Nov-Dec 2010, Volume 20 Issue 6

So how can the Internet help you with you bird keeping? Using search engines like www.google.com.au will normally provide you with many web sites that contain information on the birds you keep. For instance, typing “Eclectus Parrot” into the Google search engine finds 62,000 pages with information, photos and videos of these birds. Narrowing it down further you could enter “Eclectus Parrots for sale” to find breeders and people selling Eclectus parrots. Trying to find this information out before the Internet revolution would’ve required a trip to the local bird shop or at least a phone call to inquire about availability, which would then normally require the bird shop owner to investigate through their contacts and by the end of the week if you were lucky you may be able to place an order for one next season!

The Psitteuteles versicolour, which means “various colours/variegated” is one of three Lorikeets in the Genus Psitteuteles and the only one of the Genus to be found in Australia. The others in the Genus are the Mt Apo Lorikeet (looks a bit like a Hybrid Scaly) from the Philippines’ and the Goldie’s Lorikeet from New Guinea (similar in size and looks to the Varied). The Varied Lorikeet could almost be classed as a Monotypic genus/species as it is the only Lorikeet with a periopthalmic (around the eye) ring which is white in colour. The eye ring gives the Varied its distinctive look and also makes the bird very easy to identify.

That was the first sign of the bird buck. The next few pages indicated that this was not a one off since I found more photographs, same place, different pigeons: “Bert feeding pigeons again on Dam Square” dated 1963 and another one on a similar occasion dated 1965. And then there was the classroom photo of 1963 in which I had carefully maneuvered the school turtle to the side so that I could be photographed feeding a bird. From the same period stands the anecdote of how my mother told me that if you managed to put salt on a bird's tail it would sit still and you could pick it up. We spend our summers in those days at a small country house where I was forever running around chasing the birds. Even people who don't know much about aviculture know that pigeons are quite tame, to the point that you sometimes have to be careful not to step on them. But they somehow always seem to manage to just hop away when you get really close. Close enough for instance to put salt on their tales. I found this out the hard way but for my mother it was very entertaining and kept me out of trouble.