(bright music) - Hi, I'm Karen Kalunian, and today we're gonna be talking about bird care.

(bright music) So we're here at the Rhode Island Parrot Rescue with Corrie Butler and our friend Tango.

And we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the things that birds like to eat, and a little bit about their care.

So Tango's favorite is a pistachio.

Right now, he's finishing the last one so I don't wanna sort of rush him along, but he loves to crack the shell.

And what are some of the other things that really you should be feeding your birds, because I think so many people just think that they can have whatever typical birds have outside, when that's not true?

- Yeah, so great things to feed your bird are a lot of dark leafy greens, a lot of vegetables, a lot of colored vegetables, and fruits.

We also feed a pelleted diet here, and nuts are good for treats or training.

- [Karen] Good boy!

- That should not be given freely.

- So as far as keeping them occupied when they're in their cages, what are some of the best toys or things to put inside of their cage for fun for them?

- [Corrie] So birds are extremely intelligent.

So a lot of puzzle toys, any type of foraging, complexity you can kind of increase over time.

But a lot of toys are made from, you wanna make sure it's bird-safe wood, leather, some plastics.

You'd be surprised with what you could use.

A lot of wicker items.

- [Karen] Here you go, Tango.

- The list goes on and on.

Poly rope.

- Good boy!

And so I noticed too that folks drop off stuff a lot for them.

So it's important for people to know, who would like to donate for their care, what to actually bring.

So would it be good for them to drop off fruit more so than the nuts?

Are there certain types of nuts that they can't have?

- We do not serve seed here and we don't serve peanuts.

- Which is important.

I think people automatically think, "Oh, drop off a bag of birdseed."

- Right.

We would feed that to the squirrels.

- (laughing) Outside of the building.

- Yes.

Which, they need to eat too, right?

- Right.

- Yeah, seed not so good for parrots.

That's an older practice.

And what we have found is that seed, especially with a bird that is not near as active in captivity as they are in the wild, - - [Karen] True.

- and they're not doing what they're, you know intended to do, which is be in flight all day.

- So I know that for him, his favorite is pistachio.

Do you find that some birds like particular nuts better than others?

And does it affect them in any way if they're allergic to certain things?

How do you look for that?

- So you asked about nuts.

Much like humans, parrots kind of have their own favorites, and that does change weirdly enough throughout the year.

So maybe in springtime... - Maybe they get bored.

- Yeah.

Or maybe it is boredom.

But springtime they may like, say pistachios might be their preference for a particular bird.

And then maybe later on towards winter he might prefer some walnuts instead, over the pistachio, for instance.

So their taste buds or what have you, do change, similar to ours.

- [Karen] So for a bird like Tango, how, sorry, Tango, I dropped that one, about how long, okay, you don't like that one?

- He's playing around with her.

- He's playing now.

He's like, I don't want that.

You want the bowl?

- There you go.

- There you go.

He's like, I'll choose my own.

Good boy!

He's like, where are they?

- What you see?

Huh?

- Where are they?

There's no more pistachios in there?

- There are.

- Oh, maybe you can find one.

There's one.

There you go.

- Wow.

Good boy.

- He's very smart.

I know birds are very intelligent.

- Yeah, very much so.

- I don't think people realize the things that they can do and how much he does talk.

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yes he does.

- [Karen] He's not gonna say hello right now because his mouth is full.

(laughing) - He's our greeter, our door greeter.

He says, "Hello," when we walk in.

He says, "Bye bye."

- [Karen] He knows when someone's coming in, when someone's going out.

- Oh yeah.

Absolutely.

- Well, I hope that if you are interested in a bird like Tango, you stop by the Rhode Island Parrot Rescue and meet him for yourself.

No, that's my finger.

(laughing) To watch more videos like this, visit ripbs.org/animaltalk.

(bird tweets)