When Timber, our Eastern Screech Owl, isn't working for habitat conservation, he enjoys sitting outside, contemplating his place in the universe. For such a tiny creature, screech owls have a dignity that is all their own.
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This might be a weird question but here goes anyway ;-)
When I watched the video of the screech owl or mischief in the milk carton I noticed that there are no perches, toys, trees, etc in their cages. Are birds of prey like domesticated birds and need all that stuff?
My bird has a cage full of ropes, perches, toys, balls, etc. She needs those for her feet, her brain, etc.
Why arent there any in your cages??
Thank you!
That's a great question!
Enrichment depends on the bird. Our corvids and parrots have many toys (often buried under shavings) whereas adult raptors spend the majority of their days (in the wild) perched and watching for food. We do offer the occasional rope toy to our raptors, but generally speaking they prefer to play with their food! Except of course for our babies. They, like all babies, learn from play and we offer them many opportunities for fun.
Crows, ravens, and parrots definitely work hard and play hard. Almost anything can become a toy: coconut shells, kickballs, plastic baby toys, milk cartons, tennis balls...well, you have parrots, so you know what I mean!
Thanks for asking. I think enrichment is one of the most interesting things we do and not discussed very often.
Cool, thanks for answering my question. Enrichment is definitely a cool thing. I love watching my parrot chew up a toy in less than 5 minutes. It would be awesome to see some videos of your beautiful birds playing with toys!!!
At the World Bird Sanctuary's Office of Wildlife Learning the birds' preferred "toy" is an old telephone book hung in their cage. They Looove to shred them!
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