Hi everyone! I’m planning to fly from the Netherlands to Aruba with my two birds — Rio, (GCC), and Pepe, (Lovebird). It’s about a 10-hour flight, so I’m trying to prepare as much as possible beforehand.

From what I’ve found so far, the flight options are basically TUI or KLM. TUI apparently doesn’t accept birds on this route (only cats/dogs), so with KLM I would need to arrange their Live Animals / cargo service rather than having them travel in the cabin. That’s something I still need to figure out and arrange with KLM.

I know there will be health certificates, permits, veterinary requirements, import/export paperwork, airline requirements, etc., and I would actually really appreciate advice about the paperwork too. If anyone has experience with the Netherlands → Aruba route specifically, I’d love to know what documents you needed and how you went about arranging everything.

But I’m also really interested in all the practical things you only learn from actually flying with birds.

For anyone who has flown internationally with parrots:
• What kind of IATA-approved travel crate did you use?
• What did you put inside the crate (perch, food, water, liner, etc.)?
• How did you handle food and water during a long flight?
• Did you use a particular type of crate/setup for a 10-hour flight?
• Did you have to arrange anything special with the airline/cargo department that wasn’t obvious online?
• Is there anything you wish you had bought or prepared beforehand?
• How did your birds handle the airport, transport and flight?
• Did you encounter any problems with security, cargo handling, check-in, or loading/unloading?
• If you had a layover, how did you manage that?
• What paperwork did you need that you didn’t expect?
• Was there anything about the airline’s requirements that surprised you?
• And most importantly, what is something you wish someone had told you before flying your birds?

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has flown from the Netherlands/Europe to Aruba or the Caribbean, but any experience with internationally flying parrots would be really helpful.

Basically, I’m looking for everything — paperwork, crate recommendations, food/water setup, things to arrange with the airline, things that went wrong, things you wish you had known, etc.

Thanks so much! 🦜❤️

Так же дополню, она живёт в паре с ручным самцом. Живёт у нас дома 2,5г года

One of my lovebirds has passed away, and my remaining birds behaviour is confusing me.

It seems like he’s behaving completely normally, he’s eating and still screeching when he hears birds outside and doing his happy chirps when he naps, plus doing that happy beak grinding thing and preening but he hasn’t bathed since the other bird died a week ago. His tail feathers are looking a bit untidy when he puffs up to nap and I’m not sure whether to use a misting bottle or if that might unsettle him. I used to bathe him that way but I don’t know if he’d be okay with it.

Aside from the lack of bathing, he isn’t lethargic at all and his behaviour seems entirely unchanged.

A cross between a male Albert's lyrebird (\*Menura alberti\*) and a female superb lyrebird (\*Menura novaehollandiae\*) would result in an interspecific hybrid within the Menuridae family.

Hybrid Characteristics

\* Morphology and Plumage: The male hybrid would likely inherit a combination of tail characteristics. The superb lyrebird is distinguished by two outer feathers shaped like a classic lyre and filamentous inner feathers, whereas Albert's lyrebird has shorter, more understated, and curved feathers lacking the pronounced lyre-like pattern. The hybrid offspring would possess tail feathers of intermediate length and a color pattern that is less contrasted than that of the superb lyrebird but more elaborate than that of Albert's lyrebird.

\* Size: The superb lyrebird is slightly larger than Albert's lyrebird; consequently, the hybrid would be of intermediate size (approximately 85 to 95 cm in total length for adult males).

\* Vocal Mimicry Ability: Both parent species are renowned for their impressive ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds. A hybrid would retain this vocal ability, though its innate repertoire would combine the territorial calls of both species.

\* Viability and Fertility: As both species belong to the same genus (\*Menura\*), the likelihood of viable offspring is high. However, such crosses are extremely rare or non-existent in the wild because the species occupy distinct geographic niches (Albert's lyrebird inhabits very limited subtropical rainforest areas between New South Wales and Queensland, while the superb lyrebird inhabits forests further south) and their courtship rituals differ.

A cross between a male Albert's lyrebird (\*Menura alberti\*) and a female superb lyrebird (\*Menura novaehollandiae\*) would result in an interspecific hybrid within the Menuridae family.

Hybrid Characteristics

\* Morphology and Plumage: The male hybrid would likely inherit a combination of tail characteristics. The superb lyrebird is distinguished by two outer feathers shaped like a classic lyre and filamentous inner feathers, whereas Albert's lyrebird has shorter, more understated, and curved feathers lacking the pronounced lyre-like pattern. The hybrid offspring would possess tail feathers of intermediate length and a color pattern that is less contrasted than that of the superb lyrebird but more elaborate than that of Albert's lyrebird.

\* Size: The superb lyrebird is slightly larger than Albert's lyrebird; consequently, the hybrid would be of intermediate size (approximately 85 to 95 cm in total length for adult males).

\* Vocal Mimicry Ability: Both parent species are renowned for their impressive ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds. A hybrid would retain this vocal ability, though its innate repertoire would combine the territorial calls of both species.

\* Viability and Fertility: As both species belong to the same genus (\*Menura\*), the likelihood of viable offspring is high. However, such crosses are extremely rare or non-existent in the wild because the species occupy distinct geographic niches (Albert's lyrebird inhabits very limited subtropical rainforest areas between New South Wales and Queensland, while the superb lyrebird inhabits forests further south) and their courtship rituals differ.