The Little
Corella, Cacatua sanguinea, also
known as the Bare-eyed Cockatoo, is
a white cockatoo
native to Australia
and southern New Guinea.
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Family: Cacatuidae
Subfamily: Cacatuinae
Subgenus: Licmetis
Species: C. sanguine
Habitat:
Little Corellas have a complex distribution across the Australian
continent; for details see a field guide. Race "gymnopsis" basically
populates the interior of the eastern half of the continent and the
north-western part of WA, basically within a few hundred km of Exmouth, WA. At
times they are also found along the east coast of the continent.
Breeding:
The breeding season depends
significantly on geographical latitude. Cockatoos are sociable creatures which
often nest in loose colonies, also in conjunction with other species.Little
Corellas are very sociable birds who prefer to live in large numbers.
Alexandrine Parakeet:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: Psittacula
Species: P. eupatria
Appearance:
The young males can be identified
as soon as they display one (or more) pitch-black feathers of their neck rings
and/or one (or more) pink feathers of their nape bands. Often, the young males
develop their neck rings and nape bands in two or sometimes three successive moulting seasons. Adult parakeets with neither
pitch-black feathers in their neck rings nor pink feathers in their nape bands
are usually females. Alexandrine Parakeets always display shorter middle-tail
feathers and thus shorter tails than adults. The adult feathering usually is
acquired between 18–30 months of age, but may sometimes show up as young as 12
and/or as old as a full 36 months of age. Consequently, it may be difficult to
identify the sex Alexandrine Parakeets by sight with absolute certainty until
they are a full 36 months of age.
Captivity:
It is an active species,
adventurous and curious, likes water (bathing, misting, raining and showering)
and readily accepts diverse and/or new foods. It chews vigorously and hence it
is important to keep the perch non-toxic without chemical products such as
disinfectants, fungicide,
insecticides
or pesticides,
and provide plenty of safe-to-chew toys.
Blossom-headed Parakeet:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Species: P. roseate
The Blossom-headed Parakeet (Psittacula
roseata) is a parrot
which is a resident breeder in northeast India eastwards into Southeast Asia.
It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit
and blossoms which make up its diet.
Vulturine Guineafowl:
Phylum: Chordata
Genus: Acryllium
Species: A. vulturinum
Species: A. vulturinum
Binomial name
Acryllium
vulturinum
Appearance:
Vulturine Guineafowl is a large
(61–71 cm) bird with a round body and small head. It is longer in the
wings, neck, legs and tail than other guineafowl. The adult has a bare blue
face and black neck, and although all other guineafowl have unfeathered heads,
this species looks particularly like a vulture because of the long bare neck and head.
Behavior:
Vulturine Guineafowl is a
gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of
about 25 birds. This species' food is seeds and small invertebrates. This guineafowl is terrestrial, and
will run rather than fly when alarmed. Despite the open habitat, it tends to
keep to cover, and roosts in trees. It makes loud chink-chink-chink-chink-chink calls.
It breeds in dry and open habitats with
scattered bushes and trees, such as savannah or grassland. It usually lays 4-8
cream-coloured eggs in a well-hidden grass-lined scrape.
Houbara Bustard:
Kingdom: Animalia
Class: Aves
Species: C. undulata
Binomial name
Chlamydotis
undulata
Distribution and habitat:
The Houbara
Bustard is found in the Canary Islands,
North Africa,
Iran,
Saudi Arabia,
India,
Pakistan,
Kazakhstan
, China,
and the UAE.
It breeds in deserts
and other very arid sandy areas and is largely resident within its range.
Breeding:
Like other bustards, this species has
a flamboyant display raising the white feathers of the head and throat and
withdrawing the head. Two to four eggs are laid on the ground. It hardly ever
uses its voice.
Feeding:
Silver Pheasant:
Species: L. nycthemera
Binomial name
Lophura
nycthemera
Description:
• Male - White with black barring, black
neck, throat, & belly, black crest, red wattles, yellowish-grey beak, and
pinkish legs
• Female - Brown with brownish-grey
barring, lighter greyish-brown neck, throat, & belly, darker brown crest,
red wattles, yellowish-ivory beak, pinkish legs
Diet:
• We feed our breeders and young adults
16% layer pellets, our tiny chicks 25% Turkey Starter crumble, and our growing
chicks 20% crumble.
• They get a handful of mixed grains every
second day except during breeding season, fresh greens (lettuce, chickweed,
dandelions, grass) and fruits (tomato, grapes, berries, etc.) when available.
Breeding:
Done in pairs or trios. Silvers are first year birds. Males do
not reach adult plumage until their second year, but they are fertile in their
first year. They start laying
eggs in March and will lay every second day until they lay approximately 20+
eggs. They lay a medium sized pinkish-cream egg.
Behavior:
• Are calm and showy birds. The females
are avid dusters and like to make well formed deep nests. The males love to
display for any one that will watch them and look quite impressive when they
are strutting around or beating their wings and flaring their wattles. They are
easy to tame down and are a nice hardy bird.
Victoria Crowned Pigeon:
Kingdom: Animalia
Genus: Goura
Species: G. Victoria
Appearance:
The
sexes are identical in appearance but males are often larger than females, and
the experienced pigeon breeder would likely have little trouble distinguishing
males from females. Males do sing as most pigeons do, only the Crowned Pigeons
are said to boom rather than coo. The loud sound of a male Crowned Pigeon is a
series of low notes which sound very similar to "boom boom" ,
"boom boom", two loud notes in rapid succession.
Captivity:
Crowned Pigeons have been bred in captivity since the 1800's but due to
their slow reproductive nature (raising only one or two, rarely 3 young, per
year) they have never been very common in private collections. Most Crowned
Pigeons are held by zoos and there are only a handful of private breeds in the
US who keep them.
Reproduction:
Reproduction is slow but
often steady. Once a pair of Crowned Pigeons is established and breeding, they
will breed regularly for many years, producing usually one or two offspring
each year. They lay a single large white egg about the size of a chicken egg.
The egg hatches after 30 days of incubation, and the young pigeon remains in
the nest, cared for by both parents, for an additional 30 days. One the young
pigeon leaves the nest, it is dependent on the parents for food for an
additional month. So the entire process of raising a single Crowned Pigeon
takes no less than 3 months to complete. It is a very slow process.
Diet:
Their diet in captivity consist mostly of grain, small dry kibbled dog
food, and chopped fruit. Crowned Pigeons essentially eat the same grains one
would feed any domestic or exotic pigeon or game bird, but they love diced
apple, banana, grapes and fresh raw peanuts. Practically any chopped fruit
offered will be accepted. My Crowned Pigeons love diced longhorn cheese, which
I provide several times per week as a source of protein and calcium. They
prefer the cheese to any grain or fruit, but it should be fed sparingly.
Black Kite:
Class: Aves
Species: M. migrans
Binomial name
Milvus
migrans
Description:
The Black Kite can be
distinguished from the Red Kite
by its slightly smaller size, less forked tail, visible in flight and generally
dark plumage
without any rufous. The sexes are alike. The upper plumage is brown but the
head and neck tend to be paler. The patch behind the eye appears darker. The
outer flight feathers are black and the feathers have dark cross bars and are
mottled at the base. The lower parts of the body are pale brown, becoming lighter
towards the chin. The body feathers have dark shafts giving it a streaked
appearance. The cere and gape are yellow but the bill is black (unlike in the Yellow-billed Kite).
The legs are yellow and the claws are black. They have a distinctive shrill
whistle followed by a rapid whinnying call.
Peafowl:
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Subfamily: Phasianinae
Genus: Pavo
Species: Pavo Cristus
Basic Stats:
·
Length: Male - 3 to 4.5 feet, Female
- 2.5 to 3.5 feet
· Tail Length: Male - 4 to 5 feet
· Weight: Male - 9 to 13 pounds, Female - 6 to 9 pounds
· Sexual maturity: 2 to 3 years
· Breeding Season: April to September
· Broods per year: usually one
· Eggs: usually 4 to 6 (can be much more in captivity if collected)
· Incubation: 28 days
Blue and yellow
Macaw:
Appearance:
1. The
Blue Gold Macaw is large (approximately 33 inches from head to tail), with a
head, back, and wings in a blue-green color, and frontal body plumage in
yellow. The Blue and Gold has a whitish skin face mask.
§ Blue Gold Macaws can be trained to talk, but
are not good at mimicking.
§ They need lots of space given their large size to move around and
exercise. Their wing span is approximately three and a half feet.
2. More blue gold macaw facts: The Sexing of a Blue and Gold Macaw As with most birds, sexing is difficult and usually requires some DNA testing, however without being a sure thing, the hen may have a slimmer head
§ They have the average lifespan of most macaws, which is anywhere between 30 to 50 years.
§ They can be aggressive and tend to pluck, although they are said to be excellent pets for macaw fans around the world.
A few more blue gold macaw facts:
The Origin of the Blue and Gold Macaw
§ Central America to South America
§ The scientific name of the blue and gold macaw is Ara ararauna.
§ It can be very loud as most macaws can
Additional blue gold macaw facts:
Breeding of the blue gold macaw
§ They breed readily in captivity and they are increasingly popular
in the pet trade
Approx Breeding Age- As young as three years.
When the bird reaches sexual maturity you will need to watch aggression level
during mating season in early spring. (usually lasts 6 weeks)
§ Can breed as young as three years of age
§ At sexual maturity it is important to watch out for aggression in
the blue gold macaw
§ Mating season, which is usually in early spring lasts
approximately six weeks
Blue gold macaw facts:
Blue and Gold macaw behavior
§
They can inflict serious
bites
§
They do not make good dorm
or apartment pet
§
Very noisy
§
Very messy as most large
(and small) birds are.
Bar headed Goose:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order:
Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Anserinae
Tribe: Anserini
Genus:
Anser
Species: A. indicus
Habitat:
The Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) is a goose which breeds in Central
Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain
lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays
three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.
The
summer habitat is high altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The
species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia
and Russia before crossing the Himalaya. The bird has come to the attention of
medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1
virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others.
Appearance:
The bird is pale
grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is
also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a
typical goose honking. The adult is 71–76 centimetres (28–30 in) and weighs
1.87–3.2 kilograms (4.1–7.1 lb).
Captivity:
The Bar-headed Goose is often kept
in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Records in Great
Britain are frequent, and almost certainly
relate to escapes.
