Patrick T. Redig DVM, PhD

Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Avian Core -- CVM 6880
 
 

1. Objectives
   1. To understand the major factors that influence avian behavior
      
   2. To understand some of the common causes of avian behavioral problems
      
   3. To understand the basis of avian training methods
      
   4. To become familiar with characteristic temperaments of popular companion birds
      
2. Major categories of fundamental aspects of avian behavior
   
   1. Types of birds based on characteristics of the young at time of hatching:
      
   2. Precocial birds -- also nidifugous -- waterfowl, gallinaceous birds (pheasants, quail and chickens).
      
   3. Altricial birds -- also nidiculous -- raptors and psittacines are the one most frequently seen in a clinical setting, so subsequent comments on behavior will relate to altricial birds for the most part.
      
   4. General characteristics of birds
      
      1. Rate of physical maturation tends to be very rapid in most species of birds -- passerine mature in as little as 18 days after hatching, 4-6 weeks is very common. Slower maturational rates such as seen in psittacines is the exception rather than the rule.
         
      2. Sexual maturity is not associated with physical maturity, and is very often delayed
         
      3. Companion birds have the intelligence of a 5 - 6 year old human and the emotional maturity of a 2 - 3 year-old human.
         
      4. Current methods of rearing that emphasize hand-rearing as opposed to parent rearing produce overbonded birds with obsessive-compulsive type behaviors, especially with large cockatoos.
         
      5. For the most part, companion birds now in captivity are at most 1 generation removed from the wild -- behaviors are oriented toward survival in the wild -- they are not yet domesticated.
         
3. Aspects of Avian Biology relevant to Companion Birds
   
   1. Companion birds are no more than one to three generations removed from wild birds -- they have not undergone thousands of generations of selection for "domestic" phenotypes.
      
   2. Characteristics of Wild Birds (psittacines)
      
      1. 90% of waking hours are spent flying, eating, preening, socializing with flock or mates.
         
      2. Many of them fly 30 - 50 miles a day in search of food
         
      3. Live on a 12:12 photoperiod or very close to that -- sleep deprivation may be a problem in some households
         
      4. Life is spent with three aims:
         
         1. Eat
            
         2. Reproduce
            
         3. Avoid annihilation
            
      5. Fewer than 50% of new hatchlings survive to fledging age (in some species, only 15 - 20%).
         
      6. In raptors, nestling survival is 70 - 80%, however
         
         1. 50 - 70% die before reaching 1 year of age
            
         2. One in six becomes a breeder
            
         3. Ten percent of breeding adult produce 90% of the offspring that survive to adult breeding age.
            
      7. Reproductive rate is inversely proportional to longevity -- parrots may live 75 to 100 years.
         
   3. Characteristics of Captivity
      
      1. Confined: most to a cage, at best a small aviary
         
      2. Inactive for 14 or more hours a day
         
      3. Alone -- solitary confinement
         
      4. Ad lib food -- no foraging, no problem solving
         
      5. Everything that hatches is raised
         
      6. Bad behaved birds often end up in breeding projects
         
      7. Owners have unrealistic expectations
         
      8. The average life in the home of a pet-store purchased parrot is less than one year.
         
4. Major factors affecting behavior of altricial birds
   
   1. Imprinting
      
      1. Neural mapping process of self-identity that occurs gradually -- onset may occur before hatching through vocalizations
         
      2. Has great survival value and irrevocably establishes behavior patterns of the bird for the remainder of its life.
         
      3. Imprinting is highly managed by aviculturists; particular methods depend on species and preference of the breeder.
         
   2. Status of growth and development
      
      1. Neonate: focus on feeding, doubling body weight every 2 - 3 days, can't thermoregulate
         
         1. Food begging
            
         2. Sleeping while brooded -- maternal contact
            
      2. Post-imprinting downy stage
         
         1. Food begging -- still in rapid growth phase
            
         2. Sibling Competition -- source of mortality
            
         3. Gain fear of novel objects
            
      3. Pre-fledge stage: near full-size
         
         1. Weight gain and food intake decrease
            
         2. Feather growth nearing completion
            
         3. Increased exploratory activity
            
         4. Desire to fly and climb overtakes desire to eat
            
      4. Fledging
         
         1. Imprinting on nest site
            
         2. Focus is on flight, exploration
            
         3. Food begging gives way to flock behavior and social communications
            
      5. Weaning:
         
         1. Parental attention decreases as does food provisioning
            
         2. Replaced eventually by flying and exploratory behavior -- youngsters experiement with self-feeding.
            
         3. Controversial issue in aviculture whether to force wean (as is often done in high volume production) vs self-weaning.
            
      6. Maturation
         
         1. Focus is on social interaction with flock -- allopreening, communal roosting, position in peck order
            
         2. Adolescence gives way to adult behaviors
            
         3. Appropriate behaviors are learned
            
   3. Socialization
      
      1. Bonding
         
      2. Dominance (Pecking order)
         
      3. Territoriality (seasonal)
         
5. Conflicts between behavior and captive management: hand-reared imprints
   
   1. Characteristics
      
      1. Bird recognizes humans as conspecifics
         
      2. It is never fully weaned -- rejects hand-feeding, but continues to food beg (whining)
         
      3. Little or no conspecific socialization (does not overcome imprinting even if it occurs)
         
      4. Prone to select one person as a mate and engage in courtship activity (food regurgitation), attempted copulation and masturbation.
         
   2. Further Complications: Adolescent wing clipping
      
      1. Frustrates exploratory phase of development
         
      2. Leads to traumatic injuries when attempts are made to fly.
         
   3. Outcome
      
      1. Overbonding, obsessive compulsive behavior pattern
         
      2. Screaming
         
      3. Drives intruders away in defense of mate or nest site (cage)
         
      4. Feather picking from frustration, other self-mutilation
         
      5. Excessive fear and biting
         
6. Establishing acceptable behaviors
   
   1. Control behavior by understanding dominance
      
      1. Set boundaries -- teach the bird what is allowable while at a very young age. Avoid "drama" response to unwanted behaviors.
         
      2. Don't inadvertently reward undesirable behaviors -- while negative reinforcement is not effective, time-out and ignoring is strong punishment -- however, if you have to handle a misbehaving bird to put him someplace for a time-out, this may be interpreted as positive reinforcement.
         
      3. Don't reward food-begging at weaning time -- provide overabundance of food
         
      4. Keep at waist level, don't allow shoulder sitting -- height equates to dominance
         
      5. Read body language -- understand when bird is upset (crest up, eyes dilating): forcing behavior at this time will lead to defensive action -- biting.
         
      6. In mature birds, flighted status leads to dominance expression -- provide proper clipping.
         
   2. Understand normal behaviors
      
      1. Biting
         
         1. Defensive
            
         2. Social preening
            
         3. Signaling -- a slight tweak may be a bird's way of telling you that it wants or doesn't want something
            
         4. Facultative -- macaws will not step onto a perch without grasping it first with their beaks -- when teaching them to 'step down', place their beak at perch level.
            
      2. Screaming (primary reason birds lose their home)
         
         1. Finding flock mates -- morning ritual
            
         2. Alarm
            
         3. Attention seeking (don't reward)
            
         4. Attempts to suppress can lead to other undesirable behaviors
            
      3. Fear and Panic
         
         1. A normal survival mechanism -- prey species
            
         2. Frustrated in captive environment where flight (fleeing) is not possible
            
         3. Prevented by:
            
         1. Exposing juveniles to as many novel situations as possible
            
         2. Gradually desensitizing, allowing bird'>s curiosity to work
            
         3. Provide nest boxes as hiding places
            
         4. Elevate cage (fearful birds don=t usually express dominance when elevated).
            
      4. Feather Picking: multiple possibilities for root cause(s)
         
         1. Pathologic process: liver disease, pancreatic disease, malnutrition, bacterial or viral folliculitis, intestinal parasites, etc.
            
         2. Psychological Process: change in environment -- tolerance to change relates to handling and training at a young age
            
         3. Seasonal Hormones
            
   3. Training for acceptable and alternative behaviors and behavior modification -- birds do not know inherently how to be good pets -- this must be taught/learned
      
      1. For undesirable behaviors, comprehend motivation before attempting modification.
         
      2. Key components of training paradigms
         
         1. Create environment for spontaneous behaviors -- conduct training sessions on "neutral" territory (away from cage)
            
         2. Reward ongoing behaviors (birds live in the here- and- now)
            
         3. Using bridging stimuli
            
         4. Shape behaviors by rewarding incrementally smaller or more subtle components
            
         5. Strengthen desirable behaviors by use of variable ratio or random reward schedules
            
      3. Four behaviors every companion bird should know:
         
         1. Step Up
            
         2. Step Down
            
         3. Sit/Stay
            
         4. The Towel is your FRIEND
            
7. Behavioral traits of selected avian species (adapted from Psittacine Behavior by Michelle Curtis Velasco, DVM, ABVP-Avian)
   
   1. Psittacines
      
      1. Budgerigar (genus - Melospiza) (parakeets, budgies): Many generations of domestic production, easily tamed, personable and readily acquired. Enjoy interaction and can develop vocabulary.
         
      2. Cockatiels: (genus Nymphicus) Gentle, loving birds. Limited ability to talk, but great whistlers. Steady dispositions, seldom develop psychological problems and feather picking. Females may become incessant egg layers even in the absence of males -- hysterectomies common.
         
      3. Lovebirds (genus - Agapornis): Hand-raised birds can be very nice and calm, whereas parent raised babies may be difficult to tame when older. Otherwise, calm disposition. Stress and crowding will lead to feather picking
         
      4. Conures: Wide range of species (Nandays, Jendays, Sun, Grey-cheek). Tend to be vocal and gregarious. They like a lot of attention and can be very entertaining and playful. Easily taught tricks. Biting is a common undesirable but very natural behavior. Because they are small, owners often allow them to ride on their shoulders, which should not be encouraged and will often lead to a possessive bird that will bite the owner when they or someone tries to remove it. Can be very demanding of attention. Feather picking common, but more often from medical causes rather than psychological, despite their temperament.
         
      5. Amazons (genus - Amazona) (30 species- double-yellow-head, yellow napes, blue-fronts, orange-winged, mealy, lilac-crowned): Excellent talkers, especially the yellowheaded types. Very independent and can be very aggressive during breeding season. Relatively few (but not all) individuals like to be petted and may only allow handling by preferred individuals. Will demand attention and can be irritating when ignored. Body language is easy to read once understood. Rarely feather pick for psychological reasons.
         
      6. African Grey Parrots (genus - Psittacus): Highly intelligent birds with high anxiety levels. Best mimic of all parrots. The tendency to feather pick may have been inbred into the species selectively (bad feather pickers become breeders) and then is exacerbated by improper early development or lack thereof. Tend to be clumsy as youngsters and should not be severely wingtrimmed before weaning and fledging. Early flight may be as important to psychological development as crawling is to human infants. Very responsive to obedience training and seem to enjoy (need) having a job to do.
         
      7. Cockatoos (genus - Cacatua) (Moluccan, sulphur-crested, goffin, leadbeaters): Very popular as pet birds for those looking for a cuddly, pettable bird -- often referred to as >velcro= birds. Usually friendly to all members of a family, but can become very destructive and demanding when ignored. Most likely of all psittacine species to express obsessive-compulsive behavior. Screaming in the evening is a natural behavior that calls flock together. Poor mimics. Umbrellas are most adaptable to captivity; moluccans should probably not be kept as pets by 99+% of potential pet owners. Cockatoos will not only feather pick, but will self-mutilate when upset. Can be easily housetrained, but emphasis on this behavior may be a factor in cloacal prolapse.
         
      8. Macaws (genus - Ara) (blue&gold, scarlet, green-winged, military, severe, hyacinth): Extremely intelligent birds, very aerial in the wild, require a large amount of living space. Can be quite demanding and very loud. Have strong oral orientation and effective handling requires trust. Flinching or drawing back when a macaw reaches with its beak is more likely to be followed by a bite on the next approach. The largest macaw, the Hyacinth, is the most mellow and gentle. Smaller macaws (yellow-collared, hahns, severe) may be the loudest per gram of any species. Macaws respond well to a relaxed, self-confident handler and are likely to bully a timid one.
         
   2. Raptors:
      
      1. Owls (genus - Strix, Bubo): can be tamed to a degree, but are very quiet and aloof. Most sit quietly during the day, but get very active at night. Imprints are trainable, but larger ones (e.g. Great horned owl) can become dangerously aggressive. Barred owls have a tendency to fly into one's face when approached in a cage.
         
      2. Buteo hawks (genus - buteo) (red-tails, red-shouldered, broad-winged, Swainson's, rough-legs): Large, easy going, rodent eating birds. Red-tails are abundant and often used for falconry. Broad-wings and Swainson's migrate to South America. The latter, even as wild birds, tend to be aggressive. All adapt well to captivity. Rough-legs have a small-fleshy foot and are prone to bumblefoot.
         
      3. Accipiter hawks (genus - Accipiter) (Goshawk, coopers hawk, sharp-shinned hawk): High strung, hyperactive birds. Prefer to eat other birds, although goshawks have a fair amount of rabbit and other rodents in their diet. Short-rounded wings and long tails give excellent maneuverability in thick cover. Training requires special skill and infinite patience. Other captive management is straightforward, but must be kept in padded cages so they don=t hurt themselves bashing around.
         
      4. Falcons (genus - falco) (kestrel, merlin, prairie falcon, peregrine falcon, gyrfalcon, and hybrids): Powerful birds of open country, require extensive athletic conditioning when rehabilitated and prepared for release to wild. Larger ones are very popular for falconry, extensively bred in captivity and sold. Gyrs are arctic birds and are prone to malaria, aspergillosis, bumblefoot and herpes virus infections.
         
      5. Eagles:
         
         1. Golden Eagles -- large, powerful, open country soaring birds. Very active hunters capable of handling large prey up to the size of antelope. Adapt readily to captivity and tame easily. Exhibit ability to analyze situations and regard them fearlessly -- prefer to be able to see what is going on rather than have their head covered while restrained. Dangerous to handle when upset. Imprints are particularly hazarouds
            
         2. Bald Eagles -- large, powerful soaring birds typically found in vicinity of water. Feed heavily on fish during breeding season; will scavenge at other times -- particularly fond of deer carcasses - results in many being hit by cars. Also, lead poisoning from spent ammunition is frequently encountered. Much more difficult than goldens to maintain in captivity. Must be kept in padded cages/rooms usually with additional padding on their wrists to prevent self-inflicted injuries.