Living in a small, semi-rural, economically depressed, agrarian town in the western central highlands of Mexico affords me with a “luxury” that allows me to naturally and without any monetary cost improve the quality of life of my menagerie of birds which consists of four budgerigars/aka common parakeets, four peach-faced lovebirds, a Northern cardinal and an orange-fronted parakeet/aka half-moon conure. You see, at various times of the year I go out in the nearby trails, fields and hills and (legally, I hope!) do my version of “living off of the fat of the land” for the sake of my birds’ physical and/or emotional well-being. Quickly coming to mind are the four most frequently occurring examples of this.

Perhaps the most important of these is the obtaining of natural perches for the birds. Not wanting to use those smooth, uniform dowels that come with the cages that are not in the best interest of my birds’ feet or beaks, at least twice a year, I head for the hills, far from vehicular traffic and the resultant pollution, and hike about forty-five minutes to an area which has loads of dead branches that I know from research are “bird safe.” There I select about sixty branches (as the birds reside in 6 cages with between 6-10 perches in them) of various widths, lengths, and shapes, including many that are somewhat bent, These perches, on a need basis, after I wash them in soap and hot water are then placed in the cages at various angles, both widthwise and lengthwise; far superior to the machine made, untextured ones, the natural perches enhance the daily lives of the birds while they are both active and asleep.

Just after the once a year corn crop is harvested and the remaining corn in the fields are left to rot or to be consumed by rodents, I will hike about thirty-five minutes to the aptly named by me “field trail” which is also a good distance from the highway; there I gather up as much corn that can physically be carried back home. Usually that amount will be good for four to six months. Two to three times a week, to supplement the mostly store bought fruit, vegetables, and variety of seeds, after first lightly steaming the ears of corn to kill any bacteria or spores, I will give it to the birds either in kernels (the smaller-beaked budgies manage the kernels better) or two to four inch segments. All of the birds enjoy this fairly regular treat but none more so than three of the lovebirds who will balancing themselves, stand atop the corn segment while endeavoring to remove the kernels one-by-one, thus, getting good exercise while also feeding themselves. Additionally, only those lovebirds, as they are master, obsessive-compulsive shredders, will also receive a few times a week the husks of the corn to perform their shredding ritual naturally (as opposed to the unnatural paper cage liners that they will go to great lengths to destroy, er, I mean shred when given no alternative).

In those same fields after the harvest around the same time of year, I will also gather as much bird seed on stems/stalks (plus many long stems only) as possible; these can last up to nine months. After thoroughly washing them off in water, a few times a week, except for Payno the conure who insists that it be daily, the birds will get these seeds. Much better for them than the sweetened seed stick treats that are sold primarily for canaries and budgies, I will tie a string around the stems of these unprocessed field seeds and hang them in the cages so that the birds will not only get a healthier supplemental food source but also another type of exercise inducing plaything. Once again, as those three lovebirds can never seem to get enough shredding material, they, along with Payno who likes to hold them in his claw as he dexterously demolishes them, will receive a few times a week some stems; when it is time to do the lovebirds' daily cage cleaning, their cage is a mess strewn with the shredded seed stems and corn husks, but their hard work is well worth it for their psychological and physical sake!

Lastly, the best fruit eaters of the ten birds, Payno and the male Northern cardinal, Rojee el Bandido, are the beneficiaries of (same as such locally, naturally occurring birds like streak-backed orioles, golden-fronted woodpeckers and curve-billed thrashers) the twice a year blooming of the prickly pears, both green and red, that grow on the paddles of the wild nopal cactus which are pretty much ubiquitous in this part of Mexico. It may be a little “stickly” in removing the spikes from the pears but those birds just love them. I wish that there were other types of wild fruit that could be had free and legal in our area, but, alas, they are the only ones, so I have to purchase loads of fruit weekly, especially for Rojee who will get up to eight varieties daily.

I realize (as I really am not suffering from sunstroke and am not delusional despite all of my field activities) that not all of you who are care providers for birds have the luxury of going off into the fields for some of your bird supplies. However, free or otherwise, many natural products, as long as care is taken to ensure their safety, especially perches, certainly are a benefit to the well-being of all “pet” birds. So, what items are you or can you obtain that will provide for a more “natural,” healthy environment for your birds? As for me, I really wish that my birds would eat the nutritious and overabundant nopal paddles, but they also think that they are just too darn slimy!