Hi everyone
I have certainly enjoyed the amount of discussion regarding the taking of photographs and peoples reactions to it. I do worry sometimes with the younger males being aggressive especially when you have a lot of money hanging around your neck. Anyhow on a different tack I photographed today an extremely old cocky. A friend had told me about this old boy, as he has been in her backyard and she has been trying to photograph him to speak to the rangers. Today I saw him, his beak is all bent and twisted and he only has one feather on his head, but he seemed to be eating OK don't know how. Old age is a bitch even in the bird world it seems. Have posted a couple of other shots taken today as well.
Cheers Diane - Canberra
Hi Diane,
I’m afraid this poor Cockatoo is not old, (although he might be), but I think he suffers from “Psittacine” , also called Beak and Feather Disease, a highly contagious viral disease. The symptoms are balding, and feather and beak distortion. There is a lot of information about the terrible disease and how it is spread from bird to bird. (mainly at feeding stations where birds get into close contact) I could go into more details, but it is easier to read about it yourself.
Sorry to tell you this.
M-L
Hi M-L
I was very upset when I read the reply regarding the "old cocky". I googled psittacine and wondered what should be done. I thought I might get in touch with the local rangers althogh guess there is nothng that can be done but maybe they need to be advised that it is in the area. Any ideas?
Diane Canberra
Hi Diane, I understand, it upsets me too to see birds suffer.
I will answer your question in a slightly different way, because my answer to this problem has set of heated discussions in the past, and I don’t want to revisit that. In the not so distant past, when your children had a contagious disease, “isolation” was the way to avoid spread. You didn’t send them to school, because you didn’t want all the other children to catch it.
Unfortunately in the case of wild birds spreading any virus, it is hard to isolate a bird. The only other option really would be, to not create places where large numbers of birds come into contact. (in my personal opinion feeding stations come to mind)
Other than that, I don’t have the answer, sorry.
M-L
I would recommend a wildlife group (or the like) who will catch the bird for assessment. If it has the disease it will be euthanised to prevent the disease spreading which, while it is a sad outcome, is however better than a painful lingering death through starvation and where most likely the bird would also be subject to predation.
Alison
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"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."
Hi
Thanks for all the info about the "old cocky" I have been on google and have now spoken to one of our rangers here in Canberra. He said thanks for letting them know, but they do not have the resourses (man hours) to trap it. My friend who has had him in her backyard said she will try and trap it, and we have been advised to take to the RSPCA who will euthanise him.
Certainly have been on a learning curve this weekend.
Cheers Diane
di.anneslegacy@optusnet.com.au
Araminta is right on track, Diane. However lovely it might be for we humans to attract birds with artificial feeding there are a number of factors againts it, including the spread of disease. You can read about these using the Search box near the top of this page.
Hi
I too agree with Araminta I am against providing food for the birds, when I first started to photograph them my husband suggested that we put out feed for them but I told him no, we will just provide water and we have 2 bird baths in the backyard which I keep scrubbed and change the water at least twice/day, more when it is so hot. There is an abundance of natural food for birds right now, what with the fruit ripe on the trees and lots of berries and seeds. We live in an area where there are a lot of birds and a few people put out seed for them and I have seen the squabbles and pecking order related to that whereas the large birds, currawongs, cockatoos etc are the only ones that get any seed.
Diane
Thanks for caring Diane
M-L