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.

Plucking Parrots and Red Palm Oil

Note new feather growth across Cracker's chest

We rescued a Ruby macaw (Greenwing/Scarlet mix), named Cracker, with a serious plucking problem last Labor Day Weekend. Having read about the benefits of red palm oil, we decided to start him on a daily regimen. And while we were at it, we decided to give it to our female Greenwing macaw, Roxanne, as well. She doesn't pluck, but she has been barbering her feathers for years, and won't let her flights or tail feathers grow out. You can read our earlier blog posts about both Cracker and Roxanne for more details.

Well, the results have been dramatic. Cracker came to us completely plucked on his legs, chest, back, and shoulders. Partly visible in the photo above, Cracker shows significant new feather growth on his legs, back, and shoulders, and well as encouraging growth on his chest. Of course his diet was problematic before we rescued him, so we can't attribute the change simply to red palm oil. He was subsisting on sunflower seeds and peanuts for probably too long. He was literally starving to death!

However, with Roxanne, the only change to her environment and diet has been the red palm oil. She has stopped barbering her feathers, her tail feathers are growing back fully, and her feathers show a luster that she hasn't exhibited in years. We don't attribute the change to Cracker's presence in the household. Roxanne was our first parrot, and she doesn't think she's a parrot. She has nothing to do with Cracker or any of the other parrots in the household.

Needless to say, we are sold on red palm oil. And for what it's worth: We do use the organic variety.

The available literature on red palm oil is very sparse, and all the evidence we've seen so far mostly anecdotal. Trying to find useful information is frustrating. If anyone has experience with red palm oil as a remedy for plucking parrots, especially macaws, we would love to hear about it. Please send us your stories, positive or negative.

Northwest Parrots Fund

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Many worthwhile organizations such as The World Parrot Trust are working to save entire species of parrots, as well as the ecosystems those wild parrots depend upon. In our small corner of the world here in Seattle, Washington, we focus instead on saving parrots, one parrot at a time! To this end we have created a nonprofit charity registered by the State of Washington and recognized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity under the regulations of the Internal Revenue Service, Northwest Parrots Fund. Simply put, our goal is to keep pet parrots in their homes if possible. If not possible, then we will work to find good new homes for parrots needing to be rehomed. In case of emergency, we are establishing a foster home network so parrots that are lost, abandoned, or surrendered have at least a temporary home until a permanent home is available.

Our mission will also include raising funds to assist parrot rescues and sanctuaries throughout the Pacific Northwest. Parrot rescues and sanctuaries across the country are in dire financial straits just as most every other nonprofit and charity.

Our 2010 Year in Review

One always faces the question of how best to sum up a year. We decided to simplify the matter and create a word cloud, summarizing our past year in a single picture:

The Zen Parrot's 2010 Year in Review, in a Picture!

Our wish to everyone is that the new year 2011 will prove better than the past year, unless you won the lottery in 2010!

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!

All Things Parrots on Twitter: The Parrots Zygodactyl Daily Twitter Newspaper

In this new century, how does a parrot person keep up with all the information about parrots available out there on the Internet? It's not easy. But we've simplified things for you. We follow scores of parrot blogs and websites so you don't need to. And we compile the information into a daily Twitter newspaper, The Parrots Zygodactyl Daily. You can keep up with the latest writing about all things parrots by subscribing to this daily newspaper on our Twitter feed, The_Zen_Parrot. And the best part is: There's no actual paper that you have to worry about tossing out or recycling. It's all digital. Of course, there's nothing to put under the parrot cage either!