can contribute to this sad scenario. To
cite from her article on page 148, ‘If it
was a confi dent fl yer, lost its ability to
fl y, and had some crash landings that
were painful, this can also leave a strong
impact on the parrot’s memory. It sees
fl ying as a strongly negative experience
and its wings are not to be trusted’.
In a climate that is very quiet for
aviculture, and indeed many businesses
currently, we need to be mindful of our
goals in the hobby. For the love of birds
or the love of money is separating the
stayers, and I do understand that the costs
of feeding and maintenance are making
it hard for some. However, I agree with
Andrew Rankmore’s comment on page 137,
in the conclusion of his article on Rare
Conures in Australian Aviculture, ‘It is
at this point that hobbyists should take
a holiday from the focus of ‘investment
returns’ and just keep and breed what
they enjoy, and wait for market forces to
turn around, as they will do’.
On conservation issues, it was great to
see the release of Orange-bellied Parrots
with tracking in April—see page 172.
The following report summary, which
we did not have room to run in its entirety
this issue, is worth including here:
The Regent Honeyeater and Orange-
bellied Parrot are on the list of 10 bird and
seven mammal species likely to become
extinct in the next 20 years.
It would take 400 years at current rates
to document every species in Australia,
by which time many will be extinct. The
Australian Academy of Science has
launched a 10-year plan to speed up the
process of documenting unknown species,
estimated to number in the hundreds of
thousands. According to the Academy,
Australia (with 600,000 species, only about
30% of which have been identifi ed) is one
of just two developed countries and 17WELCOME
FROM SHERYLL STEELE-BOYCETHE TEAM
ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Sheryll Steele-Boyce
WRITERS Peter Odekerken, Barry Blanch,
David Pace, Dr Claude Lacasse, Andrew Rankmore,
Marcus Pollard, Jade Welch, Dirk Van den Abeele,
Hillary Hankey, Graham and Glenys Matthews,
Graeme Hyde, Kit Prendergast, Dr Milton Lewis,
Dr Bob Doneley, EB Cravens, Vickie Lillo, Carolyn
Pradun, Dr David Waugh and Sheryll Steele-Boyce.PUBLISHER SUB-EDITORAS A PROUD SPONSOR of the New
Zealand Parrot Society 2018 Convention, I
was again delighted to be of support, and
associated with this progressive educator.
I sing my praises for the event and its
organisers—headed by Mary-Lee Sloan
and Mark Davies—on page 172.
My heart goes out to the human and
wildlife inhabitants of Hawaii who have
been under siege from the recent volcanic
activity. Thankfully, our regular columnist
EB Cravens and his wife, April, have not
been directly affected, although some of
their friends reside in the engulfed area.
EB examines the sacrifi ces and benefi ts
of aviculture on page 164. What we do for
our birds! Or, at least, what should we be
doing in providing the best opportunity for
their breeding success in the future.
Now is the time to be catching up on
aviary duties, cleaning nest boxes, doing
housing changes and repairs in readiness
for the next breeding season—refer to
Dr Bob’s checklist and suggestions on
page 162.
We present a good variety in this issue
and fi nch keepers particularly should be
pleased with the offerings! On page 130,
David Pace provides all the clues from his
experience in aviary planning as he set up
his new fi nch and softbill aviary complex—
looks fantastic David! Marcus Pollard, a
favourite for his dry sense of humour and
candid accounts of his experiences with
fi nches, tells tales of the Napolean Weaver
on page 138. And avicultural stalwart
Graeme Hyde provides some wonderful
history on the Blue-faced Parrot Finch on
page 154. Lovely to share your knowledge
in BirdKeeper, Graeme.
Hillary Hankey explains how pet birds
can lose the ability to fl y and best practice
in teaching them to fl y again. Wing-clipping
at a young age resulting in crash landings
and painful and stressful experiencesoverall with ‘megadiversity’ of plants and
animals. Naturalist Sir David Attenborough,
a fellow of the Academy, is among
those calling for greater support for the
scientists who study and name Australia’s
plants, animals and other organisms. He
said instead of funding increasing, it was
currently declining, despite the critical
threat to species, and Australian scientists’
current capacity—naming about 2500 new
species per year—was simply not enough.
Plant taxonomist Dr Kevin Thiele, who
heads the working party on the Academy’s
10-year plan said that, with increased
funding, the technological revolution in
areas such as genomics, machine learning
and 3D imaging would help speed up ‘the
mapping of our unique biodiversity. With
careful planning and adequate capacity
building, Australia could embark on
a ‘hypertaxonomy’ program—we could
completely document our biodiversity in
a generation.’
He said documenting our biodiversity
was important for a number of reasons,
including conservation, biosecurity,
agriculture, human and animal health, and
to understand the evolution of life
on Earth.
Food for thought and action!
We have another entry in our Shutterbug
competition on page 173. We are looking
for more entries... so get those cameras
focussed.
Enjoy!REGULAR CONTRIBUTORSKit
PrendergastHillary
HankeyDr Bob
DoneleyPeter
Odekerken
EB
CravensMarcus
PollardAndrew
RankmoreDr Claude
LacasseDavid
PaceDr Terry
MartinBarry
BlanchDr Milton
LewisEDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE MOST WELCOME
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Houston124 BIRDKEEPER.COM.AU | VOL 31 ISSUE 2 | APR-MAY 2018
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