Your Feedback About Senegal Article

[Michael]

Hi, I'd like your feedback of this species profile for Senegal Parrots. Actually I didn't write it. My brother wrote it for me (he's in school, he's more up about this whole research thing). Let me know what you think, suggestions, etc before he endeavors to cover every poicephalus species for the poicephalus.org website.

If anyone would like to write a species profile similar to this for any remaining species let me know. They must be scientific and well researched. Owner specific comments about their parrots can be added later when I add that feature.

http://poicephalus.org/senegal_parrot.php

Also if anyone is interested in designing a layout or logo for the poicephalus site, let me know. I'm pretty busy with trainedparrot, youtube, and interviews so progress on the poicephalus site is slow.

[Azure Hanyo]

How picky would you like us to be with our criticism? As far as overall information goes I would say the article does a decent job of describing the species, as is the intent. Now as for the presentation, honestly the wording and choppy sentences had me blank-staring at my monitor while fighting the urge to start drooling out of boredom, and a few of the euphemisms used seemed out of place. But I suppose entertainment isn't the point of the article... But I have read smoother-written dissertations in my day.

I hope I don't come off as a pompous jerk.

[Azure Hanyo]

...Er...and I noticed a few grammatical errors. Like I asked...how specific would you like me to be?

[Michael]

Sure, fire away. Might lead to some helpful corrections.

[Azure Hanyo]

All right here is what I have so far.

Under "Sexing": "...making the only reliable way to determine the gender is to have a DNA test" is grammatically improper. Corrected example: "...making a DNA test the only reliable way to determine gender".

Under "Geography/Habitat": "mosaic" is misspelled as "mossaic".

Under "Diet": the sentence "In captivity, it usually is common for them to eat including fruits" is missing words. Corrected example: In captivity, it is common for them to eat a diet including fruits," etc. The word "usually" is unnecessary when followed by "common", which is more or less synonymous.

Under "Breeding": (The section is grouped with Conservation Status unintentionally, and should be spaced apart like the other sections.) The sentence "Almost all of the Senegals after then have been bred in captivity and since then, they have become more popular in aviculture" seems awkward. Corrected example: "Almost all Senegals have been bred in captivity since then, and have become more popular in aviculture."

Under "Pet Satus": "These birds are very good companions as they are not very loud and with a personality of a bigger bird." Corrected example: "These birds are very good companions, as they are not very loud and have the personality of a bigger bird." Also, the sentence "While they are pretty small, they are little feisty creatures" is not needed and is oddly phrased. Perhaps "While they are small birds, they are fiesty" or something similar.

Under "Petting": (Possibly change to "Handling/Grooming"? "Petting" seems far too general.) The sentence "They also sometimes scratches itself with its foot" is wrong. Corrected example: "They also sometimes scratch themselves with their feet".

Under "Biting": The sentence "Sometimes the bird nips or squeezes a finger to show displeasure of something, to which the owner/handler should ignore the nip in order to not reinforce the behavior" is worded improperly. Corrected example: "Sometimes the bird nips or squeezes a finger to show displeasure of something. The owner/handler should respond to this by ignoring the nip in order to not reinforce the behavior." Also, the phrase "infiltrated into its territory" should simply read "infiltrated its territory".

Hope this helps.

[Kim S]

I know the methods of sexing the birds without DNA tests are not very accurate.
But I think a lot of people would like to know anyway. Not everyone is willing to do a DNA test, but most would like to get an idea of what sexe the bird is. So you could add a few pointers, like how far the green runs down the chest, the shape of the head ect. while commenting that there is a lot of room for error.

[pfinarffle]

did you see the article online about sexing birds by weight?

http://www.wingscc.com/aps/seneg-msg.htm

was true for our male sennie who weighs ~145 grams.

[Kim S]

That seems even more unreliable than the vest-method. Not to mention dangerous for the bird. If you always thought your parrot was a girl you might think it to be overweight when she weighs 160 gr. and start her on a diet. While she really is a male and 160 is a healthy weight.
Or vice versa, fattening up a female you thing should be a male.

[pfinarffle]

That seems even more unreliable than the vest-method. Not to mention dangerous for the bird. If you always thought your parrot was a girl you might think it to be overweight when she weighs 160 gr. and start her on a diet. While she really is a male and 160 is a healthy weight.
Or vice versa, fattening up a female you thing should be a male.

Well, I guess the idea is to weigh your bird over time to see where it averages out. If it's closer to the 120s, it's probably female, closer to the 140s, male. You can actually visually see when a bird is over- or underweight. There was a Bird Talk article on this not too long ago. If a bird's keel bone is looking like it's protruding out of their chest (ie not enough fat on either side of the chest) the bird is underweight. If you see a crease between their legs, too much fat on the chest ("birdie boobies"), let alone view fat under their skin, the bird is likely a tad to very pudgy. As always, no hard and fast rules. On average, human females weigh less than human males, but other things can factor into that sure. But I still thought this was an interesting article as it was true for our guy. This version of the weight method indicated that, yes, there will be weight variations:

http://www.wingscentral.org/aps/Senegal_WeightMsg.aspx

[Michael]

Basically I think experienced people (like breeders) who've seen a lot of Senegals can learn to tell the males/females apart (afterall the Senegals can!) but for a first Senegal bird owner that may not be easy as they have no reference to go against.

How would all the Senegal owners on here like to participate in a visual sexing guide for Senegal Parrots? I could come up with a basic qusetionnaire and request pictures of Senegals in several postures and their DNA confirmed sex... then we may have a good comparison for other owners who are uncertain to compare against? If I do this, I'd probably do it through the Poicephalus.org site and publish the findings there.