courtship behaviour of the elegant parrot

[ruben]

Hi, my name is Ruben and I'm new to this species. I live in South africa and recently purchased a pair of elegants. Since I have them I have observed strange behaviour from the female. She displays in front of the male and then feed him. I would just like to know if anybody can verify that this is normal courtship behaviour ,cause I'm not shure if this is even a pair

[avinet]

Hi ruben and welcome to the Forum

The behaviour you describe is not normal for a mature pair. How old are they? Sometimes a young pair can have a "role-reversal" while they sort themselves out.

If you can put a photo up of the pair - closeup of the heads is best - we can have a look and see if they look like a pair. Also you can check the underside of the wings to sometimes tell the sex of the birds.

cheers,

Mike

[ruben]

Thanx Mike, I've made an appointment to have them sexed but i'd still like to know how you spot the difference between the sexes by looking at the head and under the wings. I include a few pictures.This is the supposed male

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[ruben]

this is the suppose to be the female

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[ruben]

Both of them. male on the right

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[avinet]

Hi Ruben,

I use the eye area as the main method of sexing - seems accurate in the vast majority of cases. In a male there is a small area of blue behind the eye while in the female this small patch is missing with the blue only reaching the eye and not extending beyond it. There is also a very thin blue line above the eye in the males. Also in a mature bird the frontal blue is thicker and brighter in the male.

Your photo of the bird you think is a male definitely looks like a male - obvious blue behind the eye. The "female" is a bit more problematic since I get the impression there is a very faint blue feather behind the eye - you will be better able to judge this with the eye rather than a photo. In an immature bird a young male may not yet grown through the blue behind the eye. Also the fronytal band seems a bit too wide for a female, and there is a hint of a orange suffusion on the abdomen in both birds - something usually only present in a male bird.

Under the wings i sonly usueful in a young bird when the hen will often have a white underwing stripe on the flight feathers, usually, but not always, lost in the first moult.

So my guess is one definite male and one possible male - the sexing will be interesting - who is your vet?

cheers,

Mike

[ruben]

Hlo Mike.

I would like to compliment you on your accuracy. Yes, both of them is male confirmed by the sexing. My vet is Dr. Heinrich Otto of Nelspruit
Animal Hospital. At the moment females for this species is very scarce in South Africa except if i would go Lutino. I'd rather like to keep things natural though.

[avinet]

Jan 6, 2012 15:49:32 GMT 10 ruben said:

Hlo Mike.

I would like to compliment you on your accuracy. Yes, both of them is male confirmed by the sexing. My vet is Dr. Heinrich Otto of Nelspruit
Animal Hospital. At the moment females for this species is very scarce in South Africa except if i would go Lutino. I'd rather like to keep things natural though.

Always nice to get the correct guess!!! I didn't realise that you were in South Africa - nice to have you here with us

The lutino in an Elegant is a Non-Sex Linked mutation, hence is recessive. So if you pair your males - and assuming they are not split to NSL lutino - you will get all normal looking babies but they will be split to NSL lutino.

I have always had some difficulty sexing the lutinos in Elegants - the frontal white band can be a bit thinner in the females but it is very subtle - unless buying from an experienced breeder of them I would suggest getting sexing done if you go for lutinos as a second choice if normal hens are unavailable.

cheers,

Mike