YELLOW-THROATED LAUGHINGTHRUSH
Laura Gardner, Curator at Leeds Castle aviaries and Species Coordinator for the European zoo population, provides notes on Garrulax galbanus courtoisi and G. c. simaoensis, now (2007) treated as a separate species, the Blue-crowned Laughingthrush (G. courtoisi). There is a photo of courtoisi taken in the wild in China, details of courtoisi's known status in the wild, the species' status in European zoos up until the end of 2003 and the search for G. c. simaoensis, funded by the Avicultural Society.
ON THE EDGE by Jo Gregson
An account of breeding the Socorro Dove (Zenaida graysoni) - extinct in the wild since 1972 - at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park. Captive-bred birds will be used for the reintroduction of this species back onto the Revillagigedo Islands, near the coast of Mexico.
BREEDING THE WHITE-BELLIED GO-AWAY BIRD Corythaixoides leucogaster AT WADDESDON MANOR by Andrew Owen
The first UK breeding of this east African species. The birds showed a preference for greenfood and were offered romaine (cos) lettuce, spinach, pak-choi (Chinese celery cabbage), peas and leafy branches cut from trees and shrubs on the estate. After several infertile eggs and a chick that died, the pair eventually succeeded in raising two young. Excellent colour photos show the female on the nest, her, the black-billed male and a chick together on the nest, an eight day old chick and a 25 day old juvenile.
BREEDING THE GREATER FLAMINGO - THE FIRST SUCCESS IN 15 YEARS
by Walter Mangold
The World of Birds, Cape Town, South Africa had a flock of 58 Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus), all of which had been rescued as chicks 15 years earlier, when the water of the Etosha Pan, Namibia dried up at a crucial time. Many breeding attempts had been made at this Cape Town sanctuary but had come to nothing until this time, when summer started early and there had been a change of food. Some eggs and chicks were taken by Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), but two chicks were reared successfully.
BREEDING AND DIET OF THE CROAKING GROUND DOVE
Columbina cruziana by Jack Clinton Eitniear
The author writes: "so far this year, eight eggs have been laid and six young fledged." He found that most standard seed mixes contain seeds and grains that are too large for this small dove, so fed his birds a canary mix augmented with red proso millet. Colour photos show a nest with a clutch of two eggs and a nest with two recently hatched young, along with photos of a young one aged 15 days and a 26 day old bird. This species is also called the Gold-billed Ground Dove.
A FLYING VISIT TO COSTA RICA by D. Grenville Roles
The author, Animal Operations Manager/Curator of Birds at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Florida, attended the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative in San Jose on behalf of the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, and while there found time to visit the local zoo and travel out into the countryside and view some of the world's most beautiful birds.
BOOK REVIEWS. Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa (Seventh Edition) and The Bedtime Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany.
NEWS & VIEWS. Included are items on establishing Madagascan birds in captivity at Vogelpark Walsrode, the impressive list of birds bred at San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park in 2005, some of the birds bred at Wuppertal Zoo in 2005 and the breeding of the Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus) in Germany.
OBITUARY. George A. Smith.
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