Abstract
The Plum-crowned Pionus (Pionus
tumultuous tumultuous) is a very
beautiful bird, and can be found in
very few collections worldwide. As far
as I could ascertain, only a handful of
breeders have been able to report
breeding activity.
In March of 1991, I noticed an advertisement
in a local avicultural magazine
for three hens of this species.
After a few phone calls, I learned that
a group of ten of these birds had been
imported into this country some years
back. Within a few days, five had succumbed
to heat and high humidity. Of
the remaining five, four turned out to
be hens. The cock was killed later on
by flying into the aviary's wire one
night.
I bought the hens, and then
launched a futile search worldwide in
order to find some cocks. I expected
this would be difficult, but I never
envisioned that it would prove to be a
fruitless venture. Rosemary Low
informed me about the Pionus Breeders
Association in the U.S.A., and, after
contacting Bill Arbon, I learned that a
few lone cocks were kept at a few
facilities. Loro Parque had, for a few
years, been searching for a hen for
their lone cock. American legislation
made it impossible (at the time at
least) for an exchange of birds to be
effected.
In the meantime, Tony Silva, then
the curator of birds at Loro Parque,
gave me some very valuable information
about the natural habitat of the
Plum-crowned Pionus stating it to be
an extremely cold, high-altitude area
with low humidity. I had to make a
few adaptations, because the part of
South Africa where I live is a semidesert
environment of about 850 m
(2,800 feet) elevation with searing hot
summer days of between 35° and 43°
centigrade (95° to 105°F) and
extremely low humidity apart from
. our rainy months, which are March
and April.
The birds were kept in a 10 x 1 x 2 m
aviary, of which half is completely
enclosed with brick walls, a fiberglass
roof and an asbestos door. Adjacent
trees and a high hedge blocks direct
sunlight on 75% of the aviary for half
of the day. An air-conditioner was
installed in the closed section, for use
in the summer months. A micro-mist
spray system provides daily showers
for 30 minutes. They enjoy it all the
way.
While my worldwide search
went on, I visited a parrot breeder in
Johannesburg, Francois Meiring and
his son Antonie. They have over 400
aviaries in their facility. A pair of
Plum- crowned Pionus was shown to
me, as well as a few hybrid offspring
from the cock. At the time they only
had a cock, it was paired to a maximiliani
hen. Francois offered me a
hybrid cock in order to have something,
and I introduced him into the
hens' aviary, a decision that I came to
regret and which caused some selfreproach.
After co-habitating peacefully
for seven days, a commotion
broke out one afternoon with all three
hens attacking the cock, and, in the
ensuing fracas, before my eyes, one
hen was bitten by the cock and she
flew straight into the wire and died
instantly. I immediately removed the
cock and housed him in an adjoining
aviary. Neither of the hens ever
showed any inclination towards him,
and I noticed that a ve1y strong bond
existed between the two females.
I approached Francois again and
made an offer for the pair of Plumcrowneds.
Because his pair had been
together for some years without showing
any interest in each other or the
nestbox, he magnanimously acceded
- above petty selfishness as his pair
were the only other specimens in this
country .