AMADOR BIRD TRACKS Monthly Newsletter of the Amador Bird Club June 2014 the Amador Bird Club Is a Group of People Who Share an Interest in Birds and Is Open to All

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AMADOR BIRD TRACKS Monthly Newsletter of the Amador Bird Club June 2014 The Amador Bird Club is a group of people who share an interest in birds and is open to all.

Happy Father’s Day!

Pictured left is "Pale Male" with offspring, in residence at his 927 Fifth Avenue NYC apartment building nest, overlooking Central Park. Perhaps the most famous of all avian fathers, Pale Male’s story 3 (continued below) ... “home of the rare Amadorian Combo Parrot” Dates of bird club President’s Message The Amador Bird Club meeting will meetings this year: be held on:

• June 13* Hi Everyone, hope you are enjoying the Friday, June 13, 2014 at 7:30 PM • July 11 warmer weather as I know that some of the • August 8 birds are "getting into the swing of things" and Place : Administration Building, • Sept. 12** producing for all of you breeders. This month Amador County Fairgrounds, • October 10 we will be having a very interesting and Plymouth informative presentation on breeding and • November 14 showing English budgies by Mary Ann Silva. I • Activity : Breeding and Showing December 12 am hoping that you all can attend as it will be (Xmas Party) English Budgies by Mary Ann your loss if you miss this night. Silva

*Friday-the-13 th : drive carefully! We will be signing up for the Fair booth Refreshments: Persons with ** Semi-Annual attendance and manning so PLEASE mark it last names beginning with S-Z. Raffle on your calendar. The more volunteers the easier it is for EVERYONE. Set-up is always the Wed. evening/afternoon and manning the Officers for 2014 - 2016 booth is generally 2 shifts per day with 2 people per shift SO we need 16 volunteers President Blue Wrigley without someone having to double up. Let's Treasurer Cathy Hooper support our club as we have always done in Secretary Terry Ryan the past. Newsletter Todd Sargent Webmaster Kim Schmutzler-Agee Come Fri. and have a good time, looking forward to seeing you all...... Blue

Pale Male continued... 3 was presented by a one-hour documentary, "Pale Male", by filmmaker Frederic Lilien, which aired on NATURE – WNET in 2004. A feature documentary called The Legend of Pale Male by Frederic Lilien was completed in 2009. There is even a Pale Male website, http://www.palemale.com, that documents his career ca the 1990s with LOTS of pictures. He is one of the first Red-tailed Hawks known to have nested on a building rather than in a tree and is known for establishing a dynasty of urban-dwelling Red-tailed Hawks. At right eating a pigeon —>

1 Amador Bird Club Newsletter June 2014

Breeding and Showing English Budgies Guest speaker, Mary Ann Silva Shown with one of her award winning birds!

I started with birds in 1975, breeding parakeets, cockatiels and finch, later branching into exotic finch and Australian hookbills. I bought 4 pair of English Budgies in 1979 and started showing Novice in 1980. I started in a small, 5X10 aviary filled with 12 breeding and 2 holding cages. Moving out in the country I was able to expand my Budgies and get started breeding some of the rarer colors of the birds. I really enjoy the family of friends that I have come to value from raising and exhibiting birds. The Budgies are my passion. I promote ABS and the hobby whenever I am asked to speak at club meetings. Having become a new American Budgerigar Society Panel Judge in 2011, I look forward to the new challenges that this position will bring. I hope to have a good judge’s eye and get to the next level of breeding the English. Cutting and selling birds is the hardest part of the hobby for me. I have my pairs that I raise for the shows, normal and rares, but I also like the color birds that I can sell for pets. I have three adult children; two sons, 1 daughter and four grandchildren. I have lived in Sonora ten years with my new husband, Rodney. We both enjoy breeding and exhibiting the birds. A nice competition and working arrangement is easily seen in our bird room. For entertainment, Rod and I play cards together and with friends. I have been known to design jewelry while riding sidekick in the truck. I make the effort to help those in the hobby; I enjoy talking birds on the phone and having guests to my bird room and home. I look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting. Thank you for inviting me to talk about the beautiful English Budgerigar. They happen to be my favorite of all the birds.

Facts about Budgies from budgiekeet.com Budgerigar-pronounced [ buhj-uh-ree-gahr ] The name Budgerigar is thought to have been derived from an Aboriginal word or phrase. Wild budgerigars are originally from Australia and are nomadic birds, moving from place to place in search of water and food. They are able to fly hundreds of miles if necessary in search of water. These hardy birds endure a climate that can be very hot and dry and also cold as well as rainy depending on the season and the weather trends. Budgies live in flocks and when conditions are favorable, they sometimes group together to form a huge flock containing thousands of budgies. Wild budgerigars feed primarily on grass seed, eucalyptus leaves and various other seeds and greens. Breeding usually occurs during rainy seasons when water is plentiful. Like other parrots, budgies build their nests in holes found in trees. They will chew at the tree cavity until they have the shape and size they need. The female budgie will lay an egg every 2 days until she has 4 to 8 eggs. While the mother budgie is busy keeping the eggs warm, it is the father’s job to feed the mother and protect the nest. Incubation lasts about 18-21 days before the eggs will hatch. Baby budgerigars usually fledge or leave the nest on the fourth or fifth week after they hatch. Both the mother and father take turns feeding the babies. Budgerigar Other interesting facts: • Budgies, like other parrots, have 2 toes that face forward and 2 toes that face back unlike other birds who have 3 toes facing forward and 1 facing back. Kingdom: Animalia • Studies have shown that the yellow feathers of budgerigars have fluorescent pigment. Since Phylum: Chordata budgies are able to see a broader spectrum of colors including some ultra-violet, these Subphylum: Vertebrata fluorescent feathers are thought to play a role in attracting a mate. Class: Aves • In the U.S. budgies are usually called parakeets which means long tail. However there are Order: Psittaciformes several different types of parrots called parakeets so this name can be confusing. Family: Psittacidae • Budgie eggs are white. Subfamily: Psittacinae • Budgies can turn their heads around 180’. • If an adults budgie’s cere (the flesh above the beak where the nostrils are located) is blue it is a Genus: Melopsittacus male, if it is brown or tan it is a female. Species: Melopsittacus • The average life span of a domestic budgie is 5-8 years however some have been known to live undulatus 15 years or more.

2 Amador Bird Club Newsletter June 2014 The Story of LB the Peach Faced Lovebird by Terry Ryan The Amador Bird Club helps lost or unwanted birds find their way home or to a new home! I received the e-mail below but hadn’t viewed it when Kathleen called me on May 20th. I had to make a delivery to Sutter Creek that evening so I decided that was a good time to go up Shake Ridge Road to pick up the lovebird. I didn’t think it would be such a drive home to Glencoe! Good morning. Picture of found Lovebird By Kathleen Please take a look at what my husband found next to him on his welding frame on Monday. He was very thirsty and hungry.

We have an Indian Ringneck (Mr. Green Jeans 17 yrs old), so we had an extra cage to put this little guy in. On Tuesday, I contacted Amador animal control and gave them our phone number in case someone is looking for this little guy. So far, no calls, nothing.

He seems very healthy. We only feed Harrison’s pellets, so that is what he is getting too.

He does not like hands coming at him, but he is tame. When he walks on the bottom grate of his cage, he appears to limp. He holds his left foot up in his feathers most of the time. We don’t see any injury, but not sure. He seems very healthy and active. He has been molting, as he has new feathers coming in.

He is safe with us for now, but we just rescued a black lab, 2 years old this year. We don’t let her have unsupervised contact with Mr. Green Jeans, as we are not completely sure of her background.

I have a co-worker that may be interested in adopting this little guy, but if she can’t take him, I would really like to make sure he goes to a good home.

It’s like a miracle that he landed in our front yard.

Thanks for your help. So, I picked up the lovebird and when I put her in a cage when I got home she started tearing up paper and putting it in between her feathers. Beryl said that it was probably a hen for she had heard that was common for lovebirds to do that. I looked on the internet to see if anyone had lost a lovebird and even called The Feed Barn our local feed store but to no avail. I sent out an e-mail to some of our club members and included Chris Davis for I knew he had had lovebirds from when he was an active member of the club.

My husband was about fed up with the noise this little bird makes even though we have 7 Bourkes, 8 Zebra finch, 4 Gouldians and a pair of Owl finches in the same area. This little bird has a very loud shrill screech! I was in the process of making arrangements for one of our other members to take her when on my way home, Friday, May 30, I received a call from Chris Davis. Chris said he had lost a female peach face lovebird on May 1, 2012. He sent me the 2 pictures above and the coloring was right just a little faded now. So I called him and he said he’d pick her up tomorrow and if it wasn’t his bird he’d take care of her anyway. He arrived in the late morning with his bird, LB’s, favorite things in her cage– millet spray, corn and phone book paper to shred. We were able to get the bird to go from one cage to the other without handling it. He was very certain that it wasn’t his beloved LB for it wasn’t acting like her. My thoughts were, what do you expect after 2 years? A couple hours later Chris called. He said when he got home, his male lovebird acted like –where have you been- to the supposed newcomer and immediately she took off to one of her old favorite hiding spots and then later said the only thing she knew “LB”! Neither of us could believe that this is his beloved LB. He got LB at one of our Semi-Annual raffles in 2004 when she was 3 months old. She was one of the late Jane Thomas’s birds! Baby & LB today! LB today! We would sure like to know where she has been the last 2 years and thank the person who had been taking care of her! By the way, as the crow fly's, it’s only about 10-12 miles from Fairplay where Chris lives to were Kathleen lives near Shake Ridge Road and Rams Horn Grade! Update from Chris 6-4-14: Today is the first day LB chewed on paper. LB has sure stirred up the dull lives of my lovebirds. Everybody is just busy. She's settled right back in. She's also talking up a storm. I think she's trying to tell her story. Yeah... Love birds don't really talk. They use body language to get their point across. LB is unique by using a wide range of sounds. She used to say LB in a creaky door voice. Now she says LB in a chortling trill. It's almost musical. PS. I've tried to check out her bad leg. She says she will have none of that crap. I'll wait a while before I drag out the dreaded 'killer' gloves and force her to let me look.

3 Amador Bird Club Newsletter June 2014

• June 13-Plymouth, CA-Amador Bird Club-7:30pm MaryAnn Silva “Breeding & Showing English Budgies” • June 22-Pomona, CA-Everybody's Bird Mart - 9:30am-4pm - Building 4 - 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768. All types of birds and supplies for sale. Best prices in town and the biggest show you will ever attend. Hundreds of vendors. $9 per adult admission. For more info call: 805-494-1499 or 909-623-3111 • JULY 25-26 - 9th ANNUAL SHOW West Coast Zebra & Society Finch Show , Sacramento, CA - "The Friendliest Show in the West", . http://www.efinch.com/show/ • July 6-San Jose CA-San Jose Bird Mart • August 17, Modesto, CA CCCBC Mini Bird Mart • August 24, Roseville, CA Foothill Bird Mart • September 13-Sonora CA-Gold Country Aviculture Society Animal & Bird Expo • September 14-Pleasanton CA-Pleasanton Exotic Bird Mart • October 11, Sacramento, Capitol City Hookbill & Lovebird Show • October 25, Manteca, CA CCCBC 61st Annual Bird Show & Bird Mart (see also website www.mycccbc.org or http://exoticbirdexpos.info)

Terry’s Canaries Bourkes, etc.

(530) 621-4171 (209) 969-9030

Birds for Sale Most of the following are proven breeding pairs: 1 pair Umbrella Cockatoos 1 pair Derbyan Parakeets 1 pair Blue & Gold Macaws 1 Maximillian parrot 1 pair Yellow Crowned Amazons Broader equipment CST 1013939-40

Call Sara Kimberly (530) 409-7484

Bird Placement For information on birds, referrals or the Amador Bird Club, please contact:

If you need to place a bird (find a Sherri Elliot (209) 245-6921 (Amador/Calaveras area) home for a beloved companion), please consider the ABC as a resource. We Jackie Fox (530) 677-1035 (northwest area) or have several members that are experienced at finding good homes for Virginia Blake (209) 981-5016 (Amador/Calaveras area) birds in need. We also have members that take rescue birds (already homeless birds, and/or birds with special needs). Email: [email protected] For more information, please contact: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmadorBirdClub Sherri Elliot (209) 245-6921 Website: www.mycccbc.org/abc Terry Ryan (209) 969-9030 (Amador/Calaveras area)

Glencoe, CA 95232 95232 CA Glencoe,

17706 Hwy 26 26 Hwy 17706

c/o Terry Ryan Ryan Terry c/o Amador Bird Club Club Bird Amador

Amador Bird Club Membership Application The Amador Bird Club meets the 2nd Friday of each month, 7:30pm in the Administration Building of the Amador County Fairgrounds!

Name:______Address:______City:______State______Zip______Phone#______Cell#______E-mail address:______Family members:______Birds owned, bird related items made/sold:______New Member______Renewal______Are you a ____breeder and/or____ hobbyist (please check one or both) Do you want your address printed in the membership directory? ___yes ___no Signature:______Date:______Annual Dues: Family: $15.00 Single: $10.00 Junior: $7.50 $______E-mailed newsletters free! Fee for newsletter via US mail: $5.00 $______Please make check payable to club secretary: Total $______Terry Ryan, 17706 Hwy 26, Glencoe, CA 95232