Bird Show

think she is a rubino lutino. i am hopeless on colours- just go for what I like. I like bourkes as they are pretty. have a very gentle nature and a beautiful musical song- they do not shriek, are not harsh or jarring. on downside they are so laid back are virtually horizontal - not busy birds so prehapse a little off putting to those used to birds on go all the time as a bird so quiet and still is unusual.
the black bengals- i think must be quite common as there were lots there and they were not horribly expensive. mine were £15 the pair which I think was probably the most expensive set in hall as a lot were £7 or £10 but that pair were so feather perfect they shone above the others so did not begrudge the extra. I have never seen black ones in a pet shop though and did not know they existed till saw today!
 
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they are really stunning and such lovely calm birds. not noisy but will need extra water changes and cleaning I only have the one male but I would love to get him a partner. I must admit I was impressed by just how he dose not flap when I approach or clean out his cage and he was an aviary bird with very little contact with humans. his best friend is my king parrot
 
@sunnyring - The wife frequently complains about how noisy and demanding the conure girls are, so I thought she might appreciate some Bourke's in their companion cage to be more peaceful and provide a contrast (due to them having the qualities you mentioned, besides being pretty little things). She then decided that Bourke's would probably be too boring! Hence we are looking at other birds of similar size for now...

Did the big parrots have any colours besides green that you noticed? Very large all-green parrots are probably mealy amazons, which are the biggest Amazon species. I didn't think they were very commonly kept in the UK though. We see wild ones around here sometimes (they seem to be the commonest of the larger parrots locally) and they really are large birds - noticably bigger than other amazons.
 
Bourke's do get active first thing in the morning and normally the first of the birds to wake and then again at dusk and love flying at these times,
 
``to be honest my cag Sophie is so tiny all parrots look huge compared to her so I am not best to judge lol. they looked big to me, there were all different types, green with yellow in various places plus green all over.
 
the red winged are very shiny but the glow of there feathers do not show that well in photos, but when you see them there brilliant colours are so bright. I have only seen photos and when I saw him i just had to get him. how did you resist?
 
Lovely littlies @sunnyring , so cute, pleased you had a successful day. Yes there were a few diff species of Amazons, some with a blue head and yes think there were Mealy 'zons cos they are big aren't they?
 
the red winged are very shiny but the glow of there feathers do not show that well in photos, but when you see them there brilliant colours are so bright. I have only seen photos and when I saw him i just had to get him. how did you resist?

lol ¬I had a list and stuck to it aside from a little diversion into the bengalise but they are tiny so don't really count. I was very very taken with the red wings, but do not have correct facilities for so not for me. likewise the foreign finches were delightful but far too delicate for me. the other eye candy was a stunning touraco - but again like many birds at the show he was for very commited specialist keeper.
my little gang all look bright eyed and active this morning, the bourkes are a little nervous but are setttling well and demolishing their food, the finches I think have such a happy go lucky attitude that they really just look upon every change in their lives as a fun new adventure.
 
Were there any toucans there? They can actually make very good pets for anyone who can meet their requirements, but I think most people in the UK wouldn't know this so it seemed worth mentioning. I've actually considered getting a pet toucan myself in future (in place of a larger parrot), but it would probably be easier to care for one here due to the year-round supply of fresh fruit, house easy to clean, etc. Many pet shops here sell toucan and fruit eater pellets (which would also suit Turacos) - I doubt they're easily obtained in the UK! Turacos are beautiful, but maybe better as aviary birds, as they are less naturally curious and interactive with humans. Fairly similar requirements so far as I can tell.

I'm curious about the "foreign finches" - do you know the names of any that you saw?
 
no actual toucans, lots of stunning little finches in rainbow of colours- most of which I do not know names of! there were the more common gouldians, star finches, fire finches, weird little numbers with stripes across breasts- think they were owl finches , grass finches, seemed a virtual rainbow of colours of tiny tiny birds. the touraco i saw did not look happy to be there and was trying to get out of cage, I hope he sold as it would have been a pretty dreadful day for him as was clearly not used to being in a cage.
there were also a lot of bullfinches there- british natives- to my surprise they were very calm , i know they are all captive bred but I would still have expected them to be more nervy as wild species but these were very chilled out about whole event
 
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