We had two conures for about eight years - a dusky who is a sweet, lovable guy and a female sun conure we had to put to sleep today because of complications from egg-binding. It is a very sad day for us. We will miss her so much.

My concern is the dusky. My husband thinks he will be okay because he is very social. What signs should I watch for if my dusky becomes depressed because he's alone now? Do all birds in this situation respond the same way?

-- karubla@cs.com

I am very sorry for your loss. I understand the heartache of losing a feathered friend. As humans, we mourn the death of loved ones, so it's easy to assume our companion animals share this trait. However, I think the loss of a mate has a much different effect on a bird than it does on a human.

Birds do not die of loneliness or starve themselves over the death of a mate. Although it's not as romantic an explanation, surviving birds sometimes stop eating due to the same contagious disease their partner succumbed to, and die, too. However, they don't waste away because they're sad. This is simply not a good survival strategy for a species. Nature sets birds up to deal with their losses in ways that we humans may never understand.

To illustrate this point, I'm reminded of the story of a peregrine falcon that was hit and killed by a plane landing at the St. Paul Municipal Airport in Minnesota several years ago. When witnesses went to retrieve the body they noticed the band on the bird's leg and called the Raptor Center in St. Paul. Biologists there looked up the band number and determined it belonged to the male from a pair of birds that was raising three chicks on a tall building downtown. This was a well-known pair of peregrines that was being closely studied by the biologists.

Like parrots, peregrines are monogamous - they mate for life - and it's the male's duty to provide food for the chicks. This bird's death sparked anxious conversations about pulling the chicks or offering the female supplemental food at the nest. By the end of the day, the biologists' worries were over. A new male peregrine had taken over and was now feeding the mother and chicks.

Animals possess strong survival instincts that help them deal with loss. When a parrot dies in the wild I suspect the survivor searches for his missing companion in all the places they normally frequented such as feeding sites and roosting places and calls out to her. But soon he realizes she's gone and finds another bird to pair with. Birds left alone in the wild are more anxious about the loss of security (pairs of birds are much less vulnerable to predators than a single bird) and companionship (social interaction is very important to parrots) than they are about any altruistic concern for the mate.

Just like in the wild, your bird will surely miss the companionship and everything else that goes along with having a partner by his side all of the time. However, I expect his need for companionship will cause him to form a tighter bond with a member of your family, or with another bird if you choose to acquire another conure.

I believe parrots should have parrot partners. Almost all of my birds do. Nature has set parrots up to have a companion with them every hour of the day. A parrot locked in a cage alone for nine hours a day while the owners are at work is far more likely to exhibit abnormal behavior than one housed with a partner.

ParrotChronicles.com

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