Birds For Dummies. Gina Spadafori

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СКАЧАТЬ target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_736e2049-c272-5b38-a9ab-c9a45decc632">FIGURE 2-5: Quieter and more easygoing than many other parrots, the Senegal is a good choice for first-time bird owners.

      Personable and affectionate, Senegals are capable of picking up a few words and phrases, but they’re not generally known for their talking ability. Good for many living situations, small apartments included, Senegal parrots have much to offer as companion birds for many people.

      

You need a critical eye when it comes to interpreting the behavior of a Senegal. It’s easy to underestimate them and cause more behavior problems if you don’t look, listen, and train well.

The others in this group — including the red-bellied, Meyer’s, and Jardine’s parrots — are comparatively more difficult to find and notably more expensive (up to $1,200 or so) than the Senegal parrot but are well worth seeking out. The life span of a healthy, well-cared-for Poicephalus can range from 20 to 40 years.

      Lories and lorikeets

      You see a lot of lories and lorikeets in zoos and commercial aviaries — their fantastic good looks and clownish personalities are undeniable attractions. They’re a delight to watch, a rainbow of intense, vibrant color. The lory feeding exhibits in many zoos and wildlife parks are popular draws for thousands of people worldwide.

      

As household pets, though, these guys have one decided drawback — they’re incredibly messy. Unlike most of the birds available as pets, most lories and lorikeets don’t eat hard food, for the most part, but instead consume more liquid rations — in the wild they’re nectar eaters. This sticky diet is harder to keep up with than that of other commonly kept birds, and that’s not the only problem. Their diet results in oodles of watery droppings, which the birds seem to delight in shooting as far from their cages as possible.

      If you can overlook the mess — and many people cope just fine — lories are lovely pets. The spectacular rainbow lory, in particular, is a good choice in this group, goofy and fun to be around. Lories aren’t suited for close-quartered living, however, because of some decidedly high-decibel noise. Prices of lories are moderate: $400 and up, depending on the species.

      The difference between lories and lorikeets is generally the length of their tails. Lorikeets, like parakeets, have longer tail feathers. If you get a chance to meet some of these birds in person, you’re in for an olfactory experience you won’t believe! The feathers of lories and lorikeets smell absolutely fabulous, perhaps because of their fruit-centric diet. Other bird species have their own unique odors, but these guys take the deliciously scented cake!

      Conures

      The rap on conures is that they should be sold along with earplugs for everyone around them — neighbors very much included. Some conures well deserve this reputation for noisiness — those vociferous sorts may be more closely related to macaws — but not all conures can be credited with a noisy nature.

      We include conures with the medium-size parrots because some of the most common ones, such as the sun conure, aren’t all that large. As a group, though, conures display a wide range of size, with species such as the mitred really qualifying as a large parrot.

The conures of the Aratinga genus are usually the real noisemakers — the sun, jenday, golden-capped, mitred, red-fronted, dusky, and white-eyed, to name a few. Although not of the Aratinga genus, the nanday and the Patagonian conures are other conures with a well-earned reputation for noise.

      Aratinga conures have formidable vocal abilities when it comes to shrieking and frequently have little hesitation to share their talents. Of these, the sun conure is probably the most attractive, enticing people to figure they can live with the noise just to enjoy the beauty and antics of these clever parrots.

      

The bottom line with these birds is the same hard truth you have to face with any winged pet: knowing what you can live with. You can’t change the nature of a bird; the best you can do is live with the traits that are challenging, to say the least. If the appearance and liveliness of a sun conure overwhelms any doubts you have about the noise, maybe you’re meant to have one (as long as you’re not living with close-by neighbors, that is).

      The conures of the genus Pyrrhura are smaller and not nearly as loud. The green-cheeked, maroon-belly, and black-capped conures are the most popular in this group. Like the parrotlets and lineolated parakeets, green-cheeked conures can be quite the rock stars, easily learning many tricks and behaviors.

      Conures range in price from $200 or so for some of the Pyrrhura to considerably more for flashier or rarer species or color variants, up to as much as $3,000. Life expectancies for healthy, well-cared-for birds can run from the twenties to the forties.

      Caiques

      There are two species of caiques: white-bellied and black-capped. The names are a tad deceiving, because both kinds have white fronts. The black caps have — you guessed it — black heads. Caiques are lively, busy birds, highly entertaining as companions, and real clowns. Everybody’s business is a caique’s business. They often want to be a part of whatever is going on or whatever they can get started! Their popularity is solid, and for good reason.

      Like most of the medium-size parrots, life spans range from the twenties on up for healthy, well-cared-for birds. You can find caiques at a price range of $900 to $2,000, with most falling into the $1,200 to $1,500 range.

      Large parrots

Flashy, colorful, noisy, intelligent, and talkative, large parrots are the ones folks usually visualize when they hear the word parrot, partially because some of these guys can really talk! You can find some excellent companions among these birds — and some challenging ones, too. But don’t expect to ever run across one that isn’t a parade-stopper — these birds have star status, without a doubt!

      Amazons

      Clever, colorful, talkative, and often bratty, Amazon parrots are sometimes considered a handful — but within the group you can find some species that defy commonly held beliefs.

      First, the characters: There are about 30 species of Amazon parrots. Amazons undoubtedly have command presence. The yellow-naped and double yellow-heads are generally good talkers, but they can also be loud and demanding. They have the potential to become possessive of the person they may perceive as a mate, leading to the misleading description of being a “one-person bird.” You need to know about these possibilities before you start out with an Amazon. Some people like their in-your-face attitude; some don’t.

      Other Amazons may be easier to live with, among them the lilac crowns, red-lored, blue-fronted, and white-fronted. These smaller species are less likely to push, are generally quieter, and are typically easier to handle. The trade-off: Their talking ability is usually not as good as that of the yellow-naped or double yellow-head.

      Life expectancies for Amazon parrots are among the longest of pet birds; up to a hundred years is possible, particularly because we now better understand what it takes to keep these birds healthy. Unfortunately, poor diets and lousy care limit the life expectancy potential of many of these impressive birds; most of the СКАЧАТЬ