Abstract
Dear Editor:
My husband and I are quite interested in getting a bird or birds as pets. We have become interested in Cockatiels and the larger parakeets such as the Indian Ringnecked, etc. Any information you can give me will be most appreciated. We want to see as many birds as possible before we make our decision.
Thank you,
L. Kasowski California
Pet birds can be most delightful but they can also be rather disastrous. Some species of birds have a propensity toward being good pets. Other species never seem to take to close captivity and human attention. Most of the Amazon parrots, the various Cockatoos, and the Macaws are often kept as pets. The Indian Ringneck is not often kept although I know of a few specimens that have been fine pets. Rosellas tend to be too flighty and unhappy when kept as a pet but again, I know of one beautiful pet Golden Mantled Rosella. If you can get a young handfed parrot your chances of having a good pet will be greatly increased. Of course, each bird is its own person, as it were. They have strong personalities that may differ very much from bird to bird even within a single species. My wife has wonderful luck raising pet birds. They turn out friendly, learn to talk, and are in all respects good pets. When I attempt to tame a bird there is always some question regarding who trained whom. I usually end up chirping and whistling while the bird remains mute. I wonder what that means. Hmmm.
Editor
Dear Sir:
I thought you might like to see this picture [a normal Peach Faced Lovebird showing a lot of red feathers down its breast and one its wings]. I have five of these to date; one pair has some babies but I'm not sure how many yet. I'll look in the box next weekend. The picture is of my best colored bird. She is about four years old and has layed one egg this year but she then stopped. Perhaps she is too fat.
K.L. Davis Marysville, California
The picture is quite interesting. There have been a number of abnormally red lovebirds in the last few years. Two years ago I had four very yellow pied Peach Face that had beautiful candy-stripe red bars all through their wings. The contrast of red on yellow was beautiful. My red striped birds came out of two different colonies so I assumed the odd coloration was not genetic. I took the birds to the Las Vegas breeding set-up to see if they would breed true and produce red-striped offspring. Alas, the four birds molted out and their new feathers came in without a trace of red on them. The birds are still together and should soon produce babies
but I don't expect any red ones.
In Diseases of Cage and Aviary Birds (Petrak, 1969) there is a brief discussion of carotenoids, which are pigments that give birds their orange and red colors. Petrak says, "Carotenoids are deposited in diffuse, non-granular form and, for the most part, cannot be synthesized by birds. They are ingested in plant and some animal foods and are deposited, often unaltered chemically, in feathers and soft parts. These . pigments alone .. can act to produce a startling array of colors, textures, and patterns."
I assume that in the red Peach Face the birds metabolism got a little out of hand and some of the carotenes were deposited in abnormal places. 1 don 't really know. Any information on this subject would be appreciated. You might also contact the African Love Bird Society. They may have more complete knowledge regarding these red Love Birds.
Editor
Dear Editor:
For the benefit of readers who may never have seen an albino or blue Indian Ringneck Parakeet other than as pictured on the cover of the April/May 1977 Watchbird, I would like to comment that the tail feathers of all of the pictured birds had been worn off and quite soiled from climbing on the aviary wire and walking on the earthen floor of the aviaries. The tails of the albino and the blue are particularly bad. The tail feathers of all of these would normally be slightly longer than those of the pictured green and lutino and the undersides should not be stained. When the pictures were taken we did not have a huge selection of birds to choose from.
Name Withheld by Request
An old Oxford professor once told his class, "Never apologize; Never explain." The photograph is a masterpiece and the birds are fantastic. We have received a plethora of accolades regarding that cover picture. Our thanks to the photographer, Janee Sa/an, and to you for your cooperation and for your dedication to aviculture. Very few people have had the foresight and patience to produce such stunning color mutations in the parrot family.
For you readers who can't live without owning a few albino or blue Ringneck Parakeets there are one or two birds available. Please write a note to this editor indicating your interest in the mutation birds and their owner will contact you.
Editor