“So, you’re interested in being a species coordinator…what do you know about budgies?” asked Mickaboo’s Chief Executive Officer and Budgie Coordinator.  “Well, nothing really” I replied.  After a long pause, she said, “that’s okay … you can learn.”  And so began my volunteer career at Mickaboo.   Read More

As companion bird owners, one primary responsibility we all share is to prevent unnecessary injury to our flock.  One of the most common injuries that can occur with pet birds at home comes from flying “accidents”, including so-called window strikes where a bird crashes or accidentally flies into a glass window or other see-through surface.   Read More

Domestic pigeons are unreleasable to the wild and face euthanasia in animal shelters. But pigeons make fantastic pets! MickaCoo placed 333 with adopters in 2011 alone. Pigeons can live inside or outdoors (year-round).  Read More

Betty Jean Craige. Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot. Santa Fe, NM, Sherman Asher, 2010. Preface by Irene Pepperberg. 194 pp. Photographs and index. $19.95 Hardcover. ISBN 13: 978-1890932-374-1

This is the much-delayed companion review to Irene Pepperberg’s Alex & Me, which appeared in Mickaboo’s January 2011   Read More

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul . . . ."   --Emily Dickinson

There's no denying that feathers are both beautiful and useful. Besides providing our birds with insulation, buoyancy, color, protection and aerodynamic prowess, they are gorgeous and intriguing - veritable works of art to us humans.   Read More

Want to help Mickaboo with a donation – and lacking the ready cash to do so?  Mickaboo is pleased to have found corporate partners who share some of their profits with the nonprofits in their communities.  Read on for details on these programs, and how you can join them.   Read More

Edie here. The yellow scallops on my wings and head mean that I'm a pearled cockatiel, which in turn means that I'm a female. Male cockatiels may have a pearling, or opaline, gene, but something about the sex-linked recessive nature of this gene prevents the pearl pattern from lasting past the first few molts in males. (I would not have know this but the guy who came and took my picture the other day explained it to me.)   Read More