NEWS
Cage & Aviary Birds • July 11 2018 Violaceous turaco: ■ Pedigree: why it’s spectacular – and all-important Page 16 easier to keep than ■ Health: essential you think! Page 14 DIY checks Page 12
Greenfinch x Norwich = winning potential! Advice on breeding and showing Page 15
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Canaries
Your birdroom priorities for September
– Page 18
Issue 5819 • September 3 2014
Established 1902 Established
Native birds in
focus
■ Beginner series – Page 11 ■ Goldie advice – Page 18
National Exhibition
2014 supplement inside!
GALLERY: READERS’ SHOTS! YOUR HOT 6 PAGE
The big day: OCTOBER 12
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FAB FIVE CASEBOOK Your one-stop CANARIES THE Finches that
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Bluey the blue Indian shop for buying ringneck: vets help or selling birds! a rescue bird back to full health Page 7
■ Razas: keeping these Spanish beauties Page 13 are easy to sex: ■ Fife fancy: Murdie & No. 4, the cutWilson in profile Page 16 throat Page 18
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Psittacines How to keep those pesky pests away – Page 20
Issue 5816 • August 13 2014
Established 1902 Established
Dominant
pieds
Let’s see more of these eyecatching budgies – Page 14
Y FALCONR YOU Fawns: feel the force! Quality pair assessed – Page 11
KEY KIT GET NEED TO ED START19 PAGE
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Male zebbies handle break-up worse, finds study A NEW STUDY has revealed that male and female birds have distinctly different physiological reactions to mate separation, with males feeling more depressed. Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) in the USA, studied zebra finches to see how their hormones changed when separated from their mate. Mated zebra finch pairs were housed in their own cage with a stimulus female. The team then created three
scenarios in which they measured the function of the main stress hormones in the brain of each pair. These were: the male or female removed from their mate and placed in a cage with a new member of the opposite sex and stimulus female; the male or female remained with their mate, but a new stimulus female was introduced; or the subjects were handled, but not separated from their mate or the stimulus female. As expected, they found that the general disruption of the birds’ social setting
Males suffer worse: previous research has shown that both sexes of zebra finch already exhibit general behavioural differences, but this new study focused solely on pair separation © Shutterstock.com/Theodore Scott
© Shutterstock.com/Olena Kurashova
Zebra finches are monogamous, form lifelong pair bonds and share parental duties, so were ideal for the study, which was undertaken by researchers from the University of Maryland while at Johns Hopkins University
led to increased stress-hormone secretion in both sexes. However, the males had a much greater change in certain hormones than the females, something that is associated with depression in humans. Lead author Farrah Madison, UMD research assistant professor of psychology, explained: “This sexdependent response to mate loss suggests that male and female zebra finches may perceive the stressful
effects of mate pair separation in different ways, and MRs [a specific hormone] may influence behavioural flexibility in females. “This is especially interesting, as we already know that in avian species, females are more likely to leave a pair than males.” The findings, which were published in the journal Hippocampus, could help to explain how humans physically process divorce or separation from a partner.
with development following a series of planning applications (see News, May 2). A team lead by Dr Chris Hewson at the BTO used several analytical methods to create and assess the most robust population estimate possible for the species. Dr Hewson said: “Understanding how many ldugina Oksana a nightingales we k.com/R oc have left is vitally important if we are to save the species here in the UK, as it enables us to assess which sites are nation-
The site assessment work at Lodge Hill was funded by Natural England
show in Brazil Page 12 ■ Red mite: always a red menace Page 13
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British birds
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They’re easier to breed than you think think! – Page 20
Issue 5815 • August 6 2014
Established 1902 Established
Figures of
speech Why is it an advantage for some birds to talk? – Page 14
GALLERY: READERS’ SHOTS! YOUR HOT 6 PAGE
New beginner series A canary overview – Page 16
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WHAT’S ON
KEY FACTS: The all-variety table show will commence at 7.30pm. Birds expected include British, canaries and foreign. All welcome to attend. MORE INFORMATION: Tel: 01376 322 530.
Best British: Wayne Dyer at the club’s 2016 members’ show
LOANHEAD CBS DISPLAY AND SALES DAY SATURDAY, JULY 14 VENUE: Miners’ Welfare Social Club, 70-74 The Loan, Loanhead, Midlothian EH20 9AQ.
Doors open at 12.30pm and the event includes tables selling birds, seed and other accessories, bird toys and keyrings. The day includes a raffle. Admission for the public is £1.
KEY FACTS: An exhibition and display of young birds including canaries, foreign birds and parrots. On display: a variety MORE There will be a of canaries, foreign INFORMATION: birds and parrots charge of 50p Search per bird entered. “Loanhead and The club says no charge District Cage Bird Society” applies after 10 birds. on Facebook.
BS LANCASHIRE, CHESHIRE & NORTH WALES OPEN SHOW – SUNDAY, JULY 15
©S hut ter st
LODGE HILL IN Kent holds more than one per cent of the UK’s population of nightingales, making it of national importance. According to the latest figures for the nightingale from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), a total of between 5,095 and 5,983 singing males are distributed at sites across the south and east of England, with more than one per cent of the UK population accounted for at Lodge Hill. The results, presented in the Journal of Applied Ecology, confirm the importance of Lodge Hill, a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which is threatened
Fostering: the top Continental breeders some young? It’s do it. Should we be no time to rest on your following suit? Page 11 laurels! Page 18
VENUE: Hollywood Community Centre, 19-21 Bocking End, Braintree, Essex CM7 9AH.
Threatened nightingale site confirmed as UK’s best WILD BIRDS
CANARIES Hundreds ■ A judge’s view of a
BRAINTREE CBS TABLE SHOW FRIDAY, JULY 13
© Shutterstock.com/Theodore Scott
RESEARCH
07938 188 388
BUDGIES SoMULES you’ve bred
credit to Mick Freakley of the www. exhibitionbudgerigarforum.co.uk for picture
DID YOU KNOW?
FOREIGN BUDGERIGARS MULING
Above: due to the dramatic decline of UK nightingale populations, this species is placed on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List. Until now, the number of nightingales present in the UK remained unknown Photo: Edmund Fellowes/BTO Left: the latest research was made possible thanks to the support of nightingale survey volunteers across the country and a number of donations
ally important. “The relevant bodies can then look into protecting those sites that exceed critical thresholds of importance, hopefully ensuring that future generations can hear the beautiful song of the nightingale for themselves.” In 1999, the UK nightingale population estimate was 6,700 singing males. But experts say this was
likely to have been a significant underestimate due to the methods used. The new study highlights the importance of accounting for birds missed during surveys and accurately scaling-up to account for birds outside of surveyed areas. ● To help the BTO with its continuing research, you can donate via: www.bto.org/ donate
VENUE: Padgate Community Centre, Station Road, Warrington, Cheshire WA2 0QS.
P. Hutchinson. Birds to be benched from 7.30-9am. The event opens to the public at 2-5pm.
KEY FACTS: Judges are as follows: A. Richards, I. Clarke, J. Bowey and
MORE INFORMATION: Tel: 01270 526 306 or email: budgie750@aol.com
Two of four judges: Ian Clarke (left) and Adrian Richards