New to the GTA With a Bird: Your First 60 Days

Your bird has landed, the cage is up, and you’re wondering what actually needs doing in the next two months. Two things matter more than anything else: reading the specific conditions attached to your bird’s import, and giving it a stable, low-stress routine while it adjusts to a new home, climate and vet.

Read your own permit before you read anything else

If your bird arrived from anywhere other than the United States, it did not come in as a “pet bird” in the regulatory sense at all. Under the Import Reference Document, which is incorporated by reference into the Health of Animals Regulations, section 13 (the owner-declaration route for parrots and songbirds) applies only to birds arriving from the United States. Every parrot arriving from anywhere else could only have come in under paragraph 12(1)(a) of the Health of Animals Regulations — a Ministerial permit.

Here is the part that almost never makes it onto a website: the conditions attached to that permit are set case by case by the officer who issued it, not published anywhere as a general rule. Your permit may carry isolation requirements, a testing schedule, a reporting obligation, or a re-inspection date that is specific to your bird and appears on no government page and in no article on this site.

So the single most useful thing this guide can tell you is: go and read the actual document CFIA gave you. If any condition on it is unclear, call CFIA using the number at the bottom of this page and ask them directly — don’t guess, and don’t take a general guide’s word for what your specific permit requires. We wrote a broader walkthrough of the import process itself at Importing a Pet Bird to Canada: The Complete CFIA Guide, but it can’t substitute for the conditions written on your own paperwork.

If your bird came from the US, a 90-day household clock is already running

If your bird arrived from the United States under the section 13 owner-declaration route, there’s a limit that surprises a lot of newly arrived families. Under the same Import Reference Document, no member of the importer’s household may import another bird under section 13 during the 90 days immediately preceding the date of entry — which in practice means one pet bird per household through this route roughly every 90 days.

If you’re already thinking about a companion bird for the one you just brought up, and you were hoping to bring it in the same way, mark the date your first bird entered and count 90 days forward before you plan around that route. This is a household-wide limit, not a per-person one, so it applies even if a different family member would be the one signing the declaration.

Re-establishing routine and light cycle

Travel — whether by car or by air, and however smooth — disrupts a bird’s sense of time. Once your bird is home, the most helpful thing you can do is get it back onto a consistent daily rhythm: the same wake and sleep times, a predictable light cycle (natural light plus consistent artificial lighting if the room doesn’t get much daylight, and a covered or dark, quiet sleep period of a similar length each night), and meals offered at roughly the same times each day. Consistency matters more than any particular schedule you choose.

Watching for stress signs after a move

A change of home, climate and caregiver is stressful for a bird even when nothing has gone wrong medically. Keep an eye out for feather plucking or over-preening, reduced appetite, unusual vocalisation (either much louder or much quieter than normal), fluffed feathers held for long periods, or a bird that seems reluctant to move around its cage. Some settling-in adjustment is normal; a bird that isn’t eating, is losing weight, or is showing laboured breathing needs a vet, not more time to adjust. This is exactly why registering with an avian vet before you need one (below) matters — you want a clinic that already knows your bird when something looks off, not one you’re calling cold in an emergency.

Keep the diet the same at first, then change it slowly

Whatever your bird was eating before the move, keep feeding it that — even if you’d rather switch to something more available locally — for the first while after arrival. A new environment is not the moment to also change what’s in the bowl. Once your bird is settled, eating normally and showing no stress signs, you can introduce a new diet gradually, mixing it in over time rather than swapping it overnight.

Separating from other birds already in your home

If you already have birds in the household, keeping the new arrival in a separate room — its own airspace, ideally on a different air handling path, with separate dishes, perches and cleaning tools handled last or with separate supplies — for a period before introducing them is ordinary prudence for any newly acquired bird, regardless of where it came from. This is distinct from anything CFIA requires under your import; it’s simply the same precaution any experienced bird keeper takes with a new bird, because illness can be present without obvious symptoms at first. If your permit specifies its own isolation condition, that takes precedence — see the first section above.

Sourcing the same food here

This is where imported diets often fall down after a move. A specific pellet brand, seed mix or fresh-food routine common in your previous country may simply not be sold in the GTA, and international shipping of bird food is not always practical or affordable long-term. Start looking for a comparable local equivalent — matched as closely as possible on ingredient profile and pellet size for your species — well before your current supply runs out, so you have time to transition gradually rather than being forced into an abrupt switch.

Register with an avian vet before you need one

Find and register with a vet who specifically treats birds before anything goes wrong — not a general small-animal practice that happens to see the occasional bird. Avian physiology and the drugs, dosing and handling techniques that are safe for birds differ substantially from cats and dogs, and an emergency is a bad time to discover your regular vet doesn’t take avian patients. Ask whether the practice sees your species specifically, whether they can do an initial wellness check and, if relevant, whether they can review any documentation from your bird’s country of origin.

GTA winter realities: dry air, drafts and cage placement

Ontario winters bring forced-air heating indoors, which drops relative humidity well below what most pet birds are comfortable with — watch for dry, flaky skin, an increase in dust from powder-down species, or a dry, irritated look to the cere and feet. A room humidifier and regular light misting or bathing opportunities help. Just as important is where the cage sits: keep it away from windows and exterior doors, where cold drafts collect even in a warm room, and away from direct heating vents or radiators, where the air can be too hot and too dry right at the cage. A spot against an interior wall, out of direct draft and direct heat, is usually the safer middle ground.

One more local variable: municipal rules

Bylaws about keeping birds — species restrictions, permit or licensing requirements, noise provisions — vary by municipality across the GTA, and none of them are covered by anything above. Check directly with your own city or town’s bylaw department for what applies where you live.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to do anything else with CFIA now that my bird has arrived?

That depends entirely on how your bird was imported. If it came from anywhere other than the United States, your Ministerial permit under paragraph 12(1)(a) may carry its own ongoing conditions — read the actual document and call CFIA if anything is unclear. If it came from the United States under section 13, the regulation itself imposes no further reporting once the owner declaration was made at entry, though your own permit or declaration paperwork is still worth checking.

Can I bring in a second bird from the US right away?

If your first bird came in under the section 13 owner-declaration route, no one in your household can import another bird under that same route within 90 days of your bird’s entry date. Count 90 days from your bird’s date of entry before planning around this route again.

Is there a required quarantine period once my bird is home?

The Import Reference Document itself sets out no quarantine requirement for pet birds imported under section 13. For a bird imported from a non-US country under a Ministerial permit, any quarantine or isolation condition would be written into that individual permit rather than published as a general rule — check your own document, and separately, treat some period of isolation from any other birds already in your home as ordinary prudence with any new bird.

How do I find an avian vet in the GTA?

We don’t recommend or name specific clinics here, since availability and quality change. Look for a practice that explicitly advertises avian or exotic-species care, ask whether they treat your specific species regularly, and register before an emergency rather than searching for one during one.

Are there Toronto or Mississauga bylaws about keeping birds?

Possibly — bylaws vary by municipality across the GTA and we haven’t sourced a specific one for any city here. Check with your own municipality’s bylaw department directly.

My bird seems stressed weeks after arriving. Is that normal?

Some settling-in stress is expected after a move, but there’s no verified timeline for how long that should last, so don’t wait out a symptom on the assumption it’s “just adjustment.” A bird that isn’t eating, is losing weight, or shows laboured breathing needs a vet visit, not more time.

Do I need to keep my new bird away from other pets, not just other birds?

This article covers separation from other birds specifically, since that’s the relevant biosecurity concern. General introductions to cats, dogs or other household pets are a different topic and outside what’s covered here.

If you’re still working through permit conditions, waiting on a vet appointment, or just need somewhere stable for your bird to stay while you get the rest of the move sorted, Bird Sitting Toronto offers boarding and grooming in Mississauga and the wider GTA — get a quote on the booking page.

Related guides in this series

• Long-Term Bird Boarding While You Relocate: 30, 60 and 90+ Days
• Importing a Pet Bird to Canada: The Complete CFIA Guide (2026)
• Moving Abroad and You Can’t Take Your Bird: Board, Rehome, or Wait
• Taking Your Bird from Canada to the United States: Driving vs Flying
• Bringing a Pet Bird to Canada From Outside the US: Why You Need a Permit
• Will Your Bird Be Quarantined Coming Into Canada? What the Rules Actually Say

Who to call before you travel

Confirm every requirement below with the agency itself. These are the people who
can actually authorise your bird’s movement — we cannot.

Every number below was checked against the agency’s own website on
27 July 2026. Government phone numbers and web pages still change without notice.
If one does not connect, find the agency through its own official site rather than trusting
what is printed here.

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) — import and export of live
  birds, health certificates, permits: 1-800-442-2342 from
  Canada and the US, or 1-613-773-2342 local and
  international, 8 am to 7 pm EST Monday to Friday except holidays. CFIA names
  services related to travelling with pets as something its area offices handle —
  for the GTA that is the Mississauga animal health office,
  289-247-4100, 8 am to 4 pm
  · inspection.canada.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — CITES permitting — export and
  import permits for CITES-listed species, and what documents exist for repeat crossings:
  1-855-869-8670
  · cites@ec.gc.ca
• Canada Border Services Agency — what happens at the border itself,
  declarations and inspection fees: 1-800-461-9999, Monday to
  Friday 8 am to 4 pm local time. Press 0 to reach an agent; CBSA’s published
  service standard is to answer within 20 minutes
• USDA APHIS — the US pet-travel hub, with separate paths for import,
  export and interstate movement, and the list of which birds count as pets at all:
  aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel
• US Fish & Wildlife Service — CITES and Wild Bird Conservation Act
  permits, applied for through the ePermits portal at
  fws.gov/permits. The agency
  contact centre is 1-800-344-9453
  · info@fws.gov

What we can and cannot help with

We cannot help with paperwork. Bird Sitting Toronto is a bird
boarding and care business. We are not a customs broker, an immigration consultant, a
veterinary practice or a legal adviser. We do not file permits, complete applications or
deal with any agency on your behalf, and we cannot guarantee any outcome at any border.
Everything on this page is information only.

There are two things we can do. If your bird cannot travel with you
— because the paperwork is still in progress, the airline will not carry it, or the
timing simply does not work — we can board
your bird in the GTA for as long as you need, including by the month. And if it
becomes clear the bird genuinely cannot come with you, we can help you
rehome it to a good home rather
than leaving you to sort that out alone.

We publish this guide because our boarding clients ask us about it constantly, and
because the answer is genuinely hard to assemble from the primary sources.