DIY GPS TRACKER

[TracyTheAl]

Hi, i want to make GPS tracker for my umbrella cockatoo, i have been training him for a while now. There are no available gps trackers meant for parrots in my country that is why i'm going to make a gps tracker and put it on a harness. But my concern is that the gps tracker that i will use has magnets on it because it is for cars. It is small and compact but will the magnets affect my parrots flight?


Thank you for your response!

 

[conureluv]

Bump!

 

[Mizzely]

I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

What about GPS meant for children to wear?

 

[tka]

I'm afraid I don't know either. My guess is that a GPS tracker used in falconry would be more suitable.

 

[melissasparrots]

It looks like Marshall radio has a parrot version with some thought into protecting the equipment from the bite force of a parrot. I don't know how well it works in practice as far as the gps unit itself and attachment when use frequently with parrots. It looks like they are promoting the same tail mount attachment that a lot of people use on their falconry birds. I feel like a permanent tail mount may bother a cockatoo to the point of triggering some over preening habits or causing the bird to just yank out the feathers with the mount attached. Marshall does sell overseas. I know people from the UK to the middle east to China have their equipment. The equipment is well trusted. I'm just not sure how well tested their parrot version is.

Turbo GPS System for Parrots – Marshall Radio Worldwide

marshallradio.com

 

[TinyDino]

It is small and compact but will the magnets affect my parrots flight?

What a great question!

There’s still a lot of research being done on how bird’s navigate. But my understanding is that the current consensus is that many migratory birds use a mix of landmarks, magnetic fields, star navigation, and sun position. Whether any of that research applies to psittacines or not I have no idea. They’re birds, yeah, but an entirely different family of birds than the research studied. I tend to err on the side of caution, so I personally wouldn’t use something magnetic. But I couldn’t find any parrot-specific information one way or the other.