FEATURE
large part the business was just that, about making money. Thankfully it will never happen again but where does that place those involved in breeding birds today and not just softbills but parrots, pheasants and others. So where are we now and what are the problems we face.
1. Great difficulty in obtaining unrelated birds. The few that are available are possibly too old. A lot of us have birds that will never be paired up. I will give you three of my own examples, White Tailed Ant Thrush, Blue Malkoha, Simple Greenbul. Where could new birds come from- perhaps Europe which has obviously a much larger number of private breeders and keepers. However are we about to cut ourselves adrift from our European friends, let us hope not.
2. Has a change in climate had any effect? I would imagine it has. In the last 10 years the temperatures have been gradually increasing and in particular the seasons where I live have changed out of all recognition. The last 2/3 years have been exceptionally dry - no moisture in the air, humidity low and often unsuitable for a lot of species except for those orginating in Desert Areas. The number of large trees and shrubs which have died or are in the process
includes Silver Birch, Holly, Cherry, Rhodos, Azaleas, Willow, even the hardy Bamboo have still to recover from 2 years ago
3. Is there much if any co-operation between Zoological establishments and private keepers. To differentiate between the two is not helpful-all involved are keeping and breeding birds so why is there such an artificial barrier to co-operation between the two groups. Zoos etc concentrate their limited resources on endangered species and co-operate within their recognised organisations. All very well and desirable but to virtually ignore species that are relatively common now will lead to their loss from the wild. Do we really want to put common species of least concern on the downward path towards extinction without some effort made to conserve them both in their natural habitat and in aviculture. Did Noah ask “are you
BIRD SCENE 09
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