A A question about Avian Literature

[birdygirl]

I plan on expanding my rather small avian library. What books would be reccomended??
I have:
The PArrot Who Owns Me
Why do Parakeets do that?
Another book on parakeets
A bird Owners home health handbook(Sorta old and outdated)
Birds off the perch.

That is all.
I also get Birdtalk every month and am planning upon ordering the bird times.
So are their any excellent books you'd reccomend?
Allison

[Jenny]

Here's a few of the ones I have that I particularly love:
1)Parrot Training: A guide to taming and gentling your avian companion by Bonnie Munro Doane
2) Hand-Feeding and Raising Baby Birds by Matthew M. Vriends
3) The Parrot Breeder's Answer Book by Gayle Soucek
4) My Parrot, My Friend
5) African Grey Parrots by Maggie Wright
6) A Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan

There's alot of other really great ones, but I've never bought them yet. The "Companion Parrot Handbook" by Sally Blanchard is excellent, but I've never gotten to read more than a few pages at a bird show. It was really good though, and would be a good addition too. About BirdTimes, have you ever gotten one of their sample issues? Personally I woudlnt' waste my money on it. I've gotten three free issues in the mail and most of it is advertisements, which are in BirdTalk too, and the articles are short and not very interesting or helpful. The price is also expensive since you can get BirdTalk for only $13 something, and there's way more info in it. A great magazine to get would be the Companion Parrot Quarterly (previously the Pet Bird Report) which is by Sally Blanchard. It comes out four times a year and it's about $25 I think for six issues, which is a waay better deal since each issue is much longer (over 100 pgs.)and the topics are better! Anyway, that's what I'd recommend.

[birdygirl]

Thanks. I did get an issue from a friend and I will agree it was thin. I think it was somewhat informative but I am ordering a sample issue and I don't think i will order it.
Thanks most of the books on your liast were on the ones I'm planning upon adding and I will look into the Comapnion parrot Quartely. Thanks,
Allison

[pionuspasion]

The Bird Owner's Health Handbook has been rewritten, revised, and given a new name. It is an excellent read. It focuses more on nutrition and anatomy than behavioral issues, but it is a wonderful resoucre to have on hand in an emergency, or just for free-reading! I can't reccomend this book highly enough. If you buy one book, make it this one. I have learned so much from it. The new name is

The Complete Bird Owner's Handbook
Gary A. Gallerstein, D.V.M.

Another favorite of mine is Why Does My Bird Do That? by Julie Rach. Solely a behavioral book, it focuses strongly on how behaviors in wild parrots adapt to become the unwanted behaviors we see today in our companions, plus how to deal with them. Includes behavioral profiles for many speices as well as a chart depicting the cuddliness/talking ability/etc. of many different species. Julie Rach is the former editor of Bird Talk, and is very knowledgeable.

The last book on my list is Feeding your Pet Bird by Petra M. Burgmann, D.V.M. This one is a little harder to come by, but by golly if you have a question about nutrition, this book will answer it. It has everything from birdie recipes to species specific requirements to how diet can influence disease in aviculture. Great Read.

Good luck on your search!

-Pionus_passion