Tudorbug

The book, "The Parrot who Owns Me" by Dr. Joanna Burger is a wonderful read on this very subject.

I believe that the phrase "is not" is missing from the first line of the previous. I'm privileged to provide a home for two wild caught Congo greys but I previously lived in Africa, Liberia, where we had two indigenous Timneh greys. I remember the acute interest in, and even delight by, the two birds when I realized that the nuts from the oil palm tree, also indigenous, were part of their daily delight and put the first two into their flight Wind decades later to now and I find the black bare cores of oil palm nuts on the bottom of the flight in my back yard here in Georgia, stripped of their covering skin and pulp where the greys have taken the pulp out of the skins after removing both from the nut. I have no hesitation in doing everything I can to provide a comfortable and caring existence for these birds and will carry above the norm expense if that is what it takes to provide these little creatures a piece of a diet that they once enjoyed in the wild. Dr. Rowan Martin now heads the newly formed Wild Parrot Trust effort for parrots indigenous to Africa and I will watch his work with intense interest. If an opportunity ever arrives to restore these two greys to their native land, I'll act immediately. I get oil palm nuts from Jungle Gold parrot food at this link: http://www.junglegold.com/ and it says right there on the front page that they only ship to UK and EU. I tell them I would accept responsibility for loss or damage of the shipment, perhaps due to Customs or spoilage while being held up in customs, and they agreed to ship. I recommend such a statement in the notes part of any order submitted for a United States destination or through an email to them before an order is placed. I also recommend that one only order during the cold weather, in particular late December and January or February, to reduce the chance for loss due warmth if the shipment is help up enroute. The nuts depart the shipping point frozen and will need to be frozen again when they arrive here in the US. In January of this year, I obtained five kilograms, or 11 pounds, at a cost of $151. They shipment was slow but arrived by DHL in apparent good order. I refreeze the nuts frozen immediately on arrival and thaw them out two at a time in a small amount of water in a microware two or three times a week to give to the birds. I would recommend that one ask for shipment by UPS if that service is available. My experience with DHL was not all that I would hope for. And, these greys also like walnuts, pecans and almonds as well but in that order. THe almonds are the most likely to be left in the food dish; the walnuts are the least likely. If I can answer any questions, I would be happy to do so. David

I use a source in the UK. Shipping is expensive.

I lived in Liberia with my family and two timneh greys back in the late 1970's until June of 1980. Both of the greys were voracious eaters of nuts from the oil palm trees. They would peel the outside skin off and remove the pulp from the skin. It is a great disappointment to be unable to obtain these nuts here in the United States. Perhaps three or four years ago I was able to successfully receive 10 kg of such nuts from Jungle Gold in the UK. A winter shipment, they arrived in just over 48 hours and I was delighted. I have been using one or two nuts a week per bird (we now have two Congo's) and I'm now down to the last kilogram and wondering if US Customs will allow another shipment through. If they don't, I'll be out a significant amount of money. I'll also be out of a food that the enjoy and which constituted and integral part of their diet when they each resided in Africa. David

In addition to roasted peanuts, my two greys routinely eat: walnuts, pecans, almonds, and one will work hard on almonds in their shells to get the almonds out. They don't seem to like cashews. I considered pine nuts but, at $18 a pound, and the birds being so very picky, I decided I could not afford to try. Now, if I could only get them to eat peas, beans and the like .......