2008 breeding season We have kept and bred many different species of turaco over the years, but never until 2008 had we bred the Lady Ross Musophaga rossae. Our pair was placed on loan to us by Michael Klat in 2006 and in late spring we were very surprised when we observed them feeding each other, becoming very vocal and then finally mating. We house our Lady Ross Turacos Musophaga rossae with a pair of Himalayan Monals Lophophorus


impejanus. They have access to a heated house in the winter months. They were provided with three nesting areas, one inside the house and two outside in the enclosure. Both the outside nests were attached to the house wall and were five and a half feet from the ground. One of the nests was a large hanging basket mounted on a piece of wood with a cover over it to keep off the elements.


The other was a wooden four sided


box, which was chosen to lay in. Nest building for this species is similar to that of doves and pigeons, in that they build a flimsy nest, giving little attention to its construction. Taking this into account, a large amount of


42 BIRD SCENE


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