Weather Effects

I do have one question that has always puzzled me.  Does the weather
effect birds.  I stay in touch by phone with a ll=ot 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
 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...
Patrick Thrush

 
I believe the weather has very much to do with the birds behavior.
Animals (mostly dogs and cats) are much more perceptive than we, and
their behavior 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.  We only ignored that advice once! Bees 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 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)  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:) 

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 their box.  Alison

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 visa 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.
Patrick Thrush

 
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 

Music
Yet another interesting experience to share: I am playing Gandharva
Veda music which is ancient Indian music especially performed in tune
with nature, which has balancing influence on the environment and a
special tune is played for each time of the day.

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: meowing 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