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Vol 27 Issue 5 • Oct-Nov 2014

YELLOW ROSELLAS

ELEGANT PARROTS

Long-tailed Grassfi nches

Egg-laying Problems in Pet Birds

Yellow-crowned Amazons

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Vol 27 Issue 5 Oct-Nov 2014

YELLOW ROSELLAS

ELEGANT PARROTS

Long-tailed Grassfinches

Egg-laying Problems in Pet Birds

Yellow-crowned Amazons contents

Volume 27 Issue 5

302 AVIAN VETERINARY NEWS

By Dr Bob Doneley

One of only five specialist avian vets in Australia, Dr Deborah Monks has been awarded the prestigious College Prize by the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists.

303 HALF-RIPE CORN

By Dr Matthias Reinschmidt

Corn is a high-energy food that contains low essential amino acid levels and is therefore best provided as a supplementary food during breeding and chick rearing.

306 YELLOW-CROWNED AMAZONS

By Jade Welch & Mark Mills

A happy, friendly and intelligent bird, the Yellow-crowned Amazon is a good breeder and makes an excellent pet.

COVER IMAGE YELLOW-CROWNED AMAZON BY PETER ODEKERKEN

features277 ELEGANT PARROTS

By Adam FitzGerald

The Elegant Parrot, with its subtle tones and charming character, is a popular aviary bird because it mixes well with other species and is generally a free-breeder.

292 PEACH-FACED LOVEBIRD—DARK FACTOR GREEN

By Dirk Van den Abeele

It can be difficult to differentiate the Dark Factor green Peach-faced Lovebird Agapornis roseicollis from the original wild form.

294 PARQUE DAS AVES: BRAZIL’S RAINFOREST WONDER

By Rosemary Low

Rosemary discovers one of the best bird parks in the world.

regulars280 FINCH FUNDAMENTALS: STARS STILL SHINE

By Marcus Pollard

The Star Finch is a relatively free-breeding and attractive species that is often overlooked in favour of more exotic species.

283 BREEDING AUSTRALIAN PARROTS: YELLOW ROSELLAS

By Barry Blanch

Yellow Rosellas are not the easiest birds to keep or breed, but are striking birds and worth the effort.

286 HOOKBILL HOBBYIST: PET BIRD COMMUNICATION ON THEIR TERMS

By EB Cravens

It seems every would-be parrot owner wants to know ‘which birds talk?’. EB believes all hookbills communicate—some are just easier to understand than others.

288 FINCH FOCUS: AUSTRALIAN LONG-TAILED FINCHES

By Russell Kingston

Its sleek lines and symmetrical markings make Australian Long-tailed Finches unique.

297 BUILDING BLOCKS FOR BETTER BIRDS: POSITIVE PARROT TRAINING 101

By Rebecca K O’Connor

Meet our newest regular columnist, who has been training animals professionally for more than 20 years and is renowned for her expertise in avian behaviour.

300 AVIAN HEALTH WITH DR BOB: EXCESSIVE EGG-LAYING IN PET PARROTS

By Dr Bob Doneley

Excessive egg-laying is a common problem in pet parrots which often leads to health and behavioural problems that can result in death or re-homing. But managing your bird’s environment and diet, as well as your own behaviour, can stop egg-laying before it gets started.

304 THE WISE OWL: CLEVER CROWS

By Milton Lewis

Did you know that ravens and crows have some of the largest brains of any species of bird using body-to-weight ratios?

310 CANARY CHATTER: COLOUR CANARY MUTATIONS PART 2

By Brian Bohl

Brian looks at more sex-linked and recessive mutations in Colour Canaries, including the impressive Mosaic and Phaeo.

314 BREEDING THE AMAZILIA HUMMINGBIRD

By Hanne Van Bavel & Diego C Rubiano Franco

Known for their tiny frame, love of nectar and ability to hover, hummingbirds are rarely kept in zoos due to their very specific needs, so breeding success is an exciting achievement.

316 THE FREE-FLYING COCKATOO LADY

By Dorothy Schwarz

Chris Shank has been free-flying her cockatoos for hours at a time for more than 30 years.

322 FINCHES ’14

By Gary Fitt

Finches ’14—Better Than Ever.

330 VALE

Betty Naylor

320 CONSERVATION

• Loro Parque: Record Breeding Year for Rusty-faced Parrots in Colombia By Dr David Waugh

• WPT: Norfolk Island Green Parrot Status By Carolyn Pradun

325 WHAT’S NEW

• The Pigeon—Its Veterinary Care, Management and Cultural History By Dr Colin Walker

• DVD: Birdman, William T Cooper By Sarah Scragg

• DVD: In Search Of Parrots—Volume 1 By Peter Odekerken

328 LAST CHIRP:

• Honours for Dr Mike Cannon—Mike was guest of honour at the 2014 Canary and Cage Bird Federation annual event. By Nola Bradford

• Murdoch Shines in Great Cocky Count• New Naturopathic and Homeopathic

Products• ‘Caramel’ Sulphur-crested White Cockatoo

By Terry Martin

331 classifi eds

The Elegant Parrot Neophema elegans is a popular aviary bird in Australia. It is suitable for small backyards, mixes well with certain other species and is for the most part a free-breeder.

I have found the humble little Elegant Parrot to be a challenge at times over the past 15 years, since I purchased my fi rst pair. However, in the spring of 2013, I fi nally successfully bred them.

APPEARANCEWhile not as brilliantly plumed as their cousins, the Scarlet-chested and Turquoisine Parrots, the Elegant Parrot’s subtle shades of olive-green and yellows with striking dashes of bright to deep blue, make it indeed elegant, as the accompanying images attest.

To the untrained eye, the Elegant Parrot can sometimes be difficult to sex, particularly with some of the colour mutations. In wild-type birds the male is brighter than the female. The blue on the brow and yellow on the lores is generally brighter and more prominent in the male. Often, males develop an orange ‘thumbprint’ on their bellies, between the legs—I have never seen a female with markings like this.

DIETElegant Parrots, along with other members of the Neophema genus, are easily catered for. Our birds are maintained on a basic finch seed mix, with small amounts of grey-striped sunflower and hulled oats fed separately.

A calcium grit mix is available at all times, along with cuttlebone and charcoal. As an added supplement, all of our aviary birds are fed a dry lorikeet food which all enjoy picking at, especially relishing it when they are rearing young.

Fresh water is supplied in glazed ceramic water bowls that are replaced daily (and several times a day during extreme heat).

Elegant Parrot mature pair

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADAM FITZGERALD

ElegantPARROTS

P O

DEKE

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In the current desire to purchase exotic and rare finch species, many have forgotten some of the simpler joys of keeping and breeding the ‘less important’ species that

are freely available. One of these is the Star Finch Neochmia rufi cauda, a relatively free-breeding species that many would have attempted to keep not long after serving their time with Bengalese and the ubiquitous Zebra Finch.

Way back when I was a mere youth, Star Finches came in varieties known as Western Australian, Queensland and Kimberley forms and there were rumours of a Yellow mutation! Since that time, there have been a variety of mutations bred—Yellow, Cinnamon, Fawn, Yellow-bodied, White, Pied and Yellow-bodied with red sashes—and no doubt many more I have never heard of.

THE MYTHICAL KIMBERLEY STARNone, however, can hold a candle to that almost mythical of creatures, the Kimberley Star Finch. Once seen, a Kimberley Star is never forgotten. I have even heard that the Kimberley actually hailed from the Gibb River area and was only called the Kimberley Star to camouflage where it lived! Mythology or fact, it makes for a damn good and totally believable story.

I have only ever seen two pairs of Star Finches from this region. These were sent to me along with a number of ‘normal’ Star Finches by Allan Johnson, who was then the owner of Ashfield Aviaries and who had access to many of the trapped finches from Western Australia. I’ve never forgotten his words—‘there’s two pair of ‘special’ Stars in the box for you. Don’t lose them as there probably won’t be any more like them!’ At the time I remember questioning how I would pick out four ‘special’ Stars from a box with that many ‘normal’ Stars in it. I needn’t have bothered wondering, as they were just as Allan described them.

It was not until much later, when I met well-known fincho, Doug Hill, that I had confirmation that they really were as good as I’d thought way back then. From memory, Doug said that to adequately describe the Kimberley Star you had to imagine the best Red Star you’d ever seen then multiply that by 10, and you’d be able to describe the female Kimberley Star Finch. They really were that good. Alas, I’ve not seen or heard of any for decades and some that were described as being the ‘real’ Kimberley Star were sad imitations indeed.

TAXONOMYThere are two recognised subspecies in the wild, the southern race, N. r. rufi cauda and N. r. clarescens, the ‘typical’ Red Star, common in aviculture. N. r .rufi cauda is/was commonly referred to as the Queensland Star and is listed as critically endangered in the wild. This subspecies was never popular in captivity given its drab colouration. The yellow is washed out to a more beige colour and often the only guide as to whether you had a male or female was the male’s ‘song’.

N. r. clarescens is characterised by its striking red head, whitish spotted throat—especially in females—and chest spots and yellowish body. Mind you, visit 50 different aviaries and you’ll see 50 different shades and colour intensities, so I guess Doug Hill was right when he suggested that the majority of Star Finches in our aviaries are a blend/mix of both these

subspecies. When the wild-type forms are crossbred to produce mutations there are subtle changes to the ‘normal’ colouration that further muddy the water.

The Kimberley Star ‘race’ is often referred to as N. r. subclarescens in literature, however a friend describes them as—‘like red and yellow enamel paint, and once seen never forgotten’. They have become something of the avicultural unicorn these days. I did see an advertisement for ‘Kimberley Stars’ some time ago and ordered myself a few pairs just in case they were genuine. Alas, what arrived were some stunning little bush-type Star Finches—but Kimberley Stars they were not. My same friend dropped in to see them and with a sad shake of the head simply said, ‘pretty little guys but sadly not close to the real McCoy’

A STAR MYSTERYI still dabble with a few mutations for seed money, but my little colony from the Kimberley is still there chugging away and mutation-free at this stage. Or it was until last year when out of a nest of five youngsters there appeared two whitish birds. Damn, I thought, how did mutations arise in my ‘pure’ colony?

So, despite Doug sadly no longer keeping birds, I sought him out for his advice as to what I had. He dutifully checked my photos and suggested that I may have something new or perhaps they were Dilutes. I sent the photos far and wide and got lots of answers, but still no closer to solving the riddle. Having bred Fawns, Cinnamons and Yellow-bodied Stars, I’d never seen chicks leave the nest this colour before—almost white. Back to Doug, and he simply said, ‘ask Russell K, he’ll know’.

Russell also suggested that they were Dilutes, so that was good enough for me. I still have them (both females) but unfortunately they’ve not bred—oh well, there’s always this season! There have been no other mutations produced from that colony and, as pointed out to me, the Dilute was one of the first recorded Gouldian mutations, was it not?

Who’d have thought such a ‘common’ species would have provided so much fun and excitement…anyone that has kept finches long enough I guess!

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARCUS POLLARD BSc (Hons)

STARS STILL SHINE

W

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fi nch fundamentals

Star Finch pair, male on left

283

YELLOW ROSELLASY

WORDS BY BARRY BLANCH PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIE BLANCH

breeding australian parrots

S

Yellow Rosella pair, male on rightYellow Rosella pair, male on right

Yellow Rosella mature male

INTRODUCTIONThe Yellow Rosella Platycercus elegans fl aveolus, named by ornithologist John Gould in 1837, is one of the most secretive of the rosella species.

They are very wary, causing them to often congregate in small parties of 6–10 birds in the early morning and late afternoon. At least one or two birds keep lookout for any disturbance as their counterparts feed on the ground. If disturbed, the ‘lookout’ birds in the flock emit high-pitched screeching notes in rapid succession to alert the foraging birds.

Commonly known as the Murrumbidgee Rosella, these birds are endemic to the southern states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

The Yellow Rosella is considered to be closely related to the Crimson Rosella P. e. elegans and by some it is regarded as a subspecies.

Yellow Rosella range covers the vast inland river systems of south-eastern Australia, overlapping some habitats of both Crimson and Adelaide Rosellas. Its habit of foraging has made the species a pest to orchardists and vine growers, as it spoils more of the fruit than it eats, damaging the soft fruit, f lowers and buds of cherries, grapes and pears in particular.

After obtaining my first pairs of Yellow Rosellas in the early 1990s, I became very interested in the subspecies and colour variations.

Yellow Rosellas are one of the more difficult birds to breed and not a commonly kept bird in aviculture.

IN THE WILDHabitat and RangeYellow Rosellas inhabit a large area from far southern New South Wales and the northern Victoria border across to areas of south-eastern South Australia. They follow the Murray and Murrumbidgee River systems, tributaries and flood plains. These extensive river systems cover thousands of kilometres and are lined mostly with large Red River Gums Eucalyptus camaldulensis and other eucalypts.

River flooding and partial submersion of tree trunks assist the propagation of gum nut seeds. Hollow trunks, branches and limbs provide plentiful nesting and roosting sites for the Yellow Rosella. Other Eucalyptus such as the Yellow, Black, Grey and Red Box and Coolibah provide fruit buds that are devoured by the Yellow Rosella. These huge trees play a large part in their dietary needs as they have adapted to feeding on the flowers, nuts and also the beetles, aphids and larvae attracted by the gums.

The Yellow Rosella range follows the Murray River from the Mannum region in South Australia to the Albury Wodonga area on the New South Wales/Victorian border. Around Mannum, Yellow Rosellas mingle with Adelaide Rosellas, with some interbreeding occurring.

Some Yellows are found in areas along the Lachlan River, from Booligal in south-western New South Wales and also in the Gundagai and Yass region bordering the Murrumbidgee River. In the east of its range, the Yellow Rosella comes into contact with the Crimson Rosella, and colour variations attest to interbreeding.

297

Introducing Rebecca K O’Connor

OPERANT CONDITIONING AND APPLIED BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS Operant conditioning, which was introduced in the 1940s, is the concept that behaviour can successfully be shaped when the operator is in control. This means that the operator, the parrot, will voluntarily modify its behaviour based on the consequence. If a parrot has a choice of whether or not to get a desired treat, it will change its behaviour in order to get what it desires. This means that consequences and the way we respond to our parrot’s behaviour play a tremendous role in shaping their behaviour in our homes. Today, this concept is understood by most parrot keepers.

Applied behaviour analysis takes this concept one step further. Behaviour is analysed and broken down into three parts: • An antecedent, which immediately precedes the behaviour• The behaviour itself and • The consequence which follows the behaviour.

If you change any of these three components, you can shape the behaviour, making it more or less likely to occur. These three building blocks work in tandem, and adjusting any one of them affects the behaviour. Learning how to reward with positive reinforcement is important to training new behaviours and eliminating unwanted behaviours.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY REBECCA K O’CONNOR

POSITIVE PARROT TRAINING 101

W

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building blocks FOR BETTER BIRDS

THE BUILDING BLOCKSThe most important building blocks in creating positive relationships with parrots are the tools used in training them. Many people mistakenly think of training as teaching parrots pointless tricks. While trick-training can be very rewarding for both the trainer and the parrot, there are more important reasons to master the basics of training.

Training is simply a way of having a conversation with your parrot. When you train your parrot consistently using positive reinforcement, you both learn to communicate. Your parrot learns what behaviours are most likely to result in the things it enjoys from you—like attention, treats and toys. The trainer learns how to better read his or her parrot’s body language and respond appropriately. Positive training is a win-win for all involved.

Rebecca K O’Connor has been training animals professionally for more than 20 years and is renowned for her expertise in the fi eld of avian behaviour. She has worked with a tremendous variety of animals and believes strongly in the use of applied behaviour analysis, positive reinforcement and focusing as much on the people who work with the animals as the animals themselves.

She has written a training and behaviour column for Bird Times and was a frequent contributor to Good Bird magazine, Bird Talk magazine and now BirdChannel.com.

Her defi nitive guide to managing well-adjusted parrots, A Parrot for Life, was published with TFH Publications in 2007 and her most recent book The Perfectly Trained Parrot (available from ABK) focuses on positive ways to train parrots.

Rebecca keeps up to date with the latest trends in animal training, especially regarding birds, and regularly attends peer workshops and seminars. In her personal life she is an avid falconer, parrot-lover and dog trainer.

We welcome Rebecca onboard.

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eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Rewarding behaviours that you appreciate—such as remaining on a cage—will ensure that good behaviour is repeated

Is My Parrot Untrainable?An untrainable parrot is rare. While some animals may have physical and perhaps even neurological ailments that make training unlikely, the vast majority of parrots can be trained. Some parrots are more interested in training, have a longer attention span, and longer positive history of learning, but even truly diffi cult parrots can be trained. If your bird is a challenging trainee, don’t give up. Some birds simply require more time than others. Be patient with your parrot. Be patient with yourself. And above all else, keep it positive!

WORDS BY JADE WELCH & MARK MILLS PHOTOGRAPHS BY JADE WELCH

SOURCING STOCKOur first birds were purchased as young unrelated stock during the days of the National Exotic Bird Registration Scheme (NEBRS). At that time this charismatic bird was quite rare. We acquired three young males and three young females to set up as pairs. The six birds were placed in a large conventional aviary with Double Yellow-headed Amazons.

Unfortunately, the two species did not get along—the Yellow-crowned Amazons were relocated to a conventional aviary and the Double Yellow-headed Amazons were housed with Blue-fronted Amazons without further issue.

The Yellow-crowned Amazon is an amazing, happy and bright bird often heard singing as we approach the aviary. Over the years we have enjoyed keeping these birds and wanted to share that pleasure.

306

SOdSqfc

Y

Tabaytt

Yellow-crowned Amazons are becoming more popular as pet and breeding birds

Yellow-crowned Amazons