50 1. AwardsFirstU.S.Breeding 2. 1. the Related of Group or for Individual an of Progress Establishment Most ivr A Silver categories: ing follow-the morein or claims one with applications received has P oetry collection Volume XXXVIII Volume

The AFA Awards Committee Committee Awards AFA The Conure Toucanet Q B L ettered ettered lack-masked Emerald Emerald lack-masked ueen of Bavaria (Golden) (Golden) Bavaria of ueen VY ih 0 oo ilsrtos and illustrations color 20 with others. many and Kinsella John berry, Ash- John Kees, Weldon well, Sit- Sacheverell Stevens, Wallace Wodehouse, Eliot, Rilke, Raffi, Wordsworth,Gresset,Campbell, Thomas Skelton, Zhu John Quingyu, Chi-I, Po Han-shan, Fu, Tu Crinagoras, Statius, Ovid, of poetry including the poets, 89 by duction, O’Neal. by David L. intro- eight-page an with piled, Presentthe to Antiquity From , about Poems of ogy bookspecial for lovers. very a kind, its of anthology only wr, aeoy 1, Category Award,

Babbling Birds is 158 pages, pages, 158 is Birds Babbling poems 101 contains book The Anthol- An Birds: Babbling and first published—the Just •

N umbers 1 & 2 umbers Attention—AVYAwards Applicants

•

2 An Anthology of PoemsofAnthology AboutParrots An 011 was com- was BabblingBirds Dec. 31, 2011. 31, Dec. through accepted be will 2012 AV AFA of egories [email protected] at Rubin S. Linda Chairwoman Awards AFA contact please catego- ries, these challenge or ify qual- previously that breedings Francisco. San in tion conven- 2011 upcoming the at award an for qualify to deadline 2010, 31, Dec. the by submitted o mr dtis pes refer please details, more For cat- all for nominations New additional of know you If were nominations above The of poetry. especially writer, a as career ond sec- a enjoying now dealer rare book retired a is Francisco, San one black and white illustration. David O’Neal, who lives in in lives who O’Neal, David Y wrs for Awards o h AV the to website at http://afabirds http://afabirds at AFA .org/20061029_AV the visiting website by Rules & [email protected]. davidl at him contacting by or www.davidloneal.us, website, his through purchase for available Me. Streak, The Parrot Who Loves Loves Who Parrot The Streak, about Yellow-collared his Macaw, zine of the Parrot Society of the UK. Keeper Keeper aviculturists, to interest of and, Quarterly Hawks Two Poets Anthology, Marin The Crow, sissippi Mis- Lyric, The Magazine, as Vision such anthologies, and azines mag- literary various in published been has work creativerecent his bibliography,and collecting book books, rare about writing sional He has also published a book a published also has He profes-previous to addition In Streak and Y ()and

Awards Categories Categories Awards Get Britain),(Great Y Babbling Birds are .sh tml. The Maga-The Bird News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

Loro Parque manufacture them in their bodies, and they produce the red, orange and yel- Fundación low colors of parrot feathers. Color increases durability Under laboratory conditions the of parrot feathers researchers exposed parrot tail and wing feathers of different colors to the The colors of parrots are impor- feather-degrading Bacillus lichenifor- tant for signaling between individuals, mis. They also looked to see if a thicker as well as for appropriate camouflage cortex (the tough, flexible outer layer) within their natural environments. of the feather barbs could increase However, these colors can have addi- resistance to bacterial attack. Finally tional functions, an interesting one ubiquitous among birds. Known as they evaluated whether or not higher having recently been demonstrated keratinolytic micro-organisms, these concentrations of pigment in red and by researchers in the United States. bacteria breakdown the keratin of yellow feathers decreased the rate of In a controlled series of experiments, the feathers by enzymatic action. It degradation. Edward Burtt and colleagues have is already known that presence of Burtt and his colleagues found revealed that parrot feathers can be the pigment melanin helps to reduce that white feathers degrade faster more resistant to bacterial degradation microbial damage, but the researchers than feathers with any colors. Red due to their colors (Burtt et al. 2010). hypothesized that the special pigments and green feathers degrade at much Bacteria of the Bacillus that in parrot feathers also have this func- the same rate as blue and black feath- degrade feathers are abundant, espe- tion. These pigments are called psit- ers (only with melanin), even though cially in humid habitats, and they are tacofulvins, unique to parrots which green feathers contain both melanin

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AFA Watchbird 51 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

Photo by Kirsty Godsman

and psittacofulvins. Yellow feathers small group of trees maintains its area for this species. This macaw only degrade substantially faster than red bright green foliage, in contrast to occurs in the seasonally inundated feathers, but for both colors the bac- the parched grassy plain extending plains of Beni, northeast Bolivia, and terial degradation was lower with a into the distance. But that is not all. since 1995 the conservation actions of higher concentration of psittacoful- Look carefully and you will be able to the Bolivian NGO Armonía, in part- vins. Furthermore, the researchers count no fewer than 44 Blue-throated nership with the Loro Parque Fun- report that psittacofulvins, like mela- Macaws (Ara glaucogularis) resting in dación of Spain, have been gradually nin, thicken the cortex of the feather the crown of the largest tree. increasing the population. barbs, which also might make the Never before has such a large group With help from the World Land feathers more resistant to bacterial been photographed, which is not sur- Trust-U.S. and the American Bird degradation. prising, because the Blue-throated Conservancy, the reserve has been cre- Therefore, don’t be surprised if a Macaw is in the IUCN (World Con- ated in the last two years, and more White Cockatoo looks scruffier than a servation Union) Red List category than 90 Blue-throated Macaws use Scarlet Macaw! of “Critically Endangered,” and this it during the non-breeding season. group represents about 15 percent of Research on the macaws and other The Blue-throated Macaw— the entire world population. However, fauna and flora of the reserve has been 15 percent of its global they are in a safe haven, the 11,530- conducted by students of Glasgow population in one tree acre Barba Azul (Blue Beard) Nature University, and in 2010 student Kirsty In the dry season of Bolivia, a Reserve, which is the only protected Godsman was in the right place at

52 Volume XXXVIII • Numbers 1 & 2 • 2011 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights the right time to capture this unique image. Much more needs to be done to remove the Blue-throated Macaw from the threatened species list, so if you would like to donate to the proj- ect, please contact the LPF at lpf@ loroparque-fundacion.org ~Dr. David Waugh, director

Spix’s Macaw Breeding The breeding year was kicked off with an absolute highlight. Our Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) “Richie” and his partner have produced the world’s first two Spix’s Macaw off- spring in 2011. This exceptional success surprised Photo by Patrick Pleul us a little as Richie had just returned to Germany in September. Since Jan- headlines when she, with her then- populations of the parrots in eastern uary 2007 he had been loaned out to partner, hatched the world’s only and western Australia were distinct the Lymington Foundation to pro- Spix’s Macaw offspring of that year. from each other. vide offspring there. Unfortunately, In the space of two years “Frieda” has The team, led by Australian Wild- the pairings there were unsuccessful now fully developed her plumage and life Conservancy’s Stephen Murphy, and so we decided to bring him back has become a Spix’s Macaw beauty. has concluded that the western popu- to Germany. When Frieda’s two half-sisters can lations should be recognized as a new After a one-month quarantine feed off seed, they will also have the species, Pezoporus flaviventris. period followed by three weeks alone, opportunity to meet their big sister. Dr. Murphy said the western he was reunited with his former part- ~ Enrico Sydow, ground parrot had declined rapidly in ner in mid November. Shortly after- Association for the Conservation of the last 20 years and there were only ward we noticed the first signs of Threatened Parrots about 110 birds surviving in the wild, breeding behavior and after a very few most of them in one national park. weeks the first egg was laid on Dec. 21, Scientists Find It was critically endangered and one 2010. It was followed by further eggs of the world’s rarest birds, he said. on Dec. 24, Dec. 27 and Dec. 30. Two New Parrot Species Allan Burbidge of WA’s Depart- chicks hatched from the three fertil- A type of West Australian parrot ment of Environment and Conserva- ized eggs on Jan. 18, 2011 and Jan. has been found to be a distinct spe- tion said a single wildfire through the 21, 2011. The young birds, “Kiki” and cies from its eastern counterpart and national park or an influx of intro- “Felix,” have come on fine and are cur- needs special protection as one of the duced predators, such as cats, could rently raised by hand. world’s rarest birds, scientists say. rapidly push the species to extinction. As the eggs were removed from Only about 110 of the western Director of CSIRO’s Australian the nest relatively early, we have great ground parrots are known to survive National Wildlife Collection, Leo hopes that the breeding season is not in the wild. Joseph, said that even after 200 years yet over and that more eggs will be An Australian research team of study, scientists were still recogniz- forthcoming. used DNA from museum specimens ing new species of birds in Australia. Back in 2008 our female hit the up to 160 years old to reveal that The team’s findings have been

AFA Watchbird 53 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

published this month in the interna- tional conservation research journal Conservation Genetics. ~ AAP Weltvogelpark Walsrode The parrots are always popular with visitors and several species are highly conservation-dependent and therefore parrots will continue to be an impor- tant part of the bird collection at the world’s largest bird park, the Welt- vogelpark Walsrode, for a long time to come. A large part of the breeding efforts are made behind the scenes of the park and in many exhibits often the groups of offspring can be seen by the general public. Our first Red-tailed Black Cocka- too (Calyptorhynchus banksii) hatched in December 2008. This young stayed with its parents for good seven months and was more than ordinarily discon- tent with its isolation from the com- At top, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. Above right, a Blue-bellied Parrot. Above left, a pair of forts of its parent home. Accurate Dammerman’s Moustached Parakeets. almost to the day the pair laid for the second time one year later. Again only dammermani) first arrived to Wal- Moustached Parakeets of other sub- a single egg was laid and a single chick srode in 2008. In 2010 the rearing species, kept in Walsrode in the past reared. succeeded more than once. However have not shown this behavior. This year the pair is keeping the in the first clutch we did determine The Blue-bellied Parrot (Triclaria good tradition up and currently incu- that the pair only warmed the chicks malachitacea) and the Pileated Par- bates their third clutch. The Austra- for a short time every day and in the rot (Pionopsitta pileata), both mid- lian Black Cockatoos are very rare in cold and rainy spring we had this year sized parrot species, are inhabitants of aviculture outside Australia and the the chicks were not developing appro- the seriously threatened Atlantic-rain- successful breeding is seldom achieved priately. As a consequence the two forest of Brazil. In Weltvogelpark the without hand-rearing. Most hand- chicks were pulled for hand-rearing Blue-bellied Parrot has been bred reg- reared males in this species display and both recovered fine. During the ularly since the 1980s but in 2009 we some degree of poor imprinting and second clutch the weather was much achieved our best results so far with do not pair up with the females of their better and the parents reared three seven offspring. In the Pileated Par- own species. Especially for this reason, chicks without any problems. We can- rot we have had less success but in the young, parent-reared black cocka- not say if the limited time spent in 2009 we did receive two eggs from a toos in Walsrode are most welcome. the nest with the chicks is a particular breeder who had experienced how the The Dammerman’s Moustached adaptation in this or just an parents had previously destroyed all Parakeets (Psittacula alexandri incidence in our current breeding pair. of their clutches. Two chicks hatched

54 Volume XXXVIII • Numbers 1 & 2 • 2011 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights and were reared by our nursery team but is not quite successful. In 2010 we keepers had to clean the nest box and adding this species to our collection succeeded in breeding the Purple-bel- exchange the wood-shavings every few for the first time in a decade. lied Lory ( hypoinochrous) for days. Another new species in 2009 the first time in Walsrode. Both par- The Goldie’s Lorikeet ( was the New Caledonian Lorikeet ents in this pair spend most of the goldiei) has long been maintained as ( haematodus deplanchii) time during incubation and also dur- a group in Weltvogelpark and seems of which we received an unrelated pair ing the rearing of the chick inside the to be doing well in this setting, even from France. We are now awaiting nest box. This meant also that the though not every pair is reproducing. the first breeding results. Also in the closely related Blue-cheeked Lorikeet (Trichoglossus capistratus) we managed to establish an unrelated pair for the first time in 2009, this species con- tinued to breed already the same year and has since been very prolific with four clutches of parent-reared chicks in 2010. As soon as the young has fledged the female laid another clutch of four eggs. To ensure the health of the adult pair we removed the nest box to force the birds to make a break. One of the breeding pairs of Blue- crowned Lorikeets ( austra- lis) have repeatedly reared just single egg clutches, between these clutches they make a comfortable break last- ing between five and six months, leav- ing this to be one of the species with the slowest reproduction rate in our collection. After a longer break, our Purple-naped Lories (Lorius domi- cella) started breeding again. The cur- rent pair consists of a female from our own breeding in 1994 and a male imported from via the Cologne Zoo. A male offspring hatched in February 2010 and stayed with its parents throughout the sea- son even though they started with a second clutch during the summer. The adult male has the unusual habit of “clicking” with its bill when he is excited. It’s interesting to observe how the offspring is trying to imitate this

AFA Watchbird 55 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

When we placed this group of 12 birds eggs were pulled and placed in the in our 2800 square-meter Nusantara incubator and the young Keas then Rainforest exhibit we did expect to hand-reared. With Keas it is essen- see an increase in breeding results. The tial to consider that the fully downed, contrary was the case over a period chicks are well adapted to a cold cli- of six months we did not see a sin- mate. During hand-rearing it must gle successful breeding. After this we be avoided that the young overheat returned the birds to their accustomed as this often lead to slowed digestion, surroundings in the Loriatrium where regurgitation and dehydration. the group lives in a smaller aviary The Horned Parakeets (Eunym- and started breeding again only a few phicus cornutus) from New Caledo- weeks later. nia reared six chicks in two clutches In a group of four Keas (Nestor in 2010. The two chicks, a male and a notabilis), consisting of an older and female, from the first clutch were left a younger pair on exhibit in the park, with the parents as they reared the sec- the keepers surprisingly found a clutch ond clutch. This did not seem to cause of eggs in the early spring. Unfortu- any problems but the older siblings did nately the eggs were partly broken, not assist their parents in rearing the possibly through the younger and less second clutch as we were expecting. An adult Kea experienced pair. For this reason the ~ Simon Bruslund and Martin Gaede

Watchbird Articles Online oon you will be able to access the beauty and education contained in Spast Watchbird articles. We will have articles from the start in1974 to April 1981 on our Watchbird website. These articles contain optical character recognition that allow sort and search by keywords and allow translation to other languages. You will be able to download them for a small fee, which supports the website. If you are an author or photographer for any of the past Watchbird editions up to the present, we want to get your publication release. If you would prefet not to have your contributions available for download, please let us know. In either case, please contact Mary Ellen LePage [email protected] We also want to add the later years’ articles after we have fin- ished a search for authors, in an attempt to obtain their signed release. Please help us with this important project that will help preserve the history of aviculture. — Mary Ellen LePage

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AFA Watchbird 57