Exotic Birds in Australia

Often the most attractive finch/softbills are the cheapest ones because they are the ones most often kept/bred.

The Madagascan fody is arguable the most attractive of the fody species with the breeding male being completely red. they are also the cheapest at only at around the $200 mark.
 
peacock said:
My understanding of the whole Forest Fody question is that it all came about when a certain victorian breeder decided that his specimens of the so-called Comoro Fody looked more like the Forest Fody.

He then bred them truer to forest fody type and sold them as such (for a much inflated price).

Its worth noting here that basically the distinction between the two species is how far the red feathering of the head extends down the breast. The Forest species has a red head and upper breast, the Comoro species does not.

My theory? Its well known in Australia that people have hybridised the rarer Comoro's with the Madagascans here and there and polluted much, if not all, of the available Comoro stock. These "Forest Fodys" are simply Comoro's with a bit of Maddy in them that have then been selectively bred to appear more like a Forest fody. Hardly surprising considering how similar the pure Comoro and Forest Fody appear to begin with.

Kinda ironic since the "Forest Fodys" here sell for more than the other two
species when in actual fact hybrids are generally considered worthless to finch/softbill aviculturalists.
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Curious curios! :rolleyes:

The fodys are admittedly very attractive birds, but what would be the interest to the budding aviculturalist to breed with hybridised birds - as you pointed out correctly -?

Also, from a conservation perspective would it not be worthy to have pure-bred stocks of both Madagascan F. madagascariensis (Madagascar red fody) and Comoros fodys F. eminentissima (also called red-headed)?

Incidentally, the so-called forest fody is a native Madagascan spp. of its own making in F. omissa. Lastly, most fodys are listed on IUCN as Least Concern, safe for the Rodriguez fody - VU (F. flavicans), Mauritius fody - EN(F. rubra) and Seychelles fody - NT (F. seychellarum).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Curious curios! :rolleyes:

The fodys are admittedly very attractive birds, but what would be the interest to the budding aviculturalist to breed with hybridised birds - as you pointed out correctly -?
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Exotic birds in Australian aviculture are in a constant and unhealthy rhythm of population increase and decrease as people loose interest in a given species and regain them again. When a given species becomes common the price drops, fanciers lose interest, and ultimately less people keep them. The species then becomes rare, The price spikes, giving incentives for breeders to become interested in the species again and the cycle continues.

When you consider many exotic bird species in Australia trace their origins to imports up to a 100 years ago, you can start to get a better picture of just how long some of the fluctuations have been going on for.

The Comoro fody is very rare in Australia. The Madagascan by comparison is the cheapest of the weaver species. However many of the Comoro's that are in this country are considered to be hybridised somewhat with the madagascan fody. Why would this have happened? Well i can give you a number of plausible explanations, but most likely was that a not-so reputable breeder sold some poor unsuspecting person a cock Comoro with a hen Madagascan fody as a "pair" of Comoros for the much higher price such birds command. This is possible since the hens of each species look near identical to the untrained eye.

This person breeds hybrid birds, some of these hybrids are on sold into the tiny Comoro population and by the time anyone realises whats happened its too late. Had the bird been on the "boom" phase of the cycle and been numerous in numbers the effects of one or two breeders might not be so detrimental to the overall population. But with Comoros so rare, it only take a few people to breed from hybrids and the entire population is rapidly polluted.

Most aviculturalists are not conservationists. many purposefully breed for mutations, some keep two related species together ignorant of the possibility of creating hybrids and in some cases some chose to breed a hybrid with a pure bird, figuring its better to maintain a hybridised Comoro collection than none at all. Interestingly the breeder purported to have "developed" the forest fody recently advertised a bonded shama/magpie robin "pair" for sale. Shama are near extinct in Australia

still unconvinced?

Kifaru Bwana said:
Also, from a conservation perspective would it not be worthy to have pure-bred stocks of both Madagascan F. madagascariensis (Madagascar red fody) and Comoros fodys F. eminentissima (also called red-headed)?
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yes.
 
"Madagascar" Fodies advertised this week in Queensland. $180 per u/r pair or two pairs for $350!

I can endorse peacock's assessment of the current modus operandi of many Australian aviculturalists.
 
peacock said:
Most aviculturalists are not conservationists. many purposefully breed for mutations, some keep two related species together ignorant of the possibility of creating hybrids and in some cases some chose to breed a hybrid with a pure bird,
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Such as the psittacine breeder with a Military Macaw who has chosen to pair it up with a Blue and Gold Macaw - justifying his action by saying that "...... I'll never get a Military to breed it with so I might as well get something out of it".
 
UrMumzAGoat said:
From what I remember:

1 Chilean Flamingo
1 Greater Flamingo
Egyptian Goose
Helmeted Guineafowl
Fiordland Crested Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
King Penguin
Rhea
Ostrich
Blue Peafowl
Green Peafowl
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Ruddy Shelduck
Red Junglefowl
Andean Condor
various Amazon species
" " Macaw species
" " Conure species
Peach Faced Lovebird
Masked Lovebird
Mandarin Duck
Lady Amherst's Pheasant
Swinhoe's Pheasant
Luzon Bleeding-heart dove
1 Razor-Billed Curassow
Kalij Pheasant
Golden Pheasant
Chukar Partridge
Buff-banded Rail
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Aren't Buff-banded rails native???
Also there are/were Nyasa Lovebirds around at one stage.
 
Fischer's and Nyasa lovebirds are in Australia. Nyasa lovebirds are in very low numbers, a pair can be seen at Adelaide Zoo. Fischer's, peach-faced and masked lovebirds are in quite high numbers but there are so many mutations now that it is very hard (and sometimes expensive) to find a pure bred bird.
 
Hi guys,

I'm no bird expert, but I do like parrots.

I have seen a Hyacinth Macaw at Jurong Bird Park in Singapore, and I saw a Palm Cockatoo at the bird park in Kuala Lumpur (I actually got a pic with the Palm Cockatoo on my shoulder!) but I have never seen either in Oz.

Anyway, are either of these birds found in zoos in Oz? Also, are they kept as pets and bought/sold? I could not find any info on Google.

Cheers.
 
nanoboy said:
Hi guys,

I'm no bird expert, but I do like parrots.

I have seen a Hyacinth Macaw at Jurong Bird Park in Singapore, and I saw a Palm Cockatoo at the bird park in Kuala Lumpur (I actually got a pic with the Palm Cockatoo on my shoulder!) but I have never seen either in Oz.

Anyway, are either of these birds found in zoos in Oz? Also, are they kept as pets and bought/sold? I could not find any info on Google.

Cheers.
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Hyacinthines and Palms at Adelaide Zoo.

The last Hyacinthine that sold in this country in avicultural circles cost a reported $40,000. It was a cock bird. Heaven only knows where the purchaser is going to get a hen to pair it up with. There are legal Hyacinthines in aviculture in this country but their owners won't be wanting to part with them - particularly as some perished in the Victorian bushfires a year or so back.;)

A couple of Palms changed hands about 5 years ago when a wealthy exec was buying up big in the bird world. Unfortunately they have vanished as the exec is/was going through a messy divorce.

Any buying and selling won't be located by Googling!
 
Cheers for the reply guys.

A mere 40k for a Hyacinth? I'll have two please. :cool:

That's a lot of money, but they really are such lovely birds. A shame that a few died in the Victorian Bushfires.

It sounds like Adelaide Zoo is a good place to see both the macaw and cockatoo then, as it is a bit closer to home than Ashmore.

How come the other types of macaws and Aussie cockatoos are relatively common in aviculture in Australia, but the Hyacinth and Palm cockatoo are not?
 
nanoboy said:
Cheers for the reply guys.



It sounds like Adelaide Zoo is a good place to see both the macaw and cockatoo then, as it is a bit closer to home than Ashmore.
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Don't get too excited! I'm told that they are not always on display. It might pay to email the zoo for confirmation before making the trek from Melbourne.
 
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