That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

Click here to read the first part of The Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata) In the Wild and Captivity.

Social Groups and Compatible Species
Diamond Doves get along well with most finch species, including canaries, but only when housed in large outdoor aviaries or rooms within homes. They are intolerant of other dove species. Although gregarious in the wild, captives do best when kept in pairs as opposed to groups.

Captive Longevity
Average longevity is 12-14 years, with some birds reaching their late teens. The longevity record is in the neighborhood of 21 years.

Handling
Diamond Doves take well to gentle handling, and birds kept singly often bond strongly to their owners…in males this can lead to incessant “courting attempts”. Training should take place in a small room. The dove should be encouraged to perch on one’s finger via gentle pressure against the breast – never grab and place a bird on your hand.

These birds are quite sociable by nature – the interactions among wild flocks approach the levels exhibited by parrots. A single bird will do fine if allowed frequent contact (out of the cage) with its owner. Females make better single pets, as males kept alone tend to be noisy. If you are away for most of the day, then a pair of doves should be kept – birds left alone all day rarely fare well.

Breeding
Diamond Doves breed readily in captivity, and a pair cannot fail to delight you with their mutual preening and other interactions. They communicate with a wide variety of “cooing” sounds, and separated pairs emit a unique distress call until re-united.

Diamond Doves, especially captive-produced color strains, can be difficult to sex by appearance. Courting behavior is often more reliable. In general, naturally-colored males tend towards silver-gray in coloration, while females appear more brown-gray. The orange-red eye ring of the adult male measures 2-3 mm in width, while that of the females is 1 mm….surprisingly, this slight size difference is noticeable among birds perched closely together.

Diamond Doves lay 2 eggs, usually 1 day apart. Males incubate by day and females by night, but sometimes both share the nest. The eggs hatch in 13-15 days, and the nestlings fledge at day 12-15. Be sure to leave the young with their parents for at least 2 weeks after fledging, as they are fed “pigeon milk” during this period and only gradually learn to take seeds.

Basket nests are readily accepted. Doves do not build much of a nest, but be sure to provide a variety of straw and dried grass – some can be very picky as to nest material size and thickness!

You can read about some Diamond Dove relatives that are also kept as pets at:
http://www.diamonddove.info/bird10%20Geopelia.htm

Image referenced from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Golabek_diamentowy.jpg. Author M. Betley, under the GNU Free Documentation License.

General
This charming, canary-sized bird is an ideal choice for those drawn to doves but unable to meet the space requirements of Ring-Necks and other larger species.  Both wild and captive-bred strains are beautifully colored and possess a wide range of pleasing calls.  Diamond Doves tame easily and make responsive and affectionate pets, often bonding quite strongly to their owners.

Please see Diamond Dove Natural History for more information on these fascinating birds.

Enclosure and Physical Environment
Provide your doves with as much room as possible – the minimum cage size for a pair would be along the lines of the A & E Victorian Top Cage (28” x 15”).  If kept in a cage of this size, the doves should be let out for exercise on a regular basis.  Larger bird cages are preferable if you are not able to give your birds much free-flight time

Diamond Doves spend a good deal of time on the ground, and do best in a solid-bottomed cage.  Remove the bottom grate from your cage, as such will lead to foot problems.

The cage should be located in a draft-free room that receives a good deal of sunlight (but beware of over-heating).  Diamond Doves love to sunbathe, and will gather in sunlit spots with wings and tails fanned.

As window glass filters out the sun’s beneficial UVA and UVB rays, be sure to provide your doves with a full spectrum bird bulb (Please also see my article Providing the Proper Type and Amount of Light to Pet Birds).  These little doves are quite alert to their surroundings, and definitely enjoy looking out a window.

However calm your doves may be by day, they will likely respond frantically to unusual nighttime noises (this is true of most birds, but particularly so for doves).  If nocturnal disturbances are possible, leave a small bulb lit at night so that the birds will not crash into cage walls if startled.  R-Zilla’s Incandescent Nightlight and similar bulbs (designed for reptiles, and usually tinted red or blue) provide light and some heat but will not disturb the birds’ sleep cycle.

Diamond Doves are ideally suited to outdoor aviaries, and in such situations will display their full range of natural behaviors to best effect.

Heat and Humidity
Diamond Doves hail from harsh Australian environments, and are consequently quite hardy despite their fragile appearance.  Temperatures of 50-90 F are handled easily, and humidity is rarely a concern (if kept outdoors, however, they should be provided a dry shelter).  Drafts should be avoided.

Feeding
Diamond Doves consume a varied diet in the wild and should be provided with the same in captivity.  Please bear in mind that doves swallow seeds whole, without cracking them – most commercial pigeon or dove foods (seed or pellets) will be too large for these little fellows to handle.

I suggest as a basic diet a mix consisting of 50% Pretty Bird Premium Food for Canaries and Finches and 50% white millet.  To this add a daily ration of pre-crushed Lefabre Premium Daily Pellet Diet for Parakeets, which will assist in their getting enough Vitamin D3 (especially important if the doves do not have access to unfiltered sunlight).  You can also offer some Goldenfeast Australian Blend, but some of the ingredients are bulky and will need to be crushed.

Diamond Doves will also enjoy picking at millet sprays  and sprouting grass sprout pot.  Finely grated sweet potatoes, carrots and various greens should also be provided.  Hard-boiled eggs (ground with shells) should be offered once or twice each week, especially to nesting females (this is not always taken).

Finch grit  must be available at all time – doves cannot grind ingested seed shells without it – and Avitron Liquid Vitamins should be added to the drinking water.

Check back next Monday for the rest of this article.

Image referenced from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Golabek_diamentowy.jpg. Author M. Betley, under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Bird extinctions, especially those on islands, are usually caused by introduced mammalian predators – most often cats and rats – and hunting. The sad story of the virtual disappearance of all birds from Guam is unique in that a reptile, the Brown Tree Snake, is at its root.

The Brown Tree Snake arrived on Guam in the late 1940’s as a stowaway (from the Admiralty Islands) in supplies used to repair the damages wrought by World War II. Finding a paradise of ample food and no predators, populations of this unusually adaptable snake soon exploded. Today 8 of Guam’s 12 forest dwelling bird species are extinct, 2 survive only in captivity or semi-captivity, and 2 are on the brink of extinction.

The Guam Rail, Gallirallus owstoni, became extinct in the wild in 1987. In 1984, while working at the Bronx Zoo, I received several pairs from a group held in captivity on Guam. They were amazingly aggressive little birds, and bred readily. Today they thrive in zoos and have been released onto Guam’s neighboring island, Rota. The Micronesian Kingfisher, Halcyon cinnamomina, also holds on in captivity but is gone from the wild. These have proven more difficult than the rails – those I worked with fed well but remained edgy and usually failed to breed. Captives that do reproduce often make poor parents, and hand rearing of the chicks is sometimes necessary.

The bird extinctions have wrecked havoc on the ecology of local forests. Nearly 70% of Guam’s trees rely upon birds for seed dispersal or to aid in germination by removing seed coats via the action of their digestive systems. Recent tests reveal that all seeds of most trees on Guam fall directly below the parent, where lack of sunlight and high levels of seed-predators condemns them to certain death.

Lacking birds, the snakes have now turned their attention to fruit bats, rodents, shrews and lizards, with catastrophic consequences – Guam’s endemic fruit bat and 5 lizards species are gone, and introduced house mice and rats are the only rodents observed in recent years. People have been bitten while sleeping (it is theorized that the snakes strike at rapid eye movements – how’s that for a “rude awakening”!?) and bird owners sometimes find a stuffed snake in a cage that formerly held their pet.

The birds of mainland USA are not without problems – nearly 25% of our species are considered to be at risk, and the recent introduction of Burmese Pythons to south Florida does not bode well for birds there.

The Brown Tree Snake is considered a potential threat to Hawaii’s unique and already fragile bird populations as well. Read more about this story at:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D61239F937A25754C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

Guam Rail image is referenced from Wikipedia Commons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Guam_rail.gif and originally posted by Sabine’s Sunbird

Brown Tree Snake Image is referenced from Wikipedia Commons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Brown_tree_snake_Boiga_irregularis_USGS_Photograph.sized.jpg and was originally posted by Onionhound

Pet birds of all types can benefit from the branches, leaves and stems of wild plants and trees.  Stripping bark, chewing wood and searching the leaves for hidden treats is very good for their well-being.  In fact, I have long provided cut native browse to captives ranging from ants to ostriches to elephants, and most zoos consider such a valuable form of “behavioral enrichment” and, in some cases, an adjunct to captive diets.

Be sure that all plants provided to birds have been well-washed, so as to remove insecticides.  When cutting natural perches, stay with branches from almond, citrus fruit, apple, dogwood, ash, elm and Manzanita trees, or grapevine.

Many plants that birds might encounter in your home or garden can, however, sicken or kill your pet.  The following list was adapted from that provided by the ASPCA, with additions garnered from my own experience.  Please keep your birds (and other pets) away from these – when in doubt, err on the side of caution:

Aloe Vera
Amaryllis
Apple (seeds)
Andromeda japonica
Apricot (pit)
Asparagus Fern
Avocado (fruit, pit)
Azalea
Baby Doll
Baby’s Breath
Bird of paradise
Bittersweet
Branching Ivy
Buckeye
Buddhist Pine
Caladium
Calla Lily
Castor Bean
Ceriman
Cherry (leaves, seeds)
China Doll
Chinese Evergreen
Christmas Cactus
Christmas Rose
Chrysanthemum
Cineraria
Clematis
Cordatum
Crocus
Corn Plant (all Dracena)
Crown Vetch
Cyclamen

There’s quite a few more…I’ll cover the balance next week.

Bird emergencies can take many forms….for an overview, please see:
http://www.azeah.com/Care-Sheets.asp?id=96

Click here to read the first part of this article.

Social Groups and Compatible Species
Wild lovebirds live colonially, and can be kept in groups if your cage or aviary is large enough.  Of course managing a group can be difficult, as squabbles will arise, and, perhaps due to some form of stress, certain individuals will pluck the young of others.  It is best to separate breeding lovebirds from the group.

These plucky birds can hold their own even when housed with much larger parrots, but care must always be taken in these circumstances.  But if you are set on mixing small and large parrots, Masked Lovebirds are a good choice.

Handling and Enrichment
Natural clowns, Masked Lovebirds have quite bold, inquisitive personalities, and are relatively fearless (please see The Masked Lovebird – Natural History).  They seem naturally pre-disposed to become trusting pets, but only if acquired at a young age.  Adults that have not been tamed are nearly impossible to handle.

Masked Lovebirds are capable of imitating words, but rarely do so.  Tame ones are so charming that this will not be noticed, and their constant antics will leave you wanting little more from a pet bird.  They are highly trainable and will readily use a variety of bird toys.

Breeding
Pet Masked Lovebirds breed readily but the sexes are difficult to distinguish.  Paired birds preen each other incessantly, but same-sexed birds often form close bonds and may appear to be a mated pair.

Females are more sturdily built and a bit heavier (but only by a few grams) than males, and perch with their legs spread out a bit.  The female’s head is flatter and broader than that of the male (which is dome-shaped), but this varies among individuals and may only be apparent after you have observed a good number of birds.  The males’ pelvic bones (just above the vent) are close together, almost touching, while those of females in breeding condition are widely spaced.  Males often scratch their heads with their feet prior to mating.

Masked Lovebirds build bark and stick nests and will utilize nest boxes (20” x 10” x 10”) or hollow logs.  Females carry the nesting material, transporting it in their beaks (some related species carry bark wedged beneath their feathers).  Provide large amounts of willow and other fresh (from live, sap-bearing branches) bark to nesting birds, and continue to do so throughout the incubation and rearing periods.  Wild lovebirds use this to increase humidity in the nest (please see The Masked Lovebird – Natural History), and even if not necessary in captivity, doing so may be an important behavioral component in the nesting process.  It takes the pair (mainly the female) 4-7 days to complete the nest.

Females lay 3-6 eggs, the first 10 days after mating, and then 1 every other day thereafter.  Incubation lasts 21-23 days, and is carried out solely by the female (the male often sits near her – big help that is!) and the young fledge at day 41-45.  Breeding adults should be provided with extra greens, corn and bits of hard-boiled egg.

Information about Masked Lovebirds at the Honolulu Zoo is posted at:
http://www.honoluluzoo.org/black-masked_lovebird.htm

Image referenced from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Masked_Lovebird_(Agapornis_personata)_pet_on_cage.png, uploaded by Epoulin