FEATURE
think this is learned behaviour and that the birds do not appreciate the nature of being touched. It fits my opinion, not at their natural behaviour, in which no form of affection is shown between species.
Peculiarities As if what was written above is not peculiar enough, there are still a few things I would like to mention. In addition to the change of the bill colour, I have already mentioned the swelling of the cloaca during the breeding season. The male sexual organ can even hang totally or partially outside the body. This phenomenon is fascinating, but even not always known by veterinarians. Many owners of a Vasa Parrot who are not familiar with this get scared and might think that the bird is suffering from a disease. I even read stories where an ignorant vet tried pushing back the hemipenis into the body, what had to be a tremendous torture for the bird. So don’t be scared if you observe this. In particular, immediately after mating the entire genital organ hangs outside of the body of the male. It takes a few minutes until the greatest part of the flesh has been retracted back into the body. During breeding season the aviary will need to be cleaned more frequent. This season the faeces become thinner. This is logical, because with a swollen cloaca obviously it poops a little more difficult. The thinner faeces give a stronger, typical smell. Therefore, there is sometimes
claimed that Vasa Parrots stink. That is not entirely true. The birds themselves don’t stink, it’s the faeces that smell. Outside the breeding season the faeces are solid again and almost without any smell at all. In addition to more liquid faeces the birds also lose much moisture if they come loose apart after copulation. Large amounts of slimy fluid leaves the gender gap and usually ends up on the aviary floor. This might not seem very tasteful, but it is a fact. Greater Vasa Parrot hens are losing their head feathers during breeding season, giving them a bald head. The skin colour on the head changes into lemon yellow to deep orange. Lesser Vasa hens won’t get bald. However,
the skin may colour yellow to orange in the beak area, which, however, by the feathering is hardly visible.
Finally The circumstances under which I keep my birds are far from ideal. I live in a row of houses and hereby I express my gratitude to everyone in my neighbourhood for their tolerance of the noise in summer. Also the amount of birds I possess is continuously too large for the available space. Nevertheless I usually succeed to get offspring at least from one pair every year. Only in 2010 and in 2013 I didn’t obtain any breeding results. Of course the facility plays a major role in achieving breeding results. Because of that
BIRD SCENE 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
