Bird 59

Bird 59
Gender: Female
Birth date: Unknown (from older group)
Preferred Partner: Bird 51 (or possibly Bird 61)

This is Sweetie. I wanted to start her page first because she is one of the most special to me. She is a small delicate looking bird compared to most of the others. She has a very slender beak and a thin frame, but she is not unhealthy. I first met her while she was participating in a study by Mike Wilson about the differences in learning a task during one large block of time or during several small blocks. She was very fast and almost always the first bird done with her task.

She worked on Mike's thesis during the summer of 2005 and then I asked to work with her during the fall of 2005 when I took PSYC 4725: EAB lab. I had a great time working with her and have recommended her to other students going through the class for her temperament and her speed in learning.

There are two groups of birds in the lab right now (as I see it - I have been a part of the lab for two years now). One group was there when I first came and one group was just purchased late summer of 2006. Sweetie is one of the older group. The older group have lighter colored feet - almost more orange than red, and their eyes do not have any red skin around them - its more of a very pale pink skin. I believe they are also slightly smaller birds overall.

Last fall, Sweetie began plucking the feathers on her chest as did one other bird who did it to a greater degree. I watched them closely for any signs of mites or other irritants, and watched their droppings and overall appearance for signs of sickness, but found none. I concluded and still believe that it is a sign of stress for her (and probably the other bird as well - he passed away, but I believe the cause is unrelated to the plucking; if the numbers were assigned in order, he would have been an old bird (he was Bird 23 - the smallest number) and likely died of old age).

After the birds were no longer being used for the EAB lab and they were no longer in any experiments, I let them loose inside their cage room. At that point Sweetie's feathers began growing back in and there were less signs of plucking, though I believe she still did occasionally. Then recently, her partner was taken from the room for an outside project (Bird 51 helped teach Dr. Hesse's son's first grade class about shaping and discrimination). She began plucking again. He was gone for a little less than a month, but as soon as he returned, her feathers started filling in again. In the picture at the top, the bare spot is just detectable about an inch below her eye and to her right. I think her plucking is due to the stress of loneliness for her preferred companion. He is currently in an individual cage because he is participating in a thesis experiment, so she can visit him when she wants.