It is quite possible to make solid attempts at mimicking wild bird feeding tendencies with our companion parrots. In doing so, we must first recognize that what is sought is not so much a “wild” diet, but a “natural” diet.
Feeding a natural diet means that every effort is made to eliminate severely processed foods from the food bowl; not all such items of course since proper nourishment is the ultimate goal with any parrot, but those processed substances that can be replaced in the nutritional regime with raw, natural foods.
We all may not be able to duplicate wild bird diets for our charges as much as we like, but in the end a green bud is a green bud, a watermelon, cantaloupe, or squash seed is still a delectable seed, and a coconut morsel is akin to a tender palm nut center.
By learning to see the “edible” world through the eyes of a parrot, food choices for your flock will expand immeasurably.
EB Cravens joins us in this podcast to discuss what he has learned over the years regarding the benefits of offering our companion parrots a nutritionally diverse selection of natural and wild foods as part of their daily diet.
Date recorded: April 2013
About the Presenter:
EB Cravens
EB has bred, trained, raised, kept and rehabilitated more than 75 species of psittacines during the past twenty plus years both at his home and while managing the notable exotic bird shoppe, Feathered Friends of Santa Fe, New Mexico. His emphasis on natural environments for birds, the urging of babies to fully fledge during the extended weaning process, and the leaving of chicks for many weeks inside the nest box with their parents in order that they may learn the many intangibles of their species, have succeeded in changing for the better the lives of so many captive parrots.
A science writer by training, he was for years a regular contributor for AFA’s Watchbird Magazine and the Companion Parrot Quarterly. EB currently writes a monthly column entitled “The Complete Psittacine” in PARROTS Magazine out of England; and another, “The Hookbill Hobbyist” down under in the well-regarded Australian Birdkeeper. His monthly series of articles “Birdkeeping Naturally,” is sent out to bird clubs and individuals around the world.
