Humans don’t eat just meat and potatoes. Well, maybe some do, but it isn’t a healthy diet. Humans eat vegetables, fruits, protein sources such meat, eggs and beans, and we allow ourselves a limited amount of treats. We consider healthy drinks to include milk and fruit juices.
Of course, we humans tend to consume a lot of things which aren’t necessarily healthy for us. Some of these include alcohol, non-nutritious sweets, junk food with little or no nutritional value and foods which contain a great deal of fat. We also tend to drink too much coffee, tea and sodas.
What Wild Parrots Eat
Let’s look for a moment at how a parrot in its native land would eat. They find whatever nuts and seeds are in season. They eat green foods such as grasses and leaves. Non-toxic flowers and their nectar are consumed. Parrots may sometimes eat eggs of another animal or bird. For protein, they may eat bugs that venture into their territory. Wild parrots drink fresh water as well. As you can see, this is a varied diet. The wild parrot will eat whatever foods are available in any given season, so they do not eat the same thing every day, day in and day out.
Parrots have also been known to consume dirt and clay. Macaws, for example, are seen in flocks on riverbanks eating special clay. Scientists suspect that the clay pulls any toxics encountered by eating unripe fruit or nuts with contaminated shells from the bird’s body. It has also been determined that trace minerals are contained in the clay that is not readily available to the birds elsewhere. Today, you can purchase blocks of this special clay that the macaws love in lumps to attach to the cage. Some of my birds have loved eating it occasionally; others have totally ignored it.
The best parrot diet would mimic the natural diet of the species of parrot in question. Birds which are introduced to a variety of foods immediately after they are weaned will consider food an adventure and try most any food you offer them. Of course, the foods we purchase in a grocery store are often contaminated with pesticide or coated with wax. Any food I offer my parrots is thoroughly washed and chopped, sliced or broken into pieces appropriate to the bird’s size.
|
