Morndyke Parrot Sanctuary

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Morndyke Parrot Sanctuary

Dedicated to the welfare of parrots great and small.

Situated near Thirsk, Morndyke Parrot Sanctuary provides a rescue, rehoming and rehabilitation service for unwanted parrots from across the the UK.

12/07/2025

Even in the world of parrots, there’s endless paperwork. We are now proud members and users of the Species360 ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System) software community. This is THE gold standard in record keeping and accountability, and it ensures the highest standards of animal care are strictly adhered to. It is world renown and used by the biggest and best institutions globally. So it’s the obvious choice for us too. We may be small, but we are mighty.
Quality Control is taken very seriously by Albert who bites my ear if I make a mistake .
Species360
species360

11/07/2025

A lovely but very necessary job for our Aviary Keeper Hannah today. Lots of poos collected for our 3 monthly f***l check 💩

***lcheck

10/07/2025

MORNDYKE PARROT SPECIES
Part 21

Hahn's Macaw
Diopsittaca nobilis nobilis

The Hahn’s Macaw, also known as the Red Shouldered Macaw, is the smallest of the Macaws at a length of 30cm beak to tail tip and 130- 170g in weight. They are found in the northern regions of South America in the countries of Bolivia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil and south east Peru. They will live in various habitat including open woodland, savannah and swampland.

IUCN Red Data List classifies the Hahn's Macaw as 'Least Concern' with the population as stable.
CITES lists them as Appendix II. This means that they are not necessarily threatened with extinction but may be if trade is not closely controlled.
THREATS are trapping for the illegal pet trade.

At Morndyke we have a number of Hahn's Macaws. They are very social and love to hang out together in a line on a branch. They really thrive having a flock of the same species. They each have very different characters and are extremely curious, cute and cheeky! In our photo here you can see Harry on the right. As you can see, Harry is missing his upper mandible. Before he came to Morndyke, he lived with a large macaw which bit his upper beak off. Harry has lived many years with this and he manages really well. We do have to help with keeping his lower mandible at a healthy length but otherwise nothing stops him!
♥🦜

09/07/2025

"HELLO!
It's me, the most handsome Othello!
I've been asked by the humans to beg a huge favour from you all. They hope that if I ask, we might get more help because I'm far cuter than they are! 😁
To raise money so all my parrot friends can keep eating the BEST food and keep our walnut treats, the humans are doing Borrowby and Ripley Shows this year.
We need prizes! We'll have a game and likely a tombola and need nice prizes to offer. Have you anything you could donate of you are local to us? Items such as chocolate gifts, wine, smelly sets, gift vouchers, etc. We'd be grateful for any help!
Please let the humans know if you can help!
Thank you!
Love Othello x x x x ❤"
(And thank you from the 'not as cute' humans too!)

08/07/2025

READ the picture.
This is not 'years ago.'
It is STILL happening now.
How many bought without documentation.
Bought because "I want a bird that talks."
Bought without research or patience,
Fed only seeds or other bad diet.
Allowed out of the cage "now and then."
Until it bites.
Or doesn't talk.
Or is too loud.
Or damages the house.
Then gets left in the cage too small.
No exercise.
Cage covered up.
No light.
Shouted at.
No friends.
Imagine.
More social than humans.
Now left on your own.
For years.
And years.
And years.
And years.

Sadly, this is not made up. At all.
The above is from our own bird's back stories, whether wild caught or captive bred.
Please share.
🦜❤

05/07/2025

The welfare of our flock is everything. That’s why we have just invested in a new floor in our parrot house. This is an anti-bacterial, food grade, washable, solid as a rock, polyurethane/ resin (I think…) floor that has cost us £1000s to do, caused us worry, work, and ultimately a HUGE sense of relief and gratitude and happiness to have finished and working. Our parrots now can poo as much as they like, chew wood to mush, throw food around like toddlers, do whatever they like in fact, and the days of spending 2 hours a week power washing, worrying about bacterial infections and swearing exhaustedly are over. THANKYOU Richard, Jason & Alan and Jane from impactflooringltd for coping with our flock, and us. We love you.

04/07/2025

A HUGE thank you to all who attended our open day last Sunday. We had a fantastic time meeting you all & we hope you took away lots of parrot knowledge.

Thank you also to our hardworking volunteers & staff that gave up their Sunday in the blazing hot sun to greet you all.

Lots of you express interest in becoming a volunteer. If this is something you’re still interested in doing then please send us an email at
[email protected]

🦜🫶🏻

03/07/2025

MORNDYKE PARROT SPECIES
Part 20

Grey Headed Parrot
Poicephalus fuscicollis suahelicus

The Grey Headed Parrot is a subspecies of the Brown Necked Parrot (Poicephalus fuscicollis). They are one of 10 members of the genus Poicephalus which actually translates to 'Grey Head' in ancient Greek! Other members of this genus are the rare Cape Parrot and the better known Senegal Parrot. These parrots tend to be stocky, with a relatively large head and beak, grow to around 32cm in length and weigh between 310- 400g. They have a widespread distribution in East, South Central and South Africa, preferring woodland territory such as mangrove, riverine and
savannah.

The IUCN Red List Status classifies the Grey headed Parrot as ‘Least Concern’ although the population is in decline.
CITES classify them as Appendix II. This means that they are not necessarily threatened with extinction but may be if trade is not closely controlled.
THREATS are mainly habitat loss, illegal trapping for the pet trade and severe weather from our changing climate.

At Morndyke we have the delightful Dooby, our only Grey Headed Parrot (they aren't too common in aviculture). Dooby joined us last year and settled in very well. She loves her food and being with her feathery friends. She is a happy girl who is very much loved by us all!
♥🦜

01/07/2025

JULY

Summer is certainly making itself known with hot days and obligatory ice creams and long, light evenings full of screeing Swifts zipping through the skies. We have reached July and this month on our Morndyke calendar we have the small but spirited Cockatiel! We had facts about Cockatiels recently on our Thursday information day, is there really that much more we can learn about our dear, quirky Weiro? Let's see!

- Up until the 18th century 'July' was pronounced in a different way. Today we say juLY with the stress on 'ly' but it used to be JUly and would have rhymed with 'truly' or 'duly.'

- On the 1st July 1937 the 999 emergency services was introduced.

- The wonderful and tasty potato was introduced to Britain on the 28th July 1586.

- Also on the 28th July but in 1901 this time.. fingerprints were first used for the purpose of identification.

- As we previously found, the Cockatiel is a member of the Cockatoo family. However, the 'tiel and the 'too last shared a common ancestor 27.9 million years ago!

- Along with Cockatoos, the Cockatiel lacks the Dyck feather texture which gives other parrot species the bright, vibrant blue and green plumage colours.

- Cockatiels are often referred to as a 'great starter parrot.' This is absolutely, utterly not true!!! These bubbly, adorable and often grumpy birds can live for a very long time, up to 30 years! They may be small but they still need a proper diet of fresh food, not pet shop seed mix! They also require lots and lots of exercise, they are fast and good fliers. They also NEED a flock. A single cockatiel will never be as happy as a tiel in a flock, no matter how much attention they get off a human. Most lone cockatiels will make very loud 'contact' calls trying to find other cockatiels. When in a flock they are comparatively quiet! Can you imagine being that 'starter bird', alone in a cage for years and years of your life because the child who wanted you got bored and no one likes your noise? If you have a small box room at home go in it and imagine that is the only place you get to move for 15 years (not 30 as these poor birds usually die by 10-15years). This is the sad reality of not just Cockatiels, but most parrots in captivity.
🦜♥

28/06/2025

So much has been happening in our sanctuary recently. It’s been a rather busy 6 months of ‘rebirth’ and redevelopment. Even the papers have got involved. Here’s us photographing the photographer. July’s Saturday social media posts will show you what’s been going on. Watch this space….

27/06/2025

Ever wonder where ex racing pigeons go? Well these lucky guys ended up here at Morndyke. We have 9 ex racers & 1 dove here on site living their best retired lives.

Spirit here is super old & feeling a little under the weather so she is having some time in our O2 chamber along with her friend Willow for company 🫶🏻

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http://Morndykeparrotsanctuary.org.uk/

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