First post! Budgie keeper and hobbyist bird watcher from Scarborough

Hi all! I go by KeetKeeper online — I have 2 budgies (Ziggy and Bowie, yes rock themed) and I'm also a weekend birder who hits Tommy Thompson Park and Humber Bay regularly.

I found this forum looking for help with Ziggy who was having some feather issues (resolved now, turned out to be diet-related). Stayed because the community seems genuinely knowledgeable and kind.

Happy to be here and looking forward to learning more. Also happy to share birding spots around Toronto if anyone's interested!

Ziggy and Bowie — the budgie naming tradition continues to be excellent on this forum. So glad Ziggy's feather issue got sorted out, and diet is indeed one of the most common culprits for feather quality problems.

Tommy Thompson Park is one of Toronto's real hidden gems for birders — especially during migration season. If you ever want to start a thread in the Species Talk section about local Toronto bird watching spots, I have a feeling it would get a lot of engagement. The intersection of pet bird owners and wild bird enthusiasts is a natural one.

Welcome officially — Ziggy and Bowie are lucky birds!

What kind of cage setup do you have? Sometimes the environment is a factor.

I joined a bird owners meetup group in the GTA — great way to get in-person advice and let the birds socialize. Check Facebook groups!

Great question! So in my experience with Hahn's macaw, this usually comes down to a few things. First, switching from seed to Harrison's pellets gradually over 2 weeks. Second, make sure they're getting enough sleep — 12 hours of uninterrupted dark sleep is crucial. And third, pay attention to not enough quality sleep — they need 10-12 hours uninterrupted because that was a huge factor for my Lucky. Hope that helps!

This!! So much this. Saving this post to show my partner.

I remember when my parrotlet went through this phase. I was so worried but my vet said it's actually really common.

Check out PetSmart — they have exactly what you need and the prices are reasonable for the GTA.