THE MOLUCCAN COCKATOO IS OUR BIRD OF THE MONTH:   The Moluccan or Salmon-Crested Cockatoo is one of the most beautiful, intelligent and even tempered of Cockatoos.  But; as with any other parrot companion, do your homework and research before you whip out the credit card and say “I’ll take ‘em”.  They are very affectionate and needy in the attention department.  Some aficionados rank them right up there with the African Grey in intelligence.  They are interactive and playful – just a joy to have around, if you know how to be a Moluccan pet.  Like most members of the Cockatoo family, they are very dusty with continual feather shaft powder flying off them at every scritch.  It is for this reason that the Moluccan should be offered bathing time or shower time whenever they seem to want it.  This helps to keep the allergens down and there is nothing they enjoy more than a good bath or shower.  Without proper bathing the Moluccan can tend toward over-preening and develop plucking and self-mutilation disorders.  Never bathe a bird prior to night sleep because they do not have time to properly preen and dry their feathers, which can lead to illness and an unhappy bird.

The Moluccan hales from The Moluccas Island Group and are listed as a threatened, in the wild, C.I.T.E.S bird.  Loss of habitat due to logging, farming, and human inhabitation of their home lands are mainly responsible for their dwindling numbers in the wild.  A good balanced diet of a salad type morning feeding of carrots, alfalfa, orange, diced apple, pear, banana, and other seasonal fruits and vegetables on the safe food list should be given in a separate cup in the morning and a good pellet diet for day long foraging in a separate cup.  It is risky, due to spoilage, to leave the fresh mixture in the cage for more than 2-2.5 hours.   At night, they like to dine on a mixture of dried nuts, cooked beans or a few seeds.  Moluccans are very large parrots that grow up to 20-22 inches in length and weigh up to 38 or so ounces.  They need to have a good strong-barred cage with both vertical bars for stability, horizontal bars for climbing.  All cockatoos are masters of the art of escape and good non-toxic locks need to be applied to all doors and other potential escape routes.  I have watched several videos of these little mischief makers unlocking their own cage and then freeing all of the other birds in an aviary – never underestimate their intelligence.  They need plenty of out-of-cage time when you are home; but, when you are away and they must be inside their cage/house, is exactly the time that they will set themselves about figuring out how to unscrew screws, bolts and locks.  Their beaks are strong and they are agile.  Be sure to consult with Kim and Korey about a good safe Cockatoo Cage to keep your fid safe while you are out. 

RESCUE OF THE MONTH: 

The Parrot Education Project

Located in Lyerly, Georgia, is operated by Elle Mott and is a Guide Star affiliated 501(3)c, non-profit organization.  Please visit her website for contact and complete information about her wonderful endeavor to save the less fortunate ones.  Elle writes the following about her project:  “My husband and I basically started out about 20 years ago when we went into a small store that had all these little cockatiels perched on a play stand. I remember seeing this lovely little yellow guy with large orange spots on his cheeks that we named Neal the cockatiel. Neal was an incredible biter! Maybe, it was because he had spent way too long in the store and had too many fingers being pointed at him trying to get him to step up. Neal the Cockatiel was the little fellow I credit for opening up a whole world to me that I truly knew nothing about. He introduced us to a brand knew world which I can say is truely amazing! I became fascinated with their colors, the different species of parrots etc. Being in the infatuation stage and also lacking any real knowledge about parrots at the time, we took the giant leap and stumbled across a wild caught Moluccan that we immediately made a part of our family. We got a package purchase from the pet store getting both him and his cage. That's when the learning experience truly began. Sable was an older wild caught Moluccan, as many birds were 20 years ago. Sable, like so many of his aging companions, are the parents of many of the wonderful parrots we enjoy as pets now. I feel that all the years of working with so many different species of parrots is the foundation of our work today. It is my hope to try and teach people about what a huge responsibility it is to decide to make a parrot a life time companion and to also teach people that we can all make a huge impact on protecting so many species of animals in our own part of the world. I feel we are living in the greatest age of extinction the world has ever known and that we all have a collective responsibility to try to make a difference and preserve the many wonderful animals and plants that can never be replaced once they are gone. We initially ventured out thinking we would try to help save a species of parrot and we became focused on the Moluccan. We studied all the available materials that we could get our hands on at the time. It was a different world then, most of your knowledge came through breeders many of whom I do respect for their work. Breeding parrots is a controversial subject to many people because of the crisis with the explosion of too many parrots and not enough homes.  When we were deciding on the path that was right for us we were very fortunate to have met a wonderful vet in Atlanta that spoke passionately about the exotic birds that he had dealt with and he was very understanding of our desire to want to help endangered species. But, fortunately for us he made us realize early on, that habitat protection is so truly important to saving a species. He told us of the horrible situations he had personally witnessed where he had to care for a wonderful Moluccan that had been confined to cage way too small where the parrot had literally eaten it's own wings down to allow it's self more room to move about in a cage.

My passion is to share the beauty of these wonderful animals with others and to give others the opportunity to see and learn about them. For those eager enough to open their hearts to having a parrot in their lives always remember you are taking a wild animal into your life that will continue to have those instincts! Even a handfed baby is at heart a wild animal that you have chosen to make a part of your life. Parrots do make wonderful pets but they come with an incredibly amount of responsibility. Information is widely available on the internet now and I truly encourage people to do all the research they can before impulsively buying a bird. Get involved with others that are current parrot owners; volunteer at a sanctuary, learn all that you can. I can say that establishing a sanctuary to provide a permanent home for parrots that have already experienced re-homing multiple times, is a very costly venture. There is so much to learn about parrots and tons of ideas to share to improve the lives of these animals in the wild and as companion pets. In closing, please remember to be responsible, if you ever have to place your parrot. All too many parrots end up being repeatedly sold and resold over and over again as each new owner tries to re-coop some of the money they spent. But it is the bird who really pays for the mistakes made. Sadly, we witness way too many parrots that still echo the names of former owners, songs they've learned and phrases they can repeat. Parrots don't adapt to change well. We hope to help heal those that have experienced long and sometimes very hard journeys. Our reward is hearing the early morning calls and the late evening screams of happy healthy parrots as they settled in for the evening! Welcome to the jungle!”

More about anti-bird legislation: 

All seems quiet on the Legislative Front, this past month; but, don’t let this lull us into complacency.  There are many organizations in the U.S. who are backed by more money than the mind can comprehend that are just waiting for the next opportune time to start state or federal legislation to ban or euthanize companion birds.  You can keep abreast of pending legislation by checking in with the AFA website - www.afabirds.org  and rest assured that the staff at Bird Cages Galore will use this and many other resources to insure our right to have bird companions and to help stamp out those pending laws that would take that right away.  For now, we can only hope that this column remains in “Nothing New To Report” status. (Jan)

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If you have a question for Jan or Kim, drop a line to info@birdcagesgalore.com and we will print your question and the answer to it in the next issue of the Caged Bird Courier. There are many people with the same questions, so let’s share those questions and answers.