Parrot species identification

[vicw]

Hello. I'm in Brisbane Australia and this has me intrigued. I feed a number of wild birds but in particular I am interested in working out what a wild parrot that I feed in the morning and evening is.

I can't find ANYTHING on the 'net that resembles this parrot. As you can gather I know nothing about parrots.

He/she is a light powder blue with no other colours at all. He/she would be slightly smaller than a dove. The top part of the beak is reddish and the bottom is black.

Maybe you will laugh at me for this description but can anyone tell me what I need to do to ID this bird. I will try and take a picture but in the meantime can anybody suggest what is required to work out what species he/she is.

Thanks,

Vic

 

[Pedro]

Hi Vic from your description it sounds like a pastel blue indian ring neck. Either a hen or a youngster. I could be wrong but i would say if that is the case it is an escapee.

 

[vicw]

Hi Vic from your description it sounds like a pastel blue indian ring neck. Either a hen or a youngster. I could be wrong but i would say if that is the case it is an escapee.

YES. That definitely looks like the one. I googled it. I also had a closer look this evening and it has a ring on its leg that I hadn't seen before. I guess that it has escaped from somewhere.

Thanks a lot for that. It was driving me nuts trying to work out what he/she was. . I'm feeding it sunflower seeds with pieces of apple so I hope that's OK. I'll keep on with this. I hope it can survive on its own for a while when I have to travel out of the state for extended periods.

Maybe I can contact people who breed them because I'm not sure if it's better in the wild or kept in an aviary.

Thanks again Pedro,

Vic

 

[Ratzy]

It'd be better if you caught it. Lots of things kill captive bred parrots in the wild... Dehydration
Starvation
Predators
People
Cars
Toxins
Poisonous plants
Etc.

I'd catch him and then put up posters with his pic, see if you could find his owner.
IRN's are tough birds though, there are wild flocks in England.

 

[vicw]

It'd be better if you caught it. Lots of things kill captive bred parrots in the wild... Dehydration
Starvation
Predators
People
Cars
Toxins
Poisonous plants
Etc.

I'd catch him and then put up posters with his pic, see if you could find his owner.
IRN's are tough birds though, there are wild flocks in England.

Thanks. I'll read up further now that I know the breed and I'll see if I can catch it with a box and stick with fishing line attached trick. It's been at least a year that I've been feeding her, (Pretty sure it's a hen from what I've been reading). I'll try and do my best for her regardless.

Regards,

Vic

 

[Pedro]

Vic if you have been feeding her for a year she is a smart cookie & is capable of caring for herself. I have also seen a few on the loose where i live & they seem to fly with the rainbow lorikeets. I am sure she would be street wise by now & you will have a hard time trapping her.

 

[Ratzy]

Didn't realise you'd been seeing her round for a year

As Pedro says, you may have a job getting her tame again.

 

[Hochimama]

A friend of mine once have this green indian ringneck always come around when he feed his budgies and lovebirds in the avairy ~ ~ it took him 3months to capture it. From the way it looks, is about 3years old, fully mature and male. They are very smart and dont easily got trap as wat i've heard. good luck ~~ taming her would be challenging ~~ ^^

 

[kerry]

You can keep feeding the bird & then when it is eating throw a bath or hand towel over it. When the towel is on the bird, pick it up with the towel on it just under the beak, on the upper neck/lower beak area, but keep your hand, thumb & 1st 2 fingers of your hand on the lower beak area to safely hold the bird so it can not bite you. If you are holding the lower portion of the beak, it can not bite you. You can wrap the towel around the lower body, keep the wings pressed against the body & BE GENTLE. Then you can put it into a cage or a box temporarily. But it will be able to chew its way out of a box so don't expect that to work for long. Good luck!

 

[Pedro]

The only way i have captured a escapee parrot is set up a cage with food & water. Tie string to the door & if the bird happens to get inside the cage the door can be shut. But for a bird to be in the wild for that long another thought, it very well could have a nesting hen out there somewhere. I think to leave well enough alone.

 

[vicw]

Thank you all for the useful suggestions and help.

I don't want to particularly catch her but at first it seemed that that was the best. After I explained that I have been feeding her for over a year it seems the best advice is to let her go on as usual.

This morning she started squawking for her food and I was a little bit delayed and she took off without waiting. Might be other people feeding her as well or even better, she can get her own food. If she was totally reliant on me, which I hope she isn't, she would hang around I imagine. Another good sign is that at times she won't eat much of the food but pick at it as if she's already full.

So at this stage I will let her be and not attempt to catch her.

I will keep the forum posted if things change.

Regards,

Vic

 

[vicw]

Hello again,

I've tagged this on the original thread for the history.

Everything has been fine up to a few days ago. I saw the parrot in the morning and noticed she had been pecked in the top of the head. She has also got black around one side of her beak that looks like it could be a wound of some kind. She's always had a black lower beak and I presumed it is normal. The side bits look like they could be painful.

She seems weaker the last couple of days and a bit out of it and at first she looked like she couldn't eat the sunflower seeds and only bits of apple. Today she seems better but is hanging around my place all day and is tucking her head in her wing during the day but other @%^%^& birds are attacking her.

I guess there is nothing I can do but let nature run it's course. She seems like she could be in pain and I'm wondering if she has some kind of disease that weakened her so the other birds attacked, or is she recovering from a bird attack and the black bits around one side of her beak could be wounds.



Any suggestions??

Thanks

 

[Hochimama]

Is she drinking any water ? and how's her diet ?
If other birds keep avoiding her .. means that she's sick.. other birds wont want her in the pack.. and would chase her away.. (birds nature). If she has wound .. make sure well taken care of and no infection.

 

[vicw]

Is she drinking any water ? and how's her diet ?
If other birds keep avoiding her .. means that she's sick.. other birds wont want her in the pack.. and would chase her away.. (birds nature). If she has wound .. make sure well taken care of and no infection.

She's been a domesticated bird who is now in the wild. She's been OK for over a year but when it comes down to it all I can do is feed her and watch. I don't know if she's drinking and I know she's NEVER been in a pack. I've plenty of water around but wouldn't know if she drinks.

I'm feeding her apple and sunflower seeds. I don't know what else she eats. This afternoon after my previous post she had a fair bit. If she has a wound there's nothing much that I can do because she's in the wild after all. She trusts me up to a certain extent but I can't really get too close without her flying off.

Thanks,

Vic