Photoperiodic, how does it work?

[Wolf]

Come on now, Pajarita, being skeptical is a good thing. You are skeptical as am I, if we were not we would not spend so much time and effort to do our own research, we would just blindly follow along with whatever trend the vets and bird magazines, and professional whoevers/ whatevers choose to embrace at the time, just as the majority of other people do. But since we don't do that we are also skeptics.

[Pajarita]

LOL - Yes, been skeptical is a good thing, especially with birds where so many people have all these opinions. I was actually trying to be polite...

[Wolf]

That's ok, I was trying to introduce some levity. I do know that I don't do introductions very well, but I have to practice somewhere.

[Elaihr]

Hi again!

I'm glad to see that there's been so much discussion going on here, it's given me lots to think about!

Now, there's one thing I'm still not quite clear about, maybe due to the fact that English isn't my native language... I understand that parrots are affected by the amount of sunlight they receive during the day, so far so good. But, if I understood this all correctly, the different wave lenghts of light that comes through the atmosphere during sunset and sunrise can also affect them, in a different way than "normal" daylight does.

So basically, is it important that my bird receives rays of sunset/sunrise-light as well? If so, how do I keep them on a solar schedule? Should I artificially "create" sunset and sunrise, rather than switching the lights on and off, going from complete darkness to full daylight? Or does it mean I should simply just let nature deal with it, by letting my parrot receive light from the real sunset/sunrise?

[Wolf]

At this time, there is no way that you can artificially create sunrise or sunset, for the purposes being discussed here. This is because as the sun rises in the morning the wavelength of the light shifts from the red end of the spectrum towards the blue end of the spectrum and this also happens at sunset but the shift is from blue towards the red. This is a simple version of what occurs, to be a bit more accurate, the length from peak to peak of the light waveform gets shorter as the sun rises and longer as the sun sets.
The only feasible way for us to get this effect is to simply expose your bird to the natural sunrise/ sunset. This is what sets the internal clock of nearly every living being in and on this planet. This internal clock controls the production and release of many hormones within the body and it thereby affects our physical, mental and our emotional health and wellbeing.
Again, this is a very simple explanation of what actually goes on.

[Elaihr]

Thank you Wolf

So, if there's no way to create sunset/sunrise artificially, I assume the parrot must receive these rays of light the natural way, in other words by being exposed to sunset/sunrise. However, people also say that parrots must not receive too much light or they will become overly hormonal which might affect their health in a negative way. This is what confuses me; I should control the amount of light-hours my parrot gets, but I must expose her to sunrise and sunset or she won't be well. Also, I can't control sunrise or sunset, so then I can't understand what I should do to control the amount of light-hours she gets :S

Or does it just mean that I should leave this whole thing to spring, summer and autumn to handle the natural way (let natural sunshine in, no artificial light after sunset/before sunrise), and just add extra light during the winter months? In Sweden the winter months are extremely dark and depression caused by lack of sunlight is common in humans, so I suppose a good full-spectrum light + UV is absolutely necessary to have to make sure the days don't end up being too short for your bird.. And, I should not leave this light on for too long either, or she'll be hormonal all year around which will probably affect her health in a negative way, right?

[Wolf]

The problem that fuels this particular discussion is that we, humans artificially create night and daytime at the flick of a switch and as a result we increase the amount of day for our birds. This longer day time fools the birds body into thinking that it is time to breed, although it is not. This causes their sexual organs to receive more blood as well as the nutrients which cause them to grow. This kicks the normal hormonal responses accompanying breeding season into gear. So far, things are good and functioning as per normal, but now, the new extended season begins to cause problems for the bird. These sexual organs are continuing to be stimulated and keep growing, but since they are on the inside of the birds body, they are pushing other organs around and reducing the space required for these other organs to function properly, and they themselves are not able to function properly either due to the added pressure on them. Now the bird is just not feeling quite right, there is something not quite right, but you can't quite figure out what is wrong as everything appears to be as they should be. This process continues and the sexual organs continue to enlarge and now your bird is in pain. It doesn't sleep well, It doesn't want you to touch it anymore, it tries to bite you and/ or get away from you when you approach it and now it has started to dig at its back. You notice a bald place where it has plucked its feathers out on its back. The pain continues to increase and now your bird has a spot on its back the size of a dime that is all raw and bloody.
At this point, I am just going to skip to the end results. The bird dies in excruciating pain, which could easily been prevented by following the natural seasonal cycle of light and dark as provided for in nature by following the solar cycle of light and dark and the normal setting of the birds internal clock at dawn and dusk. To the above scenario you should also add the added effects of a diet that is too high in proteins and sugars, which the bird only gets during breeding season.
Once again this is a simplified explanation of what actually occurs. this process can take years to reach it final result, so there is ample time to change this and prevent this from happening. Now then, you live in Sweden and this also brings to bear that in the winter months your light and dark cycles are off balance for your bird. I am by no means an expert on this and I am not aware of whether or not there has been any research into the effects that your day/ night cycles have on birds or humans, for that matter, other than the depression thing.
The following is just my opinion, I have nothing to support or otherwise back me up in any way. I think that in you circumstance that you may want to increase the amount of daylight to, say about 8 hours, in the winter. I think that I would keep to a solar schedule until the amount of natural daylight decreases to less than 8 hr. and supplement it from that point until the naturally occurring daylight begins to approach 7 to 7 1/2 hours, at which time I would revert back to a natural solar schedule. I also think that I would increase the amount of exercise for my bird during the time that was supplementing the amount of light artificially. I would also suggest that if you were to do this that you would keep detailed records of this from commencement until the conclusion of this time period, taking special note of changes in any and all behavior and/ or perceived changes in emotions of the bird. This is my opinion, it is only opinion.
There are others more experienced in this field than I am and it will be interesting to see what they have to offer on this.

[Pajarita]

I would also do as Wolf recommends, when the daylight hours start getting lower than 8 just keep the artificial lights on and try your best to 'recreate' an artificial sunset (put your lights on dimmers so you can reduce the intensity and then switch over to a lamp -make sure the wattage coincides with the lowest overhead light source- on a table and gradually move it lower -I used to do this with the canaries when I used to work full time and what I did for the last two stages was put the lamp under a table and, a bit later, put a cover on in that would 'shade' it, wait a bit and then turn it off) - and, of course, when the days start getting longer, adjust by increasing the number of daylight hours.

Now, it's not true that full spectrum lights bring them into breeding condition. Not all of them, in any case. What you need to look for are full spectrum lights that have a CRI higher than 94 and a Ktemp close to 5500 but never higher (go as low as 5000 but not lower). It's the higher Ktemp (lots of them are 6500) that brings them into condition because the light is too blue.

[cml]

It is true that artificial light may affect humans and birds alike and play havoc with sleep patterns and also change bird's reproductive physiology (http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1756/20123017.full), but, and this is an important but Elaihr, I dont know where Pajarita gets her facts that a solar schedule with exposure to dawn and twilight is always optimal. I've yet to see any conclusive facts about it, and there's also the practical side of things.

But let's start with the theoretical part - the Blue headed pionus lives in south Central America and South America, and thus lives very close to the equator. The length of day and night there, while subject to very small seasonal changes is roughly 12/12. A bird indignenous to these parts of the world would then by reasoning not use photoreceptic responses to the same degree as birds living on either side of the equator, up in the northern or down in the southern hemisphere.
Pajarita, again, I will read and discuss anything scientific that you can produce on this matter if I am mistaken here.

Now Elaihr, you live in Sweden, which is very much in the northern hemisphere at a very high latitude - which means extremely short days in the winter with only a few hours of "sun" and almost no night at all this time a year, with only a few hours at most of darkness. Exposing a parrot in this location to dawn and dusk is entirely unfeasable and your parrot will likely succumb if you try.
A parrot needs a lot of sleep (lets see if Pajarita will let this one go or if she needs proof (this is like your precious knee analogy )), but during summer your parrot will not have more than 2-4 hours sleep if you want to play it Pajarita's way with a solar schedule. Therefore you will need to use window blinds and a cage cover to introduce darkness and allow your parrot sleep.

During winter you can prolong the days like Wolf suggested, but to eight hours? That is is entirely unfeasible for both the human and the parrot as it will mean that time for interaction will be very close to nil. The reality is that most people have to work, and cannot be home during the day. The parrot will suffer a lot if they have to go to bed before their owner has a chance to interact with them.

I think Pajarita lives alot further down south and that she doesnt work full time. This is great news for her birds, but it isnt the norm (and please dont start that discussion here). People having other situations in life will need to adapt to them, and from that do the very best by their birds.

In practice, living as high up north as Sweden, you will need to use lightproof blinds and timers to be able to keep parrots and not have them develop wierd sleeping patterns with detrimental effects. You can still vary day length slightly, but not the the extremes suggested here. Using lamps as was suggested earlier to "simulate" dawn and dusk is good as well, and it calms the parrots down. I would aim for 12/12 to begin with and work from there ( and remember, your parrot doesnt necessarily have to wake up the same time you do).

Regarding specific wavelengths, I would love to read more about this as it sounds interesting, but quite simply lack of light means we produce melatonin which regulate our daily cycle. Blue artifical light is adversive to the production of this, but incandescent bulbs doesnt produce much of these wave lengths. You can read more on Wikipedia with it's own sources if you arent convinced:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#Light_dependence
I think CFLs etc do though so avoid these during the evening.
Here's a scientific paper about how blue light decreased melatonin levels in birds living in cities:
http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/10/1/60/abstract

The blog (which writes about a scientific paper) Pajarita linked (http://www.science20.com/news_releases/ ... ian_rhythm) does not mention twilight.

BUT, so far I havnt found anything saying that birds NEED the wavelengths in found in twilight, but rather that you NEED to avoid blue light during the evening and night. Thus it should be entirely feasable to create a working schedule without having to resort only to the sun, which is impossible unless you live at a suitable latitude.

[Wolf]

Actually I suggested to start changing the amount of light at say 8 hrs. so as to not allow less than that and again when the natural light started to exceed 7 or 7 1/2 hrs. so as to allow the increasing natural light to increase the birds amount of light naturally. The whole purpose was to not have less than 8 hrs. of light regardless of the time of year. This where and why the 8 hr. time frame came from. It was intended to supply a minimum number of hours of light needed by the bird, a reference point as it were. I chose it because it was about in the middle of the extremes of summer and winter daylight in most places. I also suggested keeping a record of the changes made and any observable changes in the birds responses to this , so that they could look at the records and make a more informed decision regarding how much light her birds needed based their own records.
Also when I was giving my first answer about how this worked, I believe that I mentioned that the light spectrum shifted towards the blue end at dawn and more towards the red end of the spectrum towards dusk, so by this it does stand to reason that you do not want a shift towards the blue in the evening.
So, unless I have either misread or misunderstood something, which is possible, you may have attributed these to Pajarita when in fact they are my statements.