SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

In January I did a couple of posts about some new birds that I was introducing to the Haven at the Museum. I knew that both females had paired up with their respective mates but I had yet to see any 'evidence' of their bonds.
That was until today! I knew the Violaceous euphonias had been feeding some chicks in a nest but when I went to check them this morning the nest was empty. Then I saw not one fledgling,


not two fledglings,


not three fledglings,


but four fledglings!


Now I realise these are not the greatest photos ever but I really didn't want to get too close to the fledglings and stress them or the parents so you will have to take my word for it that the obscure little green blobs in these pictures are actually baby birds!
It is a very difficult task for the parents to raise four chicks to maturity so I must not get too attached to them at this stage but it was a lovely surprise to see them all.


Photo Credits - CJT

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

I recently posted about the new birds I was introducing into the Haven Last week I finally opened the cage for them. It caused a little consternation to begin with as first the female Euphonia peeped out


and then the female Twinspot


Of course the male Euphonia couldn't keep away


and even the male Twinspot plucked up the courage to come and take a closer look


With very loud encouragement from the male, the female Euphonia flew out of the cage, all of a rush and landed very ungracefully in the nearest bush. She looked rather startled by the whole thing!


It would be several more hours before the female Twinspot would take the plunge. But eventually, with gentle coaxing from the male, and numerous gifts that he bought for her!


She too eventually left the cage.
The first week of free flying is always the most nerve racking, you never know if the birds are going to get exhausted or panic and fly into a wall or one of the ponds. I left the cage in the Haven for a full week after they had vacated it but, thankfully, there were no mishaps.
And now? Well, as expected the Euphonias were very quick off the mark in pairing up, a couple of days ago I found them mating very loudly and enthusiastically! (No photos, this is a family friendly site :) )


The Twinspots are far more discrete and well mannered! But I think it would be fair to say that the pair bond is strong.............
1, 2, 3 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


Photo Credits - CJT

BRIDES TO BE

I have posted before about the birds I care for in the Haven. As with all animals, from time to time some have to be replaced. In the last year both the Violaceous Euphonia Euphonia violacea, and the Peters Twinspot Hypargos niveoguttatus, males have lost their mates. I have found them some replacements at last. Whenever I have new animals arrive they have to undergo a thirty day quarantine before they can come into contact with existing animals. So for the last thirty days I have had a large bird cage next to my desk. Last week I moved the cage up into the Haven so that the two females could begin to get used to their new surroundings.


This is the least stressful way of moving them. Also birds that are reared in a cage tend to have underdeveloped flight muscles so you do not want to just set them out in a huge space immediately. After a week the cage door is opened and the birds are left to find their way out in their own time. The cage is a safe space to them so if they become stressed in the larger space they will have the ability to return to the cage, I will leave the open cage there for another week.
This is what their new home looks like......


Quite a step up from a cage!
Of course as soon as I bought the cage in with the two females inside, the two males who were already in residence got very excited. There was a lot of whistling and showing off (seems all men are the same! :) ) The male Violaceous Euphonia has stayed in very close attendance.


Clearly he doesn't want to wait for the girls to get used to things, he has been trying to work out how to get into the cage ever since they arrived.


The male Peters Twinspot, a real Prince Charming, and a personal favorite of mine, is much more circumspect, he watches, longingly, from a respectful distance.


How could she resist such a handsome fellow?


Tomorrow is the big day when I open the cage door. Hopefully all will go well. It is quite an adjustment going into this huge space.

We also have Button Quail Coturnix chinensis in the Haven, today I spotted one of the females sitting on eggs.


Photo Credits - CJT

FINALLY AIRBORNE.

Just when I was beginning to think I had bred the first ever pedestrian Melba Finch, little Indy finally took to the air. It was pretty heart stopping stuff for the first couple of days as he careened from tree to shrub to tree with some rather messy landings. I wasn't the only one who was a little concerned, both parents were in close attendance at all times and the male was rattling his alarm call whenever junior took to the air! His very favorite pass time though is still most definitely eating. Here he is under Mom's watchful eye. Daffy the beautiful Green Honeycreeper was less in evidence recently and eventually I worked out why. She had built a perfect little nest and produced two eggs. Unfortunately she doesn't have a mate so they won't be fertile but if I take them away she will probably start the entire process over again. So I have to leave her to it. She is taking full advantage of the situation though. Instead of coming to the food bowl for her waxworms in the afternoon like she used to, she sits in her nest and waits for me to feed her there! No, of course the animals in my care aren't spoiled!
It seems that the male Red-legged Honeycreeper has finally stopped gazing at himself in the mirror long enough to start surveying potential nesting sites. Here he is with the female checking out one of the nesting baskets I had put up.
It seems that it may have met with their approval because when I checked back later the female had apparently started work bringing in nesting material. There is a certain amount of natural vegetation in the Haven that they use and I supplement this with commercial nesting products. Here, the female has selected some strands of sisal, a natural fibre used to make rope.

Photo Credits - CJT

MY FEATHERED FRIENDS

Remember the little bundle of fluff that I posted on Independence Day? Well look at him now!Believe it or not this is little 'Indy' one week later. Although he still has the black beak of a juvenile bird (I am calling it a 'he' not because we have defined his gender but just because it seems preferable to 'it!') he is now developing the characteristic red tail of the Melba Finch Pytilia melba and, as you can see, has far more mature feathers and less down than last week. As is common with Melba Finches, he loves to sunbathe, and that was how I got this shot, he was basking, and allowed me to get closer than usual.

To give you some idea how much further he has to go to get to mature plumage, this is what an adult male bird looks like. The female has the same body colour but none of the red and orange on the face and neck.

The Melbas are not the only birds in the Haven that have been breeding.


Our pair of Violaceous Euphonias Euphonia violacea have been very prodigious.The male is very striking with his vivid yellow plumage. Euphonias are great mimics and he always seems to be coming up with new songs which he belts out at full volume from a prominent perch. He was actually in mid-song when I took this photo but I think he must have stopped for breath just as the camera clicked! Hence the indignant look! The female is no where near as easy to see, largely because she is kept in a permanent avian equivalent of 'bare foot and pregnant!' This prolific pair have provided us with a fairly constant stream of fledglings throughout the year which we rehouse with other bird breeders in order to prevent any inbreeding within our group.



Some of our other birds are showing definite signs of pairing off too. These two are affectionately referred to as the 'love unit' as they are utterly inseparable. They are Red-eared Waxbills Estrilda troglodytes and they originate from Sub-Saharan Africa. We actually have four of them in the Haven and they stick together in a very tight flock for the majority of the time. Usually when I do my last check-up at the end of the day I will find them paired off and snuggled up in two pairs like this, very sweet.



Our second 'love unit' took a little longer to
come to fruition. This poor guy lost his first, and second mate and seemed fated to live a single life but eventually I managed to find him another female and he was so thrilled when I bought the cage into the Haven, he hung on the outside of it for hours every day until I eventually let her out. When I introduce new birds, they first spend a thirty day quarantine outside of the Haven, to ensure they are healthy. Then they are put into the Haven in a large flight cage for a couple of weeks to get used to the sights and sounds of this large public space. Then I open the cage but leave it in there so they can leave in their own time and return to it if they feel the need for security. And then eventually when I think they seem relatively settled, I remove the cage and leave them free flying. So that was what this poor little chap had to wait for! These are Lavender Waxbills Estrilda caerulescens.


This handsome fellow is a Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus and I am afraid spends so much time gazing at himself that he seems to forget to lavish any attention on his mate. I realise that he is very stunning but he really does like to spend hours gazing at his own reflection and so he and his mate have not yet managed to breed. We have large mirrors placed beside the doors of the Haven so that people can check their reflection to make sure they don't have any butterflies on them before they leave. This bird perches on the edge of the mirror and stares at himself for hours! I believe Narcissus would be the correct name for this character! There is a professional photographer who sometimes visits the Haven and she caught him in action - http://thebutterflyhaven.blogspot.com/2007/09/purple-honeycreeper.html



Another far more modest fellow, and a favorite of mine is the delightful Peters Twinspot Hypargos niveoguttatus. This species too originates in Southern Africa and I remember them with great fondness when I lived in Zambia, hopping around picking up seeds and hearing their charming, soft, warbling call.



I could not complete a posting about the birds in the Haven without mentioning this character. This is Daffy, named by her breeder because she is so tame that she behaves more like a domestic duck than an exotic honeycreeper! Although this is not the best shot I have of her, it sums up her behavior perfectly. She is always waiting for me in the mornings when I arrive and if I don't fill the nectar feeders promptly enough for her liking she will fly at my head, veering away at the last second! Around three in the afternoon I usually go up to put some waxworms in some of the feed bowls and she is usually waiting on the edge of the bowl! She will actually take the waxworm from my fingers and gobble it up with great relish. Daffy is a Green Honeycreeper Chlorophanes spiza.

Photo Credits - CJT

I THINK THIS BABY WILL HAVE TO BE CALLED INDEPENDANCE.

Here at the museum we have a huge butterfly haven and a couple of years ago we decided to introduce some birds to enhance the exhibit. We now have a variety of exotic species that reside there under my tender loving care, one of which is the Melba Finch Pytilia melba, a seed eater from Sub-Saharan Africa. This morning while doing my early morning rounds to check on all my feathered friends I discovered we had a new addition, as seen above. This youngster is newly fledged, as you can see it is still quite fluffy, and hasn't got all its adult plumage yet. It is about two thirds of th size of the parents. I noticed it has already started pecking around for itself although it is more than happy to accept food from the parents when they are close by. More on the other birds very soon.

Photo Credits - CJT