Guaiabero Parrot

[GregH]

this is not a big bird. He goes through about 2 dessert spoons of cut-up fruit perday. He doesn't seem to be as messy as a lorikeet so I think most of it is getting eaten. This is only the second day of him eating so he has a lot of condition to but on and there is little protein in fruit. I've provided dry Avione lorikeet conditioning food but be hasn't touched that yet but I guess he won't find too much of that in the wild either.

[GregH]

Well I've had the parrot now for about a month he's been eating by hinself for about a week now. I've kept hios diet varied - he likes soft fruits like mangoes grapes, paw paw, dragon fruit, kiwi fruit, manderines, rock melon but detests stawberries and sweet corn. While it's been an intersting exercise and am moving him onto wild fruits for that last few days he's demolished 2-4 wild banannas (full of seeds and inedible to humans unless you're desperate. After attacking the seeded banannas I think I will have to retract the statement about not being as messy as lorikeets. I'll look for some wild figs this week and then I think he can go forrage by himself. I hear others of his species in the trees surrounding our house so he will have friends to guide him. Here is another shot taken today (Sept 4) and comparing it to his younger self he's not as bright or clean as when he first came to me.

[Buzzard-1]

Job well done Greg, Congrats

[Diane]

Well done Greg, lots of pics for the release day.

[GregH]

Thanks guys but celebrations for the release may be too early. I decided to let him fly around the quarantine room this morning and he is not really up to it and mostly fluttered to the ground rather than flew. He looks perfectly healthy and he can fly more than when I first got him but he's catfood for sure if i let him go this week. Does anyone have any idea as to why a bird may not fly properly? There appeared to be no injury or loss of flight feathers (they don't have much of a tail in case you're wondering).

[jusdeb]

Maybe he just needs to practise and build up those wing muscles ....

Low protein diet + being hand reared + being in a cage may have led to the wings not being as strong as they should be .
Hope fully that is all it is and a few more days of flight in the quarantine cage will fix it .

[GregH]

Poor bird still can't fly properly and is so tame now that I'm afraid rehabilitation is not an option. I've found a home for him if I can squeeze in a visit before I leave. One of my problems is that only lately I've noticed he loves seed and I've basically only given him the fruit and lorikeet mix I fed the hanging parrots. He oves green rice and barnyard seed heads. He might even have a go at sunflower if I had any

[mickw]

Beautiful bird Greg.......would he fit inside a shampoo bottle for the trip home .....

[Myzomela]

Hi Greg,

At the risk of sounding smart AFTER the event, it seems his diet is closer to a rainforest parrot than a lorikeet.

Beautiful little parrot.

Congratulations, you've done a great job with him.

What a pity you can't bring him & the hanging parrot back with you!!

Make sure you've got plenty of photos & recorded the information. There are not many people anywhere in the world who have kept this species.
I'm sure ABK would love an article on it too!!

Cheers

Myzo

[finchbreeder]

Congratulations on a job well done. Anyone who can do this well while "flying by the seat of their pants" deserves a pat on the back. Perhaps feed him more seed and is it possible to sprinkle calcium of some sort on his feed? To build those bones up for flight?
LML