Breeding Cissas and Other Asian Corvids Photos and Text by Roland and /lana Cristo FAMILY - CORVIDAE but heard. When not breeding they housed in walk-in flights, 3 X 4 feet SUB-FAMILY - CORVINAE gather in small parties and move wide and 16 to 20 feet long. The TRIBE - CORVINA through the forest, joining forces flight sections are 6 feet high. The with laughing thrushes. They feed CISSA undercover sections are 8 feet high close to or on the ground consum­ "Cissa are perhaps the most beautiful and 4-6 feet long and covered on ing small insects, small reptiles and three sides. The perch in this section of the whole family. " (Delacour). birds. is 2 feet higher than the perch in the They are solitary nesters, the flight area. This protects the birds f all the birds in the COlVid nest being described as a "large, from any wind. We have automatic family, Cissas are perhaps rather flat platform of twigs inter­ waterers that continually drip. The the most sought after in avi­ O woven with leaves bamboo and central aisleway has a night-light. It culture. roots, cup lined with finer plant provides just enough light to allow There are three species of material, built in low shrubbery, the birds to see where they are Cissas with 12 sub-species. The bamboo thickets, vine tangles in the going if they were startled off their Green Magpie (Cissa chinensis), also canopy of a small tree." perches. known as the Long-tailed Hunting Cissas are a little larger than the We have a mister system that is Cissa in aviculture, comes from the American Blue Jay 03-14 inches). controlled by a 96-setting timer Malay Peninsula up into Annam They are a beautiful light green color (timed for every 15 minutes) and a (Vietnam) and as far north as China. with chestnut-red colored wings, a Four sub-species are on the main­ thermostat. Each one can override black mask and red-orange beak, the other. When the temperature land with one sub-species, C. c. feet and eye ring. The green color minor, coming from the islands of goes above the thermostat setting it seems to fade to a light blue color in Sumatra to Burma. We have the will turn on the misters if the timer is captivity if the birds are exposed to mainland sub-species, Cissa c. klossi, at an on setting. and Cissa c. minor, the island sub­ too much sunlight and perhaps not We try to plant at least one species, which is smaller than the given enough caratenoids in the podicmpus plant in the aviary. In mainland birds. diet. The males seem to turn more fact the long-tailed Cissas have built The Short-tailed Hunting Cissa bluish than the females. The young their nest in it two years in a row. (Cissa thalassina) comes from two we have raised all had bluish or islands, Java and Borneo. We have a turquoise feathers. Interestingly, FEEDING female of the Javan sub-species Lynn Hall, fruit dove breeder and Basic Diet Cissa t. thalassina. The Short-tailed expert, informed me of seeing The Cissas are fed "soft food" has quite a musical song much like recently caught birds that were mix (appendix A) daily along with a songbird's. The other species we entirely blue at bird markets in ground beef heart (Chili grind) and keep don't seem to. Singapore. They do seem to spend mealworms. The soft food is a mois­ Three sub-species of the most of their time in the aviary shel­ tened mixture of the basic diet. Yellow-breasted Magpie (Cissa ter or in the shade of the plants in Defrosted mixed vegetables are hypoleuca) come from Annam the aviary. added to the soft food every other (Vietnam), Laos, and Thailand. The word "hunting" does day. Dry food mix (appendix B) or There are two isolated sub-species describe the method the pair uses to basic diet is kept in their cage con­ in China. The Yellow-breasted have capture their prey. When the prey stantly. Ingredients for both are list­ a longer crest and display it far more (usually a feeder mouse) is spotted ed later in this paper. often than the other species. The in the grass; the pair of cissas will species we keep are the nominate stalk it together (like a brace of Mice Cissa h. hypoleuca. dogs) on either side of the aviary We feed mice sporadically until it is cornered. At that point the throughout the year. When the hen HABITAT male will usually make the kill. starts building her nest we feed mice Cissas live along the border of daily in the early morning. Once the the subtropical and tropical forest HOUSING hen is setting, we feed mice again in from sea level to 1800 feet +/-. In We live at an elevation of 1200 mid-afternoon. The mice are selVed their natural habitat, they spend feet and the temperature gets below live in a mixing bowl. We believe most of their time in the lower freeZing at night during the winter this helps keep the male occupied. shrubs and are generally not seen (down to 15 degrees). The birds are We have had males that predated 28 Fourth Quarter 2002 PET AIR PROFESSIONAL ANIMAL TRANSPORATION SERVICE 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE SHIPPING ANIMALS BY AIR SERVICE TO OVER 1 50 AIRPORTS COMPUTERIZED FLIGHT PLANS FAST FRIENDLY SERVICE GREAT FREIGHT RATES TOLL FREE RESERVATION LINE PET AIR 1527 GRAND BLVD. At' KANSAS CITY, MO 64108 NEl'~fS16) 471-3852 FAX: (816) 84e-7387 it fC;iiifi~EE RESERVATION LINE: (87· ~?387 ;1;:<;~:;lit EMAIL: FLYPEt .. ....... ... $~L' WEB SITE WWW.FLYP&ts~.COM the afa WATCHBIRD 29 eggs stop doing so when fed mice ready to lay. Therefore it is a contin­ ents stopped eating soft food and every day during the nesting period. ual job of us rebuilding their nest beef heart for a while. It was quite In earlier years we fed mice until eggs are laid. Once eggs are hazardous serving the pair. The four times a day when babies were laid they generally don't tear the female would leave the nest calling on the nest. By the 21st day we were nests apart. We have done this with and complaining and the male feeding 20-25 mice a day. Since Cissas, Blue Magpies, Treepies, and would scold and dive at the person then, once the young are half feath­ Jays with good results. entering the aviary. The offering of ered or more, at about 12-14 days, The hen will generally lay 3-4 food meant nothing to him. He even we feed mice only in the early eggs, one each day. She will "set" drew blood from my ear. morning and in the evening. At between the first and the second The babies grow quickly and noon, they get another serving of egg. During incubation, there does­ the food offered is also increased. At ground beef heart. n't seem to be many problems. approximately 20 days the oldest or Incubation is 18-20 days. Chicks are strongest (we assume) baby starts to BREEDING CISSAS hatched bare-naked and look like perch on the edge of the nest. The We have bred Long-tailed food. rest perch shortly after, about 2-3 Cissas every year since 1997 and The male keeps vigil guard. At days. Yellow-breasted Cissas since 1999. first the hen will come off the nest At about 25 days the chicks are when hearing someone approach standing on the perches away from NESTS, NESTING, AND BREEDING the flight. Shortly into incubation, the nest. They could be found on We buy baskets from import she will "set tight" unless someone the ground and are able to hop and stores and nurseries to use for nest­ comes into the aviary to drop mice scramble up the perches to the high­ ing receptacles for the birds. The in their feeding bowl. As the incuba­ est perching "branch" and nest. approximate dimensions vary from tion continues, she will stay on the During this entire time they are year to year. This year the baskets nest even after the flight door is always fed soft food, and ground measure 9 inches inside diameter at opened, especially when the eggs beef heart. At about 24 days old, the the top and are 5 inches deep. What are close to hatching. At this time, soft food mix and more beef heart we look for after the nest is built is the male sounds an alarm or start to disappear. We never actually to only see the hen's head while she becomes aggressive, she may leave see the chicks eat the food but the is setting. She is still able to see over the nest temporarily always going to amount was increased and it always the edge when she sticks her head a high perch. (the Yellow-breasted seems as though less was left. They up. always go to the ground). About two also start to eat the dry mix as more We mount the baskets onto an days prior to the eggs hatching, the of that disappeared also. upside down "L" shaped platform in male seems to become even bolder The amount of mice served is such a way that eggs and young can and more aggressive hitting me on decreased and the amount of beef be checked on a regular basis with­ the head as I feed mice in the morn­ heart and soft food is increased.