefir are much better choices because they are cultured dairy products (the milk sugar is already digested) and provide live beneficial bacteria, which is helpful to a bird's intestinal health and immune system. The reason I bring this up is that these two are also excellent sources of calcium. For optimum benefit, purchase "live" yogurt and kefir, pasteurized before culturing, plain, and without added sugar.

Another place to be careful of chemicals is in our food supply. These days fruits and vegetables are treated with all manner of pesticides, fungicides, hormones and herbicides and then after they are picked they are treated with dyes, waxes and heaven knows what else. I just don't want my bird's ingesting that stuff. I find it rather amazing that even though certain chemicals have been banned, they still turn up in our food supply. Also, I think that people would be uneasy if they realized just how little of our food is ever actually tested or inspected.

Consumer Reports has studied the levels of pesticide residues in fruit and produce over the last seven years and the results are disturbing (Consumer Reports, March, 1999). Consumer Reports focused on the effects to children because of their small body size, developing nervous systems and because cancer kills more children under 14 than any other disease. They become the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" for the rest of us. Consumer Reports' researchers wrote: "It is surprisingly easy for children to eat fresh fruits and vegetables with unacceptable levels of some especially toxic pesticides." According to Consumer Reports the foods to be especially careful about are: apples, grapes, green beans, peaches, pears, spinach and winter squash. This is largely because current production techniques of these crops "require" heavy pesticide use. Plus, because of "budget constraints" (read: political pressure from chemical manufacturers and large growers) governmental inspections of fruit and produce has been drastically curtailed. The effects of toxic chemicals are more profound on birds than on you (especially on young birds). EPA standards of allowable toxicity are set for human, not bird, standards. The leftover pesticide on the zucchini you bought at the supermarket may not be considered harmful to you, but we cannot say the same for your birds.

Besides, there is a raging debate at the moment as to whether current EPA/FDA standards allow too much pesticide to be passed on to us in our food (remember, the effects of these chemicals are cumulative). Some people attribute this problem to the fact that there has been a virtual revolving door for executives between Monsanto, one of the biggest producers of food chemicals and the FDA. In any case, Consumer Reports found a number of banned (illegal) chemicals were still being used, especially on spinach. In an interesting twist, imported fruit and produce generally fared much better than American grown. American produced fruits and vegetables often carried 10 times the chemical residue of imported products like peaches, apples and winter squash.

Research consistently shows virtually no chemical residue in organic products. One FDA administrator (a former chemical industry employee) has been trashing organic produce because manure is often used as organic fertilizer. His claims have been shown to be unfounded. But in any case, since there is always the risk of residue on any fresh food, be sure to clean any fruit or vegetable, no matter the source. Unfortunately the chemicals often used in traditional agriculture penetrate beneath the skin, and cannot be washed away. To be safe, peel everything you can. I do this especially for the birds because they are so much more sensitive to even tiny doses of chemical toxins. During the summer we grow our own greens and fruit. I also make it a point to always spray the external surface of any fruit or vegetable with an organic cleaner - I use Oxyfresh's Cleansing Gel. We eat largely organic, and that is how we feed our birds. I figure the cost is worth the difference because I haven't had to pay a doctor bill in ten years. Similarly, our vet bills are almost non-existent. I can buy a lot of organic veggies for the price of one vet visit (especially with vet costs these days!) Dr. Alicia McWatters has written a good introductory article about basic nutrition and organic food at: http://www.parrothouse.com/organic.html. You might want to check it out.

Tom: I agree. I feed organic whenever I can. Meaning when it is available and when it will not bankrupt me. But regardless, all of my fruit, vegetables or greens get thoroughly cleaned. Now that I have Oxyfresh I use that, but you can also soak things in a solution of vinegar water for a few minutes. This supposedly helps cut the oil that a toxic chemical is carried in. Then I rinse it three times. I will say this, I have never had a problem that I could trace to food pesticides.

Ross: A bird's respiratory and circulatory systems are different from ours. They are much more efficient. A bird exchanges gas (air) more frequently and more efficiently that you do. A bird's metabolism is considerably higher than ours. Thus chemicals in the food or fumes in the air will be taken in faster and absorbed in a much greater proportion than for you or me. Their smaller body mass means a greater sensitivity to even small doses of chemicals. That's why canaries were so useful in coal mines. Plus, remember that flying is an incredibly aerobic exercise so a bird absorbs significantly greater (proportionally) quantities of air than we do even at our peak exercise states (and of course we all reach those regularly!). All of this places the bird at far greater risk of toxic poisoning. So, just because bleach fumes or some cleaner's smell doesn't bother you, it does not mean that they are not affecting your birds. And, remember, these effects are cumulative! You can walk into a kitchen and turn off a burning Teflon® pan and be relatively unharmed. Those same fumes will kill a bird in the other corner of the house.

Tom: Teflon® is a toxin to be extremely concerned about. A Teflon® pan left to burn on the stove will quickly create a plume of gas that will kill every bird it touches. It's never happened to me, but I had a friend who kept his canaries in the kitchen and did the Teflon® thing one day and - no more canaries!

Ross: Somebody said that there were only two kinds of cooks: Those who have already burned a® Teflon pan and those who will. I used to think it was just a burning Teflon® pan that was dangerous. Dr. Margaret A. Wissman, DVM, DABP, advises: However, even with normal usage, some fumes may also be released, so non-stick cookware, drip pans, irons, ironing board covers and heat -lamps with a PTFE coating should not be used around birds. Dr. Wissman goes on to speak of other toxic dangers: Passive inhalation of cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke can cause chronic eye problems, skin irritation and respiratory disease. Birds that live in homes with smokers may develop coughing, sneezing, sinusitis and conjunctivitis, which may resolve spontaneously, if the bird is moved to a location free of smoke. Some birds exposed to chronic second-hand smoke will develop secondary bacterial infections, as well, which can prove fatal. Many common disinfectants and household cleaning agents release fumes that can be toxic or fatal to birds. Chlorine bleach, phenols and ammonia can all have dangerous vapors that can cause irritation, toxicosis and even death. Common household aerosol products, such as perfume, deodorant and hairspray, can cause respiratory problems in birds. They may cause severe inflammation and difficulty breathing, and after large or direct exposure, death can occur. Any pump spray or aerosol using a propellant can be dangerous to birds, and these should not be used around birds. Natural gas leaks can cause sudden death in birds. Any type of heater, used improperly or with inadequate ventilation can be deadly to birds. Carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas, can also be fatal to birds. Anyone with pet birds should have a working carbon monoxide monitoring device in the home, preferably in the room where the birds are kept. Second-hand smoke from marijuana can also cause severe depression and regurgitation. . . (www.tampa-online.com/icarus)

So, fair warning to all you potheads from Dr. Wissman!

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Last modified: January 07, 2004
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