Breeding the Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot

Abstract

Included in a group of birds I acquired in 1992, were birds called Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots Loriculis galgulus. Having seen them at a zoo several years prior, I got them as something of a novelty. Soon I was completely fascinated by these strange

little parrots. For those readers not familiar with hanging parrots, they are the size of the South American parrotlets, which are smaller than Budgies. Their natural diet is fruit, nectar and probably some seeds and insects. This high carbohydrate diet not only makes their droppings like those of lories, but their movements also can be hyper- active like those of lories. Hanging parrots are closely related to lovehirds and their social behavior is reminiscent of lovebirds. The females are the dominant sex and can be quite aggressive.

The one behavior that gives these parrots their name is the habit of hanging upside down from the top of their enclosure like bats. When you see them in ·a barren cage, it looks quite odd but in a planted aviary they become dangling tree leaves and are hard to spot. The niche that hanging parrots occupy is similar to that of small fruit bats. They spend their time clambering about in the very tops of tropical rainforest trees searching for ripened fruit or flowers. The flight of hanging parrots is also bat-like. That is, it is not quick and straight but is, instead, slow and highly maneuverable. Their voices are not loud like typical forest parrots, but rather high pitched like bats. This higher pitched voice does not carry through the forest very far and so it doesn't signal to predators their exact location. Hanging not only helps to camouflage the birds but if there is danger among the branches, the hanging parrots need only release their grip and they are in instant flight.

Hanging parrots, as a group, are a rarity in captivity. The Blue-crowned and the Vernal are the most commonly kept species. The Celebes and the Philippine can also be found, but infrequently. The other six species are rarely imported.

In the summer of 1993 we acquired three Yellow-throated Hanging Parrots from an importer in California. The trio consisted of two females and a male. These were the only individuals of this species we could locate. After the initial quarantine, the Yellow-throateds were housed in two foot cube cages similar to the cages...