Jul-Aug 2015, Volume 25 Issue 4

The Eclectus Parrot is a species with a unique dimorphic plumage contrast that is termed sexual reverse-dichromatism (meaning that there is a total difference in the feather colour between males and females). The male is generally an emerald green bird with scarlet red flanks and dark inside tail coverts that are tipped with yellow on the ends. The upper mandible is a coral colour and the lower mandible is black. The female on the other hand is generally a deep red with a brownish red back. Its lower breast and abdomen is a dull mauve that extends in a band across the upper mantle. The vent is red and inside tail coverts a red-orange colour. Her beak is black. Nowhere else in the parrot world is such a contrast in colour seen between the sexes.

It was 25 or so years ago when I saw my first Senegal Parrots whilst on an aviary visit in country Victoria. I was immediately captivated by their tidy, compact appearance and that wicked, almost raptor look in their eye. Upon returning home I immediately began researching this species, which included any information I could find on housing, feeding and breeding in captivity. Senegals were now on my list of species I wanted and I thought maybe one day I’d be lucky enough to own some.

You’ve probably all seen the advert, Oils ain’t Oils, in which a certain brand of motor oil is advertised as being of significantly superior quality to other cheaper oils on the market. We know that the same applies to Parrots. There is a wide range of quality (or lack of) when it comes to animals, in particular Parrots. We also know, that a parrot is what you make it, the size and quality of the specimen is directly correlated to the nutrition that both the bird and its parents have been fed.