Your home is their home so you need to do everything you can to mimic their natural habitat. Do do otherwise is irresponsible. Unlike humans, wild birds live outdoors. Outdoors means sunlight. Make sure your bird has ample access to sunlight. Do not keep them in a basement with no windows. Damp basements certainly aren’t ideal for moisture reasons but lack of sunlight can cause a bird to pluck or develop other ailments due to vitamin deficiencies from that lack of sunlight. BUT, you also need to make sure that the bird has a cool shadowy area to retreat too to avoid getting to hot and to give its eyes a rest. How many of you go tanning or sit out on the beach without sunglasses or something covering your face? Exactly. We don’t leave our kids in the hot car, don’t subject them to such extremes either. You may want to keep a light cloth/towel/blanket on the top or side of the cage to block the light and if they have a Cozy Cot Hammock or a hut of some sorts in their cage, make sure that it is in that shadow and stays out of the light. That way the hut doesn’t heat up and if its in the shadow its another layer of shadow to help give them a darker cozy spot to nap during the day.
There are scenarios where you may need extra light here and there. You can buy an avian UV lamp which is also discussed in other areas but if you’re going to rely on a lamp as a permanent “fix” for the bird’s light supply, perhaps rethink getting a bird as discussed in the opening chapters. Birds aren’t for everyone. If you can’t provide the proper environment for the bird, its just as well to not get it. We’ve all seen pictures of big dogs chained to a pole with a dirt circle around the pole where the grass has been worn away because that’s the dog’s only walking area and most of us know that person who bought a herding dog breed like a sheltie or a border collie but lives in a high rise apartment and doesn’t walk the dog in the cold weather, so if a bird is going to sit in a cage all day with no outside time or exposure to sunlight, its best to pass.
UV lamps should be used as a supplement for situations like winter months or if you’re trying to help an ailment like that vitamin deficiency or feather plucking. Use under veterinary supervision. I will pass on something that one vet told us that the first vet did no regarding UV lamps. UV lamps have 2 main types of light that it emits. UVA an UVB. The UVA can cause burns. So not only are you supposed to use it as a supplement but when you first get the UV lamp, make sure you turn it on and let it “burn” (even though most UV lamps are of the fluorescent types and not incandescent) for at least 24 continuous hours in a separate room or in the basement or garage or some area that the birds (and humans) aren’t occupying. This will break the bulb in so to speak. After that, it should emit safe amounts of the UVA wavelength for your birds to absorb.
On the flip side to that, the UVB wavelength has a tendency to “burn out” after about 18 months after the first uses begin. Any light being emitted from a lamp is a combination of what reaction/chemical composition is creating the light wavelength and what coating or filters the bulb has to either let stuff through or stop it from emitting. So mind your UVA and UVB wavelengths by following these usage parameters and you should be plenty well in the optimal zone for helping aid your little birdie with a UV lamp.