Pets@ Rose Cottage
Rainbow Lorikeet | Baby Dove | Love Bird | Weero | The Rest
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Meet Essie (short for Esmerelda) |
| Race: | haematodsus |
| Description: | Dark blue head. Bill bright red. Yellow-green collar. Abdomen deep violet blue. Underwing coverts orange. |
| Size: | 28 cm. |
| Voice: | Continuous screeching, chattering |
| Habitat: | Rainforests, open forests, woodlands, heats, gardens |
| Location: | Eastern States of Australia |
(courtesy "The Claremont FIELD GUIDE to the BIRDS of AUSTRALIA" Simpson & Day
Baby Dove
| I found Baby Dove on the ground, mid January 2002. Obviously fallen out of the nest as he couldn't fly, plus he still had the remains of the egg stuck to his rear. (Smelt rotten!) | |
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Russell cleaned him up and we placed him in an old nest inside a shoe box. The next problem was he couldn't feed himself. Luckily, Russell learnt that by holding his beak upwards he automatically opened it. We had a syringe (for the cats worming paste) and some baby budgie mix to give him regular feeds (see picture 2). He went from strength to strength and his tail feathers grew quickly. ( see picture 3) Once he could fly, Russell wasn't able to take him to work any more, he had needed 2 hourly feeds, so he had to start feeding himself during the day, with Russell giving him the morning and evening feeds. After about 8 weeks we felt it was time for him to go back into the wild, but by this time he was too tame. We took his cage out into the back garden and placed it on the table where the wild doves came regularly to eat the seed we put out for them, left the cage door open and let him come out. I sat back and watched while he pottered around on the ground, pecking at anything and everything. Eventually the other doves started returning and he mingled with them on the "feeding" table. However, there is obviously some sort of pecking order as, when a large dove came down, he shooed them all away, including Baby Dove, who flew off into the almond tree at the bottom of the garden. That was it! He was gone! We went out a few times to see if we could spot him and eventually we noticed him in the olive tree near the table - we knew it was him because all the other doves flew away when approached! He wasn't going to go too far away! Later, we couldn't see him anywhere and thought that was it. All of a sudden, down he came and landed on Russell's head. He was very hungry and wanted "home"! ...and so he's still with us... maybe we'll try again... another day! (March 2002) |
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Laughing Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)
| Description: | Head, neck mauve-pink tinge. Broad black-spotted buffish band on lower throat. Breast mauve-pink, shading to white on abdomen. Shoulder, wings, lower back and uppertail coverts slatey blue-grey. Outer tail tipped white. |
| Size: | 25.5 cm |
| Voice: | Musical,laughing or bubbling 'coo oo coo'. |
| Habitat: | City and suburban areas of Perth and surrounding regions; Kalgoorlie and Esperance, WA. |
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Lucy Apricot |
One flew into our garden Monday, 8th April, 2002, attracted to our aviary. It was tame and very hungry so Russell caught it quite easily.
We "borrowed" Baby Dove's cage while he had a 'fly around' in the house. However, when we transfered the new arrival to a smaller cage, she became quite distraught, so back she went. Poor Baby Dove had to go into the smaller one until we bought (YET ANOTHER!) one for him the next day.The Peachfaced Lovebird (Agapornis Roseicollis)
| Description: | Athough Lovebirds come in only one colour in the wild (green) domestic Lovebirds come in a wide variety of colours and patterns. |
| Size: | 5-6 inches long, one of the smallest of the parrot family. |
| Lifespan: | 10-20 years |
| Voice: | Very high pitched, sharp chirp that can be annoying, but is not excessively loud. Not known to be good talkers and talking Lovebirds are quite rare, those that do are usually female. Just don't expect many words from your Lovebird, no matter what sex it is. |
| Habitat: | Africa |
| Pet Potential: | A handfed Lovebird makes an excellent pet. They are cheerful, acrobatic, amusing and can be very active and playful. Independent and have a mind of their own. Some like to be held, petted and cuddled, while others would rather spend their time on your shoulder. They are more work than many pet birds as they need daily handling to stay tame. If not handled enough, they will turn shy, wild and nippy. It is a myth that Lovebirds must be kept in pairs - it is easier to keep a single bird tame than a pair. |
| Sexing: | Lovebirds can not reliably be visually sexed. There are slight differences between the sexes, they are generally only apparent on adult birds. Females tend to be slightly larger, heavier and broader, have wider-spaced pelvic bones, tuck nesting materials into the feathers on their rumps and are often more aggressive. |
Cockatiels (Weeros)
Finches
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