My Pet World: One way you can create healthy food for your pet bird
That hawk that you have been watching will catch and eat a little bird every day whether you feed the other birds in your yard. However, if you do not have the bird feeder set up then you will not see the hawk. Nonetheless, the hawk be catching birds in other parts of your neighborhood.
What to do is up to you. There are those who would welcome to see a bit of the natural world play out like this in their backyard and there are those that feel uncomfortable with it -- everyone is different.
If it bothers you, then I would suggest you take down the feeder for a week or 10 days. The little birds that frequent it will then disperse to other feeders in the neighborhood and the hawk will move on when it realizes the birds are no longer congregating in your backyard. Then when that happens you can put the feeder back up and the little birds will go back to it as if nothing happened.
Q: How many toys should a parrot have? My wife has a sun conure and the cage has so many toys in it that when they swing around I am afraid the bird will get hit in the head. She says that the bird needs "environmental enrichment" since it is alone all day, but it seems to me that there must be some kind of rule of thumb or guide in this issue. -- John Shay, Fort Lauderdale, FL
A: Well many people buy toys for their pets as an expression of their love for them and no rule of thumb that I express will ever change that.
However, in a perfect world the best way to ensure environment enrichment for a bird would be to have an assortment of toys on hand. Then, every morning put a different one or two in the birds cage and then take them out at night so when the bird wakes up there are no toys in the cage at all.
Then before you go to work you put two toys in the cage that are different from those the day before and the bird has something different and unexpected to look forward to each day. This is the very best way to keep your bird stimulated and entertained if it is alone while you are at work.
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(Marc Morrone has kept almost every kind of animal as a pet for the last half-century and he is happy to share his knowledge with others. Although he cannot answer every question, he will publish many of those that have a general interest. You can contact him at petxperts2@aol.com; please include your.)
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