Sub-species ID help

[BennyTheBeaver]

New to the forum!

After wanting one for the past 10+ years, we finally got a gorgeous Female Eclectus. She's a year and a half old and has been adopted by us from her previous owner who couldn't care for her.

We're trying to figure out if she is a Red-Sided or a SI. Attached are some photos, any help would be appreciated!

 

[Terry57]

Welcome to the forum! Your girl is stunning

This page seems to have some clear info on the sub species, and to get to more info you have to click the PDF.

file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/1023-Article%20Text-2009-1-10-20141113.pdf

I'm happy you joined us

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Thank you for the reply, I've seen that document and other descriptions. Her plumage seems to match both Red-Sided and SI, which is why im struggling IDing her. I was hoping the photos would help someone with a keen eye tell me which she is.

 

[Terry57]

We do have several Eclectus folks here that are very knowledgeable, hopefully one will be able to help.
I have a male ekkie and am not familiar with the differences in females.

 

[Laurasea]

Congratulations on your beautiful girl!

 

[chris-md]

What a beautiful girl!

Where in this wide world are you? We know a lot about ekkies here, though Ekkie subspecies ID isn’t a particular strength of anyone. However, your location can help.

For example: the US has a very limited number of pure subspecies available for sale compared to our astralian friends. Mostly available here are Solomon island, red sided, and maybe some combination of aru and grand eclectus (helpful fo your question, I know). In actuality, little attention is paid to subspecies in US breeding to that extensive hybridization takes place. Hence, if you live in the US, the probability that you have a pure subspecies is not great at all.

Red sided and Solomon island females are nearly identical at least with the males you’ll see a size difference (SI males are often 100g smaller than RS. Same I don’t think can be said for the females who are far more convergent).

That’s said, the intensity of the blue, and the slightly more stubby nature of the tail is really screaming Solomon island to me. RS females can appear SLIGHTLY more bubblegum purple…slightly…and can be about an inch longer than SI females.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

What a beautiful girl!

Where in this wide world are you? We know a lot about ekkies here, though Ekkie subspecies ID isn’t a particular strength of anyone. However, your location can help.

For example: the US has a very limited number of pure subspecies available for sale compared to our astralian friends. Mostly available here are Solomon island, red sided, and maybe some combination of aru and grand eclectus (helpful fo your question, I know). In actuality, little attention is paid to subspecies in US breeding to that extensive hybridization takes place. Hence, if you live in the US, the probability that you have a pure subspecies is not great at all.

Red sided and Solomon island females are nearly identical at least with the males you’ll see a size difference (SI males are often 100g smaller than RS. Same I don’t think can be said for the females who are far more convergent).

That’s said, the intensity of the blue, and the slightly more stubby nature of the tail is really screaming Solomon island to me. RS females can appear SLIGHTLY more bubblegum purple…slightly…and can be about an inch longer than SI females.

Thank you so much for this informative post.

I am in the US, Pacific Northwest.

She is a little over a year and a half, and we know little of her previous home. She does seem like she was loved as she is an absolute sweetheart.

Her sides of her wings are that brilliant neon blue, her chest is slightly violet though I would still consider it blue.

Her back (wings) are a darker red than her head and she has about a half inch of faded red on her tail...almost a very very slight yellow tint.

Reading your information I am starting to lean towards her being predominantly SI with possibly some RS bred into her lineage at some point.

I made her a fresh chop last night and froze about a month's worth. I put Kale, Broccoli, Pea Shoots, Carrots, Orange Bell Pepper, sprouted Quinoa, a very small amount of apple (I plan to feed her fruits seperate as treats to control her sugar intake and minimize hormonal outbursts), and softened sweet potato. I also plan on adding a small amount of Top's pellets to her diet. Please let me know if I'm off base on the diet...

I have noticed some slight wing flipping, no toe tapping though, hopefully now that she has a good diet we can nip that in the bud.

Thank you again and I look forward to contributing to this forum!

 

[chris-md]

Careful reading Into that belief of yours. If I’M not sure, you’re definitely not in a place to be able to speculate about your birds lineage. She could be pure Solomon, which is suspect she actually is but again am not sure. Heck, I’m not even sure about my OWN boys lineage, only that he’s healthfully on the high end of weight for ekkies (450g) so certainly has some red sided in him, but def isn’t pure.

But in the end does it really matter the subspecies? As long as their happy and healthy, that’s really all the matters

You’ve got great start there to a chop base! I strongly recommend though that you add more stuff to it. For a months worth of food, 6 ingredients isn’t going to be nutritionally diverse.

I’m excited to see her progress under your care!