FEATURE
could not keep her aloft. Each time she tried, she crashed to the ground so she soon desisted.
Having birds trained in a zoo by professionals was so agreeable. Both birds would step into a crate from the hand or the stick without the least trouble.
Lena tries to breed
It was the breeding season. We hung a homemade nest box in a corner. Archie on guard outside it, would fan his tail, flash his eyes, double himself in size and warn in Amazon language, ‘Do NOT approach.’ Lena laid three more eggs and brooded them all. None hatched. I found one chick dead in shell. She was, and still is, a devoted mother and once she goes down, remains in the nest box except for two brief exits to drink and to defecate. Archie feeds her. Again I have no idea whether she may have had live chicks in captivity or even in the forest. I often wish one could tell parrots’ ages by rings on their beaks as one can age horses from the state of their teeth. Since that first spring when I took the Amazons into the aviary, Lena has laid a clutch of three or four eggs every year. The second year, I made the mistake of removing clear eggs after a couple of weeks and she
Lena has one wing damaged, perhaps slashed by a machete when she was captured in the Brazilian rainforest, so she’s flightless.
promptly laid another clutch. So now I let her sit on them until she gives up herself. After 4 weeks or so she seems to know the eggs won’t hatch and she and Archie who have both slept in the nest box start to sleep outside again. Sometimes she gives up on her own accord; sometimes I remove the eggs. Archie has fed and guarded her. His devotion may be due only to instinct but everyone who sees them has to smile at such touching devotion. By the third mating season, I was trusted enough to approach them while they were nesting. I have never found out the reasons for the empty eggs. Archie does copulate with Lena. Indeed the first time it happened, I was terrified at the sound of Lena’s screams and rushed from the kitchen to the aviary. However, he wasn’t killing her - simply making love to her. Perhaps his infertility is age-related or perhaps his crippled feet prevent him gripping her firmly enough.
I was terrified at the sound of Lena’s screams and rushed from the kitchen to the aviary. However, he wasn’t killing her - simply making love to her. Perhaps his infertility is age-related or perhaps his crippled feet prevent him gripping her firmly enough.
BIRD SCENE 33
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