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Bird Reproduction – How Natural Social Behaviors Affect Captive Breeding

Posted on: Thursday, November 12th, 2009 in: Baby Birds, Fun Stuff, General Bird Care, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Bird breeding is rarely as simple as putting a male and female together and hoping for the best.  Even Budgerigars and others that been captive bred for thousands of generations remain influenced by ancestral behaviors.  Understanding this will greatly improve our success at keeping and breeding birds in captivity.
Social Behavior in [...]

Introducing Estrildid Finches – the Waxbills, Munias, Nuns and Grass Finches

Posted on: Thursday, November 5th, 2009 in: Bird Conservation, Bird Species Profiles, Bird diet, Field Notes and Observations on Birds, General Bird Care, Uncategorized, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Among the130+ species of the family Estrildidae we find popular cage birds and highly endangered species.  Some, such as the gorgeously colored Gouldian Finch, are both – at once rare in the wild yet abundant in the pet trade.
Waxbills and their relatives are often the first finches aviculturists obtain after having [...]

Bird Breeding – Why Do Good Parents Sometimes Attack Their Chicks?

Posted on: Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 in: Baby Birds, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Parrots that pair up well, mate, hatch eggs and feed their chicks are every bird-breeders dream.  However, some such birds present us with a frustrating situation – just as the chicks begin to grow feathers, one or both of the otherwise doting parents begin to pluck at their chicks’ feathers.  Bleeding [...]

Eclectus Parrots in the Wild and Captivity – Part 2

Posted on: Thursday, October 15th, 2009 in: Bird Research or Recent News, Bird Species Profiles, Field Notes and Observations on Birds, Fun Stuff, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. In Part I of this article we discussed eclectus parrot (Eclectus roratus) behavior in the wild and captivity. Today I would like to focus on one of the more unusual facets Eclectus Parrot natural history – how a unique reproductive strategy has fostered a degree of sexual dimorphism (difference in [...]

Eclectus Parrots in the Wild and Captivity – Part 1

Posted on: Thursday, October 8th, 2009 in: Bird Research or Recent News, Bird Species Profiles, Field Notes and Observations on Birds, Fun Stuff, General Bird Care, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  One day, while working in Bronx Zoo’s eclectus parrot (Eclectus roratus) exhibit, a visitor asked me what sort of food additives I used to keep the bird’s colors so brilliant and silky.  Another, upon viewing a pair of eclectus preening, inquired how I had managed to get the two different species [...]

Hand-Rearing Baby Birds – Are you Qualified?

Posted on: Monday, September 14th, 2009 in: Bird training, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. Hand-raised birds of all types make wonderful pets, and the process itself seems appealing and attracts many bird owners. However, there are a number of misconceptions concerning the need for hand-raising birds, and also regarding the ease of doing so.
The Question of Bonding
Parent-reared birds can bond quite strongly to people and [...]

The Golden Pheasant – a Gorgeous yet Hardy Aviary Bird

Posted on: Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 in: Bird Species Profiles, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. As a small boy leafing through books on exotic birds from faraway lands, I recall being awe-stuck by a bird that, to me, symbolized all that was wild, foreign, beautiful and unknown – the golden pheasant (Chrysolphus pictus). The long-tailed males, which display gold, deep red, rust, blue, tan, orange, [...]

Breeding Lovebirds in Captivity: an Introduction

Posted on: Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 in: bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Despite the “love” part of their name, these tiny parrots (9 species in the genus Agapornis) are actually quite feisty and downright aggressive towards one another at times.  Introducing new birds is not easy, but once a pair forms the birds will be quite devoted to each other, and may well [...]

The A&E Double Flight Cage: How Much Room Does a Finch Need? Part I

Posted on: Monday, July 6th, 2009 in: Bird Product Review, bird breeding

It seems to me that finches are often “short-changed” when it comes to cage space. Their small size, especially when compared to other pet birds, seems to pre-dispose hobbyists to providing equally tiny living quarters. But the facts that a bird “fits” in a cage, and can move about somewhat, does not necessarily [...]

Spring’s Affect on Parrots, Budgerigars, Canaries, Finches and Other Cage Birds, Part II: Nestlings and Fledglings (Nutrition, Perches, Feather-Plucking)

Posted on: Friday, May 29th, 2009 in: Bird diet, bird breeding

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Please see Part I of this article for information on other nesting concerns.
There are few events more rewarding to bird owners than the discovery of a nest full of newly-hatched chicks.  But along with the excitement of the new arrivals may come a few potential problems.  Today we’ll take a look [...]