- Hey guys, we are on an adventure today.
We're going to a lorikeet rescue,
or is it an overall rescue that specializes in lorikeets?
So Mel, tell them what we're doing,
and I know you're driving so happy multitasking.
- So yes, I'm not actually going to look at the camera
because I'm looking at the road,
but basically rescues aren't a big thing here in Australia.
We haven't needed them heaps before this,
and now they're starting to have to pop up.
We're going to a rescue called Kiwi's Rescue.
These guys tend to get a lot of lorikeets
'cause they're probably one of the most surrendered birds
we see here and they keep coming back
even when they get re-homed.
So we're going to go visit Lisa
and see what she's dealing with.
She's got other birds there as well.
It's not just lorikeets, unfortunately.
Yeah, it should be fun.
- Yeah, I'm really excited to learn more about lorikeets.
Mel has been broadening my spectrum on lorikeets,
but in the US they don't seem to be as popular
as they are here.
Obviously you guys have them in the wild,
so that's the first thing that makes them more popular here.
But also they have a specialized diet,
which we will get into probably in a separate video
to keep it specific for you guys,
but I'm just excited to learn more about them.
So if you have questions about lorikeets
that we don't answer in this video,
please leave them in the comments
and I will try to make a second part
to answer those for you guys.
(upbeat music)
(bird squawks)
If you ever wanted an Indian Ring-neck,
(bird squawks)
this is the sound they make.
(bird squawks)
- It's really loud.
(bird squawks)
- Awesome.
(bird squawks)
Pleasant.
So beautiful.
- It's competition now.
(bird squawks)
Kiwi was the first bird that we owned.
Yeah, I used to take her with me
to the wildlife rescue, where I would volunteer.
There's not a whole lot of rescues around.
There's not a whole lot of domestic bird rescues around.
A lot of domestic birds kept getting turned in
to the wildlife rescue.
I started off just bringing a few home,
but then it just became bigger and bigger and bigger
until we decided we needed a whole domestic bird department.
So I headed up the domestic bird department.
Before they go into the homes, though,
we do do PPFD testing, and chlamydia testing,
or we just automatically treat for chlamydia.
And then if they need any surgeries
or they have any underlying health conditions,
we address those first.
We also convert them to proper diets.
We take them off their seed diets
and convert them onto
a combination of pelleted diet and a chop diet.
So most birds, once they get onto the chop diet,
they'll eat mostly the chop
and then the pellets are more of a supplement.
Then seed becomes a high reward
and seed can be used for training and bonding.
And the new owners can use that
to start teaching their new bird.
- I'm freaking out because I absolutely love this.
(cheers)
I love it, cool.
- Part of the adoption too is
we go through and educate them on proper ownership.
They get microchipped.
So anything larger than a budgie
and a lovebird gets microchipped.
Part of the adoption is they pay for a health check
because we want all owners to understand
that health checks are very important for birds
just as they are with cats and dogs
and that they should get that initial health check when
you first bring them in, but they should also
continue to get health checks every year.
One reason too is because birds hide illness.
The first bird in the wild in flock that looks sick
is the first one that gets picked off and eaten.
So because of that, they still have that in the home.
They will hide their illness.
And when they look sick, they're really sick
and it could be too late by the time they look sick.
So you have to really, really be careful.
And I teach the new owners how to watch the poo
and know all the components of the poo
and what the poo should look like.
And they watch behavior and eating and
for being fluffed up or anything like that,
and how to handle the bird as far as
not creating the wrong type of bond with your bird
'cause you want to keep bird with a friendship bond
and not to accidentally create a sexual bond with your bird.
- [Jamieleigh] Oh, I love this.
I'm so happy right now.
(laughs)
So refreshing.
- And that they're the only bird that...
There's a bird looking in the window.
(laughs)
- Oh my gosh, that's so cute.
I knew you were here somewhere.
So I don't know much about lorikeets,
so I would love for you to just kinda share your experience
and why are they the majority?
'Cause I noticed it's mostly lorikeets.
- There's a lotta lorikeets in rescue.
- Why do you think that people are getting them
and then immediately giving up on them?
What makes them so difficult?
- They're very quirky.
They're just very quirky.
They're known as the clowns of the bird world.
So people fall in love with their playfulness
and they fall in love with their colors
and their ability to talk.
But then when they get them home,
they realize they're not as equipped
or not as willing to put up with some of the other things
that come along with having a lorikeet.
And those things are messy poos,
because they're on a nectar diet.
- Okay.
- So of the birds lorikeets are nectar eaters,
so they eat nectar and fruit and veg.
And the nectar comes along with a lot of water.
You can feed it dry or you can feed it wet,
but either way, there's a lot of water intake.
And so since there's so much water intake,
they're very messy poos.
They tend to hit the wall.
The poo goes everywhere.
Poos (laughs).
- So I have a Toco Toucan.
- [Lisa] Oh yeah.
- And he has like a 70% fresh fruit diet.
It's like non citrus, no greens or anything like that.
But he also gets a pellet.
So it makes it a little bit easier.
But still that fruit diet, I know what you're talking about
where it's like, you know exactly what you've fed
because it's splattered like paint all over
and everything's sticky.
So do people get lorikeets, understanding the diet
and understanding that it's not just like a cute little
budgie poo, but it's actually a splatter down your arm
or a splatter on the wall.
Do you think that they get that knowledge
when they first get them or do you think that's something
that kind of hits them in the face? (laughs)
- I think they get it,
but don't quite understand the amount.
- They underestimate.
- [Mel] Did you do this? Was it you?
I think it might've been you.
I think you got my handbag, yeah.
(bird squawks)
- All the other birds that have the little solid poos,
those things stick to everything and are hard to come off.
So the other component is they love to scream for fun.
(bird squawks)
- [Jamieleigh] So that's the noise you're talking about,
(bird squawks) or does it get louder?
- [Lisa] That's just a happy one.
That's not screaming.
- [Mel] That's normal.
- [Lisa] That's the happy one.
- [Mel] That's fun when they do that in your ear though.
- That's one you'll enjoy.
(bird squawks)
So they like to just sit and scream and scream,
just for fun sometimes.
And they're not being bad.
They're not even trying to get your attention half the time,
they're just screaming 'cause they're happy.
They can be bitey.
(murmurs)
(giggles)
(kisses)
- [Jamieleigh] Oh my gosh.
- Say, I wrestling.
I know.
- [Mel] See why we love them?
- [Jamieleigh] Is that pretty typical lorikeet play?
- Yeah, they're very playful.
You do have to grow tough hands though
'cause, see him bitin'?
- [Jamieleigh] Yeah.
- But he's only playing.
But there are fixes to these things.
To me, lorikeets are actually the hardest to pair up.
I see that happen a lot where people go out
and get a second lorikeet
and they don't want anything to do with each other.
- What kind of characteristics are just
really specific to lorikeets?
Like I have a lot of experience with pretty much
any other type than a lorikeet,
but what would you tell me if I was like,
oh yeah, yeah, I got experience with other parrots.
What do you think would really surprise me
by working with a lorikeet?
- Oh, I tell people they're very oral.
They love to lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick.
(laughs) - Ew.
- So they're always licking everything.
- All right, I'm out.
(laughs)
- They're licking your cheeks,
they'll spend lots of time just running their tongue
down your hair, all the strands of your hair.
- [Jamieleigh] Why?
- And they can do it for like hours.
They explore that way, but they're also taking care of you.
- So they lick each other in the wild as well?
- They preen on each other in the wild.
Since we don't have the feathers,
they do the best they can with us.
(laughs)
And they preen our hair and lick our faces.
- Licking, oh licking. Now I'm out.
Okay, you talked me out of it. But what else?
Because that was really interesting,
I wouldn't have known that.
- [Lisa] They're very playful.
There are certain birds that will do this
but lorikeets are really big for rolling over
on their back and playing.
So, they love to just play, play, play.
Like I said they're known as the clowns of the bird world.
So they're constantly wanting to play.
I tell people if they want to get a toy for a lorikeet,
they love shiny jingling things.
- Familiar with black headed caiques?
- Yeah, the caique is the most
similar personality to the lorikeet.
- Okay, I was just going to ask you that
because it sounds like a lot of things
are kinda parallel with that.
So with the caiques and the playfulness
I kind of feel like when people go that route,
'cause they see the cute videos online,
and it's like hopping and all those things
and I'm sure they see the lorikeets
being really really playful,
I feel like they want that,
but they want it for about five minutes.
And then the fact that they're like that
maybe all the time, is a little too much.
So is there a time where lorikeets kind of chill out,
calm down, you know that middle of the day,
they're roosting, anything or is it like high energy?
- They are high energy and they do like to...
They will want to spend time with you all the time.
So even when they're not playing
they're gonna be licking you.
(laughs)
So they wanted to be with you all the time.
They want to always be doing something.
- All right.
I'm talked out of lorikeets.
- If you treat your bird like a trait craned...
Trait craned... (laughing)
- Crate trained. - [Mel] Awesome talking guys.
- If you treat your bird like a freight train...
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