Herbivores or omnivores?

[Pajarita]

I was asked to give a chat on parrot nutrition at a bird show by ABBA's owner (early next year) so I started doing a bit of research as well as putting down some notes on it so I thought I would share with you the beginning of it which will deal with the basics. So here goes what I have so far on it which is whether they are herbivores or omnivores:

If one goes to the net with this question, one would find almost as many references indicating that they are herbivores as there are of them been omnivores but, if one uses ornithological classification, one will find that, with the exception of two single species, the kea and the Antipodes parakeet, they are all listed as herbivores (although, personally, I think that the jury should still be out on the vasas). Now, which one is it and why the two different classifications? I think that the omnivore designation is merely a pet owner/breeder one based on erroneous observations derived from experiences that happened while we were still in infancy and evolving when it came to parrots diets while the herbivore is the scientific one. I no longer have time to go to any other birdsites so I don’t know if this is still going on but for many, many years people would justify their feeding their parrots meat with a single statement: “African greys in the wild have been observed eating a dead animal”. Where this came from, nobody had any idea! Every single person who posted this could not come up with a single scientific reference, video, picture or even an eye witness account. They were all repeating something they had seen posted by somebody else! And I think that the omnivore classification of parrots happened pretty much the same way.
Going to the definitions, if one went really scientific, herbivores are organisms that eat autotrophs (plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria) but, generally speaking, they are animals that are physiologically and anatomically adapted to consuming plant material for the main part of their diet (and please note the ‘main’ qualifier in the definition). Omnivores are animals which derive their energy and nutrients from a diet consisting of both plants and animals so they are both herbivores and carnivores at the same time. But here is where the plot thickens because although we all think of a carnivore as an animal that eats meat, science is more precise than that and defines it as an animal that consumes animal protein similar to its own flesh. And that’s why birds that eat insects or fish are not called carnivores but insectivores and piscivores.
Now, there are birds that are omnivores, like chickens, all the corvids, rheas, keas, Antipodes parakeets, etc. The biggest problem is that, when it comes to diet ecology, unless we are talking about a monophagous species (meaning it eats one thing and one thing alone –like the koalas eating only eucalyptus leaves or insects that eat just one kind of plant), every other animal is a matter of percentages because they all eat both. Take the obligate or true carnivores (animals that will only eat meat) for example, they still eat a little bit of plant material because, when they eat the stomach(s) and intestines of their prey, there is plant material in there; and then there are the hypercarnivores which eat a diet composed of 70% meat and 30% plant material. Same thing with herbivores, a pastured horse or cow will end up eating insects, worms, etc. too, and even nectar drinkers are believed to eat the ants, larvaes and eggs inside the flower! And there is the herbivore/insectivore classification for birds like the Northern Cardinal which eats 90% insects/10% plant material during the warm weather months and 90% plant material/10% insects during the cold weather months. So, when it comes to classification, it’s the actual percentage that matters and the ‘main’ part of the diet that is utilized; and, for parrots, this is plant material.
Do parrots eat insects? Yes, they all do to a certain extent because if there is a little worm or larvae inside the fruit, they would eat it, too. Are there parrots that actually go foraging for insects? Yes, there are, notably the cockatoos and the kakas which actually scratch and bite chunks out of wood looking for grubs and, most especially, the yellow-tailed black too which eats insects as the main part of its diet - you even have parrots that eat other birds like the kea and the Antipodes parakeet. But, if you dig a little further, you will realize that these species are from Australia and New Zealand (both islands where evolution doesn’t follow the same ‘rules’ as in continents), there is none from Africa and the only species from South America that has been observed eating freshwater snails (not insects but mollusks) is the Golden Winged Parakeet –a single exception among parrots!
I have a beef with the way the natural diet of parrots is always described because they always say something like: seeds, fruit, nectar, pollen, buds, nuts, etc. (please note that there isn’t a single parrot species that lists eggs as part of their natural diet) but they never, ever tell you the percentages and, as far as I am concerned, that is not good enough. Granted that parrots are opportunistic and seasonal eaters and that it’s almost impossible to give exact figures but I have hopes that, eventually, one day we will have narrower guidelines. For now, what we do know is that their three part ‘stomach’ (crop, proventriculus, gizzard) and long intestines are suited to plant material and not animal flesh; that the large and powerful beak is obviously an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds, nuts and grains; that the lack of saliva and consequent lack of amylase in it makes it difficult for them to digest simple carbs and that the lack of or atrophy of caecum means that they are supposed to eat more fruits, grains and seeds than anything else so, the answer to the question is unequivocally that the species of parrots we keep as companions (again, with the possible exception of the vasas) are not omnivorous but herbivorous even if they do eat a couple of insects every now and then.

[Navre]

This makes perfect sense. It's what the animal is adapted to eating, not what an individual may or may not eat, on which it should be classified.

The fact that half my hipster friends are vegan does not make our species herbivores.

I see a lot of seagulls eating French fries in parking lots at midnight, but that doesn't mean they have to be reclassified as stoners!

[liz]

There are a few of mine who will eat anything they can get ahold of. Myrtle chewing on a chicken bone because I did not scrap the diner dishes and she found them.

I am sure in the wild a hungry bird will eat most anything but it is our job to feed what is good for them.

[ParrotsForLife]

Yeah Tiko will eat almost anything and non picky birds will definitely try anything thats food lol.And some wild parrots eat insects and some don't.

[Pajarita]

I would like suggestions on what, exactly, to cover on my chat. I thought I would start with the herbivore/omnivore thing, go onto general and basic nutritional values like protein, fiber, moisture, talk about vit A, calcium absorption, etc, then do the 'fruit is fattening' thing, move on to pellets versus gloop, chop, seeds, etc and then ask if anybody has questions. What do you guys think?

[ParrotsForLife]

I would like suggestions on what, exactly, to cover on my chat. I thought I would start with the herbivore/omnivore thing, go onto general and basic nutritional values like protein, fiber, moisture, talk about vit A, calcium absorption, etc, then do the 'fruit is fattening' thing, move on to pellets versus gloop, chop, seeds, etc and then ask if anybody has questions. What do you guys think?

Can gloop be used as a substitute for pellets?

[liz]

Only a few of my cockatiels will eat fresh veg and fruit but if I put something like frozen peas in their gloop they will eat them too. You could use gloop with veg as an only food and they will do well. To me giving seed or pellets in the evening is like offering a big desert to make sure they got their bellys full before bedtime. I have seen times that the gloop was so good that they were too full for desert.

[GreenWing]

This is a great post, Pajarita.

I'm vegetarian, and I think being vegetarian is healthy, anyway, as you're going to be more inclined to feed the bird more fruits, veggies, and super-foods like quinoa. Chance is also a vegetarian since I am one, too, but she'll get the grain proteins in her diet rather than meat or insects.

[Pajarita]

I would like suggestions on what, exactly, to cover on my chat. I thought I would start with the herbivore/omnivore thing, go onto general and basic nutritional values like protein, fiber, moisture, talk about vit A, calcium absorption, etc, then do the 'fruit is fattening' thing, move on to pellets versus gloop, chop, seeds, etc and then ask if anybody has questions. What do you guys think?

Can gloop be used as a substitute for pellets?

I use gloop and raw produce for breakfast and all day picking but, for high protein food (which would be the pellets function), I use a seed mix I doctor with roasted nuts.