Abstract
T he title of this column was not chosen by accident, but by design. By design because what we do today in aviculture and within the AFA will have a lot to do with the options that we retain for tomorrow, the future for aviculture and for our birds.
Twenty years ago, what you and I chose to do with our birds was of lii:tle concern to anyone but ourselves. Today, what we choose to do about keeping, breeding, exhibiting, banding, trading, buying and selling, transporting, importing, exporting, record keeping, and maintaining studbooks, are all of interest to others and to the future of aviculture.
Who Else
is Interested in Our Birds?
Who are all these others interested in our activities with exotic birds?
State and federal agencies are concerned about disease control and control of the introduction of exotic species into our lands.
Federal agencies are interested in our import and export activities and sometimes, depending on the sp~cies in whether or not we ship birds across state lines.
National humane groups are inter-
ested m how we cage and transport
birds.
Local humane organizations are
interested m how we exhibit and hold
birds in shows.
Animal rights groups are interested in preventing us from keeping birds at all and seem to believe that all birds should be released to "fly free."
We aviculturists are interested in how other aviculturists keep records and band birds so that when we purchase birds from them we are assured of being able to maintain healthy gene pools. We are also interested in health records and weights, so that we are assured of receiving healthy birds.
Bird curators at zoos are interested in whether or not we are participating in studbooks for the rare bird species.
Conservation minded folks in the general public are interested in the fact that we do keep and breed birds. Many conservation focused organizations share our interest in birds and favor captive breeding for the companion pet trade. Sometimes it seems hard to just sit back and enjoy caring for our birds when so many people are looking over our shoulders.
First, Enjoy Caring For Your Birds
Yet, this is just exactly what we must do, for the birds sake and for our sake. Personally, I like nothing better than to spend time in the aviaries, cleaning, replacing perches, checking nest boxes for new eggs and hatching chicks, and bringing in special foods such as pomegranates, papayas, dandelion greens, and branches full of flowers and buds from unsprayed fruit trees. Although the birds receive a
daily diet of vegetables and fruits, beans and rice, they enjoy variety too, and I enjoy this as much as they do. Some of the bolder birds will fly to the wire next to where I am working to see if they might be able to coax a special handout from me. I always give them something.
With our busy schedules and many tasks associated with the care and keeping of our birds, we need to spend special time with them. We need to re-experience their beauty, their uniqueness, their sociability, their vitality, their special intelligence, and be thankful that we have the opportunity to simply be in their presence.