Everyone seems to agree that caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and avocado are bad for birds. Plants in the onion family and garlic are often also listed as off limits as are the pits from stone fruits. From there it seems to diverge.
It is often said that anything else which would be healthy for use (low fat, low sodium, no added sugar) is also good for them. But there is a confusing list of things that appear and disappear from both good and bad food lists. Is there a really definitive well-researched list somewhere? Here are some of the items I've seen listed by some sources as good and others as bad with explanations where I have heard any proposed:
Tomato (too acidic, but many sources say cooked sauce is OK)
Spinach (too MUCH iron, ironically)
Mushrooms (prone to spoilage)
Sprouts (prone to contamination and spoilage)
Fava beans (but what about peas, limas, edamame.... never seen them listed as bad and they are similar)
Celery (fiber strands could lead to crop impaction)
Citrus fruit (too much acid)
Potato (uncooked, but sweet potato and yam are considered fine)
Then there are things that don't appear on lists, like some tropical fruits that are just not that common. Or, say, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. And what about herbs? I often have culinary herbs left over and wonder if Scooter might like them, but I've never seen them on a list as good OR bad.