Spectacled Parrotlet Breeders, Loss of Species and Adding Another Parrotlet

Hello Sandee: I purchased my 2 beloved Spectacled Parrotlets (sisters) in Summer of 2000 from Rachel(?) of ‘Little Big Birds’ in Maryland. I have tried to locate her recently and have been unable to find her or ‘Little Big Birds’. I tried the Link you provide but, no luck. Is she no longer breeding Spectacles? Do you know of any other reputable breeders of Spectacles? I live in Vermont and not sure that my babies will live to 15-20 as they are beginning to show signs of old age but they’re still happily acting like Parrotlets – yacking away and always exploring. Thanks for any info you can provide on Rachel and/or other breeders of Spectacles. Best wishes Marcia Dear Marcia: Thank you for your message. Goodness, I think XXXXX got out of breeding parrotlets about 10 years ago. Very unfortunate as she was a wonderful lady who take excellent care of her birds. Even more unfortunate is the fact that there are almost no other species of parrotlets available in the US anymore other than color mutation Pacifics. I know of one person I can recommend that breeds Spectacles. Her name is XXXXXX and her email is XXXXXXXX. She is an excellent parrotlet breeder and I highly recommend her. Be sure and tell her you got her name from me. Best of luck! Sincerely yours, Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S. The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest. Camaroonian Phrase ________________________________________ Hi Sandee; thanks so much for your response. I have emailed XXXX but am so sorry to hear XXXX is not breeding anymore. She was an excellent source of parrotlet information. I am also sorry to hear there are not more Spectacles in the US. I wonder why that is. Anyway, I am not sure I’m looking to get another parrotlet currently because Bunny is pretty possessive of me and would probably be annoyed if I split affections with another parrotlet although I wondered about supervised ‘socializing’ time for both of them – she would certainly like someone who was more adept at preening her than I and my friends are. Anyway, thank you so much for your care for parrotlets. Best wishes Marcia Dear Marcia: The loss of all the species of parrotlets in this country is very simple and something that I sadly predicted back in the mid-1990’s. The influence of color mutations and their high prices caused people to dump all of the other species to breed pretty colors. People wanted to buy the pretty colored birds. That, coupled with a very limited population, especially with birds like Spectacles (which only 20 pair came into the country) and the fact the Wild Bird Conservation Act which will not allow normal, non-mutated birds to be imported is why we have nothing but color mutation Pacifics available now. While there a handful of these birds around, they are all inbred and in another 10 years or so, they will all be gone from the US as well. Very sad. Also, I never recommend getting a parrotlet as a companion for your parrotlet. They are aggressive and territorial and will look at the new bird as a rival or competitor. So, probably best to leave Bunny as an only-parrotlets. Sincerely yours, Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S. Dear Sandee: Thanks for your tip on companionship for Bunny. To be honest, I just could not see her being okay with any interruption to her supreme rule of the household. I mulled over a friend because she is slowing down and I thought this would perk her up but, upon reflection probably not in a positive way. She has developed a periodic ‘fainting’ which is frightening when it happens. She appears as though dead (eyes closed, body limp). I hold her, and in minutes, she regains consciousness, starts chirping and attempting (eventually succeeding) to scramble out of my hand. I have taken her to various avian vets – she is not egg bound, no tumors are felt, has not lost weight (if anything she has gained weight), her droppings look good. This seems like a neurological thing…In any event, I think she is too small for anything invasive or traumatic so, I think I will just enjoy her for however long she can hang around. I am very sorry to hear Spectacles did not take off – I realize now how fortunate I was to meet up with Rachael in 2001. Are you aware of any Parrotlet clubs/groups/owners in the New England area? it is nice to have contact with others who have some idea of how wonderful they are. Very best wishes Marcia Dear Marcia: Glad to be of help and I think you have made a wise decision. I’m sorry to hear about Bunny’s problems and I agree that its probably neurological and, unfortunately, untreatable. However, that doesn’t mean she can’t continue to have a long and wonderful life with you. Actually, the only reason you have Bunny is because Spectacles ‘took off’. There were only 20 pairs of birds imported 21 years ago and people worked very hard, in cooperation with the International Parrotlet Society to breed enough of them to even allow any of them to be sold into the pet trade. Had Americans been more like Europeans and continued to work with normal, non-mutated species along with the color mutation Pacifics, we’d still have plenty of birds. But they didn’t, for reasons I previously explained. There are many bird clubs in the Northeast unlike out West. While none of them are ‘parrotlet specific’ that doesn’t mean they don’t’ have a lot to offer as far as education and keeping abreast of legislative and regulatory issues. They also fundraise to support veterinary and conservation issues and, many of them have annual bird shows. Here is the URL to the Society of Parrot Breeders and Exhibitors that has a list of all affiliated clubs http://www.spbe.org/affiliatedclubs.htm as well as the URL to North American Parrot Society’s affiliated clubs http://www.northamericanparrotsociety.com/?page_id=233 Both organizations are also very educational and offer a lot to members including bimonthly journals and, of course, information on bird shows. These days those are about the only clubs that are still going strong. Hope this helps and best of luck! Sincerely yours, Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.

Spectacle Parrotlets

Hi Sandy,

You may remember me. My name is Cailin Callahan and we have spoken on the phone a few times back when I was looking for breeder pairs of spectacled parrotlets. Presently I have two pairs -- only one of which has begun reproducing. This pair is unrelated and have produced 4 babies, presently fledging and appearing to be made up of 3 hens and a male. They are 4 weeks old having hatched all in the first week of December. I have another breeding pair which has yet to do anything. The male of this pair is the brother to the male of the reproducing pair and the hen of this pair is the sister of the hen of the reproducing pair. Offspiring from this couple will be double first cousins to the offspring of the first pair and so they would be a little too closely related to take the progeny of these two pairs and breed them.

I am writing to find out if you are still breeding spectacled parrotlets and if you know of an aviary called "three sisters" in North Carolina. I understand she was looking for specs to trade recently but I have been unable to find her. Also, I will soon be looking to sell these babies which have all been regularly handled and hand fed intermittantly. None of them bite but one does shout at you a bit at first when you handle him. They would all make great pets or breeder birds.

Thanks for any help you may be able to give and best of luck to you in 2012!

Cailin

Dear Cailin:

Thank you for your email. If you have read any of my materials you would know that Spectacles didn’t come into the US until 1992, right before the Wild Bird Conservation Act was passed. This prohibited the importation of all the species of parrotlets except for color mutation Pacifics. The birds that were imported in 1992 came from Europe so they were not wild caught birds and there were less than 20 pairs imported. This means that pretty much all of the birds around today are all related in some way – many of whom are very closely related. Just because you get birds from someone else, is no assurance that the birds are not related. I love to tell the story of a friend who bought WILD CAUGHT macaws – one from TX, one from FL and one from CA. He had them DNA’ed and ALL of them were related. And if that happened with wild caught birds, you can be assured that the original pairs that came in the country in 1992 were probably all related because they all came from one breeder in Belgium. The only reason the birds are still around today is because a) the International Parrotlet Society created a breeding cooperative and a managed studbook so that the original pairs’ offspring were as widely distributed as possible and b) the birds that came in were very healthy and were excellent founder stock. Unfortunately, each generation brings the inbreeding quotient higher and higher until eventually the birds will all be sterile or have incapacitating genetic abnormalities. There is no way to prevent this since the Federal government will not allow the importation of new stock. Very sad and as someone who was one of the first people in this country to breed Spectacles and is a co-founder of the International Parrotlet Society who worked for 2 decades to preserve these species, it is incredibly sad. But, people wanted to make money breeding color mutation Pacifics, as well as feeding their own ego’s to make pretty new colors, so the other species – Mexicans, Blue Wings, Yellow Face and even the more common ones such as Green Rumps and Spectacles are pretty much genetically, if not literally, extinct in this country. Another 10 years, and they will all be gone. Very sad.

3 Sisters Aviary used to be members of the International Parrotlet Society but no longer are so I have no idea if they are still around or not. All of my birds are in breeding cooperatives and are traded with zoos and biological parks. I do not sell them into the pet trade.

I wish I had better news for you but unfortunately, that is the state of birds these days. Best of luck to you in your endeavors and if you would like to get more detail, I have a blog as well as an article in the July/August 2011 IPS journal on genetically extinct species of parrotlets and how they came to be that way. It is sad but an interesting read and I am one of the few people in this country that can accurately report it since I was there.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase

Spectacle Parrotlets

I am still looking for a weened male spectacled baby. Do you have any or are you expecting any soon?

Imagine peace,
Denise

I'm so sorry Denise but I have reduced the numbers of birds so I have nothing available and my waiting list is so long I can't take any more names. I am so sorry.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com

Thank you for the response. I will keep looking. Maybe I should start breeding them. They are too dear to be so rare.

Imagine peace,
Denise

Unfortunately, it's really too late. We no longer import any birds other than Pacific color mutations and since most people got rid of their other species more than a decade ago to breed high dollar color mutations, all the other species are either literally 'extinct' in American aviculture - such as Yellow Face (which were imported in very small numbers back in the mid-1980's), Sclater's (only 1 pair proven to have been bred and then they all died in a house fire also in the 1980's) and Mexican parrotlets (most of which were smuggled birds that had avian TB) or genetically extinct, because there are no unrelated birds to breed to one another, such as Blue Wings, Spectacles, Green Rumps and even normal, wild-type (non-mutation) Pacifics. I wrote an article about it for the IPS journal. For me, after spending 30 years of my life trying to save these species it is beyond heartbreaking.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com

Parrotlet Lifespans, Spectacle Parrotlet Availability

Hi!
I am a parrotlet owner and have been doing some digging for research on parrot foraging, nutrition and lifespan but due to the lack of research on parrots and general and especially parrotlets, I havent been able to find real conclusive facts about parrotlet lifespans. I am sure this is due to the fact that they werent widely bred until recently so we may not even know for sure what is normal. My question for you is what is the longest you have known them to live?

I also have another question regarding purchasing a spectacled parrotlet as a pet. I am not looking for one immediatly but am researching and preparing and was wondering if you breed them for pet homes and if so, how much are they?

Thank you in advance for your time

Sincerely,
M. J. Roach

Dear Mary:

Thank you for your email. Let me provide you with a brief history.

Parrotlets have been in the United States since the late 1800's. The first pairs were bred in zoos starting in the mid-1920's. They have been kept as pets since the 1950s so they certainly are not recent additions to Amercan aviculture. Indeed, I have kept them for almost 30 years and the 1970's and 80's there were tens thousands of parrotlets that were imported including Yellow Face and Sclater's. In 1992, the United States cut off importation of almost all species of parrots except under extremely limited circumstances. The International Parrotlet Society was formed in 1992 and worked tirelessly to add color mutation parrotlets to the Approved List of Captive-Bred Birds and have been imported, again by the thousands, since 1995. They are one of the very few species of parrots that are allowed to be imported into the United States.

The reason there is little known about their lifespans isn't because of lack of research per se. The reason is, very few people other than myself have kept them long enough to make that determination. Most of the people who breed parrotlets these days have kept them less than 10 years - a mere blip on the radar screen of bird keeping. Indeed, there is no 'research' that can be done other than the actually keeping individual birds from birth to death and these days, that is extremely rare. I only know of maybe 6 people in the US that actually have that type of experience. Everyone else, particularly those on the Internet, have no personal experience and only repeat what they have been told or read. Unfortunately, on the internet, anyone can be an expert - all they need is a keyboard and an opinion.

When I stared with parrotlets in the early 1980's, I had wild-caught birds as did everyone else. Ironically, most people these days that have parrotlets have never seen a wild-caught bird let alone work with them. I did for more than a dozen years. Those birds easily lived more than 20 years although we were not sure how old they actually were. The reason we know they lived to be more than 20 years old is because we actually kept individual birds that long. Of course, these were adults when they were imported so we really don't know how old they were. We only know they easily lived 20 years or more. These days, they can live to be that age but it is extremely rare. Most parrotlets meet their demise from accidents, usually preventable, but even if they are protected, it seems 10-15 years is much more the norm. This could be for a variety of reasons including diet (I am a firm believer in fresh, whole natural foods for parrotlets not pellets or other 'fortified' diets). It could also be the natural progression of animals that are kept in captivity. Seems the more humans are involved with breeding animals, the more their lifetimes are shortened. This is true with pretty much all domesticated animals. It could be people are taking too many 'short cuts' with breeding - not waiting for the birds to be mature or it could be due to inbreeding. Color mutations may also have had an effect because they are genetically abnormal and in the wild, they would never have lived long enough to breed and pass on their defective genes. These days its almost impossible to find a normal Pacific parrotlet that has no color mutations in its background at all. But, since color mutations have only been around 15 years or less, no one can definitely answer that question. Perhaps we will have that answer in another 15 to 20 years.

I do breed Spectacles and was one of the first to breed them in the US when they were imported in 1992. I always have a waiting list for all of my birds and my list for Spectacles is months long. Unfortunately, my prediction made back in 1994 before any mutations were imported, has come true. That all the other species would disappear once people started breeding mutations. I charge $300 each.

As I said, I have bred parrotlets for almost 30 years. I have kept every species except Sclater's (only one pair was known to produce and they died, along with their offspring, in a house fire in the 1980's) and was one of the first to actually breed parrotlets. I also have awards for working with rare and difficult species such as Mexicans and have a first breeding award for producing the first of a particular subspecies of Blue Wings. I cofounded the International Parrotlet Society and have written 3 books on parrotlets including the most recent addition of Barron's Parrotlet Handbook. I also write for Bird Talk magazine and am a panel expert on parrotlets with Bird Channel.com I give seminars and speak at national and international conventions on parrotlets as well as other issues involving parrots.

So, I hope this answers your questions. Thank you again for your email.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com

Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org

A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest.
Camaroonian Phrase