Wild Cockatoo Health Question

[twr]

This is a question on behalf of a friend of mine, so I haven't actually seen this bird myself. Here is the question:-

"I had a question in regards to a beautiful wild sulphur crested cockatoo that lands on our balcony every night. We usually give it a snack of some wild bird seed- however my question is in relation to what I believe are mites on it.

It has little grey spider looking things on it that crawl out from under its wings and crawl back in- they are disgusting! I didn’t know if they were dangerous to it- it seems healthy with no feather plucking or anything- but I thought I would ask. Not that there is much we could do anyway as it doesn’t let us touch it- but it does eat out of our hand- but I thought I would ask."


Does anyone know what these little grey spider things might be?

[avinet]

Feb 27, 2014 12:00:16 GMT 10 twr said:

This is a question on behalf of a friend of mine, so I haven't actually seen this bird myself. Here is the question:-

"I had a question in regards to a beautiful wild sulphur crested cockatoo that lands on our balcony every night. We usually give it a snack of some wild bird seed- however my question is in relation to what I believe are mites on it.

It has little grey spider looking things on it that crawl out from under its wings and crawl back in- they are disgusting! I didn’t know if they were dangerous to it- it seems healthy with no feather plucking or anything- but I thought I would ask. Not that there is much we could do anyway as it doesn’t let us touch it- but it does eat out of our hand- but I thought I would ask."


Does anyone know what these little grey spider things might be?

They ar ealmost certainly Hippoboscid flies - there are quite a few different species but all that live on birds have a flat body, enabling them to slip between the feathers of the body and wings.  Those I've seen have been flying - they will appear from between the feathers, and then quickly fly back between the feathers.  Some species are flightless but I haven't seen those.  They are a blood-sucking parasites common on many species of birds. Apart from local irritation and blood loss, they may also be involved in carrying diseases from bird to bird with a form of avian malaria possibly being vectored by these flies.  They can be controlled by a pyrethrin bird spray for mites and lice, but with this bird, it is unlikely that it could be treated and in any case is pretty pointless since it will likely get re-infected form other cockatoos it comes into contact with.

I'm afraid it is something the wild birds just have to learn to live with

cheers,

Mike

[twr]

Thanks Mike, that's very helpful