W.Oliver
New member
My name is Wayne Oliver, I am 55 years old, happily married with five great kids, living in the Metro-Detroit area, working as an Accountant in the auto industry. Studied ornithology at university, but due to my parents divorce, forced drop-out, so I joined the U.S. Military and got an accounting degree while I served....what a dramatic change.
Birds continued to be my passion, and I am an aviculturist at heart. I do not really have any desire to keep pet birds....I personally enjoy watching them be birds in aviaries. Having said that, I have zero issues with folks keeping hand raised babies and enjoying their bird in their own way.
Bred my first Psittacines in 1968, and have bred several species over the years. Most notable....was one of the first breeders of Amazona barbadensis, working with Ramon Noegel in the early 1980s....if you have to look-up who he is, you are very young! lol
I stepped away from aviculture about 20 years ago due to career and family demands, reduced my flock to a single African Grey who is 22 years old and the last bird I hand raised. Now, as I approach retirement, I am working to re-enter aviculture slowly.
My first step is to pair my African Grey....not so much to breed them, but rather to set them up in a flight cage and allow my current bird to have the companionship....under the pretense they are compatible...and if they bond, and want to breed, that would be ok too but not really a priority. If they do, I believe I would work to produce parent reared offspring, and then pair them up to build a flock. I would love to see a flock in a tennis court size flight....and I have worked hard, saved my money, so why the hell not? Can't take it with me!
I am in the process of purchasing a 62 acre parcel of land near Ann Arbor Michigan, where I will build an aviary building, heated with indoor/outdoor flights...and that is where I will retire.
A dear friend has several pairs of the bird in my avitar, and eventually I intend on setting up a pair of them from her myself. There is a short list of other species I want to work with as well. The most important is Blue Throated Macaws, because when I was young pouring over Forshaw's book, we didn't even know if any still existed.....at least that is my plan.
So that is my story......
I intend to lurk mostly...I am not a troll...and will work to contribute with common sense and my experience when it seems reasonable.
Wayne
Birds continued to be my passion, and I am an aviculturist at heart. I do not really have any desire to keep pet birds....I personally enjoy watching them be birds in aviaries. Having said that, I have zero issues with folks keeping hand raised babies and enjoying their bird in their own way.
Bred my first Psittacines in 1968, and have bred several species over the years. Most notable....was one of the first breeders of Amazona barbadensis, working with Ramon Noegel in the early 1980s....if you have to look-up who he is, you are very young! lol
I stepped away from aviculture about 20 years ago due to career and family demands, reduced my flock to a single African Grey who is 22 years old and the last bird I hand raised. Now, as I approach retirement, I am working to re-enter aviculture slowly.
My first step is to pair my African Grey....not so much to breed them, but rather to set them up in a flight cage and allow my current bird to have the companionship....under the pretense they are compatible...and if they bond, and want to breed, that would be ok too but not really a priority. If they do, I believe I would work to produce parent reared offspring, and then pair them up to build a flock. I would love to see a flock in a tennis court size flight....and I have worked hard, saved my money, so why the hell not? Can't take it with me!
I am in the process of purchasing a 62 acre parcel of land near Ann Arbor Michigan, where I will build an aviary building, heated with indoor/outdoor flights...and that is where I will retire.
A dear friend has several pairs of the bird in my avitar, and eventually I intend on setting up a pair of them from her myself. There is a short list of other species I want to work with as well. The most important is Blue Throated Macaws, because when I was young pouring over Forshaw's book, we didn't even know if any still existed.....at least that is my plan.
So that is my story......
I intend to lurk mostly...I am not a troll...and will work to contribute with common sense and my experience when it seems reasonable.
Wayne
