What happened to the bird?

A good friend of mine called me the other day crying. Her beloved parrotlet had died very suddenly. He literally was okay one minute and dead the next. I too was heartbroken when I heard the news. I had handfed this little parrotlet from a tiny baby. He was so sweet and personable, the pick of the clutch so to speak. He loved little cheek rubs and liked to cuddle under long hair. He was the perfect bird for my friend and her family.

She named him "Guacamole" after my parrotlet "Avocado". We are good friends, so I go over there frequently. Always checking in on Guacamole and bringing him a little treat or a toy. My friend loved her little bird and doted on him beak and foot. She gave him fresh veggies every day and baked special treats for him. His gorgeous color and generous size was a testament to his excellent care.

When she had called me, we went over everything I could think of that could be the cause of his death. He wasn't acting sick, his weight was good, etc. No scented candles, cleaning products, pesticides, teflon, etc. The days have been nice here so neither the air conditioner nor heater were on. She told me that before he died, her neighbor across the street had lit a rather large pile of brush in his front yard. Then the wind changed and quite a bit of smoke blew into their house before she had the chance to close the windows. Could this be the problem?

I was discussing this with another friend of mine, retired lineolated parakeet breeder Cynthia Williams. Cynthia is very knowledgeable about plants and such. When I mentioned the above, she told me that toxic plants when burned can emit toxins in the smoke. She told me a story about a man that was allergic to poison sumac. He cleaned out his yard and had a big pile of the stuff. He lit the pile and after accidently inhaling some of the smoke, died. Cynthia said "...and this was a human, as you know, birds are much more sensitive to toxins than we are. Remember the canaries in the coal mines?". She told me to ask my friend if she knew what her neighbor had on the burn pile.

It turns out, among other things, her neighbor had cut back his oleander bushes. She told me the bushes ran all down the side of his property. He had a bunch. They were completely cut down and he was burning them. Oleander is very toxic.  

We don't know for sure if this was the cause of death, but given the circumstances there is a good chance that it was. Her neighbor wasn't malicious. We live in the country and clearing the property of dead plants, tree trimmings, etc. and then burning them is a normal occurence. This was just a freak accident.  But you can bet, my friend is going to have a chat with her neighbor to educate him about burning toxic plants in such close proximity to his neighbors.

Most of us know the standard toxins that can hurt our birds: scented candles, febreze, cleaning products, overheated non-stick cookware, etc. But this was a new one to me. By sharing Guacamole's story, maybe this will prevent a similar tragedy from happening to someone else's beloved pet.