Threatened Blackbirds Get a Chance to Hatch

The following link contains a story written by Cameron Bird in the "OCRegister" on May 5, 2009. Both federal and state fish and game code make it unlawful to destroy bird nests. Please keep this in mind if construction is scheduled in an area where you see bird nests full of eggs or baby birds.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/thomas-field-maruchan-2394215-time-grass#

Snowball in Bird Talk Magazine

Snowball's research will be discussed in an upcoming issue of Bird Talk Magazine. A research paper which debuted on April 30, 2009 in Current Biology made news around the world which inspired an interview with Dr. Aniruddh Patel, lead scientist, of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California.

Irena Schulz was interviewed by Bird Talk Magazine for the June 2008 issue. Here is a link to that article. http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-exclusives/snowball.aspx

WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL June 10-14

The countdown to the 2009 World Science Festival has begun.

From climate change to the cosmos; from neuroscience to nanotechnology; from mathematical magic to the multiverse--this year's Festival will feature some of the world's leading scientific minds, celebrated artists and innovative thinkers including:

Nobel Prize-winning scientists James Watson, Harold Varmus, David Gross, Frank Wilczek, Sir Paul Nurse and William Phillips; renowned authors Bill McKibben and Irene Pepperberg; esteemed researchers E.O. Wilson, James Hansen, Daniel Wegner, Erich Jarvis, Daniel Levitin and Margaret Livingstone; acclaimed artists Alan Alda, Marin Alsop and Anna Deavere Smith; and Irena Schulz from Bird Lovers Only Rescue.

2008 Festival Event Videos - Now Online
For those of you who may have missed one of last year's programs, many are now available to view online. To watch 2008 program excerpts, please visit: www.worldsciencefestival.com/video/2008-video-excerpts

For Information
Complete information about the 2009 Festival's programming and special guests will be announced later this spring. Tickets will go on sale in late April.
Please keep visiting www.worldsciencefestival.com for new announcements about programs, participants, and tickets. You can also follow the World Science Festival on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Bird Brain vs. Brainy Birds

If someone calls you a "bird brain," thank them for the compliment. Birds are highly intelligent according to Edward A. Wasserman of the University of Iowa. He had much to say on this subject during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

For the full story, please click on this link. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29169229/article

The Magic of Music

A surgeon struck by lightning and a dancing parrot hold clues to music�s profound effects.
by Geoff Olson

http://www.commonground.ca/iss/211/cg211_olson.shtml

Dr. Aniruddh Patel Receives ASCAP Award

(Left) On December 9, 2008 Dr. Aniruddh Patel, President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, accepted an ASCAP award for his most recent book "Music, Language, and the Brain" in New York City. Dr. Aniruddh Patel heads the cognitive music studies involving Snowball the dancing cockatoo. (Upper right) Dr. Patel with two judges from ASCAP and Oliver Sacks who received an award for "Musicophilia." (Lower right) ASCAP judge, Ani Patel and Joan Bossert, Dr. Patel's editor from Oxford University Press.

We congratulate Dr. Aniruddh Patel on his remarkable research not only with Snowball, but on his use of technology to investigate the correlation between language, music, and the brain.

For more information regarding "Music, Language, and the Brain" please visit: http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195123753/

For more information regarding "Musicophilia" please visit: http://www.oliversacks.com

Animal Talk Naturally Radio Show

Irena Schulz from Bird Lovers Only Rescue discusses Snowball's research and how that may relate to recent studies involving music therapy on Parkinson's Disease patients. She also discusses how the state of the economy has increased calls and emails from bird owners needing to rehome their birds.

Snowball's Chance

Below is a link to the San Diego Union-Tribune article written by Adam Loberstein regarding cognitive music studies with Snowball as the subject of study and led by Dr. Ani Patel of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080814/news_1c14bird.html

Below is the video that accompanies the article.

http://video.signonsandiego.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=2073032&item_index=2&all=1&sort=NULL

Proventricular Dilation Disease (PDD)

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have identified a virus behind the mysterious infectious disease that has been killing parrots and exotic birds for more than 30 years. Click on the link to read full story...

http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200807295

"Come To The Edge"

Dr. Kim Bloomer of Animal Talk Naturally on Blog Talk Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/animaltalknaturally wrote a poignant piece on animal care and responsible ownership. We all too often seek things to fulfill our lives to make us happy without researching what it is that will make the pets happy and healthy. Although I believe that people are well-intentioned in wanting to provide a good home for a bird, they often times purchase a bird on impulse without researching what it takes to make the bird happy and healthy. Birds are extremely intelligent, needy, and demanding. They are excellent at masking their illnesses so there is no way of telling whether the bird is healthy by appearance alone. Birds need to be checked by an avian vet yearly, they need to have plenty of out of cage time, they need a variety of healthy foods to eat, and they need to have plenty of different toys to keep them interested while they are in their cage.

Please go to this link to read Dr. Kim Bloomer's article. www.birdloversonly.org/docs/Edge.doc

Investigating the human-specificity of synchronization to music

Below is the link to the scientific paper "Investigating the human-specificity of synchronization to music" on Snowball's cognitive music studies lead by Dr. Ani Patel at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California.

http://birdloversonly.org/docs/Patel.pdf

Snowball on SCIENCE BLOGS

Snowball is in ScienceBlogs in the Neurophilosophy section. To read the article, click on the link below.

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/06/rockatoo.php

Snowball in DISCOVER MAGAZINE

Snowball has been making news in the scientific world. Please read the latest article in Discover Magazine by clicking on the link below. Snowball is making his scientific debut this month in Canada.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2008/06/26/does-a-dancing-cockatoo-really-feel-the-rhythm/

Ask The Bird Experts

Irena Schulz was a guest speaker on Ask The Bird Experts on Sunday, June 22nd at 9pm Eastern. You can listen to the web cast at the link below.

http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=1656048

Irena and Bird Lovers Only Rescue Service, Inc. would like to thank TheBirdTalks.com for inviting us on their show.

Music and the Mind

In this edition of "Grey Matters," Aniruddh Patel, of the Neurosciences Institute, discusses what music can teach us about the brain, and what brain science, in turn, can reveal about music. Series: "Grey Matters" [4/2006] [Science] [Show ID: 11189]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgKFeuzGEns

Please paste the above link into your browser to watch the lecture.

About 35 minutes into the lecture, Aniruddh Patel discusses the biological significance of moving to a musical beat, and why it's interesting to find
out if animals (other than humans) can do it. He even discusses a bird that moves to music (from the film "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill"). Of course, this was all pre-Snowball!

Irena and Charles of Bird Lovers Only Rescue Service, Inc. would like to thank Dr. Aniruddh Patel for his visit on April 3rd, 2008 and for our continued collaboration on this very exciting and interesting project!

A very special thank you to Dane, for none of this would have been possible without you!

Pictured above is Aniruddh Patel, President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, with Snowball.

Water Filters

We recommend that birds be given bottled water (please check for quality) or water from a good home-treatment system. Home-treatment systems can be confusing, though. Here is a brief description of several types.

The type of treatment system to acquire depends on what problems your water supply has; therefore, it is best to have your water tested. Alternatively, public water departments should have an analysis on file, and you can request a copy of it.

In general, the types of contaminants to be concerned about include:

• Bacteria, Giardia/protozoa, cryptosporidium
• Inorganic chemicals (such as nitrates)
• Organic chemicals (such as pesticides, industrial chemicals)
• Chlorine and fluorine
• Minerals (hard water)
• Sediment, particulate matter

Reverse Osmosis: Filtration generally removes inorganic contaminants, such as nitrates.

Mechanical Filtration: Removes sediment and microbes, such as Giardia, bacteria and cryptosporidium.

Activated Charcoal: This is best for removing organic materials such as pesticides, herbicides and the trihalomethanes formed by chlorinating water. Some systems combine all of these types of treatment and would be the right choice if your water supply has problems in all three areas.

Water Distillers: These are available as well, but we do not recommend them. They tend to remove healthy minerals and may not remove volatile organic compounds (pesticides) and microbes, such as Giardia cysts.

The last type of water treatment is a water softener. This is good at removing minerals, including lead and iron, but does nothing for bacterial contaminants, Giardia cysts, nitrates, or pesticides. If the only problem you have is hard water, these devices are effective. But the advice would be to check with the public water deparment for a water analysis

To determine the best type of home-treatment system for your specific needs, please ask your public water department for a water analysis or have it professionaly tested yourself.

Reference: "Holistic Care For Birds" by David McCluggage, DVM and Pamela Leis Higdon

Necessity of Avian Veterinary Care

The AVMA survey indicated both good and bad news for avian practitioners. On the negative side, pet bird owners overall are not likely to seek veterinary care. In 2001, only 11.7% of bird owners in the USA reported at least one veterinary visit. In comparison, 83.6% of dog owners and 65.3% of cat owners reported at least one veterinary visit in 2001. On the positive side, however, a 6 year survey indicated the average number of veterinary visits for pet birds actually increased. An estimated 2 million avian veterinary visits occurred in 2001, compared to 1.6 million in 1996. This represents a solid increase in demand for the services of avian veterinarians. More evidence for this conclusion can be seen in the fact that veterinary expenditures for bird owners increased dramatically from 37 million dollars in 1991 to 135 million dollars in 2001.

It is interesting to note those veterinary services most commonly purchased for pet birds. Examinations are purchased most frequently, followed by laboratory tests, then emergency care. While many bird-owning clients appreciate the value of preventive medicine, far too many others consult the avian veterinarian only in time of medical crisis.

Slightly more than half of surveyed clients selected their regular dog and cat veterinarian to provide care for their avian pets. Encouragingly enough, 24.2% made their selection based on the fact that the veterinarian was a bird specialist. (Note that this survey does not distinguish between veterinarians who are board-certified avian specialists and those claiming a "special interest" in avian medicine.) Discouragingly, just as many clients chose a veterinarian based simply on location.

It is obvious avian practitioners have a great deal of work to do to catch up to our fellow dog and cat practitioners. While bird owners who do seek regular veterinary care are generally seeking a higher quality of care and more frequent visits for their pets, it is obvious the great majority of bird owners either are unaware such services are available or not convinced of their value.

Reference: "Cinical Avian Medicine - Vol I & II" by Harrison and Lightfoot.

Speical Note from Bird Lovers Only Rescue: Birds are expert at masking their illnesses and many bird owners believe them to be healthy because of it....until they wake up one morning to find their bird dead at the bottom of the cage without any previous signs or warnings to indicate that something was wrong. Dogs and cats do not mask their illnesses as birds do because birds behave instinctively to demonstrate health and strength in the wild to avoid appearing vulnerable to other birds and predators. This instinctive behavior does not change in your home. Please take your birds in for yearly exams and tests to a board-certified avian veterinarian. You can find one close to you by going to www.aav.org. We thank you!

Aspergillosis

Aspergillosis is an infection of the respiratory system that occurs sporadically in a wide range of birds. Birds from cold and dry climates are highly susceptible to infection. Environments that are conducive to the environmental growth of Aspergillus spp. and environments that are poorly ventilated will result in an increased incidence of aspergillosis. Disease can be localized to the upper airways or the syrinx, or it may involve the air sacs and lungs. Respiratory signs are a common feature of this disease, but a bird may not manifest signs until the disease is advanced. Radiographs, endoscopy and biopsy, cytology and hematology are all valuable tools in the diagnosis of this disease. Even with all these assays, the diagnosis of aspergillosis is often a difficult one.

The diagnosis of aspergillosis has been most extensively studied in humans. Ancillary diagnostic assays used in people include PCR to detect Aspergillus DNA from blood, an ELISA to detect Aspergillus antigen and an ELISA to detect anti-Aspergillus antibody. These studies clearly indicate that even a combination of these three assays will not be adequate to detect many cases of aspergillosis. The problem comes from the fact that most people who contract aspergillosis are immunocompromised. This also may be true in birds. If the infected person's immune system is adequate to contain the disease and the organism is localized in a walled-off granuloma, then these individuals are found to produce antibody. People with generalized disease are generally severely immunocompromised and they do not produce antibody. In these people, Aspergillus antigen and DNA are most likely to be found in the blood, but they are not when the lesion is encapsulated. If the pathophysiology of avian aspergillosis resembles that seen in humans, then none of these assays are likely to detect infection in most infected birds. A combination of these assays may be more specific, but false negatives are to be expected.

Reference: "Clinical Avian Medicine - Vol I and II" by Harrison and Lightfoot

Psittacosis

Infection with Chlamydophila psittaci is common in pet birds. Clinical signs vary from none to a mild respiratory disease to a severe multisystemic, often fatal, disease. Psittacosis is particularly important in avian medicine because it can spread widely before it is recognized and because it is a zoonotic and reportable disease. Clinical signs and traditional diagnostic assays such as hematology, clinical pathology and radiology, while helpful, are generally insufficient to specifically diagnose this disease.

No test is 100% sensitive. Therefore, if the greatest degree of sensitivity is sought, the PCR and the EBA (Elementary Body Agglutination Assay) and egg inoculation culture or tissue culture could both be performed when screening parrots. PCR can be combined with the CF when screening doves and pigeons.

Chlamydophila psittaci infections can occur in almost any species of caged bird. The author recommends testing for this organism in most birds presented for new bird purchase examinations. The author especially recommends testing cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus) as they can carry this bacterium and not demonstrate clinical signs of disease. The few cases of human infections the author has observed have been acquired from an otherwise healthy pet cockatiel. Pigeons and doves are commonly infected with C. psittaci and should be routinely tested.

Chlamydophila psittaci is a zoonotic intracellular bacterial organism that causes the diseases psittacosis in humans and avian chlamydiosis in avian species. Clinical signs often associated witha psittacosis (human) infection include generalized "flu-like" symptoms to more severe pneumonia and complicating health issues. Avian chlamydiosis will present as non-specific clinical signs in a companion bird patient. These non-specific signs can include ocular, nasal or conjunctival irritation and discharge, anorexia, depression, dehydration, bright green urates and diarrhea. Many avian species have been diagnosed with C. psittaci, but it is the companion bird species where this disease is the greatest public health concern.

It is often difficult to confirm a diagnosis of avian chlamydiosis because of the intracellular life cycle of the organism, prophylactic treatment of patients with appropriate antibiotics but using inappropriate doses and treatment periods, and the periodic shedding of elementary bodies (the infectious form of the disease). The difficulty to confirm avian chlamydiosis cases encourages the veterinarian to use multiple testing methodologies. Testing methods that can be used either individually or preferably in combination include pathology, antibody testing (direct complement fixation and elementary-body agglutination) and antigen testing (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescent antibody tests, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification technology on choanal/cloacal swabs and blood). Prior to sample submission, the diagnostic laboratory should be contacted for recommendations on proper sample collection, labeling, packaging, and shipment of the sample material. A breakdown in sample handling or shipment delay can adversely affect the reliability of C. psittaci test results.

There are several treatment options available to treat suspected or confirmed avian chlamydiosis cases. The treatment options are based on doxycycline as the drug of choice and being administered in the most appropriate way for the patient(s) to receive a therapeutically effective dose for the duration of the 45-day treatment regimen. There have been recent advances in using doxycycline hyclate powder from opened capsules a a seed coating for budgerigars or mixing the powder in water for larger birds. Oral doxycycline (monohydrate or calcium) or intramuscular injections of specific formulations can be effective treating the individual bird or group of birds that will tolerate the stress of capture and drug administration on a regular basis.

Chlamydiosis psittaci is a public health concern and can be a deadly, expensive disease within an aviary or to the individual companion bird. Although difficult to diagnose, avian chlamydiosis can be diagnosed and treated if there is an understanding of the available tests, and the proper tests are used to confirm the presence of the disease. Early communication to a client about the ability of this organism to resist improper treatment and the consequences of discontinuing treatment will often lead to owner compliance with antibiotic administration. In hopes of protecting birds and bird owners in the future, research is currently being conducted to improve C. psittaci diagnostic testing and to develop a vaccine to protect birds from infection if exposed to the infectious elementary bodies.

Reference: "Clinical Avian Medicine - Vol I and II" by Harrison and Lightfoot

Could Chemical Pesticides In Use Today Result In Bird Injuries?

Although chlorpyrifos and diazinon are no longer available for use in the USA, neurotoxic chemicals (including cholinesterase inhibitors, pyrethroids as well as newer entities such as fipronil) are registered for indoor use and can contact a pet bird through diffusing from application sites such as rugs, furniture, the skin of a dog or cat, and bait stations, even if the bird is removed during the actual application process. Two newer insecticides, fipronil and imidacloprid, have been associated with adverse reactions in people and pets when used in flea control programs (J.H. Gainer, personal communication, 2003). Both insecticides are registered for additional uses in and around the home.

By persisting indoors for months or years on rugs or furniture, certain chemical pesticides may present the potential for adverse effects. When applied outdoors, these same chemicals, plus others registered for outdoor use only, can drift indoors through open windows, contacting a caged bird kept nearby, or they can gain access from air intake ducts or be carried indoors on shoes. Birds and/or their environments may be treated with cholinesterase inhibitors such as the insecticide carbaryl (recommended for mite control) or outdated remedies such as the toxic substance paradichlorobenzene (found in moth crystals) used around cages. Further, the effects of multiple chemical exposures can be additive or even synergistic, with greater likelihood of adverse reactions occurring as a result.

Due to concern over West Nile virus, chemical pesticides may be broadcast from an aircraft or from a land-based vehicle in an effort to reduce mosquitoes. Pet birds (and other sensitive individuals) can be protected from contact with these sprays by closing windows and air intake ducts when the application occurs. If possible, a pet owner should obtain information from local governments, professional pest control companies, landscapers or neighbors who apply pesticides as to time, place, and nature of the pesticide product being sprayed close to the home. Greater surveillance of marketed products is needed to collect adverse reaction information. This is especially important for products used in the home and applied to pet animals, such as those products with fipronil and imidacloprid as active ingredients.

Reference: "Clinical Avian Medicine - Vol I and II" by Harrison and Lightfoot