As you can imagine, food is a vital part of a parrot’s longevity. Whether you’re regarding a parrot under your care, a parrot up for adoption, or they’re in the wild, all of it is an interesting area to examine and see what they eat. However, when it comes to a parrot in the wild, it’s even more of an intriguing area as we’re not the ones in control of feeding them. With this in mind, what do parrots eat in the wild?
To answer this question…parrots are omnivores like humans, meaning they eat a mixture of food derived from plants and animals. However, they tend to eat more plants than most humans do, which typically consists of wild fruit, flowers, and seeds. Still, parrots do eat insects and various other things humans don’t typically eat.
It’s always an exciting area to examine when it comes to parrots and what they eat, especially when referring to wild parrots. The wild is such a different area for parrots to live in, and we tend to not have any idea of how they thrive there. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at what it means for a parrot to be an omnivore and some details regarding what they eat.
What Does it Mean for a Parrot to be an Omnivore?
As touched upon earlier, parrots are omnivores, meaning they eat a mixture of food from plants and animals. However, parrots aren’t hunters in the wild, meaning they tend to not eat any sort of meat from animals. It’s more common for parrots to eat meat like chicken when they have an owner.
Still, when parrots are in the wild, they do eat a wide range of food you’d naturally feed them at home. The only instance where they might eat food that you usually wouldn’t feed them is if they’re desperate and there isn’t a large source of food available around where they live.
Parrots Eat Wild Fruit
As you can probably guess with parrots, they love fruit, and since they’re typically in jungles where there’s an abundance of wild fruit available, this tends to be their go-to if they’re lucky.
However, some fruit is poisonous to them, meaning some parrots have accidents in the wild with what they eat.
Parrots Eat Flowers
At home, you more than likely don’t feed your parrots flowers, but in the wild, they tend to eat a wide range of flowers when they can. It’s not as common for them as insects, seeds, or fruit, but it’s an option that’s available whenever they’re hungry enough.
Parrots Eat Insects
You might’ve not known this since insects aren’t typically a part of the human diet, but parrots have a natural love for insects. It’s prevalent for parrots to eat a large number of insects in the wild, meaning don’t be surprised if your parrot tries to eat a fly in your house.
Parrots Eat Seeds
Similar to baseball players, parrots eat a lot of seeds, and it’s elementary for them to find some under plants while they’re searching around in the wild. Plus, it’s one of the best foods to feed them at your home similar to fruit.