Abstract
[Editor's Note: In some cases subspecies, E. r. vosmaeri, for instance, or E. r. Biaki do not have common names. In such cases, for convenience of listing and discussion, the subspecific name will be adapted to the vernacular and the birds will be spoken of as the Vosmaeri or the Biaki, etc. S.D.l
When I first started working with Eclectus Parrots in the early eighties, I found them to be beautiful and also difficult to identify. After years of looking at many wildcaught and domestic-bred Eclectus Parrots and spending a significant amount of time studying museum specimens and reading the more technical literature, the unique characteristics of each pure subspecies became more readily apparent.
Commonly Available Subspecies in the United States
Red-sided Eclectus roratus polychlorous from New Guinea and surrounding off shore islands; Arn Redsided Eclectus roratus aruensis from the island of Aru; Grand Eclectus roratus roratus from the islands of Buru, Ceram, Saparua, Haruku and Amboina; Vosmaeri Ec!ectus roratus vosmaeri from the larger north and central Moluccan Islands; and Solomon Island Ec!ectus roratus solomonensis from the Solomon Islands, Admiralty Islands and Bismarck Archipelago.
There also exists a small number of Biaki Eclectus roratus biaki from the island of Biak, and an extremely small number of Cornelius Eclectus roratus cornelia from the island of Sumba, and Palau Red-sided Eclectus roratus polychlorous, a slightly different race of polycblorous from the island of Palau.
These last subspecies are so rare that if one should die, the author recommends that it be properly necropsied by a veterinarian (so the skin remains useable by a museum) and sent to the Museum of Natural History in New York. Skins are of great importance for identification and study of avian species and, correctly prepared, remain useful for hundreds of yearsincluding use for DNA studies.
It is also reported that a few individuals of the Australian subspecies Eclectus roratus macgillivrayi and Eclectus roratus riedeli, from the Tanimbar Islands, have been imported into the United States.
I believe the one subspecies we will not see alive in the U.S. is the so-called Eclectus roratus westermani which, to my knowledge, exists only in museum collections. E. r. westermani, several specimens of which I have studied personally, have clipped wings and the females are each slightly different in coloration. The birds are smaller than the other subspecies and, in my opinion, are a collection of hybridized Eclectus, bred down over several generations in captivity. Their dull colors are similar to those of many of the hybrids seen in the U.S.
When buying or selling Eclectus it is important to be accurate in the naming of the subspecies. For many years, when Eclectus were less commonly available, and even today when most breeders have at least seen or heard of Eclectus, the birds are still often called "Grand Eclectus." For this reason, it is always important that further questions be asked when someone describes their bird(s) as "Grand Eclectus." There still remains a serious lack of knowledge about the appearance of the Grand in comparison with the Redsided or Vosmaeri, and, for some, even the Solomon. Because they are small and dark green, the Biaki were first thought to be crosses from Red-sided and Solomon pairings.
Most of the Eclectus subspecies have been separated by geographical features for many thousands of years, as they live on separate islands in the South Pacific. Thus, they have developed their unique variations in feather coloration, skeletal structure, vocalizations, breeding behavior and maturation time lines.
For example, the Solomon Island Eclectus fledge much earlier than the larger subspecies. Vosmaeri and Redsided may be comparable in weight yet the Vosmaeri appears much longer when compared with the stockier Redsided. Vocalizations also vary among
the subspecies. Most people identifying Eclectus subspecies use only feather coloration to determine the subspecies. Differences in conformation, eye color and vocalization are also important in accurately identifying a subspecies, especially in the males.
However, it is also important to know whether the bird is wild-caught (pure subspecies) or domestically bred (possible questions about purity). Domestically raised Eclectus were imported from Africa and the Philippines in the eighties. Many of them were hybrids and some of them have been set up here as breeders.
Eclectus Subspecies Descriptions
Only the more commonly available subspecies will be described. Feather color is accurately seen only on clean birds that are not in a molt. Dirty feathers are dull due to microscopic debris. Old perfect feathers on a bird in molt appear very dark in comparison to the new feathers. The following descriptions are based on birds with clean feathers in good condition, not in molt.
The Red-sided Eclectus female has a bright red head and breast feathers coming down in front of the breast to form a red bib. The feathers below the bib are bright, royal blue, sometimes with a hint of purple (from an occasional reddish coloration to some feather strands). The blue extends under the wings on the lesser wing coverts, and up around the back of the· head on the nape to form a mantle, or collar of blue. The feathers of the back and the upper wing coverts, secondaries and tertials are a deep maroon red. The lower back and upper tail coverts and thigh feathers are a deep, dark red. Actually, the feathers are composed of more or less strands of red along with strands of black, which appear to us as dark red or maroon. The rump, upper tail coverts and tail are also a maroon red. However, the inch wide (2 1/2 cm) band at the end of the tail is red, sometimes towards a pinkish red or an orangish red but never pink and never orange. The tail band is a more transparent, lighter red than the color on the head. The under tail coverts are as bright red as the head feathers. The eye is completely circled by tiny blue feathers, (which can be seen from two or three feet in good light) providing a marked contrast to the red head feathers.