sive Comprehen t and relevan information ple for bird peo $4
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BIRD WORDS EVERY MONTH March 2016
Carnaby Codger crazy about WA s black cockatoos
Peacocks loved and hated Fibres 20% of parrot s body weight Canary problems avoided
Ideas that Enriching pet birds work well for finches at home
Simple to start with budgies
Warning: Wild birds should not be fed THIS MONTH IN YOUR MAGAZINE FEEDING wild birds a diet of junk wild: please don’t feed the animals.
Australasian feathered news in brief 3 Avian vet directory 16 Aviary Marketplace 20-21 Biosecurity in Queensland 18 Book reviews 17 Budgies: It s simple to get started 10 California condor hi-tech tracking 19 Canaries: Prevention better than cure 11 Club directory 22 Club news 23 Conservation round-up 16 Fancy poultry: Peafowl examined 12
I RECKON the best bird club
magazine in Australia is Finch News, which is published each month by the Queensland Finch Society. It always contains plenty of really good articles on finches and related matters. A recent edition contained a lengthy article by club president Gary Fitt on the way new biosecurity regulations will affect finch keepers in his state. I thought Gary’s piece was really well thought out and superbly written, so much so that I sought permission to republish it in this edition of TB. Permission was granted and it appears on page 18. At first glance that page could look a bit onerous, but I believe it will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in how the introduction of biosecurity rules can affect bird keepers. It is well worth a look. ■ SIMPLE START: Aviculture these days struggles to recruit new enthusiasts as technology intrudes more and more into our daily lives, with not much time left to care for birds. This month budgie expert Fred Wright tackles that subject, outlining how it happens and how people become addicted.
EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING Lloyd Marshall Telephone.............................03 5983 2566 Email................. lloyd@talkingbirds.com.au Website .............www.talkingbirds.com.au PO Box 216 Balnarring VIC 3926 Australia DEADLINES FOR ADVERTISING BOOKINGS AND COPY April 2016 edition Display advertisements..............March 18 Aviary marketplace ....................March 25 SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions to Talking Birds, which cost $4 a month anywhere in the world, can be arranged by filling out the subscription form on the final page of this edition and sending it together with the appropriate payment or credit card details. The form can also be found at www.talking birds.com.au COPYRIGHT Copyright for all editorial copy and photographs published in Talking Birds remains with the author or photographer and cannot be reproduced in any media without the author s/photographer s permission.
Finches: Ideas that really work Forthcoming events Health: Bird s body had 20% fibres International feathered news in brief Parrots: Cocky gets a new leg Parrots: Kakapo birth makes 125 Parrots: Killer faces $250,000 fine Parrots: Macaw gets titanium beak Parrots: Meyer s good with sounds Parrots: Wally Carnaby Codger Pet birds: Enrichment at home Secretary bird has massive kick
9 23 15 4 8 21 16 21 7 5-6 13 19
COMMENT ■ PEAFOWL PRETTY: Where I live there are a couple of dozen freeranging peafowl and there was much delight when one of the pied hens produced a white chick a couple of months back. Those birds are definitely an acquired taste, particularly because they can be noisy during the breeding season and when they are disturbed by anything out of the ordinary. This month poultry guru Meg Miller profiles peafowl, detailing their pros and cons. ■ DANGER: Just about every pet shop and many bird dealers stock myriad products made from rope and other fibrous material — mainly perches and so-called happy huts, where birds can sleep. This month avian vet Phil Sacks relates the tale of George, a cockatiel who was found to have rope fibres weighing 20 per cent of his body weight when the bird was operated on to save his life at Phil’s surgery in suburban Melbourne. This is the third edition of TB to be distributed via email and the change has been very well received. Thank you.
— Lloyd Marshall
DISCLAIMER
The publisher of Talking Birds newsmagazine accepts no responsibility for the contents of advertisements submitted for publication by the newsmagazine s clients. It is the advertisers responsibility to ensure that their advertisements are honest and accurate. It is also the advertisers responsibility to ensure that any sales of birds, goods, services and products comply with the relevant legal requirements. Talking Birds and its publisher will not become involved in disputes between advertisers and people who have dealt with advertisers as a result of reading information contained in advertisements in Talking Birds newsmagazine. The publisher of Talking Birds newsmagazine accepts no liability for any dispute resulting from information contained in advertisements published in Talking Birds newsmagazine. The newsmagazine s publisher reserves the right to refuse to publish any advertisement presented for publication. Opinions expressed in editorial material and in advertisements published in Talking Birds newsmagazine are not necessarily those held by the publisher of Talking Birds newsmagazine.
food is reducing their ability to forage for food, NSW authorities have warned. The issue is so serious that the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage has published an information document called Keep wildlife
The department warned against welcoming native birds and conditioning them into regular feeding. “Instead of eating a wide range of natural foods they depend on processed seeds, bread and other foods that are not part of their natural diet.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
New delivery method was eventually OK Dear Lloyd,
I must admit I was more than a little bit apprehensive when I read in last December’s TB that you were giving your printer and Australia Post the big A in favour of sending the mag out via email. I thought it would be harder to read, particularly because I would not be able to flick from page to page, as one does when reading a printed publication. Initially it took a bit of getting used to but now I find it really easy, with a click on the wheel on my mouse taking me to the next page, where I can instantly see what is there. Probably the best thing about the change is that you can now add pages — and relevant articles — at will, which was not possible when you were restricted by the number of pages available on a printing press. I actually find it easier to read TB on my screen than when it was printed on shiny paper, with light bouncing off the paper and making it hard for one who is getting on in years. I thought about an elderly mate of mine who had been reading TB since day one, way back in 2004, who has no computer, lives in an isolated area and has no one nearby who could print TB’s pages out for him each month. I called him and found that you had arranged to print TB out for him and mail it to him each month. Well done! I keep finches, doves and quail these days but my favourite part of TB is Bob Philpot’s parrot article each month, and I just wish I had been able to access Bob’s gems of wisdom in my previous parrot-keeping days because his insights would have made my life a lot easier. On another subject, I heard that the Victorian Avicultural Council has recommended that its member clubs
$47 for emu eggs
WELL-HEELED shoppers in the UK can now shell out a hefty £23.99 (Aus$47.67) for a single egg during their weekly trip to the supermarket — but they get a lot for their money. One extra large emu egg is the equivalent of 12 hens eggs, can take 90 minutes to cook and they are in season now and on sale at selected Waitrose supermarkets throughout the UK. The eggs are not available all year round because the birds lay their eggs through the UK winter
Talking Birds newsmagazine welcomes Letters to the Editor on any avicultural or related subject. Letters may be edited for space reasons, to remove defamatory statements or for the sake of clarity. The context of a letter will not be changed and if major amendments are contemplated the writer will always be contacted.
throughout the state of Victoria shouldn’t call their sales sales but instead should refer to them as bird expos. Does the VAC really believe that doing that will encourage the don’tgive-a-stuff clubs to lift their game and ensure that all birds are presented properly, thereby providing zero fodder for anti-aviculture activists? What nonsense when what the VAC should have done was to adopt a zero tolerance policy, with any club where breaches occurred not given a sale date the following year. The VAC’s decision to ask clubs to add a dollar to the admission price for this year’s sales to cover legal costs incurred while trying to fight the government, a fight it had no hope of winning, is the ultimate insult to bird keepers in Victoria. On yet another subject, word has reached me that the Mornington Peninsula Avicultural Society, the club responsible for kicking off bird sale objections after appalling photos were taken at its 2014 sale, is looking for a new sale venue after the dog people who own the the building refused to continue renting to the club due to adverse publicity about allowing the place to be used to abuse birds. Keep up the good work Lloyd, unfortunately your efforts to keep the bastards honest will probably not bear fruit, but at least we will know what is going on. — J. Watson, Victoria, via email ■ MPAS and VAC were invited to comment but did not do so.
ODD SPOT months — on average one egg every three days. A Waitrose spokesman said: “They also boast a high ratio or yolk to white, nearly half white/half yolk, allowing extraordinary results when used for baking cakes. “They say you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs but there is a special egg on sale at Waitrose outlets that is so large it can easily make four omelettes.”
COVER: CARNABY S FAMILY GROUP, FROM LEFT, MUM, DAD AND THEIR YOUNGSTER. PHOTO: BOB PHILPOT. SEE: WALLY THE CARNABY CODGER PAGES 5-6.
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