Hi everyone, I was writing a paper on the change in diet for breeding macaws. increases, decreases, type, nutrient content and species spersfic information so I did a little research on enclosure type and I haven't seen any information on breeding macaw in large mixed aviarys!! So I was wondering has any seen any examples of mixed macaw species breeding in a large aviary??? Or has anyone actually bred macaws like this?? Can't wait to hear from you guys :-D
They don't. Unless you talk of gigantic walk-through aviaries, like the one in a former quarry in one French zoo.
At Flamingo Land in theory there is no breeding in the "Parrotsphere" which contains several species of large macaw. The Orange-winged Amazons in there do breed though by chewing into the artificial rock work to create nesting chambers. I think the Yellow-collared Macaws have bred successfully in there too and in May a pair was nesting in a log hollowed out by the Roseate Cockatoo. No large species have bred, although again in May I was told two birds, and for some reason I have not noted the details, had occupied some kind of nesting site. I think it could have been a Green-wing and a Scarlet. Another bird ventured close to it and the keeper had to rush across the aviary to break up the ensuing altercation. The following day a number of additional birds (Hyacinths, Militaries and a single Green-wing) were due to arrive and there was concern that the pecking order in the aviary could be upset, especially as it was suggested some existing birds could be moved on.
Several macaw species hybridize, so I would think that keeping a mixed breeding flock would be a bad idea.
Hi, yes I think you are right, both the orange winged amazons and the yellow collared macaws have bred in that aviary, but the larger macaws have not bred to my recollection.
Mixed large macaw aviaries The difficulties in housing large [and many small] parrots in mixed species flocks are that they hybridise, they kill each other, or they kill each other's young as they fledge. There may be exceptions to this, but pairs that form in colony aviaries are best removed to single pair breeding accommodation, UNLESS the aviary is huge.
