Unwanted Children - no Bulbul

[GregH]

Well I'm in Sydney now so I don't know how my baby is going. My wife got back from Cambodia yesterday so I'll ask her when I speak to her tonight. I'm off to Kellyville Pets this afternoon with the kids and that will have to be todays avicultural fix for me.

[Jayburd]

have fun!
don't forget to give us species and prices of what's up there!

[GregH]

There's bugger-all available and since I only keep normals I can't give you prices on the mutants. You'll have to look up the current exchange rate but here are the typical prices from Cartimar markets:

Society - PhP400/pr
Zebs - PhP400/pr Normals + all sords of mutants up to P10000/pr
Gouldians - PhP3200/pr Normals+ all sords of mutants up to P10000/pr
Hecks - PhP3200/pr Normals+ creams+ fawns
Double bars- PhP4000/pr Normals
Stars - PhP3200/pr Normals + yerllows faced + pieds
Masked - PhPPP5000/pr Normals
Daimond Sparrows - PhPP5-7000/pr Normals + yellows
Cut Throats - PhP3500-4000/pr Normals
Java sparrows - PhP400/pr (feral) and PhP800/pr (captive bred) + whites & Pieds
Chenstnut munia - (native) PhP200 (wild caught)
Spice finch - (native) PhP200 (wild caught)
White bellied (Javan) munia - (native) PhP200 (wild caught)
Canaries PhP12000-20000/pr

Also native but never seen are:
Dusky munia
Green faced parrot Finch
Bamboo Parrot FInch
Red Eared Parrot Finch
Pin-tailed parrot Finch (only discovered on Palawan about 2006)

Feral Strawberry finches were also common until 1990 and are believed to be extinct but recently I was told that there are some still around and that the owner of Avilon Zoo is attempting to breed them but he knows next to nothing about finches so I guess this is just pushing them closer to extiction.

[Jayburd]

I meant at kellyville, but cool!

[finchbreeder]

Sounds like you should become the Zoo mans new best friend and assist him.
LML

[GregH]

Well I made a bad call on that one. Well to tell you about Kellyville may be misleading at this time of year but finch-wise I didn't see anything special (moth-eaten blue-faced parrot finches, hecks, masked, society & zebra). They did have a supply of the Vetafarm crumbles which are new to me and they had maybe all their other products too. There were nest boxes and nest building material, feeders, water dishes and other supplies but I would still rather go to Birdsville or Ace. They did have some prefab aviaries in the $600-2500 range but I thought that they were poorly made (definitely not mouse proof, no safety doors, no feed-access doors/statons).

I'm in Armidale now visiting my sisters over the weekend. Wish I knew some aviculturists here to see how they cope with this cold! I know from when I went to UNE back in the '80's that diamond sparrows cope in the wild here but it mast take a hardier breed of gouldian and a more determined aviculurists to try them in open aviaries here.

[Jayburd]

back home yet? how's the little guy doing?

[GregH]

I'm still in Sydney until Aug 3. Apparently, according to my wife, the Bulbul chick has graduated to the aviary with the Philippine Hanging Parrots so that they can share the fruit bowl. I've got the java sparrows and cut-throats in there as well.

[jusdeb]

Thats great , can we have more pics when you get home.

[GregH]

Well I got into the aviaries to see what what was where and to sent the promised photo of the bul bul. I must be out of practce because I couldn't insert a photo directly (kepts saying that the image dimentions couldn't be determined) so I've set up a link to the images. Anyway as far as the bulbul is concerned I thought I'd be clever and catch it then place it back in the small cage where it was hand raised so that the pictures were comparable. What I didn't realise was how fragile the tail is. I easily caught it in a net but even before handing it the tail had fallen out so it looks a little worse for wear. My next question is can I let it go and how does one train a bird for return to wild? It is no longer as friendly as when it was a youngster begging food when you approached the cage so I don't think I have to worry about that aspect but will it know that fruit comes from trees and not from bowls?
http://www.glowfoto.com/static_image/06 ... 4/glowfoto

My other problem is ants. As you can see they have really taken to the nice dry aviary as the wet season has made them seek shelter. A touch of Coopex should fix them up and send them to heaven tomorrow (Sunday) - hey it's already tomorrow in Eastern Australia as I write.

http://www.glowfoto.com/static_image/06 ... 5/glowfoto

I didn't get the breeding results I hoped for while I was away. I'm down one each double bar, Java sparrow and a pair of cut-throats and their single baby. Another pair has 3 nestlings right now. My stars have a 3 fledgelings and 2 pr of zebras is not seven birds so that is pleasing. I dissected two abandoned diamond sparrows nests and found that the one they were on when I left had 3 sterile eggs but the next contained the skeletons of 2, week old nestlings so the fertility might be OK. Well I'm hoping that the nest that they are presently is OK and that with me here that I will be able to provision them with live food, green and sprouted seed when required.