WORLD OF BIRDS REVIEW 2001/2002 by Isabel Wentzel. The Head Curator of Birds and Animals at World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park, Cape Town, South Africa, reviews the 2001/2002 breeding season. Many species were bred, some including the Mountain Caracara, European White Stork, Nicobar Pigeon and Dumonti`s Myna, for the first time in the collection.
SOME FAMOUS AVICULTURISTS I HAVE KNOWN by R. C. J. Sawyer. An Avicultural Society Vice President and a famous aviculturist himself, Raymond Sawyer describes some of the famous aviculturists he has known since he joined the society in 1949. These included Cecil Webb, John Yealland, Sydney Porter, Wilfred Frost, Charles Cordier, Lena Scamell Donald Risdon, George Mottershead and Len Hill
HAND-REARING THE BLACK FACED IBIS AT THE COTSWOLD WILDLIFE PARK by Jamie Graham. Keeper Jamie Graham describes hand-rearing two chicks from day 1 to day 50, by which time the two were feeding themselves. There are details of the diet, feeding methods, amounts of food consumed and the chicks` daily weight gains.
BREEDING THE BLUE-TAILED OR BANDED PITTA (Pitta guajana) AT VOGELPARK WALSRODE by Dieter Rinke and Bernd Marcordes. Colour photos of the male and female, the male in the nest, young at 13 days and 30 days, and a fledgling, illustrate this fascinating account. Seventeen young were hatched of which 13 were reared to independence. There is a description of the extraordinarily successful diet used to hand-rear the chicks, which is also used at Walsrode to rear trogons, birds of paradise, barbets and bee-eaters, etc. The authors believe that their rearing methods could be used to help save Gurney`s Pitta, from threatened extinction.
THE GREAT BLUE TURACO AND OTHER TURACOS by Louise Peat. With permission of Steve Bishop, Old House Bird Garden, Hare Hatch, Louise, a keeper at Cotswold Wildlife Park, decribes the diet used by Steve to successfully hand-rear Great Blue Turacos. The same diet has been used at this Oxfordshire park, both for the Great Blue Turaco and the Western Grey Plantain-eater. Colour photos show an adult Great Blue Turaco and a well grown nestling.
RAISING OSTRICH CHICKS AT POTAWATOMI ZOO by Greg Bockheim. Potawatomi Zoo, Indiana, acquired as exhibits seven one and two day old ostrich chicks. This is a meticulous record of their rearing, with details of their weights, food consumption and husbandry, from the time of their arrival to the time they were returned to their owners ( ostrich farmers Nick Stama and Todd Fernwalt ) 90 days later.
BOOK REVIEWS, Handbook of the Birds of the World ( Vol.7 ) and Estrildid Finches, along with Ducks, Geese and Turkeys, are reviewed in this issue.
NEWS & VIEWS Has a number of brief items, subjects include the rediscovery of Fuerte`s Parrot, the breeding of Burnish Buff and Blue-headed Tanagers, data on the trapping of Painted Buntings in Mexico. A longer item concerns Dr Jean-Marie Derscheid ( 1901-1944 ), a Belgian aviculturist and former A.S. member, as well as scholar on Rwandan history, who was executed for his part in the war-time resistance, and is now the subject of a University of Florida website
| Copyright © 2007 Avicultural Society |