11-14-2011, 07:01 AM
This discussion thread is an opportunity to share information & questions about parrots in Puna and on the east side of the Big Island in general.
Searching the keywords "parrot puna hawaii bird" in various combinations brings up links to some previous and current parrot clubs over on Oahu and in Kona, as well as a couple personal blogs from folks connected to Puna who are owned by parrots, but I am not spotting any online or face-to-face groups current and active for the east side of the Big Island. Are there any such groups here?
Please do mention if you know of any parrot-focused east side Big Island social groups, technical teams, or websites.
Back up in Alaska being a member of TABC, The Alaska Bird Club, was very useful to me. TABC's monthly meetings were fun, educational, and usually quite fattening. While the group is called "Alaska Bird Club" and does overlap with & include folks who work with non-pet birds (Alaska's raptors, oil-fouled seabirds, the annual Audubon bird count, 4H ducks & chickens, and so on) the main focus is really on pet birds -mainly parrots, cockatiels, & parakeets. TABC has a useful website ( http://www.alaskabirdclub.org/ ) and holds a big annual meeting with a guest speaker. TABC also has a Rescue & Rehoming committee and a Lost Bird Recovery team. All very useful. A great model to emulate, imho, if nothing similar exists on the east side of the Big Island and parrot folks here want to do so.
There are several discussion threads on Punaweb which contain a bunch of useful (but sometimes a bit out of date) information related to avian veterinarians, how to find and recover a lost bird, and disease issues. It would be great to pull this all together at a website and periodically review it to keep contact info and suchlike current.
I do not want to retranscribe all of the to and fro which has gone before in other Punaweb parrot discussion threads of the last few years (searching the keyword "parrot" will bring those up from the archive) yet will mention my opinion on a recent concern expressed in another thread. Regarding rat lungworm disease in Puna's pet parrots, imho this should not be anything to worry about unduly as long as food & water dishes are brought in at night (so slugs do not crawl in) and fruit is checked and washed to cleanse it of any slugs. Puna's wild parrots may come to grief from RLD, but pets should be OK as long as their feeding areas are kept clean and the fruit is watched and washed.
Alas, another local pest can be a real headache. While I was living in HPP during the long protracted period construction was occurring on our new house elsewhere in Puna I did make one pest-related error for which I am still paying dearly. The ant traps and Amdro I had spread around the HPP house did a great job with keeping little red fire ants pushed back to the property lines and out of the house, but only as long as the baits were renewed periodically. I became so absorbed in construction tasks (and exhausted, too) that at one point I did not notice the effectiveness of the traps and Amdro had waned and LRF were pushing back toward the house. As bad luck would have it, while I was on a two-day trip over to pick up materials at Loews on the Kona side some little red fire ants made it inside the house, up the cage legs into my African grey parrot's cage, and bit her under the wings. She completely flipped out. By the time I returned to HPP from Kona the next day she had done serious damage to the skin and tissues under her wings, biting at the LRF. I immediately killed the LRF back to the property lines again, yet the damage was done. She got into what the vets call "itch-scratch syndrome" and kept gnawing at the damaged areas; I finally had to medicate her (peanut-butter flavored liquid Prozac or apple-flavored liquid Prozac) and put the Cone of Shame on her. We are still fighting the battle, as every time I take off the collar she will re-damage the tissues under the wings unless I am watching like a hawk and pounce her with the collar the moment she stops preening feathers and starts chewing under her wings again. Neurotic creature. Anyhow, my advice is to be sure to do whatever it takes to keep LRF completely clear of the parrot flights and overnight cages as it is just hellish if the ants bite the birds and then the birds start chewing on themselves in consequence.
I have met a couple of other folks with feathered family members via CSLEH (the Center for Spiritual Living of East Hawaii - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for...&filter=12 ) but so far that is the extent of the local parrot crew with whom I am familiar. Please do post here (or email me) if you know of anything local like http://TABC. Thanks!
Edit: Oops! Here is the correct CSLEH general website URL http://www.cslhawaii.org/ -the other one links to a CSLEH FB photo album.
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
MSP's wingsuit segment from "Seven Sunny Days"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0tU3Hy7et8&feature=related
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Searching the keywords "parrot puna hawaii bird" in various combinations brings up links to some previous and current parrot clubs over on Oahu and in Kona, as well as a couple personal blogs from folks connected to Puna who are owned by parrots, but I am not spotting any online or face-to-face groups current and active for the east side of the Big Island. Are there any such groups here?
Please do mention if you know of any parrot-focused east side Big Island social groups, technical teams, or websites.
Back up in Alaska being a member of TABC, The Alaska Bird Club, was very useful to me. TABC's monthly meetings were fun, educational, and usually quite fattening. While the group is called "Alaska Bird Club" and does overlap with & include folks who work with non-pet birds (Alaska's raptors, oil-fouled seabirds, the annual Audubon bird count, 4H ducks & chickens, and so on) the main focus is really on pet birds -mainly parrots, cockatiels, & parakeets. TABC has a useful website ( http://www.alaskabirdclub.org/ ) and holds a big annual meeting with a guest speaker. TABC also has a Rescue & Rehoming committee and a Lost Bird Recovery team. All very useful. A great model to emulate, imho, if nothing similar exists on the east side of the Big Island and parrot folks here want to do so.
There are several discussion threads on Punaweb which contain a bunch of useful (but sometimes a bit out of date) information related to avian veterinarians, how to find and recover a lost bird, and disease issues. It would be great to pull this all together at a website and periodically review it to keep contact info and suchlike current.
I do not want to retranscribe all of the to and fro which has gone before in other Punaweb parrot discussion threads of the last few years (searching the keyword "parrot" will bring those up from the archive) yet will mention my opinion on a recent concern expressed in another thread. Regarding rat lungworm disease in Puna's pet parrots, imho this should not be anything to worry about unduly as long as food & water dishes are brought in at night (so slugs do not crawl in) and fruit is checked and washed to cleanse it of any slugs. Puna's wild parrots may come to grief from RLD, but pets should be OK as long as their feeding areas are kept clean and the fruit is watched and washed.
Alas, another local pest can be a real headache. While I was living in HPP during the long protracted period construction was occurring on our new house elsewhere in Puna I did make one pest-related error for which I am still paying dearly. The ant traps and Amdro I had spread around the HPP house did a great job with keeping little red fire ants pushed back to the property lines and out of the house, but only as long as the baits were renewed periodically. I became so absorbed in construction tasks (and exhausted, too) that at one point I did not notice the effectiveness of the traps and Amdro had waned and LRF were pushing back toward the house. As bad luck would have it, while I was on a two-day trip over to pick up materials at Loews on the Kona side some little red fire ants made it inside the house, up the cage legs into my African grey parrot's cage, and bit her under the wings. She completely flipped out. By the time I returned to HPP from Kona the next day she had done serious damage to the skin and tissues under her wings, biting at the LRF. I immediately killed the LRF back to the property lines again, yet the damage was done. She got into what the vets call "itch-scratch syndrome" and kept gnawing at the damaged areas; I finally had to medicate her (peanut-butter flavored liquid Prozac or apple-flavored liquid Prozac) and put the Cone of Shame on her. We are still fighting the battle, as every time I take off the collar she will re-damage the tissues under the wings unless I am watching like a hawk and pounce her with the collar the moment she stops preening feathers and starts chewing under her wings again. Neurotic creature. Anyhow, my advice is to be sure to do whatever it takes to keep LRF completely clear of the parrot flights and overnight cages as it is just hellish if the ants bite the birds and then the birds start chewing on themselves in consequence.
I have met a couple of other folks with feathered family members via CSLEH (the Center for Spiritual Living of East Hawaii - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for...&filter=12 ) but so far that is the extent of the local parrot crew with whom I am familiar. Please do post here (or email me) if you know of anything local like http://TABC. Thanks!
Edit: Oops! Here is the correct CSLEH general website URL http://www.cslhawaii.org/ -the other one links to a CSLEH FB photo album.
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
MSP's wingsuit segment from "Seven Sunny Days"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0tU3Hy7et8&feature=related
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(