They do best when given some room to fly, rather than being kept in a smaller cage. I have more than once heard their keepers liken them to an over-sized butterfly, and this is a very good description of the way they fly - they flit and bounce in the air in a very similar manner to butterflies, and are a pleasure to watch, with their sweet voices and playfulness.

They are quiet, mellow little birds during the middle of the day, but dawn and dusk is another story. Dusk is the magic time for a Bourke's parakeet; they come fully into their element then, seeming to blend into partial invisibility in the uncertain light.

Be careful if you plan on having several species share an aviary, and want to include the beautiful Bourke's parakeet - when other species are already roosting for the night, the Bourkies will be at their most active. For example, I had a friend whose Bourkies thought it a great game to knock roosting finches from their perch, like a row of bowling pins!

Unlike many birds, the Bourke's big eyes are adapted to allow them to see clearly at dawn and dusk. They have a very playful, boisterous attitude at these times, and they have been known to tease other species sharing a flight with them, who have trouble seeing at all so close to full dark, much less enough to defend themselves.

One advantage to keeping Bourkies, is that you always know the gender of your birds, with the exception of some of the rarer colour mutations, like the Rose and the Pink. In all the other Bourke's parakeets, the male will have a vivid blue eyebrow - as soon as you see this distinctive marking, you can be sure that you are looking at a male.

Like all the other Grass parakeets, Bourkies do very well on a diet of Soak Seed and Nestling Food, under which regime they seem to breed and feed reliably. They will use a nestbox, but do seem to do better with an open-topped narrow pyramidal design, rather than the usual closed rectangular shape more commonly seen.

Ask Robirda
This week, instead of a question, I would like to correct a mistake published in the previous issue, which stated that canaries are a subspecies of the Serius race.

This was once thought to be true, but it is no longer considered correct - genetic tests and bloodwork has shown that the canary is a separate, although very related, species from the Serinus serinus.

So my answer therefor should have been;

"Canaries are members of the family fringillidae, that is, finches - their genus is Serinus, their species is Serinus canaria."

Please accept our apologies, and this correction.

Welcome to the Companion Birds ezine

For bird people who care.

Hello! Welcome to the twelfth issue of Flock Talk - I hope you like what you see! If you have comments, criticisms, or stories to share, please send them to Robirda

Thanks to everybody who sent in responses about keeping pet birds - portions of your offerings will be included in an upcoming issue of Flock Talk. We hope you will be as impressed with the thoughtful quality of each other's responses as we were!

This is the website for the International Society dedicated to the extended family of Carduelan finches.

Canaries, buntings, green and gray singers, and the Black-Hooded Siskin (ancestor of all red canaries) are just a few of the species which belong to this group; in other words, it includes some of the most beautifully feathered and voiced birds on the planet.

One of the very few sites on the web devoted to Carduelan Finches, this Society has posted a photo album that is a must-see for anyone who appreciates beauty. Bird lovers will also find some very useful information and advice, along with links to other sites dedicated to one or more of these rare, beautiful, and difficult-to-keep species.

Feature Article

The winter solstice has come and gone, and slowly, slowly, the days begin to lengthen as the northern half of the planet moves towards eventual spring.

With their acute sensitivity towards light, canaries and other small songbirds will be among the first to notice and respond to this subtle clue of the coming spring. Although winter still locks much of the land in its iron grip, canaries everywhere are beginning to sing arias to the imminent arrival of the season they love the best; the time of year when they put forth their all, in hope that their chosen hens will enjoy and respond to their...

by R C 'Robirda' McDonald

Spring heralds the season of renewal and growth, for all the species tied to the land. Songbirds are no exception. Even a single pet bird will respond to the natural rythyms his body and instincts evolved for. It is often too easy for us to forget how closely our pets are still tied to these ancient rythyms - and so an exuberant display of mating behaviour can often catch an unsuspecting pet owner entirely by surprise.

When a canary male has been found acceptable by a hen, he is expected to pay his dues by feeding her the way he will her chicks. This seems to be a sign to the hen that he will be a devoted father to her chicks, and will willingly help raise them. This phase of courtship is practiced even by male canaries who have no hen in sight.

Depending on the strength of the attachment a canary feels for his human companion, he may be found trying to feed his (comparitively) huge friend through a corner of the mouth, or he may instead focus on the hand, and look for a v-shaped nook or cranny there which he can try to feed.

Some will develop a desire to try to 'harvest' some hair, which is intended in due course to be incorporated into a nest, while others will choose a v-shaped nook or cranny in their cage to feed, sometimes the angle of a feed cup, other times the end of a perch, or even the gap between their own toes.

Whichever he chooses, this chosen recepticle will be diligently fed, as the enamoured male practices feeding his imaginary youngsters. Pet canary hens, on the other hand, even when they are alone, will want to build a nest and lay eggs, just as they would if mated.

Many finch species have elaborate displays which they will perform for their intended. Especially when given access to such useful items as pieces of naturally-seeded grasses and their seed-heads, they will not only eat the seeds, they will use the grasses as a visual aid to their mating display, waving and curving the grasses as skillfully as any marchionette her baton.

Lovebirds can provide another source of amusement - they will collect nesting material wherever they can find it, and carry it to their prospective nest's site by stuffing it into their back feathers, behind the wings and over the rump, and then flying off.

Well, they try to, that is! A lot of this nesting material gets left behind - but they presist, and gradually do begin to accumulate enough materials with which to start building their nest.

It is very important that all pet birds, but hens in particular, are given lots of chewing material in the spring, some of which at least should be calcium and mineral-based, such as the humble cuttlebone, or a mineral block. Lack of adequate calcium and the associated vitamins and minerals necessary to laying eggs (which will occur whether the hen is with a male or not) have been known to kill far too many a pet hen.

Remember, if your pet hen lays eggs, allow her to sit on each clutch for at least two weeks - this allows her system time to recover. If you remove them she will just lay more, and this can lead to serious problems, no matter how good her diet.

When a problem of this nature strikes, it can progress to death with frightening swiftness - so if you suspect your hen is having trouble laying an egg, immediately administer some liquid calcium orally, put the hen's cage half-on and half-off a heating pad, turn to your phone, and consult an avian vet as soon as you possibly can.

Many hens feel an increased urge to chew for other reasons, too - in the cases of hookbills such as lovebirds and budgies, this chewing instinct can be quite overwhelming to the bird, and pieces of safe hardwoods or some other chewable should be provided in the bird's area,lodged firmly so that it can be easily whittled away at.

Not only does this help satisfy the bird's urge to get about carving out a nesting space, it will also help keep the beak in adequate trim - part of nature's physical preparation for breeding sees that the beaks of such species will begin to grow faster in the springtime, so as to keep up with the chewing activity nesting in the wild would require.

Some woods I like to use for these species are apple, birch, alder, aspen and willow - chewing any of these will help bring relief to a species whose genetic programming prepares them to carve their nest, at least partially, out of a tree.

Another factor often neglected rather more than it should be in in the practice of keeping a pet bird healthy enough to survive the challenges of breeding season, is flying. This is especially important to the hens of the smaller species, whose eggs are proportionately sized much larger, in comparison to their bodies.

Some people feel that they are depriving their birds a fulfilling life by not breeding them. I personally don't believe this is true - from observing the single pet birds I have known to exhibit breeding behaviour, I would rather say that they seem to find this display of their instinctive behaviours as least as fulfilling - if not more so - as the real thing.

by R C 'Robirda' McDonald
copyright © Feb, 2001
Vancouver, BC, Canada

"I have been thinking about how to make a large cage without spending a lot of money. So, I went to Home Depot and found myself a cheap shower stall, bought two rolls of 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch wire mesh (editor's note; this kind of wire is often known as 'hardware cloth') and a bunch of small boards

"I covered the top of the shower stall with the wire mesh, placed the plastic stabilizer over the wire and screwed it into place. The front of the shower stall is completely covered with the wire mesh. It has two doors, one at the bottom for cleaning out, large enough to allow me to put big shallow plant pot saucers in for bathing.

"The other door is near the top, and is used to replace perches, or to do cleaning or whatever needs to be done. I got a 48 inch shop light, loaded it with two full spectrum bulbs and set it diagonally on the top of the stall.

"Now I have to get some new feeding cups and water dishes.

"I now have a flight cage 32 inches deep and across, and 72 inches tall. Total outlay so far? $137.42 USD.

"I would not be able to put hookbills into a cage like this, as they are so blessed by God with such wonderful chewing talents. Canaries, finches, doves, mynahs, and so forth would perhaps find it a good spacious home."

(editor's note - try mounting such a stall horizontally rather than vertically for the most effective use of the space)

Rather than offering them in a heap, try mixing them with chopped greens, before serving - not only does this seem to make both the greens and the carrot more attractive to the birds (perhaps due to the contrast?), but it helps prevent the grated carrots 'browning off', as they will do if simply grated and offered heaped in a cup or on a plate.

Carrots offer one of the highest percentages of carotenoid content to be found in the vegetable kingdom. Besides colour, these nutrients provide an essential element all too often found to be lacking in many pet birds' diets - Vitamin A.

Birds need great amounts of this nutrient in order to maintain proper skin and feather quality. Besides skin and feather problems, lack of vitamin A can cause excess mucus to form in the nasal cavities and air sacs, causing respiratory difficulties, and providing possible incubation sites for further disorders to take root.

Many bird species rely on the presence of carotenoids in the bloodstream to lend colour to their feathers during the annual moult - a red siskin finch (and therefore its descendants, the red factor canaries) will moult out a greyish colour, rather than their usual lovely vermillion, if denied adequate carotenoids in the diet while growing new feathers.

Carrots can't give these birds all the carotenoids these birds need in order to show their full potential colour - but they can provide a large percentage of them, and can do quite adequately to colour a pet bird.

Those who wish their red birds to display the maximum colour their genetics will allow, should supplement the carrots with canthaxathin-based preparations, which are based on a chemical copy of a tropical carotenoid, not found in the temperate zone vegetation.

Well, I guess that's it for this time - hope everybody has a safe and happy time over the next couple of weeks! The next issue is due out February 18 - until then, may you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!

Robirda
February 4, 2001
www.robirda.com