#coloring is based on a northern pygmy owl!

[smallerdelusions]

Dinovember Day 15: Megaraptor + Eyespots

[windycityparrot]

The Complete Guide To Understanding Sleeping Birds

Mitch, Have you written about "bird sleep"? I watched a eagle chick go from hatchling to fledgling and during the process, both the chick and parents seemed to sleep only periodically, preening much of the night. I recently put an night-vision camera on my 35 year old amazon's (1/2 blue-front, 1/2 panama) cage, and was surprised to see that she seems to preen much of the night as well. Is this common with all birds? Thanks, Bert S. Great question Bert Birds (and most animals) are either nocturnal or diurnal.  Nocturnal Birds sleep during the day and hunt at night.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY Diurnal birds are active during the day and perform most of their activities like nesting, feeding, and courtship during daylight hours. Diurnal birds sleep at night for the most part and begin their day at sun up. As you can see, Kakapos and Night parrots ( which were recently rediscovered) are the only “parrots” on this of nocturnal birds. Ashy storm-petrels - Barn owl  - Barred owl - Boreal owl - Burrowing owl - Eastern screech-owl - Elf owl - Flammulated owl - Frogmouths  - Great gray owl - Great horned owl - Kakapo - Kiwis - Little penguins - Night parrots - Night-herons - Nightjars - North Island brown kiwi - Northern saw-whet owl - Owlet-nightjars - Owls - Short-eared owl - Spotted owl - Western screech-owl - Whiskered screech-owl Most of the birds mentioned above  have dull plumage colors with  most females and males looking similar. Humans can sleep in a relatively unconscious state (I can personally attest to that) whereas birds actually have some control over their sleep. Birds use unihemispheric or slow-wave sleep (USWS). Much like a gangster they are able to sleep with one eye open but unlike a gangster they allow only half the brain to rest. The reasons that most gangsters get caught is because the other half of the brain is asleep whereas a bird’s brain is alert and can react to danger while the other half a brain, rests. There's not been much research done on bird sleep so it’s considered accurate to assume that the safer a bird feels while sleeping, the deeper the sleep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEVpJK7pEPE If a bird feels it may be in danger it sleeps much lighter. Some migrating birds like swifts, frigatebirds and albatrosses can actually sleep while in flight using USWS. As recently as the summer of 2016 researchers using small sensors strapped onto the heads of frigatebirds learned that the birds fell into a mix of USWS and REM (rapid eye movement) deep sleep, in flight. The birds actually slept for several minutes each hour and sometimes they would shut down one hemisphere and other times they would shut down both brain hemispheres. Even with all of these sleep tricks that nature programmed into them the frigatebirds were found to have slept something like 42 minutes every 24 hours during the migration. Making them highly sleep deprived for the duration of their long flight. Birds will protect potentially valuable body parts by burrowing them into their feathers. Most birds can use feathers to create air pockets that insulate enabling more warmth including that of the feet and the beak permitting less body heat to be lost. When you see a bird’s beak pressed into its feathers you can assume the bird is using that to warm air generated by its own body to heat the air it is breathing. We’ve talked a lot about the flexor tendons, allowing birds to sleep standing up. If startled a bird will straighten its legs releasing its feet from the perch without thinking, allowing it to take off instantly. (take that aircraft carriers) Unlike you and me, birds won't lose a lot of muscle tone while sleeping (although that's not true over a very long period of time). Birds can sleep on a round perch, standing, on the ground, roosting, swimming, hanging and as we've mentioned, flying. Which parrots sleep upside down you ask? Bismarck hanging parrots - Black-billed hanging parrots - Blue-crowned hanging parrots - Camiguin hanging parrots - Cebu hanging parrots - Great hanging parrots - Moluccan hanging parrots - Orange-fronted hanging parrots - Philippine hanging parrots - Pygmy hanging parrots - Sangihe hanging parrots - Sri Lanka hanging parrots - Sula hanging parrots - Wallace's Hanging Parrots - Yellow-throated hanging parrots. Editor's note: Some of us may add budgies and cockatiels (aka bat birds) for good measure to that list. Parrots in the wild get their cue as to when to sleep and wake up by sunlight. Usually an 11 to 13 hour cycle because most parrots are found in geographical areas near the equator. Full moons might keep a flock of parrots up a little later one night but also signaling to them what time of year it is. Overall some of the signals that birds used to determine their sleep cycles can be the latitude that they are at, sunlight availability and the time of year - something that confuses pet birds enormously because of our North American light cycles. All parrots like to spend the night in some form of sleep. In the wild this varies by species. Parrots may sleep with a large flock, sometimes just a pair. Certain species like Golden Conures will find tree cavities to sleep in regardless if it’s breeding season or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk6bNG4WMHc I'm sure some of you have birds that tell you in no uncertain terms when it's time to sleep and when it's time to wake up. Many birds offer a dawn salute to ensure they're getting fed at the proper time in the morning. Peaches our Senegal will start to gently chirp precisely 60 seconds before her electronic timer turns on the overhead cage light with a full-spectrum bulb. (I tested that with Alexa) She will escalate the noise for the next 10 or 15 minutes until the cage doors opens so she can join me in my room on her swing next to her food bowl that was refilled the prior evening. Some captive bird keepers offer two sets of lights. Lights in the ceiling and lights over the cage. The ceiling lights will get turned off 20 to 30 minutes before the cage lights to simulate something of a sunset which finalizes when the cage lights dim to darkness. Editor's note: A parrot’s lack of sleep can be a trigger to negative behaviors like screaming, feather plucking, and chronic egg laying. The most important thing to remember is to synchronize your birds sleep and socialization time with your own. If you work a little later in the evening, it's not a bad idea to let your bird stay up later in the evening so the two of you can enjoy some face time or watch TV together Based on my general research, birds that come from equatorial regions really need 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Indonesian and Australian birds come from much farther south of the equator and they are more forgiving about changing light cycles. Budgies and cockatiel's can sometimes, kinda sorta adapt to North American light cycles but it depends on the season so we still recommend using artificial lighting on timers. For many South American birds like Amazons, Macaws and Conures, it (daily light cycle) may or may not make a difference, so as I like to say “test for everything”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q6UXVX9HGg Some parrots are docile and sleep most the night. Many parrots like many humans do get munchies in the middle of the night so fresh food and water should be made available throughout the sleep cycle. Bert’s observations indicated his Amazons preened all night. Were they sleep preening like sleep walking? Hard to say. If the bird's sleeping cage is in a quiet environment, covering it will be all that is necessary. If the bird cage resides in a social area of the home it may be wise to put the bird into a smaller sleeping cage then placed in a silent room for the night. Some birds like cockatiel's are susceptible to night frights. This can be dangerous because when the birds spook they can flap uncontrollably and fall to the bottom of the cage possibly injuring a wing or leg. We do offer night lamps for birds that provide a gentle form of moonlight giving the bird restful darkness but not total darkness. At the-end-of-the-day we can't tell you exactly what your birds like cycle should be and what your bird is doing while it is experiencing in the dark side of the light cycle. We simply wanted to offer a guide on how to best determine your own birds light cycles and in cage environmental needs. If you’ve got more to add to this conversation, we encourage comments below. written by mitch rezman approved by catherine tobsing your zygodactyl footnote   Click to Post