“Why won’t my parrot stop screaming! I’ve tried EVERYTHING!!!”
Screaming, persistent calling, or whatever else we want to call it is one of the most common complaints and common struggles of parrot owners and sometimes it can feel like no matter what you’ve tried, you just can’t get it to stop. Well, the good news is, this behavior is VERY fixable as long as we provide the parrot with the proper environment and guidance.
One of the most common questions we get about parrots is, “why is my parrot screaming constantly?” Parrots can be loud, and their vocalizations are a large part of their biology. However, these vocalizations are not random. They all have very specific meanings and by understanding the reasons your parrot is producing these vocalizations, they can be addressed more reliably.
Parrots have fascinated humans for many years with their colorful feathers and incredible intelligence. Today, parrots are the 3rd most popular companion animal in the United States. Even if you yourself don’t own a parrot, you’ve likely come across the many videos on social media showing various parrot's personalities and adventures with their owners.
In Peru, South America, there is a phenomenon taking place with local avian populations. There, large numbers of Macaws, Amazon Parrots, Parakeets, and other birds congregate every day in order to consume the clay on cliffs in the rainforest. These areas that contain the clay are known as “clay licks.” Locally, these areas are known as “Ccollpa.” These cliffs are located on steep walls and contain clay as a result of erosion along rivers in the Amazon basin, and are associated with moist forests on younger geological formations and exposed river banks.
The single most important aspect of your parrot’s long term health is their nutrition. The food that they consume is what makes up all the parts of their body and a high quality diet is an integral part of maintaining a parrot’s health for the long term.
As parrot owners we are always trying to give our birds the best care possible and one of the most important parts of that care is nutrition. The nutrition our birds receive play the single largest role in the long-term mental, physical and emotional health of our birds. However, in our journeys to try and provide our parrots with high quality nutrition, we often find that our parrots are not willing to eat anything other than the seed mix their breeder originally provided them as juveniles. Greens, vegetables, pellets—the parrots refuse to even touch it and often would rather go hungry rather than eat it. Why is that? And what can we do to help get our birds on the right diet?
