Diminishing Parrotlet Lifespans

Greetings Sandee, I read on your blog that Parrotlets used to live to 20 or older but now usually only make it to 10. I was wondering why that might be, and two possible causes came to mind. First, maybe it's because all the birds have become more or less inbred since 1992. Second, maybe the grains their pellets are made from are having an effect. Soy and corn have become mostly all GMO in the last twenty years, and virtually all our wheat now comes from a hybrid that was developed in the 1970s. This wheat has been giving a lot of trouble to a high percentage of us humans who eat it (see "Wheat Belly Blog" online). So maybe, since birds are such fragile creatures, which have never eaten these grains in the wild, these "frankenfoods" are having a negative impact on them too. My 6-year-old PP "Cootie" loves quinoa, so I've been increasing the amount of that that I give him. Opinions? I really enjoy reading your blog! Vickie Dear Victoria: Thank you for your message and your very kind words. The problem with shortening lifespans in parrotlets in captivity has to do with several factors. Yes, many of the birds are inbred and closely related. This happened before the Wild Bird Conservation Act but certainly that was part of the problem. I remember a friend, prior to the passage of the WBCA in 1992, bought 3 Green Wing macaws. One came from California, one from Florida and the other from Texas. DNA testing proved all three birds were related. So it isn't just because of the WBCA, it also had to do with a limited genetically diverse captive population prior to its passage. The second biggest problem was human greed and ego. When the color mutation Pacifics started being imported back in the mid-1990's many people got rid of their other species and normal Pacifics in order to breed pretty new colored birds. Not only could they make 10 or more times the amount of money per bird as a normal Pacific or Green Rump or Spectacled, they also could make new colors by combining them, therefore 'creating' new mutations that gave them recognition and 'fame' for lack of a better word. By the time people realized that the mutations were so plentiful that their prices had fallen into the basement, it was too late to breed the other species as most were all but disappeared from American aviculture (especially the less common species of Mexicans and Blue Wings). Mutations are genetically abnormal birds. In the wild, Nature usually 'weeded' out these birds. However, we humans like the abnormal colors so we bred more of them which, with mutation breeding, means lots of line-breeding (if you are doing it 'right') or more often than not 'inbreeding'. Line breeding means breeding cousin birds and inbreeding is breeding siblings and parents to offspring. Very few of these people outcrossed them to normal or wild-type parrotlets. Again, by the time people realized they were getting incorrectly sized birds, bad feather conditions and loss of fertility as well as birth defects, it was too late to find normal, wild-type Pacifics to breed out some of these genetic defects. As for GMO's and that kind of thing, I have no idea. I'm not a scientist. However, I do know that unless you are feeding pelleted diets, most bird seeds to not contain a lot of GMO's. Most pelleted diets are manufactured from corn, something I have avoided for more than a decade to feed both myself and my birds due to its low nutritional value and high sugar content. Most bird seeds do not contain soy. But, even if it did, I would say it would be affecting ALL birds not just parrotlets so I doubt that has as much to do with it. As for being 'fragile' nothing could be farther from the truth. Parrotlets are little tigers. They are aggressive, territorial and not only survive in very harsh environments where everything eats them, they are thriving and expanding their range in their countries of origin. Indeed, in a lot of places they are considered 'pests' in that they nest under the eaves of houses, in attics, barns and are often seen in cities hanging out much like pigeons in the US. Not to mention they also descend upon farms destroying all those crops of grains, wheat, sunflower, etc. So they do indeed consume grains in the wild. Hope this helps! Sincerely yours, Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S. The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com A Chattering Bird Builds No Nest. Camaroonian Phrase

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.

Can a Shelter Import Birds?

Thanks for your letter Sandee,

Yes, the situation is intolerable. I understand that the only way to import new birds is to become a bird sanctuary. Have you any input on this? I have been breeding birds for a long time, poultry mostly, and I know that it is very important to bring in new genetics regularly to keep the flock healthy. If there is a way to become a bird sanctuary and import more specs, would you see that as a benefit to the national flock?

Sincere warm regards,

Cailin

Dear Cailin:

No, that is not how you import birds. A sanctuary is a shelter for abused animals and they are ALWAYS against breeding. The entire purposed of the WBCA importation exceptions is to breed for conservation purposes only. NOT sell into the pet trade.

The ONLY way to import is to be a bona fide 501(c)(3) educational and/or conservation organization as is IPS. In fact, IPS was recognized as the ONLY organization able to import parrotlets and one that worked directly with USF & W. In fact, the ONLY reason there are ANY mutation parrotlets (or other parrots for that matter)is because IPS petitioned USF&W at the time of passage of the WBCA to include them because biologically, mutations can only be sustained in captivity. In the wild, Nature culls them out.

But people these days do not want to support organizations. Its so much easier to just get online and ask people. No one has to do any work, pay any money or support the avian community. In fact, I am writing an article, as well as submitting a paper to two national avian conventions, about how the loss of bird clubs will eventually lead to the loss of pretty much all of our birds eventually. This is a very real and distinct possibility and one that is largely being ignored by the avian community. Everyone is so caught up with animal rights and other 'red herrings' that by the time people realize, it will be too late.

For almost all the species of parrotlets, it already is. So, no. If you want to import parrotlets, you should join IPS and support it because once the bird clubs are gone there will be NO WAY to import anything unless you are a zoo or looking for color mutations. Normal birds will not be imported.

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

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

Traveling To Scotland With A Conure

Hello,

I have just read your article online, thank you for making it
available; I found it very informative.

I own a seven year old green cheek conure. I am moving from the
United States to Scotland where I am getting married and settling
down. I am not willing to give him up so I will do whatever I can to
keep him with me.

I have found difficulty trying to get definite answers to questions
concerning my travel with my bird; for example, Continental said he
has to travel in cargo for the 8 hour flight. I am concerned about
the conditions in cargo and his survival as he is only 12 grams.
Edinbourgh airport does not grant entry to birds so it seems I have to
go through London, where they will quarantine him for 30 days which I
am afraid he will not survive well.

I am willing to fly to another country and then take the train into
the UK if that would work. I have heard of people doing that with
cats and dogs to avoid quarantine. Do you have any suggestions for
me? I would appreciate any information you can provide.

Thank you so much for your help.
Sincerely,
Taryn

Dear Taryn:

Thank you for your email. What you are reading on that website is about traveling in the United States with birds. Not taking the bird out of the country on international flights. That is because it is extremely difficult, time consuming, expensive and every country has their own rules about importing birds. It is not the airlines polices you have to deal with, it’s Federal, international and European Union, as well as the United Kingdom's (and quite possibly the government of Scotland as well) laws you have to deal with.

Generally speaking, most species of birds (other than budgies and cockatiels) are NOT domesticated animals but are considered wild animals and because many species are rare and endangered, they are not regulated like dogs and cats. The EU, just like the US, has a policy that prohibits the import of wild-caught parrots. You will have to prove to the EU as well as Scotland (and perhaps the UK) that the bird was legally captive-bred in the US. I have no idea what they require for that designation but I do know that the US does NOT recognize a leg band nor a microchip or even a bill of sale as 'proof' a bird was legally bred in the US. You will need to contact the EU and Scotland about that. I will say not having the proper paperwork or attempting to bring the bird in under the radar of the authorities is called 'smuggling'. Smuggling a bird into a country is a very serious and very dangerous international crime and in the US, it is punishable by YEARS in Federal prison.

You will need to go through US Fish and Wildlife. They will give you the application for the export (US) and CITES (international) permits as well as the arrangements for issuance of health certificates and inspections. This costs a lot of money and can take longer than 6 months. You will also need to get import permits from Scotland as well as possibly the UK and the EU. I have no idea what their requirements are but if they require quarantine (and almost all countries do in order to keep out poultry diseases as well as N5N1 bird flu) you will be required to place the bird there and pay for its keep as well as veterinary inspections. Again, trying to get around this requirement may cause you to be arrested and charged with international wildlife smuggling.

As for the airlines, ALL airlines follow the IATA guidelines and ALL birds MUST travel in the cargo hold. This isn't a problem if the bird is in the proper container and has food and a source of water. I ship parrotlets which are one of the world's smallest species of birds at 28 grams (and btw, there is no way ANY conure weighs 12 grams) and is smaller than half of your conure's tail without any ill effects all over the country including Alaska. Besides, back in the day when the US DID import wild caught birds these birds were captured, trekked out of the jungle, placed in holding facilities that were less than ideal and then shipped to the US from South America (in the case of your conures predecessors) and tens of thousands of birds arrived safely in the US. In all likelihood, your bird would simply go to sleep during the flight since most birds are used to small enclosed areas and Mother Nature designed them to be quiet in the dark so they don't get eaten by predators.

Anyway, you have a lot of work to get done so I wish you the best of luck. International law is designed to be difficult when it comes to bringing birds around the world. This is a) to protect them in their countries of origin from extinction and b) to protect the human population as well as the human food supply from diseases. But you need to start with USF&W.

Hope this helps and let me know how it goes.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Society

Importing a Bird From Asia into Canada

Thanks for all the information provided on your website. And, I have a question for you.Can you offer any advice about bringing a bird from Asia to Canada?


I've been living overseas with my pet bird for 10 years. We are currently living in Thailand and because of the bird flu scare, there are all sorts of restrictions. The USA as you probably know had stopped their quarrantines and banned all imports. I want to relocate to N. America and would love to bring my bird. "Ginger" is healthy but old - she's a 10 year old finch (house sparrow, actually). She has never come in contact with another animal or bird. Her entire life has been lived in quarantine.


Suggestions?
Thanks,
Deb


Dear Deb:

Thank you for your email.

First, you will need to contact Canada - their ministry of agriculture, their wild-life conservation department and possibly their contagious disease center. This is because Canada, like the US, does ban the import of wild-caught birds. In the US its called the Wild Bird Conservation Act and has nothing to do with disease control. Btw, the US does NOT outlaw the importing of ALL birds although it is severely restricted, it does allow some birds to be imported under certain conditions. This was in place years before H5N1 was discovered.

However, in 1997 when the first case of H5N1 surfaced, the US and Canada outlawed the import of birds from countries that have H5N1 as well as Exotic Newcastle disease. But that is the case for almost every Western nation.I'm not sure what Canada's status is for Thailand but it pretty much mirrors what the US does.

Next you will need to find out whether or not Canada allows the importation of that bird. It may be covered under its Migratory Bird Act, Endangered Species Act or possibly an invasive species act but I am not Canadian and not sure how their rules work.

Finally, I believe that Canada does allow in home quarantine however you will need CITES permits, export permits, import permits and testing at your own expense at minimum However all of this is subject to the laws and rules governing both import of birds and disease control.

Hope this helps!

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
Secretary, International Parrotlet Society

Hello,

Unrelated Spectacles & Green Rumps

Sandee,

Greetings!!

I was speaking with Ed Singh today he has some wonderful Blue Mutation Yellow Napped Amazons. Wow he is very smart as well, he had mentioned your name and spoke very highly of you. I have also been E-mailing with Brian Nielsen in Denmark he has a very good sense with Parrotlets. But he will not ship to USA.

I have purchased 3 Green Rumps from *****, these birds are so small and sweet. But they are related I was looking for an un-related male that was banded and have had no luck. I have spoke with **** and found that I am number four on his list to receive a Spectacled Parrotlet, which is very exciting except that I will be looking for a un-related female Spectacle Parrotlet AND and his stock of Green Rumps are related to these birds...

I am finding myself going around full circle each time and continue to write you. So I would like to say that with out your help I would have given up already. I can NOT believe how much I have learned./ I have read your book of Parrotlets endless times and nearly have it memorized. And I would like to ask if you would know where I could find a Banded male Green Rump, and a Female Spectacle Parrotlet. These birds are very difficult for me to locate.

There was one gentleman in Orlando interbreeding Green Rumps to Pacifics and have decided not to purchase ANY of his birds.

Please if you have any info I would be most grateful. Thanks
Sincerely,
Matt

Dear Matt:

Thank you for your email and your patience waiting for my response. As I responded earlier, I was on a much needed vacation and have just returned.

It is ironic that you mention Ed Singh. I had not heard from Ed in years and just recently ran into him at the AFA convention in August. It was wonderful catching up with him. He is an amazing man with an incredible knowledge of birds and I am very lucky to consider him a friend. As for Mr. Nielsen, neither he nor ANYONE else can legally export normal birds into the US. They can only export color mutation Pacifics and even then, only the color the US government says he can.

I understand your frustration with the extremely limited gene pool available in the US with regard to Green Rumps and Spectacles. If you think those birds are hard to come by, don’t even think about Blue Wings, Mexicans or Yellow Face. I am currently writing a very sad article on genetically extinct species of parrotlets in the US and ALL of them fall under that category except for Pacifics. Even with Pacifics it is almost impossible to find any normal, wild-type birds that do NOT have mutations in their genetic background. This is something that has been very hard for me to accept since I had worked tireless for the last almost 30 years to preserve these species by helping found the International Parrotlet Society, organizating breeding cooperatives, publishing books and countless magazine articles and of course, speaking about the need to preserve these species at national and international avian venues for decades. Unfortunately, however, human greed and ego, along with the passage of the Wild Bird Conservation Act in 1992 has led us to the place where we are now.

You do not mention the WBCA so I apologize in advance if you know about it but I am going to go into it briefly since its passage was instrumental in contributing to these birds no longer being available. In 1992, Congress passed the Wild Bird Conservation act which was intended to stop the importation of wild caught birds. It was required in order for the US to comply with its obligations as a member of CITES (Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species). Unfortunately, US Fish & Wildlife Service, which is responsible for its implementation and enforcement, decided that since there is no way to visually determine if a bird was hatched in captivity or the wild, regardless of being banded or microchipped, they set up regulations that made it so difficult to import birds that even zoos have had problems. For the average hobbyist or breeder, forget it. Only approved breeding cooperatives (usually managed by non-profit organizations not individuals), captive bred birds listed on the Approved Import list, approved foreign breeding facilities and pet birds traveling with their owners can be imported. Most species of parrotlets mature at 1 year of age and produce offspring. So in almost 20 years, we have had 20 generations of birds being produced. Every generation, of course, further drains the gene pool of unrelated birds. Ironically, the birds that were allowed to be imported under WBCA, i.e., color mutations, have proved to be the ultimate downfall of every species of parrotlet in the US except for Pacifics. This is because people got rid of all their other species of parrotlets and chose to breed color mutation Pacifics instead. This was because a) they could charge hundreds if not thousands of dollars for new color mutations and b) they could feed their egos by producing color mutation birds that did not previously exist. This further depleted the availability of birds and the birds that were still available can almost all be considered related.

By 1987 most South American countries had quit exporting their birds, including Green Rumps Obviously this was before the passage of WBCA so their genetic contributions to the US captive bred populations were cut off even earlier than 1992. Also, Green Rumps, were notoriously difficult birds to breed and keep. This was because they are very timid very shy birds. They are easily stressed, picky eaters and very unpredictable parents. Even proven pairs were known for suddenly stopping breeding, producing infertile eggs and abandoning/killing chicks. Today, they are almost impossible to find and for those that can be found, while I am not a betting woman, I would bet my last dollar they are all related. They have to be – otherwise they would not exist.

As far as Spectacles go, there were none in the US until 1992 when approximately 20-30 pairs of birds were imported. They came into the country right before the WBCA was enforced on Jan. 1, 1993. The International Parrotlet Society had been founded in 1992 and the first thing we did was set up a breeding cooperative. It obviously worked very well since the birds were bred and available to the pet trade in less than 2 years. This was due to the devotion and dedication of the breeders who traded birds rather than sell them and the birds’ own strong health and great parenting skills. Unfortunately, many people got rid of their Spectacles to breed color mutation Pacifics. Of the people who continued to breed, our already tiny gene pool was further depleted. I can guarantee you that all of the Spectacles available these days are related.

When it comes to the other species – Mexicans, Blue Wings, Yellow Face and Sclaters, the picture is even more dismal. They are truly extinct birds flying – at least in the US anyway.

Mexican parrotlets were always difficult to breed, only produced one clutch per year if you are lucky and since so many were smuggled many came in with avian t.b. and killed off any birds that were exposed. Not many people worked with Mexicans because of that; I only know of 1 other private breeder although there were a couple of zoos working with them. All of the birds are either related, too old or both to breed.

Blue Wings were a little easier to breed but they never made good pets being nervous and difficult even when hand-fed so very few people worked with them. To complicate things, a color mutation blue Blue Wing surfaced and, once again, due to the amount of money that could be made, everyone tried to breed these birds by breeding them to the few remaining normal birds so they are all related. Now, there are only 2 breeders of Blue Wings in the US and all the birds are very closely related. When they die, the species will officially be extinct in the US.

Yellow Face were never imported in large numbers. In fact, I can only verify 3 legal importations of the birds and the last one was in 1985. In the early 2000’s, there were two reported cases of the birds being smuggled – many of them had avian t.b. and died off; the others, due to their limited availability were hybridized with Pacifics. While some of these birds are still around everyone I have seen have been hybrids so they are now considered ‘extinct’ in this country.

Of the Sclater’s Parrotlet, only one pair was ever documented to have had offspring. That was in the late 1980’s and the birds, along with their single offspring, died in a house fire.

So I am sorry to take such a long time to get to my point, you are not going to be able to find any birds that are unrelated to yours. I do still breed Green Rumps and Spectacles but mine are certainly related to yours – if not directly from my stock. I was one of the first people in the US to breed Spectacles and my Green Rumps were spread far and wide across this country. And while I still breed, they are all getting older producing fewer and fewer birds – very soon I won’t have anything but my retired birds.

To say this is sad beyond belief is an understatement. I had made it my life’s work to be able to preserve these species but unfortunately I was not successful. I wish you the best of luck and perhaps you will be fortunate enough to find the birds you are looking for. After all, a Spix’s macaw was once located in the US but rarely does lightening strike. I do hope you have a better understanding of this situation so you do not get taken advantage of – anyone who claims to have birds unrelated to yours should produce a DNA pedigree and/or they should have been breeding these birds since before 1992.

I do wish you the best of luck.

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

Pacific Parrotlet/Yellow Face Hybrids

Hi Sandee,

What a pleasure to "meet" you today! I am forwarding the pictures of my two hens, Lauper and Abby, Abby being the one I believe to be hybrid. I hope these are good enough but I can take new ones if need better pics.

I await your feedback and guidance. Again, many thanks for taking the time to help, it is greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

Didi

Thank you for the pictures. In my opinion, they are both hybrids between Pacifics and Yellow Face. Abby is probably about 90% Pacific; I’d say that Lauper has more YF – but is also a hybrid. I’d say probably 50%-60% Pacific. Hope this helps!

Sincerely yours,

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

WOW!!!

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I am disappointed but grateful for the information. I guess I should stop thinking about breeding them, even Lauper, if she's not yellow faced, the whole point of me breeding them was to try to help the conservation efforts of these little guys!

May I pick your brain as to what made you see the pacific in her? I know I am but a novice, and to my untrained eye, she looked like a full yellow faced, but haha, I've only ever seen them in pictures in your book and on the web! If you could guide me in what you saw that led you to conclude she was hybrid, I can be more discriminating if I try again.

Since you mentioned the virtual impossibility of getting full 100% yellow faced here in the US, would you suggest I try to get them from Peru or Europe instead? How hard would it be to do this? I read the plight of Henry (how saaad!!!) but I am wondering if there have bee nany changes since you wrote it in 2006... any laws changed yet or who do I have to harass?? (haha!)

On another note, I am also very interested in the Lucida Pacific, but seem to have a hard time finding 100% full that have not been crossed. In your article you mentioned that you had started the Lucida breeding with birds caught in the wild, I was wondering if you still had availability of these? I would love to be able to conserve these.

Thanks for taking me under your wing, so to speak!! : )

Kind regards,

Didi

Dear Didi:

Unfortunately, there are many species of parrotlets in the US which are pretty much genetically dead – Yellow Face are certainly one since they were never imported in large numbers. Mexicans are almost gone since they were difficult to breed in the first place. Blue Wings are also on that list – most people finding them difficult to breed and they were considered too nervous and flighty to be good pets so after almost 20 years of non-importation, these species are pretty much gone from US aviculture. Fortunately, there are tons of them in Europe and Asia so even if Americans can’t breed them, the species’ will survive. Also none of these parrotlets are highly endangered in the wild.

I don’t know how I can explain to you the differences in a YF/Pacific hybrid since you have never seen a pure YF. Its kind of like describing a Catalina macaw (blue & gold hybridized with a scarlet) if you have never seen a blue and gold macaw. Mainly its size – YF are much larger than Pacifics about the size of a PF lovebird, the structure – YF weigh about 30 grams or more than Pacifics, placement of color – the yellow is supposed to go from the crown of the forehead around the entire face including cheeks and chin, down the throat, the entire chest, belly and all the way to the tail and it is a pure deep yellow and not that washed out greenish yellow. It is a deep, deep bright yellow. Finally, the beak doesn’t have enough black on the upper mandible nor is it dark enough. The entire upper mandible should be dark black. So while there is YF in both birds, one is at least 3 generations of hybridizing with Pacifics, the other could have had one Pacific and one YF parent although I doubt it. It probably is 2 generations of hybridizing with Pacifics.

As for the lucida subspecies of the Pacific, these birds have been bred interchangeably since people first started breeding Pacifics and certainly since the WBCA ban in 1992. With the introduction of color mutations, they are all but gone although unlike the YF, they are not hybrids. They are called ‘generics’ because they are still Pacifics but have a commingled subspecies.

Sorry. I appreciate your offer but you cannot change the law. There are exceptions to it if you are a zoo, a US&FW approved foreign breeding facility or a breeding cooperative sponsored by a non-profit (which is what IPS tried to do but was unable due to people refusing to cooperate and the fact that the most of the birds were either hybrids or had TB or both). But the WBCA was written in accordance with the parameters set up by CITES (Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species) which the US is a signatory. They were written to protect species from becoming extinct in the wild. More and more countries are passing laws to prevent the sale of wild caught birds – the EU passed their own version several years ago. The only species of parrotlets that can be legally imported are visual color mutations of the Pacific parrotlet. Ironically, it is because of this exception that we have lost most of the other species from American aviculture as people dumped the rarer species in order to make more money when the new colors were imported.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.

Where Have the Parrotlet Subspecies Gone? Introducing "Generic" Parrotlets.

I always say there are two types of parrotlet keepers – those that had parrotlets before 1992 and those that started keeping them after 1992. Why is 1992 so important? Because that was the year that the U.S. Congress passed the Wild Bird Conservation Act which severely limited the importation of exotic birds into the country and all but put a stop on the importation of all wild-caught birds. While people have many opinions about the WBCA, the fact is that more than 18 years after its passage, a lot of things have changed. Some of these things have been good, Americans are certainly some of the most successful breeders of parrots in the world, other things have not been so good. Many species that were commonly kept, gradually disappeared. The most notable are the Brotogerius species such as Canary-Winged and Grey-Cheeked parakeets. Another thing that has largely disappeared is subspecies of most species of parrot. This also includes almost all the pure forms of the subspecies previously found in parrotlet species.

At the end of 1992, a shipment of Spectacled parrotlets were imported into the U.S. just before the WBCA was passed. The newly-formed International Parrotlet Society realized that the probability of obtaining more Spectacleds was non-existent so a small group of very dedicated breeders formed the first IPS breeding cooperative to ensure the establishment of this species in the United States. The breeders who participated came from different parts of the country. Some were in California, some were in Florida and some were in the Mid-West, mostly in Michigan.

Fortunately, many breeders were successful with the first breeding of these parrotlets, as Spectacleds turned out to be rather prolific breeders. Like most parrotlet species, they had no set breeding season and, under the right conditions, bred year-round. Breeders began working together to exchange chicks so that a viable genetic pool could be established in order to minimize inbreeding as much as possible.

One thing that Spectacled breeders soon discovered is that, unlike Pacifics or Green Rumps, the males’ coloring, especially on the rump and around the eyes, did not develop until the birds went through their first or even second molts. At that time, most of the breeders got together once or twice a year at conventions so they could exchange birds. It was not until time had passed and the parrotlets matured, that breeders realized the birds did not look the same. It was not because the birds were hybridized or were color mutations, it was because they were different subspecies. This was verified by checking the drawings and descriptions as written in the “Bible” of parrot identification, Parrots of the World.

This created a moral and biological dilemma for both Spectacled breeders and the International Parrotlet Society. Should the breeders concentrate on preserving these subspecies in their ‘pure’ forms or should they work to establish the species in American aviculture. There was an extremely limited amount of stock to work with, less than 30 Spectacleds had been imported in total. Also, the Spectacleds that were originally imported were domestic stock that came from Europe, not wild-caught birds. There were no guarantees as to what their pedigrees were and no way of knowing whether or not the subspecies had been crossed before they were ever imported into the US. More importantly, many breeders had already set up their pairs and were not anxious to break them up as they were breeding second and even third generations of Spectacleds. The breeders and IPS agreed that, under these circumstances, it was better to establish the species with the healthiest, unrelated stock as possible and not to try and keep the subspecies pure. Now, 18 years later, we have Spectacleds aplenty in the United States, so much so they are sold into the pet trade, much to the delight of many Spectacled parrotlet owners today.

The same biological changes in subspecies have pretty much happened to all the parrots that have been domestically bred in the United States. Eclectus parrots, Senegals, lories, conures, even long-lived species such as macaws and the large cockatoos have almost no pure subspecies left since the passage of the WBCA.

Many people who had parrotlets in the early 1990’s did not realize there were different species let alone subspecies. IPS spent most of its time trying to educate people on identification of species to avoid hybridization. Identification of subspecies was largely used to help people figure out what species they had so people would not breed Green Rumps with Pacifics or Blues Wings with Mexicans.

Unlike the larger species of parrots, our tiny little parrotlets are birds that most species mature and produce offspring at a year of age. Almost 20 generations of parrotlets have been produced since the WBCA was passed. In birds such as Green Rumps, many of those countries stopped exporting even earlier – the subspecies deliciosus was the first to have importation stopped back in the mid-1980’s. For years, many breeders did not realize there were two different subspecies of Pacifics so those birds were regularly bred together. Blue Wingeds and Mexican parrotlets were so difficult to breed that if you got a male and female to produce, no one cared if they were two different subspecies.

So where does that leave us today? It leaves us with beautiful, healthy species of Spectacleds, Pacifics and Green Rumps that are available to breeders and pet owners at reasonable prices. However, the price of that is the loss of pure subspecies in most if not all parrotlet species. These commingled subspecies have a biological term and are called “generic” subspecies. Unlike a “hybrid”, which is the breeding of two separate species, such as Green Rump and Pacific, “generics” are the same species but are a mix of subspecies. This is why chicks from the same parents look different. Some Green Rumps may be very tiny like the deliciousus and some can be bigger like viridissimus. Why some Pacific hens have blue on their rumps, even in the color mutations, and some do not. Unlike recessive mutations, subspecies’ characteristics will be passed on to the offspring.

It is important to remember that these are not bad things, it is just the way things are. Had breeders not combined these various subspecies, all parrotlet species, except for possibly Pacifics, would no longer exist in American aviaries. The birds would have been inbred and in all likelihood, simply died out as they got progressively genetically weaker. Any species that survived would be in such small numbers they would be prohibitively expensive and certainly there would be few, if any, color mutations available. After all, color mutations were placed on the Captive-Bred List available for importation by the hard work of the members of the International Parrotlet Society. The government was receptive to the listing in large part because of the success of IPS’ breeders in establishing long-term, captive-bred, species of parrotlets in the United States.

So the next time you see deliciosus Green Rumps or lucida Pacifics, realize that the bird is most probably a generic that exhibits the traits of that subspecies but probably is not a pure subspecies. But that is all right – its very existence proves that the right decisions were made and that Americans will be able to have beautiful, healthy species of parrotlets available for generations to come.