The Wild Parrots of Seattle: Update

A parrot friend of ours who gardens at the Ballard P-Patch just off NW 85th Street and 25th Avenue NW in North Seattle, was tending his garden Friday, September 16th, as were several other people in the garden, when a pair of Mitred Conure parrots flew up to feed for a short time in the garden, then flew over to some nearby apple trees to feed, before taking off again. Our friend and every one else in the P-Patch got a really good look at them. The Conures announced themselves with their incessant squawking. These would be the Golden Gardens Conures that people have been telling us about for years. In our eleven years here in Ballard we have not yet been lucky enough to see them. Apparently they roost at the top of Golden Gardens Park somewhere near NW 85th Street and 32nd Avenue NW.

A pair of Mitred Conure parrots photographed in Golden Gardens Park, January10 2010,

published by the local Ballard News-Tribune.

Better known are the Mitred Conure parrots of Seward Park. A member of the Northwest Exotic Bird Society, Karyn Jensen, reported:

If you go out to Seward Park to see the Mitreds, they usually hang out at the Point-- you cannot drive to this spot. You have to walk around the loop path to spot them. I live about a mile from Seward Park and occasionally see them (actually, I HEAR them in advance of seeing them) when I'm in my backyard..There are at least thirteen individuals, if not more. When they fly over, my Conures make a racket--that's what alerts me most of the time! They usually start migrating to the Maple Leaf neighborhood just about this time of the year (when it starts getting cold at night) and then back to Seward Park when it warms up in the Spring. I have also seen a couple of other parrot species at Seward Park as well (other types of Conure parrots and an Amazon)!

To see our original blog post about the Wild Parrots of Seattle, click here. For a story and several photos about the Seward Park Conure parrots in the Columbia Citizens neighborhood blog, click here.

Three Mitred Conure parrots photographed feeding on a Hawthorne tree in Shoreline, September 15, 2008.

To see a photo of one of the Seward Park Mitred Conures taken May 19, 2009, click here.

Anyone with further information and photos of the Wild Parrots of Seattle, please contact us.

Support Your Local Invasive Species!

We Wish We Could Blog More About Parrots. We Really Do!

We wish we could blog more, and more frequently, about parrots (as well as politics and coffee). We really do! Thing is, we have eight (count them: 8) actual parrots that we have to care for that demand our time and attention. As well as operating the parrot rescue Northwest Parrots Fund, and an online coffee shop The Parrot Cafe. That and the fact that we have to work for a living to support our parrots and parrot activities!

Mr. Cracker

A Ruby macaw (Greenwing/Scarlet mix) believed to be about forty years old, and a presumed male, Mr Cracker has been with us a year now. We rescued him when his owner of twenty-five years suddenly took terminally ill. After six months Mr. Cracker finally let me touch him. Now he begs for head scratches. He won't yet step up with me though. Mr. Cracker has taken to calling me Mark, his previous owner's name.

Tillie

Tillie is a confirmed female Timneh African grey parrot who is by far our smallest parrot and one of the sweetest parrots anyone will ever encounter. She came to us when her owner could no longer care for her. She loves flying laps around her bird room when she's not sitting on the window sill watching the wild birds out back. If I set her down anywhere, she automatically flies to my shoulder. Whenever I walk into her room, Tillie automatically reminds me: Hi Sweetie! It's Me! Just in case I get her confused with any other Timneh African grey parrot that might be around!

Kid Kadra

Kid Kadra is a confirmed male Goffin's cockatoo parrot who served as a service parrot for a fellow with serious medical issues. We rescued Kid Kadra when that person suddenly died. His death was not discovered for several days. When Kid Kadra came to us he was comatose for two weeks. As is the character of Goffin's cockatoos, Kid Kadra is a typical teenage juvenile delinquent. Except that he loves to bathe. He would take a shower every day if given the opportuniity.

Arua

Arua is a confirmed female Congo African grey parrot whose owner also suddenly and unexpectedly died. His death was not discovered for three days, until a worried girlfriend (who lived across the state) alerted family members to his disappearance. Arua is a big girl by African grey standards and one of the friendliest African greys anyone will ever find. She insists on being part of any conversation in the house, and is the resident linguist. Arua came to us speaking Polish as well as English. She speaks dog as well as cat, and any number of avian dialects.

Aboo

Aboo is our cowboy Blue and Gold macaw. Named for Aladdin's sidekick, the name fits. Unlike the other parrots, he would much rather not take a bath. A confirmed male, Aboo was literally dumped on our doorstep, considered to be unmanageable and unhandleable! Now I can literally hold him in the palm of my hand. Aboo has become a good friend to our Ruby macaw Mr. Cracker.

Princess Tara

Princess Tara is a confirmed female Hyacinth macaw, and as far as I can tell, probably the largest parrot in Seattle. She really is a princess! Her parents are a Duke and a Duchess. Princess Tara is one big girl! And she is a cuddle bunny and goofball, the classic ugly duckling who doesn't realize just how spectacularly beautiful she is. Princess Tara had been passed around to at least three different homes before she came to us, primarily because she knows she is big, and doesn't mind throwing her weight around. That, and the fact that when she starts her Hyacinth honking, she can blow your eardrums out!

Miss Bubba Boy

Miss Bubba Boy is a confirmed female Blue and Gold macaw that we rescued from a breeder who needed a male macaw for his breeding facility. Bubba's original owner was so sure that Bubba was a boy he never bothered to have her sexed. We did. We paid fifty bucks for a DNA test, but we kept her name anyway. She calls herself Bubba Boy! We could have saved the money! Within a month, Bubba laid her first clutch of eggs. She has laid two clutches of eggs since she's been with us. Bubba immediately bonded to my partner, and tried to attack me every opportunity she got for about two years. Eventually we reached a detente. Now Bubba even hucks for me. Plus she knows that no one appreciates looking at her wings as much as I do!

Roxanne

Our Diva parrot and Greenwing macaw Roxanne was named for The Police song. She even knows the lyrics! Roxanne also knows the lyrics to the Gene Autry song You Are My Sunshine. We recorded a duet with Roxanne and Gene Autry. The Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles was so impressed, they sent us a nice note.


We acquired Roxanne when we answered an ad in the Sunday classifieds. Roxanne's owner got divorced. Got remarried. Was moving out of state. The new wife gave him an ultimatum: Her or the parrot. We don't think he made the right choice. The first time we met Roxanne, she immediately stepped up with both of us. Roxanne's owner was astounded. She had refused to step up with any of the other people that had answered his ad. He dropped her asking price in half, and we came home with our first parrot.


We only ever intended to get the one! The rest, as they say, is history.

Do Parrots Dream?

We were jolted awake this morning at about 5:30 am with the sound of a humongous thump, followed by the furious flapping of wings. Just getting light enough to see, we scrambled out of bed to check all the parrot cages to see which parrot fell off its perch. We found our female Blue and Gold macaw Miss Bubba Boy clinging to the side of her cage, quite agitated and somewhat disoriented. We suspect that a bad dream caused her to fall off of her perch.

Our female Blue and Gold macaw Miss Bubba Boy enjoying apple cider at the

Ballard Farmers Market.

Which got us thinking while we were trying to fall back to sleep (just who wants to get up at 5:30 am on a Sunday, really!). Do parrots dream?


It is pretty well established that parrots are capable of cognitive reasoning. Parrots can carry out actions purposefully, and they are capable of quite sophisticated problem solving. So it would not be any surprise to us that parrots dream and even suffer nightmares.


Although the episode this morning was a first for our female Blue and Gold macaw, this was not the only time we've been jolted out of bed in the dead of night by one of the parrots falling off its perch. Of our eight parrots, three have experienced falling off their perches during the night. Other than Miss Bubba Boy, our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne,

Our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne, named for the song.

as well as our female Congo African grey parrot Arua, have fallen off their perches during the night on multiple occasions.

Our female Congo African grey parrot Arua, just hanging out!

We wonder if birds with greater brain power such as African greys are more prone to dreaming than other birds? We have thought that possibly the parrots were startled during the night by some sound coming from outside the house which may have caused them to fall of their perches. But in at least two cases we can recall, we were wide awake in the night when the falling episode occurred, so we can rule out external causes.

Other times we'll be lying awake in the dark of night and hear one of the parrots start to vocalize. Our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo will softly start speaking to himself, in a voice barely audible.

Our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo playing with our Hyacinth macaw Princess Tara.

Is he talking in his sleep. We'll hear our foster Ruby macaw Mr. Cracker laughing out loud in the middle of the night. Is he reliving a prior event in his dreams. Old enough to be a possibly wild-caught macaw, we wonder if he's dreaming of his life before? Mr. Cracker will also on occasion start up a conversation with himself.

Our foster Ruby macaw Mr. Cracker is old enough to be a wild-caught macaw.

And then there was the night we were awakened by our female Blue and Gold macaw Miss Bubba Boy laughing maniacally in the dead of night as if she were an ax murderer ready to commit a crime. Needless to say, we didn't get out of bed!

So, what do you think? Do parrots dream? We think so. And unfortunately experience nightmares as well. If you have any experiences with your parrots dreaming, please share them with us.

Bathing Your Parrots

Our female Congo African grey parrot Arua loves to bathe in her water dish. Taking a shower? Not so much.

Some parrots love to bathe. Some parrots would rather not. Bathing is an essential part of feather care and maintenance. Most parrots and other birds naturally take to the water to bathe. Just try keeping your outside bird bath full during those hot summer days! Some parrots are highly particularly about how they bathe. Other parrots are not. Be thankful if you have a parrot that belongs to the latter category. If the former category, just keep plenty of towels and wipes handy. It's another problem entirely if you have a parrot that refuses to bathe. Then you'll need to experiment with different solutions to try to encourage the parrot to dip its toes in the water.

Of our eight parrots, four of our five macaws love to take showers with us, perched on our hands and arms in the bathtub. Our foster Ruby macaw Mr. Cracker probably would as well, if we could get him to step up. Instead, he prefers to bathe in his water dish. Somewhat modest, he doesn't like people watching him bathe, so if we're in the room when he wants to take a bath, he'll politely pipe up with a Bye, Bye, until we get the message, and leave the room.


Our male Goffin's cockatoo Kid Kadra loves to bathe and would probably take a bath daily if we were up to it. His preference is a spray bottle on the shower rail in the bathroom. Barring that, he'll sit on the shower rail and bathe in the spray of the macaws taking showers.

As our male Goffin's cockatoo Kid Kadra demonstrates, sometimes a bath just needs the right soundtrack! If a shower is not in the offing, maybe a parrot just needs to settle for a soak in the nearest tub, or water dish, especially on those hot summer days:

Our female Timneh African grey parrot Tillie will tolerate a spray bottle on the shower rail. Usually she'd rather not. On those occasions that Tillie will take a bath, she can get quite animated:

On those rare occasions when Tillie really really wants to bathe, no parrot enjoys a bath as much as she does!

For sheer entertainment value, we can't beat our female Congo African grey parrot Arua. Arua loves to bathe. But in her water dish, not the shower. She's very large for an African grey. Our avian vet Tracy Bennett called her fat the very first time she met Arua, but that's another story entirely. Plus, her water dish is very small. A Number 1 Fenix crock. That's a lot of parrot in a confined space. Much water displacement:

We've tried putting out large water dishes and trays for her to bathe in. She ignores them. So now, when she jumps into her water dish, we just lay out the towels along the side of her cage.


If you have a parrot resistant to taking a bathe, two things you can try. If you can take a cage outside on the porch or in the yard on a warm day, let a hose spray across part of the cage, but leave room for the parrot to retreat to if the bird doesn't want to get wet, or wants to get out of the water. If you're not able to take the parrot outside, get a parrot perch for your shower, and let the shower flow over part of the perch so the parrot can choose to take a dip or not. Just keep trying different methods until you find one that works for your parrot.


Of course, some of our parrots will tell you that the best part of any shower is the blow dry following the shower!

Our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo is a cowboy when it comes to taking baths. He'd rather not, until he becomes so gamey even he can't stand it. But the blow dry? Just loves it!

Happy Bathing!

How Does Your Parrot Communicate With You?

How do you communicate with your parrot? More importantly, how does your parrot communicate with you? How does your parrot for example, tell you when he or she is hungry or thirsty? With our parrots it's simple. They tell us. In plain English! At least some of them do.

When our female Congo African grey parrot Arua wants food she tells us: Apple. This is actually a change from her original word for food: Hot. So when it comes dinner time she starts asking for Apple. And when we give her her food dish, she confirms that it is in fact Apple. Of course Apple, or even Hot, is certainly better than the extreme pressure that she used to put on us when we were fixing birdie meals, when she would  insistently repeat: You Done Yet?

Our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo draws a distinction between people food and parrot food. When he wants people food Aboo says: Hot. When Aboo wants parrot food he says: Crack. Presumably Crack is short for cracker, and not the other thing. But Aboo is a rescue bird, so no telling! When Aboo is thirsty, he occasionally says: Water.

Our female Blue and Gold macaw Bubba Boy (no, we didn't name her) also tends to say Hot when she wants to be fed. Makes us curious if they learned this word independently of each other, or learned it from each other. We're pretty sure Aboo started saying Hot when asking for food before the others picked it up.

Sometimes but not always, our foster Ruby macaw Mr. Cracker simply says: Food when he wants food. No mistaking his meaning there. Mostly when he's hungry he dances for his food. If he's really hungry he starts whacking his treat box.


Since we originally posted this story, Mr. Cracker has come up with a new phrase we've never heard before, and almost a complete sentence by macaw standards. We like to sleep in on weekends. One Saturday morning recently we awoke to Mr. Cracker calling out several times: Cracker. Food. Come here! Nothing like waking up to a demanding macaw.

A lady of few words, our Hyacinth macaw Princess Tara will on a rare occasion say Water when asking to drink water from the kitchen faucet. We all know that the best water in the house comes from the kitchen faucet! When she's hungry and wants to be fed she just starts honking, and anyone who's been around a honking Hyacinth macaw knows how ear-splitting that can be!


So that's five out of eight parrots in our flock that can actually ask for food or water by simply asking for food or water! So how about you? How do your parrots communicate to you that they are hungry or thirsty? Or any of their other needs and desires. Both of our Blue and Gold macaws for example, say Let Out, or Let Me Out when they want out of their cages.

Of course we're partial to our littlest parrot, our female Timneh African grey Tillie. When she wants our attention she doesn't scream or honk. She just pipes up in the sweetest little voice and says: Hi Sweetie! It's Me!

Feeding Parrots: Organic Corn and Pasta

Parrots love corn. Domestic or wild, parrots love corn. In South American, macaw parrots will raid corn fields to feast on the ears of corn. Our parrots love pasta. We don't know how universal the parrot love of pasta is, but it's pretty universal with our flock. So our practice is to make a parrot casserole every weekend to feed the parrots for the following week.


We use organic or all natural ingredients as much as possible. The internal system of a parrot or bird is so much more sensitive to toxins than the human system. That's why canaries were used in coal mines! So rather than repeat organic this or organic that, whenever we list an ingredient, just assume the ingredient is organic or all natural.

One of our favorite dishes, which is a big hit with the parrots, is a Southwestern casserole, with corn, corn pasta, black beans, apple, and carrot. We're as lazy as the next person, and we'd rather not spend any more time cooking than we have to. So our dishes tend to require minimal preparation and cooking time. Even if it costs a little more, we tend to buy precooked products. With our dishes for example, cooking usually involves no more effort than boiling the pasta!

Our Timneh African grey parrot Tillie enjoying corn stuffed pasta!

Another corn and pasta dish popular with our flock is corn stuffed pasta shells. This takes a little bit more work stuffing the pasta shells, but the results are artistic as well as tasty!

The beauty of these dishes is their versatility. Whatever ingredients are handy can be added, or whatever ingredients your parrots favor. With the corn stuffed pasta shells we added Great Northern beans which we just happened to have on hand, as well as rainbow pasta for color, apple, and carrot. As Tillie shows above, the pasta shells are perfectly parrot size, and easy for the parrots to hold in their feet. Wondering if the parrots like this dish?

Here's the carnage from Tillie's dish. Note the skins of the Great Northern beans strewn over the counter. No skins for this parrot! And no need to worry about leftovers. These dishes are tasty enough for us humans to eat. Yummy!

Update on Our Foster Ruby Macaw Mr. Cracker

Our foster Ruby macaw (Greenwing/Scarlet mix) Mr. Cracker is still looking for a good Seattle area home. A presumed male, Mr. Cracker's age is unknown but he is thought to be in his thirties or forties. He has had six homes in his lifetime, his last for twenty-five years. Unfortunately his latest owner was rushed to the hospital for a medical emergency and can no longer care for the parrot. Mr. Cracker does not wear a band, so he may very well be a wild caught parrot. Mr. Cracker clearly favors men over women.

Mr. Cracker enjoying his corn bread:

For more information about Mr. Cracker, and other parrots needing good new homes, please visit Northwest Parrots Fund.

Parrot Feathers Are Endlessly Fascinating! Macaw Tail Feathers

We could never be a parrot. How'd you like to have these sticking out of your butt?

Our Male Blue and Gold Macaw Aboo

Ouch!

Parrot Cafe: Purveyor of Organic Coffee, Tea, and Rare Books

The Parrot Cafe is located in the Coffee Capital of the World, Seattle, Washington. We are proud to live in a city which not only is the center of coffee culture but also boasts the largest number of independent bookstores per capita, as well as the highest book readership per capita of any city in the United States! Here at the Parrot Cafe, we combine our love of exquisite organic coffee and tea with rare books and collectibles. To this endeavor we bring a background including two graduate degrees in history and archaeology and a career in academia and publishing, as well as retail experience in the Seattle coffee business. We first worked for Starbucks Coffee, and later operated the Parrot Cafe in North Seattle from 2003 to 2006. We have resurrected the Parrot Cafe here on the Internet!

Our Hyacinth Macaw Princess Tara at the Original Parrot Cafe

Our goal is to provide the finest organic coffee and tea available on the marketplace, as well as an eclectic selection of rare books, documents, and collectibles.

Our Greenwing Macaw & Diva Parrot Roxanne

Additionally, our spokesparrot Roxanne can probably find you any particular coffee, tea, or books you might be interested in. Or answer any questions you might have about coffee, books, or parrots. Just ask her. You can contact Roxanne by email at:

Roxanne@theparrotcafe.com

And the name Parrot Cafe? We live with a flock currently numbering eight parrots, including several rescued parrots. We also operate a nonprofit charity, Northwest Parrots Fund, that rescues and finds new homes for parrots whose owners can no longer care for them. You can see our parrots on YouTube by searching for The Zen Parrot.

Proceeds from the Parrot Cafe support Northwest Parrots Fund.

Exercising Your Parrot

Our Hyacinth macaw Princess Tara flying in place upside down!

Too many parrots become perch potatos. Exercise is as important to parrots as it is to people. Probably even more for parrots. Wild parrots fly. Every day. Many (if not most) pet parrots simply sit in or on their cages every day. All day. The best aerobic exercise a parrot can get is flying. Even flying in place, as our foster Ruby macaw Cracker demonstrates:

Seven of our eight parrots are flighted, Two of our parrots, our Congo African grey Arua, and our Goffin's cockatoo Kid Kadra, fly regularly in our house. Two of our other parrots, our Hyacinth macaw Princess Tara and our foster Ruby macaw, Mr. Cracker, use their wings to fly in place. Princess Tara occasionally also flies in the house. Watching a Hyacinth macaw with a four foot wingspan pivot midair on her wing tip is a sight to behold!


Letting parrots fly, especially large parrots like cockatoos or macaws, presents risks. We feel that letting pet parrots fly outside, except in an enclosed flight aviary, presents risks to the parrot that can not be managed.safely. Therefore, we can not endorse flying pet parrots outside. There are still risks to flying pet parrots indoors, but these risks can be managed. If you wish to learn more about flying parrots indoors, and are wondering if this is something you want to encourage your parrot to do, there is a website you can visit with information about the risks and benefits of flying parrots indoors; Living With Flighted Parrots.


Meanwhile, even if your parrot isn't inclined to fly indoors, encourage your parrot to fly in place.

You'll have a healthier and happier parrot!

Mr. Cracker's Song and Dance: An Update on Our Foster Ruby Macaw

Mr. Cracker is a thirtysomething presumed male Ruby macaw who came to us two months ago when his parront was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Cracker had lived with this person for nearly twenty-five years. When we brought him home he cried for two days. And then he pretty much shut up. It took him about six weeks to decide he wasn't going to starve to death after all, and stopped literally inhaling all the food we put in his food dish. He would even eat lettuce leaves. We've never known a parrot to eat lettuce! When Cracker came to us he had been subsisting on a diet of sunflower seeds and peanuts. We have no idea how long this condition existed, but Cracker was probably literally starving to death!

Cracker was the parrot's original name, but the previous parront renamed him Alexander, because he felt the name Cracker was undignified for a parrot. Even though he does say Alexander, Cracker immediately let us know that he prefers the name Cracker. It may be stupid, but it's still his name.

After two months with our flock, Mr. Cracker is finally letting his true personality show. He has developed a friendship for our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo, and Cracker starts singing and dancing every time Aboo comes upstairs to join the flock. Aboo lives downstairs, because he can't live near a window. We managed to record some of the song and dance routines for YouTube. We present, in High Definition, Mr. Cracker's Song and Dance:

Except for letting us know virtually right away that he preferred the name Cracker, as we mentioned, Mr. Cracker pretty much shut up for about six weeks. This seems to have coincided with the time he still thought he might starve. But over the past two weeks he has started talking, singing, and dancing up a storm! For a summary of his original vocabulary, please refer to our previous blog post introducing Alexander/Cracker. Now we can barely keep up with the words and phrases we hear from him daily. He carries on a regular conversation that is still too garbled to us to understand. But besides his previous and current names, he says Come here, Food, Eat your food, What, What you doing, Parrot, I'm a parrot, Good bird, Bad bird, Hello, and Hello there. Recently, when we get ready to head out the door in the morning to go to work, he has started saying Bye Bye! He knows what Give a kiss means, and he freely blows air kisses.

When he came to us, his chest, back, legs, and shoulders were plucked bare. Apparently the plucking coincided with the previous owner falling seriously ill about six months previous to his joining our flock. This photo of Cracker devouring some corn on the cob shows just how bare his chest became:

We started Cracker on a daily course of organic red palm oil spread on toast which he devours, because of the positive reports we've read about plucking macaws treated with red palm oil. Of course there's no way to know absolutely whether a change in environment, a proper diet, the red palm oil, or a combination of the above contributed, but after two months we are seeing significant feather growth on Cracker's body, wings, and legs. Although we continue to find plucked feathers on the floor, the volume seems significantly reduced from when Cracker first came to us. The next photo shows the change over the past six weeks:

Needless to say, we're keeping our fingers crossed! Our next step to to address Cracker's socialization. Mr. Cracker still won't less us touch or handle him, but we are told his previous parront was able to step him up on his arm whenever he wasn't on his cage.

Mr. Cracker is still in need of a permanent Seattle area home, with someone who has macaw experience, and preferably already has macaws in their home. We think Mr. Cracker will do best living with other macaws. For more information about adopting Mr. Cracker, and other parrots in need of good new homes, please visit Northwest Parrots Fund.

Mr. Cracker Needs a Good New Seattle Area Home

Little is known about Mr. Cracker except that he may very well be a wild-caught presumed male Ruby macaw (Greenwing/Scarlet mix) believed to be about 45 years old that has gone through about five homes in his life. By the looks of him, his father was a Greenwing macaw and his mother a Scarlet. Cracker has no leg band, and is old enough to be a wild-caught parrot.

Cracker lived with his latest parront and a flock of Cockatiels in Seattle for nearly twenty-five years, since about 1987. Over the past several months, Cracker's owner developed a serious medical condition and eventually could no longer care for the parrot. For a time Cracker apparently was subsisting on sunflower seeds and peanuts! Fortunately arrangements had already been made to place Cracker in a foster home when the owner was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. That person didn't like the name Cracker, so he renamed him Alexander.

Cracker is a big bird! He probably weighs close to three pounds. Our female Greenwing macaw Roxanne is small by comparison. Almost immediately, Cracker let us know that his name is Cracker! Not a great speaker, he does say Cracker, I'm Cracker, Hello, Hello There, Eat the Food, Piece of Cake, and Goodbye, among other words and phrases. He has one tune that he sings often, and he loves to hop and dance. He is a voracious eater, probably because of his situation prior to foster care, and loves his fruit and vegies. His owner told us he doesn't play with toys. Not true! He had one ratty old toy in his cage. He now has a big steel bell that he loves, as well as many chew toys that keep him occupied.

Cracker developed a serious plucking problem that coincided with his owner's illness. His chest, legs, and parts of his wings are virtually bare. We hope that the plucking did not progress so far as to be irreversible, and that as he settles into his new life his feathers will grow back.

Cracker is currently in the care of Northwest Parrots Fund until his condition can be assessed, his diet regulated, and his suitability for rehoming determined. Cracker appears to favor men rather than women, and clearly needs a home with someone who has macaw experience, and preferably other macaws in the household. Cracker's foster home includes a flock of four other macaws, and Cracker clearly is enamored of the female Greenwing macaw Roxanne as well as the male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo.

If interested in adopting Cracker, or to learn about other parrots currently available for adoption in the Pacific Northwest, or if you would like to join our parrot foster home network, please visit Northwest Parrots Fund. Northwest Parrots Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity registered in the State of Washington.

Parrots, People, Food, and Music at Seattle's Ballard Farmers Market

Seattle's Ballard Sunday Farmers Market is one of the premiere farmers markets in the United States, and probably has the most European feel of any American farmers market. The atmosphere of the market along Seattle's historic Ballard Avenue brings back memories of our college days when for a short time we had the good fortune to live at the Hotel Victoria on Paris' Rue Mouffetard, the City of Light's oldest farmers market. Click here to see images of this historic street.

However, one of the things we frequently see at the Ballard Farmers Market that we never saw in Paris is parrots!

Our parrots love visiting the Ballard Farmers Market. Especially our two Blue and Gold macaws, Aboo and Miss Bubba Boy. Every Sunday when Bubba sees us putting the avian flyer harness on Aboo, she goes nuts, and climbs off of her stand and scurries across the kitchen floor heading for the door even before we can get to it! We're not sure what she loves most about the market, but hopefully this video will give you an idea of how much the parrots enjoy their outings to the market. The video also features our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne, as well as the Camelot macaw Maiya. Presented in High Definition:

For your viewing pleasure, we append our first two Parrots Days Out at the Ballard Farmers Market YouTube videos. The original video features our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne, as well as our two Blue and Gold macaws, Aboo and Miss Bubba Boy:

The second Another Parrots Day Out at the Ballard Farmers Market YouTube video, one of our first videos presented in High Definition, features our Greenwing macaw and Diva parrot Roxanne, and our Hyacinth macaw parrot, Princess Tara:

If you have any photos or video of your parrots at farmers markets, or encounters with others' parrots while visiting a farmers market, please send them to us. We'd love to see and share them!

Feeding Parrots The Twelve Dirtiest Fruits and Vegetables Which Should Only Be Purchased Organic

With farmers markets and produce stands overflowing with fresh fruit and vegetables here at the peak of summer, the temptation exists to grab the brightest and freshest fruits and vegetables to bring home to feed your parrots. But are all fruits and vegetables equally safe to feed to your parrots? Fortunately for parrot people and others, the Environmental Working Group produces a list of the twelve dirtiest fruits and vegetables to watch out for, fruits and vegetables that are most heavily impacted with pesticides and other contaminants. These are fruits and vegetables that should only be purchased organic, or simply avoided:

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100261286

Along with the list of the twelve dirtiest fruits and vegetables, the Environmental Working Group also provides a list of the fifteen cleanest fruits and vegetables, that are safe to consume even if not organic.