Abstract
It had been two years since my last visit to the San Diego Zoo, and in late January of 1978 it was obvious a lot had gone on in the bird collection. After several years of relative stasis following the imposition of Newcastle's Disease import restrictions in 1972, a number of exciting additions to the collection had been made, both through commercial sources, and by special arrangement of the San Diego Zoological Society. The world famous parrot collection had been particularly enriched. Sun Conures were still a rarity then, and the newly-arrived flock of Abyssinian Lovebirds were the first I'd seen. Until the San Diego Zoo privately imported one pair from Papua New Guinea in 1977 there had been no Goldie's Lorikeets in the country since the 1950's, when the last ones died at the Brookfield Zoo (where they had bred). Admiring this pair in their aviary, I would never have imagined that, thanks in part to San Diego breedings, as well as later commercial exports from Indonesia, this species would be considered a widespread "beginner's lorikeet" by the 1990's. The expanding Indonesian bird exportation business had been the source of Duivenbode's Lories. For a great many people, myself included, San Diego's Duivenbode's were the first they'd seen aside from the picture in Forshaw's.
As wonderful as all this was, I was to shortly learn about even more exiting goings on. While I was enjoying the lories and lorikeets, their keeper happened by, and my asking him a few questions evolved into a conversation which I believe must have lasted an hour.
We looked at what was then the one and only Stella's Lorikeet in the country, at the Zoo since 1967, and admired its two offspring and their mother, a Violet-necked Lory. Producing these hybrids was as close to breeding Stella's Lorikeets in the Western Hemisphere as anyone had come. Little did we imagine, that in a fairly short time a number (more correctly identified as Mt. Goliath Stella's Lorikeets) would be exported from Indonesia, and the San Diego Zoo would become a major propagator of these birds. Back on that January day in 1978, however, I was told something almost as startling. Just arrived in offexhibit breeding facilities were a single specimen each of Papuan and Josephine's Lorikeets. These would prove to be the only specimens San Diego ever received. To my knowledge, neither had ever been kept in the U.S. previously (Rosemary Low considered San Diego's specimen "the first in aviculture"). I never did see these birds, but I did see two of their hybrid offspring (which I mistook for Stella's Lorikeets) at Crystal Gardens, in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1984.
Finally, I was told the most amazing news of all. The San Diego Zoo was shortly expecting the arrival of Tahiti Blue Lories. None had been in captivity in Europe or North America since the Second World War, and it was then widely believed to be possibly on the edge of extinction. In its long and distinguished history of lory husbandry, San Diego had never kept it. It was only through the confiscation of several birds which smugglers had attempted to peddle to California aviculturists (who promptly informed the authorities) that San Diego had the opportunity to work with one of the most legendary of parrots. The zoo was to eventually fully rear at least fifty Blue Lories, though due to several factors, a selfsustaining population was not to be achieved. But all that was in the future. On that January morning in 1978, one could only be amazed at a completely unlooked-for opportunity to work with birds never expected in aviculture in our time.
That was my first meeting with Wayne Schulenburg. A great many people retain similar memories of their first encounter with this master aviculturist, so cordial with his time and knowledge. Wayne was always ready to share advice and information. He was constantly consulted at the zoo, and was always a popular speaker or attendant at AFA functions.
Wayne was a native of San Diego County, born in Chula Vista. His enthusiasm for birds began at an early age. In his late twenties, he still had his childhood Cockatiel. In his teens, he was one of the last people to work for Jerome Buteyn, whose extensive aviaries in San Diego's North County included Cocks-of-the- Rock, Bellbirds, African Crowned Eagles, and an extensive collection of toucans. He went to work as a Bird Keeper at the San Diego Zoo in 1973, and never left until September, 2003, when complications from diabetes, with which had had lived since the age of twelve, forced him to retire. He died of kidney failure on December 22, 2003.
Wayne began his career at San Diego Zoo as a bird keeper. By 1976 he was at work in the Avian Propagation Center, where he was responsible for incubators and brooders, hand-rearing chicks, and caring for off-exhibit breeding birds. He was promoted to Senior Keeper in 1977, and became a Lead Keeper in 1979. In 1986 Wayne became Animal Care Manager of the Bird Department, the position he held till his retirement. He oversaw the day-to-day functioning of the largest collection of captive birds in the Western Hemisphere. His thirty year career at the zoo...