Predator Problems

From Susanne Russo:

In Florida we are loaded with alot of reptiles and predators.  So I'm
going to list a bunch of responses that I've seen from my birds to
various things (stimuli)

I have 4 glass snakes that live in various parts of the property.  The
cockatiels have never sounded off the distress call or panicked in the
cages when they see these snakes.  I've seen this also when I've have
placed new birds outside that have never seen the glass snakes before.
Two of these snakes are still thin enough to squeeze through the  1/2" x
1/2"  wire on the large walk-in flight.  When inside the flight with the
birds they do not panic and vocalize.  I've made no effect to remove or
destroy these snakes because I see no fear generated or cause of harm.

I also have black racer snakes that find their way on my property.
Every cockatiel that can actually see this snake will give out loud
shrills and thrash in the cages.  Those that can not see the snake will
not thrash or move in the cages, but they join in vocally with the
distress call.  If one is thin enough to get into a flight or cage, it
can generate enough terror to  cause serious injury's.

Someone pet cockatiel will occasionally fly into my yard.  ALL of my
cockatiels will let out shrill cry's...loud enough for me to race
outside thinking...major problem.  The visiting cockatiel acts like it
is unaffected or doesn't hear this loud shrilling.  Obviously it is
there for food, and I'm assuming that the shrill call from my birds is
not a danger call.

Occasionally a pet Quaker, Keet, or Lovebird strays in.  The shrill
calls are only in the area where the new arrival is.

When a Raven or a Hawk shows up there is mass panic in the cages and all
birds join in the distress call.  They also panic and vocalize when a
blue-jay starts shrieking.  Yet if the blue-jay is not vocalizing the
blue-jay  does not scare them when they see it.  At night there are
owls.  The owls have never generated any type of disturbances.  They
could land inches from a cockatiel hanging on the wire near the top of
the cage, and the cockatiel does not react.

Many iguanas pass through the yard.  The only way I know they are around
is if all heads are turned and looking in one direction.  When I see
this I keep looking until I can spot what they are looking at.  Normally
the cockatiels also panic when I am running through the yard like a bat
out of h***.  They also react when they see the net in my hand.  When I
spot an iguana I have learned to first grab a large net and start
herding the iguana to the base of the ficus tree that has no cages
blocking it.... then scoop up the iguana as it heads up the tree.  ALL
the birds just watch me get the iguana...and don't panic or vocalize
when seeing the net or the fast movement.

At night when there is an opossum around as long as it is on the ground
there is no panicking or sounds.  When it does get on top of a cage.
The birds in the cage and a few surrounding cages will slap their wings
repeatedly hard against the wire and hiss.  The sound of the wing
slapping is similar to  a dull whipcrack.  They will continue to do this
until the opossum leaves.  The cockatiels will NOT vocalize.
Occasionally one bird will panic and thrash, but this is usually a bird
that was recently housed inside.  If the opossum moves to another
section of cages that group in the area will start the slapping.  If the
opossum  traveling on top of the cages in a certain direction the wing
slapping will start *before* the opossum arrives!!  When the wing
slapping starts before the opossum gets there it is discouraged enough
for it to get off the roofs.

Raccoons  are in abundance here.  I have spent many times sitting up
alnight observing.  The birds immediate response when a raccoon is near
is to freeze and not make a sound.  If it is one raccoon I have never
had any damage done to the birds.  And the birds must instinctively try
not to do anything to get attention.  Usually the raccoon will work in
teams.  One will try to spook the bird and one or two raccoons will be
pressed up to the other sides of the cage.  The raccoon will try
rattling the cage and growling to get the bird to bolt to the waiting
raccoon.  Unfortunately I just could not force myself to sit and watch
the outcome so I would run the raccoons off.  They would return within a
hour and try to repeat the same thing on the same cage...and I'd run
them off again.  The next time the trap would be waiting and I'd catch
one and remove the cage.  During this time there is still no panic from
the birds...just a little twirping.  If there were initially 3 raccoon
the remaining 2 wound watch the cage and then try the teamwork thing.
If there were initially 2 raccoons the remaining one would return and
watch and make soft sounds and then leave.  During all this the
cockatiels will not vocalize warnings or thrash to disturb neighboring
cages while the raccoon is in the area.  I have found that if a raccoon
is really determined to have some birds for dinner they do take
advantage of the silence of the birds and will even silently kill during
the day.

These are just a few of what I have personally witnessed in how my birds
respond to potential threats.

The observations  taught me what to do to resolve a few of the problems.
At least in learning about the wing slapping when an opossum was near
solved the mystery of why I was getting *overnight* molts....of dropped
flight feathers of both wings.  I've since put up 6' reed fencing on the
chainlink area where all these cages were which, thus far has not had
any opossum activity.

I hate raccoons!!!  And in several major incidences I've not heard any
disturbances from the birds.  I had digging around the garage which has
a 9' x 5' flight inside butted against the south wall.  I set out a trap
assuming it was an opossum and the next morning found that  something
was trapped but learned how to fold and twist the trap door to escape.
I set out a larger stronger trap the following night.  The next morning
it was empty with the trap door sprung...but  there was evidence that
something was trapped.  A couple days later at feeding time I noticed a
4"-5" hole at ground level in the wood wall of the flight.  I did a
count and 6 cockatiels were missing.  I checked outside and saw where
something had chewed and ripped off part of the wood siding.  So I
patched it and set up the trap.  Since the cockatiels did not make any
noise to alert me when the previous traps went off...I decided to check
on the traps every half hour.  I wound up trapping a very large female
raccoon.

Another incident was when I found a nextbox was robbed of babies and the
male missing. The nest box had a sliding part that had to be pulled up
out of the grooves to remove.  The following afternoon (daylight)
several more nestboxes were hit.  Either eggs or babies were gone, and
the male birds which would have been in the box during the day.  A total
of 4 adults and 13 babies were missing/eaten.  I was in the house and
the closest cage was 20' away from where I was at in the house.  I did
not hear ANY disturbance from the cockatiels that anything was wrong.  I
found parts of bodies that were hauled off and partially eaten.  We
drilled and cross pinned all the nestboxes so that the back doors could
not be opened.  I suspected a raccoon (s), but wasn't sure.  I sat up
that night and not long after dark I heard something hit the chain link
and as soon as it was on a cage reached right for the nestbox door
trying to pull up...shook/rattled the door...then went on to try another
box.  The birds did not come out of the nestboxes or make any noise.
I'd run it off and in a short time it was back trying another box.
Obviously it remembered which boxes it had already robbed because it
skipped over them.  Again a very large raccoon.  I wound off running it
off several times during the night...with relief that the cross pins
protected the birds.  The persistence of the raccoon was terrifying to
watch!!

I've often wondered if the sense of smell in a cockatiel is part of the
reaction to various dangers.

Susanne 

Susanne wrote:

> I do have one question that has always puzzled me.  Does the weather
> effect birds.  I stay in touch by phone with allot of breeders, and
> there have been times where I'll get a distress call from someone 100
> miles north of me that their birds mutilated their babies.  Within the
> space of 2 days I will hear the same thing from up to a dozen other
> breeders, describing the same exact thing!!!  And many don't know each
> other, and there is a couple hundred mile spread of distance people
> instances.  I can relate to several instances that I have *honestly
> felt* that weather was a contributing factor.  Can environmental things
> have a global effect?

Exactly!  Tropicals are as sensitive to temperature changes and rainfall
patterns as they are to photoperiod.  In some species, the
temperature/humidity factors may even outweigh the photoperiod in
determining breeding cycles and patterns.  Florida, with its notorious
microclime zones would show such differences quickly.  Something to
consider...
--
Regards,

Patrick Thrush

From Marnie
I believe the weather has very much to do with the birds behaviour.
Animals (mostly dogs and cats) are much more perceptive than we, and
their behaviour preceding earthquakes and storms is well documented. I
have heard of cats killing their kitts before a hurricane or earthquake.
Horses are always quite skittish in stormy weather as well, and
sheep/goats/cattle will hide their babies in heavy underbrush. I have
heard that the reason some parents destroy their babes is that they
sense the oncoming cataclysmic event and destroy them as they know they
will not survive it. A wives tale perhaps, but most ancient wisdom is
founded a some fact.

When we first got into bee keeping years ago, we thought it was an old
wives tale when we were told that it was best to work on the hives
during bright sunny weather and to be sure there would be no storms in
the area. Lol... we only ignored that advice once <BG> Boy those suckers
get in a mean mood when it's stormy!!!! When sunny you can work on them
in a t shirt... stormy weather full regalia is not enough protection!
After our experience <g> I did some research on the phenomena, and found
that the reason the bees get ticked, is the fall in barometric air
pressure bothers the dickens out of them. (ABC & XYZ of Bee Keeping by
A. I. Root... and excellent book... even tells you the length of a bee's
tongue <g>) I can very well believe that this fall in barometric
pressure would bother birds as well as ourselves... don't we feel rather
out of sorts or gloomy during this type of weather change?

 Cheers! Marnie:)

Alison wrote:

> This would explain some of my amazons readiness to breed in winter.  I
have
> hot forced air heat and mist my birds quite often, they love it, I
started to
> think I was producing something like a rainy season.  As I increased the
> misting the more they work thier box.

Yes and yes!!!  It is a two part scheme.  Remember that in the southern
hemisphere where these birds came from, when it is winter here, it is
summer there (and vis versa).  Just because we have relocated them to
the northern hemisphere does not mean that their genetically programmed
internal clocks have changed also.  We can do much to artificially
change their breeding patterns by our photoperiod (especially through
controlled lighting), but given a chance many species will default to
natural patterns of season (that of their native part of the world)
Greys are notorious for this.

Of the other tropicals (primarily neotropicals) temperature and humidity
play a greater role than photoperiod in keying the breeding cycle.  In
the absence of these natural patterns, photoperiod becomes the primary
trigger to annual reproductive growth and subsequent breeding.  When we
inadvertantly recreate the same conditions in the same season that
breeding would occur naturally, it "looks" like an enhanced degree of
activity.  It is normal for them naturally, however.
--
Regards,

Patrick Thrush

From Susanne
Patrick, your above comments did get me to something
else that has puzzled me.

Okay, first off most of my breeders are outside.  Controlling the
climate is difficult. The two most prolific and productive *times* is
the hottest part of the summer with high humidity...And the coldest part
of the (ours is 40-60 degree's) winter which is also low humidity.
During these two time periods clutch (egg) sizes are also larger than
normal....from 5-10 eggs.  During the summer months I have to constantly
monitor the eggs because of too much humidity...which will cause an
over-hydrated baby in shell, pipping out the side of the egg, and loss
of air sac at the top of the egg....thus to save the baby, most are
assist hatched or lost.  During the coldest part of the winter  it is
the opposite, being that babies get dehydrated in the egg, and trapped,
and again have to be assist hatched.  Other times of the year the clutch
sizes are normal...meaning 4-6 eggs.

What has always run through my mind is are the birds laying larger
clutches during these weather extremes to compensate for losses that
would have naturally occurred in  nature?

Susanne 

Now, my Greys had such a strong reaction!As soon as I start playing
the music, they start making all kinds of jungle sounds, and also ones
that I never heard before: meaouing like cats, making monkey voices,
and many types of wild animals. Interesting enough that I also have
finches, lizards, and snakes in that room but the parrots are the only
ones who react to the sounds.

Vahe