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Breeding the Turquoise Tanager

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Breeding the Turquoise Tanager Breeding the The Collared Turquoise Tanager Aracari by Jerry Jennings Fallbrook, California by Maarten de Ruiter Cambron Casteau, Belgium he Collared Aracari Pteroglossus T torquatus is a colorful native of Central America, ranging from southern Turquoise Tanager Tanagara enclosure that could be heated. The Mexico south all the way to Colombia, is distributed from artificial light source within the in- 1- and as such is the most common ofthe Venezuela over western Amazonia to door enclosure was turned on from Central American toucans to be encoun- southeast Brazil. It is not found in 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Along with the tered in the wild. Mexico as its scientific name suggests. Turquoise Tanagers were a pair of Though the Collared Aracari is com- Itlives up to 500 meters (1600 feet) in Pekin Robins and two Bay-headed mon in the wild, it has been quite rare elevation and is seeninsmall groups of Tanagers. in captivity until the Fall of 1994, when up to six individual birds. There are The two Turquoise Tanagers were a few dozen birds were imported from five subspecies ofTurquoise Tanager, T. observed together most of the time Nicaragua. Prior to these importations, m. mexicana, T. m. vieilloti, T. m. media, and in the early part ofJune two eggs less than a dozen individuals were T. m. bolivicina and T. m. brasiliensis. were found in a small nest box. The known to exist in the U.S., and in just In Europe the Turquoise Tanager nest box measured 7 em x7em x 15 two collections, where they were repro- is frequently available andthe subspe- em high (2% in. x 2% in. x6in.). The ducing in small numbers. cies most commonly offered is tanagers had used coconut fiber and The Collared Aracari is a small tou- Tanagara m. mexicana from the Guy- drygrass as nesting material. The eggs can slightly larger than an Emerald anas. were blue-greenincolorationandhad Toucanet, with a comparatively long In 1990 a friend of mine obtained some red-brown spots on them. Both beak. They are monomorphic, requir- asingle TurquoiseTanager. Its sexwas parent birds shared in the incubation ing surgical sexing to distinguish males not known as this species is not duties and after 14 days both eggs from females, though adult birds show sexually dimorphic. Itwas also invery hatched. The skin of the young was some differentiation in beak length, poorconditionwith scarcely a feather almost black and they were covered with the male sporting the longer bill. on it. This poor creature was placed with some whitish down feathers. At The breast is a bright yellow, with a hor- in anall wire meshcage thatmeasured seven days of age, the first real izontal red and black stripe across the 0.5 meter (19% in.) in cube form so feathers beganto growand sevendays middle. it could not come into contact with later the young had left the nest. Between the stripe and the black its own droppings. By observing the Further breeding attempts were feathers on the throat there is a black feces, many worm eggs were found not made by the pair but this could spot, which varies in size among indi- viduals from very large to very small, and and the bird was treated with 0.2 have been because the juveniles were in some individuals it is non-existent. The milliliters of Panacur 2.5%. A heat left with the parents. Even at two yellow breast feathers are suffused lamp was placed above its cage keep- months of age, the young birds were with red, and the amount increases as ing the interior of the cage around observed begging from the parents. the size of the spot declines. 25° Celcius (85°F). A wide variety of As mentioned above, these birds were The head and neck of the Collared fruit was offered along with live fed a wide variety of fruit and insect is black, the back, wings, and tail dark insects (mealworms and small crick- food. But shortly before this pair of green. Separating the black neck feath- ets). Within three months this bird Turquoise Tanagers began to breed, ers from the green back is a brown ring recovered and was a real beauty! they were fed some egg-food which or "collar", that runs from ear to ear and Around a year later, a second was mixed with the insect food. Dur- gives the species its name. Some writ- Turquoise Tanager was obtained and ing the baby rearing period, the birds ers have suggested that the size, thick- again the sex of this bird was un- also received large amounts of ant- ness, or shade ofbrown is determinitive known. Although this bird looked in pupa and the parent birds were also ofsex, though this is definitely not the good condition, it still was isolated observed searching regularly through- case. during a six week quarantine period. out the enclosure (especially the cor- The beak ofthe Collared is black at This was to make sure itwas inhealthy ners) for spiders, flies and other the tip changing to silver along the condition. invertebrates. sides then becoming red at the base. The These two biJ;ds were placed to- Breeding results of tanagers are still eyeskin is deep red, contrasted against gether in a well planted aviary at the uncommon and I hope this article has a bright yellow iris. The rump is red, and beginning of the next spring. Con- given some useful information for the legs blue-gray. nected to this. aviary was an indoor future breeders of tanagers. +- While the Collared is a small toucan, S6 March!April 1996 All food items should be diced or provided in small pieces no larger than 1/2 in. diameter, and preferably 3/8 in. Toucans, unlike parrots, cannot chew their food, and generally eat it whole. Large chunks are, therefore, either inedible, or they may choke the bird. It is especially important to feed small pieces 3/8 inch, when young hatch, as the parents will attempt to stuff the larger pieces into the mouths ofoffspring choking them, or stopping their diges- tive systems. Collareds are very hardy birds and a species that rarely suffers from iron storage disease, which, incidentally, is common in a variety of avian species besides toucans. Even so, a low iron diet is the wisest course to pursue, hence the CollaredAracarisarecolorful, comicalandoneofthefewspecies oftoucans thatcan be safely use of Wayne's dog kibble. We have maintainedina mixedspeciesflight. found they are also easy to hand rear when necessary, and these tame young, it is one ofthe largest ofthe aracaris. We ing" behavior, wherein the young from while not the best birds for future weighed 20 adult birds, all in good the previous nest help the parents feed breeders, nonetheless make endear- flesh, and found a range of 185-218 the new offspring. While not uncommon ing pets. grams. Newly hatched young weigh in the world of birds (bluejays, for Colorful and comical, Collareds are 8-9 grams, and double in weight every example), this behavior is not encoun- one of the few species of toucans that four days. tered in other toucan species. The can be safely maintained in a mixed Collareds were first bred in captivity behavior may also occur in captivity, species flight. They are peaceful, quiet, in the U.S. by the author in 1989, and however, we have not attempted to relatively easy to reproduce in captiv- have reproduced into the second and permit it, since our flights are only 8 ft. ity, and they make the perfect addition partial third generations. Because of x 12 ft. x 8 ft., far smaller than the to the softbill collection. • the small number of founder stock, space they occupy in nature. The poten- these birds quickly became inbred. In tial for aggression between male parents r----------------- an effort to rapidly increase the num- and offspring, though low compared to ber ofbirds, babies were pulled for hand- other toucan species, is nevertheless, a feeding, which succeeded in producing real concern. GOLDE a number ofimprinted birds, the males Diets for Collared Aracaris are sim- CONURES ofwhich made poor parents. Fortunately, ple. We feed a papaya based diet sup- WhiteBellied the sudden appearance of a number of plemented with grapes and cantaloupe. recent imports ofthis species promises Other fruits are also suitable, with the Caiques to improve the Collared's genetic diver- exception of citrus, because of the sity and reproductive potential in cap- high acid content (acid is thought to facil- FollowillAviaries A Closed Aviary tivity. itate the uptake of iron). However, we Specializing in the Queen ofBavaria's Conure Like other species of toucans, believe it is useful to provide fruits Please call for free information package Collareds prefer to nest in hollow nest that are available all year, since it may Dave Followill (407) 773-7571 logs, which we easily construct from sec- take time for the birds to adjust to new tions of palm tree trunks. However, dietary items, many ofwhich may have any hollow log will work, and there has so short a season as to disappear from even been successful breeding in a the marketplace at the very time the birds WATCHBIRD BINDERS wooden box with a concave bottom. begin to eat them. Hansome, sturdy binder holds afull year's issues of Collareds lay three to five elliptical, While toucans are primarily frugi- The Watchbird (6 issues). Of rich brown leather-like white eggs per clutch and are capable vorous, they require some additional vinyl embossed ingold. $6.95 each of· producing three nests per year.
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