Choosing Among Poicephalus Species
Gladys Prouty
Emerald Aviary
CAPESPACE@aol.com
The following was taken from the poicephalus mailing list, in regards to a question about which poiceph species to pick. I thought it was really informative, and hope that you do to!
My husband and I have a small aviary, and we specialise in African birds only. We raise Timneh grays, senegals, brownheads, redbellies, meyers, jardines, and cape parrots. I handfeed all the babies, so I am well versed in the tempermental quirks and foibles in all of them. (no Capes yet, darn it !)
I'll begin by stating that there are exceptions to any and all of the generalities that I offer from my observations. African parrots in general tend to be less raucous than your South Americans, or Aussies, which I truly appreciate, having known, and loved many birds of both continental groupings. The noise level in our house is quite tolerable, really.
Our most popular poicephalus is the senegal. I find senegals to be very personable little creatures. They are very active and acrobatic, and are inclined to be little clowns. They can be a trifle bossy, but it can be overcome with a bit of common sense. As far as speaking goes, some of them speak very well indeed. Of all the people to whom I have sold senegal babies to who keep touch, all of their birds have learned to talk. Some of the birds have bonded to one person to the exclusion of all others, but I'd have to say that most of them will be friendly to other people than their "special person." I have never heard of a poicephalus actually attacking a spouse or boy\girlfriend to fend them off of their person. I know amazons do it, but I've never heard of a poicephalus doing so.
Brownheads are the sweetest, most adorable little babies, but I find them to be very sensitive high strung in comparison to the senegals. I don't recomend them to families with small noisy children. They are nowhere near as flashy as the rest of the poicephalus gang, but they can make up for a lot with their sweet natures. I find that some brownheads have a tendency to hold grudges. If you hurt or offend your little buddy you can be a long time getting over it. I would consider the brownheads to be especially good talkers. In fact, one of our daddy brownheads fooled me into thinking that a strange woman was in our house calling out to my youngest son. I ran full tilt about half way down the hall before I realized that not only was my child at school, but the voice I was hearing was a good imitation of my own. Brownheads are great in the child and female voice tones.
Meyers parrots are another bird that does best with adults without little kids. They are rather high strung, but, oh so sweet! My own personal pet is an adorable little five year old meyers. She can't say a word, but is fluent in cockatiel, and conure. (only not so loud.) She is a real cuddle bug, and a glutton for attention. I do know a few meyers parrots who talk, but they tend to have small vocabularies, and tend to be difficult to understand. They are mostly green, with a gray head, but have yellow on their shoulders, and also on their foreheads after their first molt, and their backs are blue, under their wings.
Redbellies are interesting little characters. They are spunky, and very active. Their personalities are perky and playful. They tend to try and dominate other birds, and demonstrate this by chewing off the tails of their rivals, be they other redbellies, or other poicephalus. We have had this happen time and again. On the other hand, they are extremely clever with their toys, and talk nearly as well as the brownheads. We have two little female redbellies in our dining room who actually carry on short conversations with one another. One day Jazzy said (with indignation) "It's not funny" to which Rusty replied "Ha, ha, ha!" They obviously get their scripts from our kids. They are a lovely dove gray, that has the slightest hint of light brown to it, and they have ruby colored eyes. The chest of a male is a shade darker than pumpkin. A female will start out as orange as a male, but will lose all but a faint ghost of orange over a gray chest. They both are a springy green from just before their legs, and down past the vent.
Last, but certainly not least are the jardines. Jardines are just a little smaller than a timneh gray, and are the embodiment of psitticine charm. I am just reaching the weaning stage of my very first jardines baby, so I know less about them than the others. However, we have owned two mature pairs for nearly two years. I find them delightful, even though I can't handle them. They are playful and very talkative, and very bright.
Everyone in our family is head over heels in love with Tesla, the baby jardines. He is the biggest cuddle bug I have ever seen. He "courts" anyone who takes him out to play, and seems to love everyone. He's still a little clumsy, which is actually pretty cute, and is trying to verbalize already. It's still very garbled, but he's trying. It is unusual for a parrot to speak much before they are six months to a year old, which is when most parrots develop their speech ability. He's the most fetching little chap I've ever known, and that is saying alot, indeed, since I feel that all of our babies are fabulous!
Jardines parrots are one of the most strikingly beautiful of all the Africans. Their wingbacks are sort of checkered bright green and black. They have a ridge of red emerging from under the wing along the edge of the wing. The rest is bright green with red "garters" around the bottoms of their leg feathers, and their foreheads have splashes of red, and or orange, and or yellow on a mature bird. Babies have just a suggestion of red above the beak where the head feathers begin. They have their eyes outlined by a ring of white skin. Gorgeous!
While biting can be a problem with any species of bird, I have found it to be far less so with the African species. Adult African parrots do not discipline their young by biting, nor does biting have a role in courtship, as with South American birds . Biting is purely for purposes of aggression in Africans. While every baby parrot I have ever known goes through a biting stage, (just as people, dogs, and cats do) it need not be a long drawn out process. Make your response as undramatic as you can, and avoid flinching away if at all possible. Just extricate yourself as smoothly as possible, and blow a sharp blast of air in their face, and say "No." in as normal, but definite way as you can. Then time out in the cage. Ignore them for a while at least. If you flinch violently or shout, they could get to enjoy pushing the button that gives them such a dramatic payoff. You can also distract them with toys, or food to get their minds on better things, but not as bribery. The bottom line is that you do not want biting to work for them. I think that this will give you some idea or the relative merits of these particular parrots.
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