Every year is different with LES RANCE’s beautiful collection of Australian parakeets, but 2020 was particularly instructive in terms of the breeding results. In the first of three articles, Les discusses two of his favourite species: the Port Lincolns and…
Above: Philippine cockatoo: Critically Endangered and subject of a reintroduction programme In the third of four articles, DR DAVID WAUGH explains how scientists are honing the technique of artificial insemination to improve the chances of successful breeding in rare…
Above: Hyacinth macaws could benefit from AI. Photo: Cezar Correa DR DAVID WAUGH explains how scientists are refining the technique of artificial insemination (AI) in endangered parrot species to improve the chances of successful breeding. It’s a method on…
Photo: Geoff Gale pictured with two of his winning lovebirds at the Lovebird (1990) Society’s 2018 members’ show Sometimes an unconventional approach can pay off, as Geoff Gale found when he tried breeding the rare pale-headed peach-face mutation, with some interesting…
Photo: Dot Schwarz. Lesson one: do not leave food out in the kitchen! Dot’s African greys help themselves to a jar of biscuits Mistakes: they can be funny, sloppy, reversible, ignorant or tragic, says Dot Schwarz. She recounts a…
Photo: Leicestershire Parrot Club. Companion birds must not be kept in the kitchen where they can be exposed to Teflon fumes, advises Lynda. Symptoms of PTFE toxicosis include wheezing and seizures All birdkeepers should be aware of the threats…
Photo: CP Buckley. Trainer Neena MacNulty in Chicago, USA teaching her birds Otto and Emma the ‘fly to me’ move The basics, the early stages in working with a companion parrot, are critically important. Get them right and you could…
Photo: © Shutterstock.com/Maggy Meyer. Striking: the male red-bellied parrot. Note the green and orange thighs and blue tinged undertail coverts Rosemary Low examines how certain species of the same genus can be sexually dimorphic, while others aren’t, as she…
Photo: Colin O’Hara. A young pied just showing its first pied feathers. It can take 15 months for the definitive markings to show up This mutation of the splendid parakeet is not one of the newer ones but, says…
Photo: Les Rance. A cock Pennant’s waiting patiently for his hen to hatch Turks going great guns, Pennant’s promising, kings not off the mark yet: an absorbing season so far for Les Rance HAVING written three short articles about…