Abstract
Eclectus in the Wild
M y first sighting of Eclectus parrots was 32 years ago on a documentary film expedition. The filming was done in the rainforest of the Iron Range of the Cape York Peninsula in North Queensland, Australia. The year was 1968 and our party of nine, which included two Americans, one German, and six Australians was searching for the Palm Cockatoo, Probosciger aterrimus. Back in those days, the Palm Cockatoo had rarely been seen or photographed. At that time, my involvement in aviculture was breeding black Cockatoos and I had all the species except the Black Palm Cockatoo. I was contacted by an American film producer who heard about my plan to go to Cape York in search of Palm Cockatoos.
It was during this trip in 1968, and again in 1969, that I saw the Australian Eclectus Parrot for the first time. This sighting left me with images and memories that have stayed with me all these years. In fact, two years later my wife, my daughter, and I packed up and moved from Sydney to Cairns, a distance of 1,800 miles with a plan to obtain a collecting permit for these birds and to create a bird park.
In 1973, after obtaining the collecting permit, developing the bird park and opening to the public, I did my first collecting trip back to Cape York. Palm Cockatoos and Eclectus parrots were collected and thus began my lifetime fascination with these beautiful birds.
There is some debate about the number of Eclectus subspecies, but it
is my opinion that the Eclectus Parrot genus is made up of nine subspecies. These are the nominate Eclectus roratus roratus and eight subspecies: E. r. tosmaeri, E. r. polychloros, E. r. solomonensis, E. r. macgilliorayi, E. r. aruensis, E. r. biaki, and the two rare subspecies,
E. r. comelia and E. r. riedeli.
In the U.S., the subspecies most commonly kept are E. r. polycbloros, E. r. solomonensis, E. r. iosmaeri, E. r. roratus (known as the Grand Eclectus), E. r. aruensis, and few pairs of E. r. bialei, and E. r. comelia. To my knowledge, there are no E. r. macgillivrayi in the U.S. although there have been some unproven reports that seven birds were seen at an importer's facility during the last few years. There are no E. r. riedeli recorded in the United States.
Here in Australia, we keep much the same number of subspecies but in not as many individual birds. The most popular are E. r. polycbloros, E. r. solomensis, E. r. macgillivrayi, E. r. oosmaeri, and very few E. r. roratus and E. r. aruensis. There have been reports of a small number of E. r. cornelia.
We also have the same problem as breeders in the U.S. of cross-bred birds. It was only about 10 years ago that Eclectus were sold as just that - "Eclectus," a name which covered all subspecies. Only in the past few years have breeders started to become aware of specific subspecies and breed pure birds. I would like to encourage all breeders here in Australia and the U.S. to breed only pure birds, even for the pet bird market because in time, crossing the subspecies will come back to haunt us all.
Eclectus parrots are found in areas throughout the Asia Pacific region. The main number of subspecies are found in the Indonesian archipelago, on the islands of Buru, Ceram, Ambon, Halmahera, Aru, Biak, Sumba and Tanimbar, with the others found in Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. There is an introduced subspecies, E. r. polychloros, to the island of Palau, there also are reports of birds being introduced to smaller islands near Tanimbar.
Eclectus Parrots have been traded for many hundreds of years throughout Indonesia and in the latest reports I have received, this is still the case. I might add that although Eclectus are protected in Indonesia and cannot be exported (it is not illegal to own or trade them domestically) birds still do reach other countries. I know of a collector in Thailand who owns a fleet of fishing boats that do regular trips throughout these islands in Indonesia. Parrots are as much a part of his cargo as fish.
I also saw this first hand on a sailing trip to the Indonesian island of Ambon in 1974. My mates and I were offered birds from canoes that paddled out to us when we docked in Ambon Harbour. There were many Eclectus Parrots offered for sale for only a few dollars. Not far from us were two ships of the Indonesian Navy and after we cleared through immigration, customs, etc., we were invited to one of these ships. Upon boarding, we noticed quite a few bamboo cages of birds on the after deck. When I asked what they were, I was told that they were pets owned by the sailors and that they had purchased them while on duty throughout the outer islands of Indonesia. There were Eclectus, Greatbills, Cockatoos, and Racket-tailed Parrots. Some of these birds were offered to us as well. I am sure that this enterprise is still going on today.
The status of Eclectus Parrots in the wild is for the most part secure, but the main threat is deforestation which is still carried out at an alarming rate. All wildlife, not just the birds, will decline if there is no place to breed.