The WIld Cafe

We have a resident flock of around 15 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that divide their day between 5 or 6 properties adjoining ours. The primary reason why they have become permanent residents is simple - they have plenty of access to every resource they need. Food, water and nesting sites. It doesn't hurt that a neighbour of ours supplementary feeds them every day but they still partake is accessing plenty of natural foods - and the occasional dessert of non-indigenous cuisine on offer, thanks to what we've planted. In the most recent example, they decided that the time was right to hit our passionfruit vine. I was alerted to this via the sound of loud banging on the roof of our aviaries. When I ventured out to investigate I was confronted by at least a dozen Sulphurs gleefully extracting the choicest passionfruits from the vine, getting stuck into the contents, and then doing their best to annoy my birds by discarding the casings on top of them. 

What I found interesting was the stage of development of the passionfruit they were taking. It wasn't the nice ripe yellow ones, but the fruit that was probably a week or two away from being fit for human consumption. Like most examples of parrots eating fruits in the wild, the optimum stage of development that is preferred by the birds is quite different from what we tend to deliver to our pets. If you're struggling with getting your parrots to sample some healthier food alternatives to seed then it's worth trying slightly unripe produce (providing it is known to be non-toxic of course). You might find that whilst it doesn't exactly suit your palate it might just be relished by your birds!