im looking to get a bird

[Jenny]

you don't have to have clear skies for your bird to reap the benefit of natural light. Cloudy skies or not, w/a minimum of about 10 minutes a day, your baby can get what he/she needs. Clouds block visible light, but they don't completely block uv light. Outside is best. Yes, a full spectrum light is helpful if it's utterly impossible to get your bird outside time, but they can only give a fraction of what the sun (even coming through the clouds) can provide.

My understanding is that most windows in homes block UV light, so putting your bird in sunlight from a window provides nothing but warmth (& entertainment, if they can look outside the window!).

Look into full spectrum lighting more, & you can see there are a lot of factors associated w/it. Too far from your bird & it's no longer beneficial. Too close & it's hot, or some say can hurt your birds' eyes. I have one because I'm a better safe than sorry kind of person, but I focus my energies on trying to get my birds outside for a bit every day.

oh, & I don't have an aviary (although the plan is to have one by spring 2013!). Just use your travel cage w/some water & a few toys!

[pionus]

thanks jenny!

i think that if there is a long period of time where i am not able to take my bird (when i get one ) outside, i will purchase a full spectrum light.

i didn't know that even if it's cloudy it's ok and good for parrots to be outside. (as long as its not too cold.)

thanks again!

[Jenny]

I read somewhere about a woman who had an outside aviary w/some sort of doggy door that allowed her cockatoo (or was it an amazon?) access to the aviary whenever it chose. She said her bird would go out every day & hang out. One time, in the winter, it was uncomfortably cold & either lightly snowing or it had snowed the night before - anyway, she saw her bird start to make it's way toward the door to the aviary, & thought "birdy's not gonna like it out there... Bet this won't last long." She was surprised at how long the bird still voluntarily chose to stay outside - she said it was a lot longer than she would have stayed out there!

[pionus]

thanks for posting that jenny! it seems that parrots can stand the cold better than i thought.

I will have to get my dad to build an aviary when i get my bird.

thanks!

[mayeendu2013]

Thanks jenny for your post.

I like your post and It i useful for my parrot. I have two birds and need proper light and take care.

[Michael]

Just keep in mind there is a huge difference in temperature tolerance of an aviary vs house bird! http://trainedparrot.com/Winter_Parrots

[pionus]

Thank you Micheal, that hadn't occurred to me.

Lately I have been researching finches because there are some at the pet store that look miserable, so if i could keep them outside i would take some of them, but they are inside and the temp.s here are ridiculously cold, not to mention the freezing winds we get. sooo, i don't think keeping finches outside would work. maybe i could get mom and dad to sleep in the basement and turn their room into an aviary.....?