Scope

Topics in Parrot Junkie are listed in the main menu and includes behavior, anatomy, health, food, enrichment, species information, and care tips for parrots. We do not cater to other companion birds such as finches, canaries, songbirds and poultry, although sometimes reference might be made to those species for discussion.

Writers and Writing Style

Parrot Junkie’s articles are drafted by a team of writers who specialize in writing. Wherever possible, we engage writers with experience in animals and birds as priority. In some cases, the writer may not have experience with birds, but are selected for their ability to research facts and write in a clear and straightforward manner.

We recognize that our readers are diverse, and have different reading and learning styles, and different levels of understanding of the English language. Therefore, we always try our best to write as simply and clearly as we can, and in less vague or ambiguous words. Even if our style does not fit everyone, we hope it fits most of our readers.

That being said, there are certain topics, especially regarding health, that involve technical terms – many of these cannot be replaced with layman terms and we will use the original terms in our writing. In such cases, we provide a simple explanation wherever possible.

Content is personally fact-checked by Mayb. T, the founder herself. She would then edit or rewrite parts of the content for clarity or for elaboration. This is also why we do not indicate the author in articles, as more than one writer contributes to an article most of the time.

As fact-checking is a very intensive process, and there is only one fact-checker in Parrot Junkie, errors and inaccuracies might still be present. Please contact us at contact@parrotjunkie.com to rectify any mistakes we have made.

Information sources

After reading this commentary by Good Bird Inc., I thought to include my own few cents about online writing and parrot websites out there.

Due to the rise of “infopreneurship”, where people make money by selling or publishing content online, many websites have emerged, claiming or behaving as if they are experts in parrots or parrot care. There are many available tools and techniques to generate content very quickly using artificial intelligence softwares. Such softwares have abilities such as:

• Analyzing popular topics of high search volumes so that websites can target these and gain viewership more easily
• Collect information from top search results and providing a summary of all the key points that these websites have written
• Paraphrase existing content from these search results so that plaigiarism is avoided
• Creating fake photographs of people who do not actually exist, but look very realistic
• Creating videos of people narrating a customized paragraph of text, but it is a realistic animation and not an actual person
• And so on…

Very often, these websites do not have verifiable information about the founder or editorial team. Some do not even mention whether they own birds or not. Those who do mention this, never seem show themselves or their birds. Anyone can claim to love parrots and own parrots but only the legitimate ones actually show themselves with parrots. In this day and age, it would be quite hard to not find any information about a person as we would have left our online footprints somewhere on the internet, somehow.

This works very well for such “infopreneurs” because one of the ways search results are ranked is by its relevance to the search intent of the user. Once the intent is met, the user will not search further. Hence, websites that provide information in easy forms that answer users’ search intents would be favored and listed in the top few ranks of search results. And if you see how people usually do a search – input topic of interest, click on the first few links they see (as they seem to be reliable), find the specific piece of information they need, and take it for what it is.

There is nothing wrong with search engines or AI softwares – it is the way entire websites are created with such help, with questionable intent, that we feel may not be in the best interests of us parrot owners. Also, if content is simply being rewritten, wrong information can be propagated many times. It becomes very difficult for bird owners themselves to distinguish fact from fiction – after all, if many websites say the same thing, it would appear as if it was the truth.

Parrot Junkie obtains information for our articles from a variety of sources. Wherever possible, we verify our information from:

• Scientific journals and research papers
• Avian-specialized communities
• Real experts with experience and credentials pertaining to avian care
• Books and articles written by well-known avian experts and veterinarians
• Highly experienced people who have knowledge in avian or related topics
• Authoritative websites about birds

In cases where we are unable to find information specifically pertaining to parrots, we may source from generic information about birds as a whole, or extrapolate from general knowledge. When this happens we do not generalize or assume that the information is applicable to parrots.

As learning is multi-faceted, we also aim to share personal anecdotes from other bird owners, including Mayb T. herself.

Images and Videos

Images and videos are included in posts as much as possible to serve two purposes:

1. To facilitate understanding of the topic at hand
2. To be decorative but in a relevant way

Such media are obtained from a variety of sources, including but not limited to:

1. Royalty-free stock images and videos (may be paid or free)
2. Images and videos in public domain that are free for public use
3. Images and videos from public profiles and social media accounts that have been explicitly permitted by the respective owners for Parrot Junkie’s use
4. Images and videos taken by Parrot Junkie
5. Images and videos generated and designed by Parrot Junkie using media editing software

We take copyright and licensing very seriously and credit media back to their creators wherever we can. If you find any of our media in breach of copyright, kindly contact us at contact@parrotjunkie.com and we will take them down promptly.

Monetization

With all the confusion and opacity of infopreneurs, websites, and how they earn money, we at Parrot Junkie choose to be completely transparent about our monetization channels. Hence, we dedicate this section to illustrate how we monetize our website, and the impact it has on you, our readers.

Monetization is necessary as starting up a decent, user-friendly, and high quality website involves a lot of cost. Costs involved include:

• Domain and hosting for the website
• Designing of the website
• Maintenance of website health
• Designing of social media posts
• Payment to writers, social media managers, and other contributors
• Outreach programs to raise awareness of Parrot Junkie
• Running of events (we try to rely on sponsors as much as we can, but there will always be costs on our own tab)
• Etc.

At this point in time, all costs of running Parrot Junkie are borne by the founder from her own personal savings.

Several websites monetize in different ways, but at Parrot Junkie, we pick and choose only the ways that we believe impact our audience the least, and maximizes our ability to be objective and unbiased. Here are some common ways that websites monetize themselves. Read on to find out which methods Parrot Junkie has chosen:

• Advertising revenue: Parrot Junkie participates in advertising programs where advertisement banners are placed at certain locations of the website. We may earn a small commission whenever readers view the advertisements, or click on them. Parrot Junkie serves only as a platform to display advertisements but we do not sell ANY personal information of our readers to ANY company.
• Donations and support funds: Parrot Junkie uses platforms such as Patreon and Ko-fi to accept donations from readers to support our editorial efforts, and cover costs of running the website. Any donations made via these platforms are 100% voluntary. We do not publish exclusive content on any private platforms that require payment to access. All content that Parrot Junkie publishes is freely accessible to all our readers.
• Sponsorships: Parrot Junkie may be sponsored by businesses keen to support us in spreading awareness of our site and parrot care. In such cases, we provide a reciprocal support of the business by mentioning them or linking to them. We do not accept all and any business’ sponsorships, only those we feel are aligned to our mission. All sponsored content will be explicitly stated at the beginning of, or within the page or article.
• Affiliate sales: Parrot Junkie does NOT partake in affiliate programs. In such programs, a website usually places affiliate links in their articles when reviewing or recommending products, that readers can click to purchase a product. As a result, the website will earn a small commission that is a percentage of the price of the product. While this does not impact you monetarily, some readers may feel that affiliate articles are still biased even if they do not claim to be so. Any purchase links you see on Parrot Junkie are purely links to direct readers to places where they can choose buy certain products, if they want to. Parrot Junkie does not benefit if you click on the link and purchase the item.
• Merchandise sales: At this moment, Parrot Junkie does not sell merchandise and has no plans to do so.
• Webshop and physical stores: At this moment, Parrot Junkie does not have any webshop or physical stores.

Page last updated on Jan 24, 2022.