BREEDING THE GREY TREEPIE (Dendrocitta formosae) by Neil Owen In 2001 Neil bought a pair of Grey or Himalayan Treepies. The following year they built a nest and laid a clutch of four eggs. Two of the four chicks hatched were later found dead. The other two were reared successfully. It was the first time this species had been bred in the UK. The pair laid a second clutch of four eggs, all of which hatched. Three chicks fledged, but one was found dead a week later. The remaining two were reared to independence. Colour photos show the adult female and a nine-day old chick.
BREEDING THE CHESTNUT-BACKED THRUSH (Zoothera dohertyi) by Gary Bralsford An account of the first UK breeding of this Indonesian thrush. The first two young were thrown out of the nest at five days old. The pair nested again and two young left the nest after 14 days. The author believes that the key to his success was the large amount of waxworms (2,000) and earthworms (2kg or 4lb 6oz) which he provided. The pair went to nest for a third time and again laid three eggs, from which two chicks were hatched and reared. A colour photo shows one of the adult birds.
BREEDING THE BEARDED BARBET (Lybius dubius) AT DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM by Susan Congdon Two pairs were introduced into the African aviary in May 1998. Later that year one of the females died and in early 1999 a male disappeared. The surviving pair laid four clutches of eggs over a five-month period. All but two of the eggs disappeared. These two were removed from the nest and the chicks hand-reared, following the death of the adult male. A new male was acquired, following which a chick was fledged in July and the following May a further three chicks were fledged. The remainder of the article describes the hand-rearing of the two earlier chicks. Photos show one at six days, 10 days and newly-fledged. A graph plots their weight gain and a table details their care and development from day one to day 42.
BREEDING THE BLUE-CROWNED MOTMOT AT RIVERBANKS ZOO AND BOTANICAL GARDEN by Elizabeth Prouse The Bird Conservation Center (BCC) at Riverbanks Zoo, South Carolina, housed a genetically valuable pair of wild-caught Blue-crowned Motmots (Momotus momota). Both birds were acquired from separate sources in 2000 and moved to the BCC in 2001. Keepers designed an artificial nest site comprising three tunnels which terminated at a nest box. The pair nested in the box and the first chick fledged after 28 days, followed by a second chick the next day. A second pair bred later in a burrow dug in the soil floor of the South American exhibit in the zoo's Birdhouse.
A HISTORY OF THE GENUS Picathartes IN CAPTIVITY, 1948-2002 by Marvin L. Jones This is a continuation (from Vol.109, No.3) of the list of White-necked Picathartes (P. gymnocephalus) kept in captivity. Included is a photo of the bird which arrived at London Zoo in 1957. It was only the second example of this West African species ever kept in captivity.
BREEDING THE BLACK-FACED GRASSQUIT (Tiaris bicolor omissa), WITH SOME NOTES ON BEHAVIOUR by Robin Restall This is, Robin writes, perhaps the commonest species at garden bird feeders in Caracas, Venezuela, where he lives. A female from the previous year was released into his newly replanted aviary, together with a freshly-caught male from his garden. Two months after the rains started Robin saw the first fledgling, but the morning after the most awful rainfall imaginable, it was found dead floating on the pond. However, a few days later he was amazed to see a second fledgling. He believes this species was first bred in the UK in 1910 and the second breeding was in 1958 at Cornell University in the USA.
BOOK REVIEWS. Caiques; Captive Birds in Health and Disease: a practical guide for those who keep gamebirds, raptors, parrots, waterfowl and other species.
NEWS & VIEWS. Includes news from Cameron Park Zoo, Waco, Texas, the discovery in Venezuela of the Carrizal Blue Seedeater (Amaurospiza carrizalensis) and an item about the White-winged Guan (Penelope albipennis), thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 1977 in Perú. Six chicks (one of which died) were hatched at the Cracid Breeding Centre at Zutendaal. There is a colour photo taken there of this guan.
OBITUARY. Dr C. J. O. Harrison.
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