FEATURE
There is nothing worse than losing a baby bird just because it becomes soaked, loses body heat and dies of hypothermia. Aviculture is very much about watching what is going on in your aviaries and reacting to what you see, if you see something that needs attention act on it there and then, do not leave it for another day, the remedial action might be too late the next day. Kakariki greatly enjoy bathing in quite a vigorous fashion and so that they do not run out of water I place their 8” diameter Ward water dish inside a washing up bowl to catch the water that would otherwise be lost, thus preventing total loss of water, which is very serious if the weather is hot, until I replace the water next morning.
I also place their dry seed mixture in a dish inside a washing up bowl as they vigorously scratch the seed with their feet almost reminiscent of chickens and it goes all over the aviary with large quantities being wasted. I have on occasions watched them carefully whilst they do this but there does not appear to be one specific seed in the mixture that they are seeking, they just seem to love scratching. Possibly it is a throw back to their breeding techniques in the southern island of New Zealand where tree cavities are scarce and they
nest in burrows in the ground, their largish strong feet moving soil and sand at a rapid rate to create a nesting site. These nests obviously gave no protection against rats which came into New Zealand with the first White settlers and caused tremendous losses to the native birds that used such locations to breed.
I do hope that this article has given readers the information that they need to breed Kakariki they are certainly very interesting birds to maintain and they are very confiding, If you take them a small tit bit such as a piece of apple when you visit their aviary they will quickly become tame and as they have a pleasant not too loud call they are excellent birds for the smaller garden.
DONATE TO OUR CONSERVATION FUND…
CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/donations.php
BIRD SCENE 54
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 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
