Currently In Care

[den]

Needle Tailed Swift
Originally uploaded by battyden.

An injured Needle Tailed Swift that came into care on 1/1/07. I can't find anything wrong with it, so I'll take it to the zoovets tomorrow. These birds migrate south from North Asia to avoid the winters. They hunt and feed on the wing and can reach speeds of 130kph to avoid predators.

They have very weak feet and cannot perch, so I turned the cage on its end and hung a towel along the back so the bird has something to hang on to. In the wild they roost on high trees and cliff faces.

Comments

[eleri.livejournal.com]

He's kinda cute, but that beak looks like it could hurt.

Say, you're my flist resident Aussie bird expert, is this stuff (http://www.budgieworld.net/multipaks.htm#The%20Big%20Budgie%20Bag) worth getting for my budgies?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

All that stuff looks okay, but I have no idea what Budgie Butter might be. A supplement? Eucalyptus gum-nuts (the seed pods) would make a nice natural chew toy, which is what they appear to have made their toys from. Branches hollowed out by termites make good nesting sites, but gumtrees don't make up much of the diet. In the wild budgies are grass-seed feeders.

The best sticks for perching are rough and barky, with lumps and differing diameters along the length. Any old stick should do; it doesn't have to be a eucalyptus stick.

So, Budgie World stuff looks okay and won't hurt, and will probably add a little more natural food into the diet that they wouldn't get from store seeds. Look around for some local gumtrees and pick the leaves. I know there are a lot along the coast (mostly around CA, though.)