i saw ara mentioned that he kept birds and figured i'd start a thread for australian aviculturalists here on the forum.... personally i keep a small collection of (mostly african) waxbills - red-billed firefinches, red cheeked cordon bleu's, saint helena waxbills, orange-breasted waxbills, and a lone red avadavat cock. since i am interested in exotic finches, fowl and softbills, it baffles me how little interest zoos have in maintaining foreign birds. for example you would think werribee zoo might have an african finch aviary. the above birds all co-habitate wonderfully, are cheap to purchase, easy to care for, and represent a wonderful array of colours. likewise you would think that some silver eared mesia and magpie robins might find there way into a few asian aviries. since they are some of the few true exotic softbills available (and in need of some good co-ordinated management). most zoos don't eve keep pekin robins or bulbuls.. or what about the so called red-pileated finches... which aren't actually a finch at all but instead a small species of tananger. these birds are gorgeous. and represent the only south american softbill species in australia (minus the female currasows). anyhow, i would love to talk birds with anyone else who's into it.
I have: Cockatiels Bourke's Princess Bush Budgies Zebra Finches Red Star Finches Diamond Doves King Quail and a recently splurged and bought a pair of Green-cheeked Conures. Hix
That was a "splurge" Hix?!!!!!! lol This species breeds like rabbits and market forces have seen their price drop to the point where some were being given away on the internet last week. I think that phoenix's idea has a lot of merit for a zoo such as ours. Would be interested in hearing what others think.
I love birds and it disapoints me how little emphasis is given to them in zoos. Steve it would be a great idea, I know you already have some aviaries. The African and Asian softbills mentioned would be great, Melbourne has quite a few little aviaries associated with the tigers and eles which are usually almost empty.
The only proper african bird aviaries in an Australian zoo is at adelaide zoo with their weaver aviary which has some grenaider weavers and a pair of nyasa lovebirds and there used to be some pin-tailed whydahs as well. The other african aviary at adelaide has red-billed firefinches, a rainbow bee-eater, an orange-breasted avadavat, some masked lovebirds, some common waxbills, some madagascar weavers and a couple of spur-thighed tortoises.
Did the bee-eater get lost on the way??? I think there is tremendous potential for small aviary bird exhibits in any zoo, it just takes a bit of thought on how to display them well. Ideally a walk-through exhibit is better than not, and I would take inspiration from Jurong Bird Park as how to do it really nicely. Okay they do have a superb climate to work with... Visitors appreciate seeing grassland species in a nice savannah exhibit. It doesn't necessarily have to be only African or Australian species as long as the right theme is there.
there are many potential geographical aviaries for exotics that australian zoos ignore. there are around five species of south american finch in australian aviculture as well as a dove and the above mentioned tanagers that could make for a half decent display. likewise there are more african finches in australian aviculture than there are australian ones! some are real rarities such as the many twinspot and bishop species we have. namaqua doves and egyptian geese are also worth mentioning. asian displays is where we really can shine however. numerous exotic pheasants, two species of waterfowl, two a-grade dove species, quail, a large range of brightly coloured and rare exotic finches such as the tri-colored parrotfinch and red avadavat and most importantly at least four savable species of asian songbird. add to this all the australian jewels with trans-asia/australian distribution such as sacred kingfishers, sarus cranes, blue breasted pittas, fruit doves, dollarbirds etc and you have potential for an aviary worthy of world class status. but alas, most zoos just don't see the value in birds.
I don't think we can be too hard on Australia's mainstream zoos when it comes to exotic birds - after all they are trying to be all things to all visitors; keeping a few of this and a few of that - but it is true that they could have much more detailed collections of exotic birds than they have. Unfortunately Australia's population is not large enough to support specialised bird parks as apparently exist in the U.K. and other parts of the world. The best places to see exotic birds in Australia (at least parrots and finches) are the larger bird dealers who advertise in the avicultural magazines. The trouble is, I see these birds and then I want them....... Now for a confession; I'm a fraud: despite the fact that I call myself Ara I have never owned any of the beautiful large macaws, (but they are on the "wish list.") I started out in aviculture, like a lot of people do, with finches and budgies. As a teenager I then acquired an immature (uncoloured) pair of golden pheasants. As they coloured up I was "gone" - totally smitten - an aviculturist for life. I couldn't believe that such beauty could be bought for a lousy $40! Unfortunately something scared them one night and the hen scalped herself on the wire roof and I had to give her the chop, so to speak. The male, named Max, lived for many years and was quite tame for a pheasant. When I married and got my own home, the aviaries started being built in numbers. My poor wife wondered what she had taken on (specially when I had to go away for work occasionally and she had to look after the birds) but she was fairly tolerant of my hobby - reckoned it was good because it kept me out of the pubs! Since then I have had a lot of different types of birds - never made much money out of them (unlike some smarties), but that's OK; it's not my aim. I just love the sight and the sound of them.
Yes Ara - the sound! When I'm away from home I often ring back when I know that Steph will be feeding the aviaries ... ... just to hear the sounds in the background. It's what I miss most when I'm away [apart from Steph, of course!].
Yeah, 'splurge' is probably not the right word, they were only $120 for the pair. (But a couple of years agio they were $350 a pair and two years before that $700+ a pair). 'Impulse purchase' would be a better description. Hix
I came across a new Australian Aviculture magazine Monday. I'm at work and don't have it with me and cannot remember the title. It was issue two. It had an excellent article from someone who had built a habitat aviary (large and expensive looking) that looked excellent. There was also a heartwarming article from a 13 year old boy. As most hobbies nowdays seem to have trouble attracting the younger crowd (too much competition from x-boxes) it is always great to see children getting involved. Unfortunately where I live I cannot have aviaries so it's all dreaming. I used to have budgies, quarrions, ring necks, quail, lovebirds and finches. Now I have three budgies that fly around inside.
It's great to see young people come into the hobby. I encourage it where I can. A young guy I know (who as a kid used to look after my birds when we were on holiday) now has a better collection than I ever had! What birds do I have? Nothing very fashionable, I'm afraid. Some neophemas, some redrump mutations, blue-cheeked rosellas (to me the most beautiful of the rosellas), Indian ringneck mutations and a few cockatiel mutations. An old ringneck pheasant cock and some zebra finches. Until recently I had a lot of different peachface, mask and Fischer's lovebirds but to "do" them properly is a full-time hobby in itself. Ten years ago I was successfully breeding quite a few Melba finches and Cubans but eventually let them slide to use the aviaries for lovebirds, regrettably. There are definite trends in Australian aviculture. Two decades ago it was all African lovebirds, due to an explosion in mutations, and birds like blue peachface and lime Fischer's were fetching massive prices; then it became Asiatic parrots; after them the trend ( still continuing in some quarters) was mutation lorikeets. Nowadays it's all conures which the fashion-chasers want (and of course macaws!).
Well... I'm only 12 XD I want to get an avairy which is desert themed. Eg. Spinifex Pigeons, Regent Parrot's Diamond Dove, Peaceful Dove, Budgies, Cockatials, Burke Parrot, Red-Rumped, Princess Parrot ect.
I have 14 budgies and 3 king quails but my parents are not letting me have more, which I guess is ok because I am only 13 but I would like to have an aviary of red-billed firefinches one day.
Hix and Steve referred to Green Cheeked conures and the way their price has dropped. It started me wondering where these birds came from; ten or twenty years ago Pyrrhura conures were unheard of in Australia. In his landmark book "Aviculture in Australia" published 15 years ago, aviculturist and scientist Mark Shephard stated that there were only five species of conures available to aviculture in Australia, and none of them were Pyrrhura conures. Nowadays 10 of the 18 species of Pyrrhura genus conures are acknowledged to be in Australia, and 6 of these, namely the Green Cheeked, the Blue Throated, the Maroon Bellied, the Crimson Bellied, the Pearly and the Black Capped are frequently advertised for sale in the avicultural magazines. On second thoughts, maybe I shouldn't ask.
How rare are blue cheeked amazons...I saw one in a pet shop in some town I can't remember and I was quite surprised.
