Anyone know if there are any of the rarer Goura species such as G. scheepmakeri or G. sclaterii in aviculture? I know that both G. victoria and G. cristata have been in aviculture for a bit, although it can be hard to track down breeders. I know that the Florida Avian Conservancy in Ft. Myers breeds both G. victoria and G. cristata. Are there any breeders of G. sclaterii anywhere? I'm very interested in them and from measurements I found online in a field guide they seem to be the largest subspecies. Perhaps @Goura can help with this thread? all photos from HBW Alive. Here's a good view of the maroon colored breast and shoulders. Good view of the tail markings. A pair. Several captive individuals in Umgeni River Bird Park, South Africa.
In the US its only the Victoria's and Blue Crowned, in both public and private hands. There used to be both scheepmakers and sclaters, but they died out many years ago. Scheepmakers are virtually totally extinct in captivity outside of range countries. Sclaters are decently well established in Europe and Asia, but you won't have any coming in either. There is zero institutional interest in importing Sclaters from Europe, and due to import restrictions with CITES listed species, it is impossible for private hobbyists to import birds from Europe, or anywhere else. Breeders for the other two aren't hard to track down at all in the states, lol. Mick and Virgil at FAC virtually singlehandledly sustain the privately owned goura pigeons in the US, I'd be willing to put money on them producing more crowned pigeons a year at their facility, than the rest of the US combined. There are a handful of other breeders, but no one else comes close to FAC.
Much as I'd love to be more helpful, the only Scheepmaker's I'm familiar with are at Jurong Bird Park where they have a large flock and I believe this may be the species at Bali Bird Park (photo included). The last crowned pigeons I saw at Taronga were victoriae.
