Just looking for a conversation

[Wolf]

Due to the forum being down and with a little time available while a new batch of gloop was in process for my birds, I got to do a little additional reading today.
I found out a little bit about the Night Parrot in Australia, a strange elusive bird which has only been sighted a few times in the past 100 years, with decidedly un parrot like habits. Thought you might like this as well.
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/ ... -revealed/

Then I read about this bird, the Crimson Rosella, and something interesting about its colors.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cr ... 30.html#cr

I suppose that part of my interest in this last bird has to do with the fact that I live in NC. It appears that although it is gone, it does have some relatives still hanging around with us. So if you are interested this last is on the Carolina Parakeet.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/grrl ... 2/sep/19/1

Let me know what you think of these or if you are even interested in such things.

[Michael]

Speaking of the Carolina Parakeet and the Night Parrot, the Field Museum in Chicago has displays of both! Both are rare finds!

http://TrainedParrot.com/Carolina_Parakeet

[Wolf]

Thank you Michael, that was very interesting to read. I would love to visit the museum there, but I doubt that I will ever make it back up to Chicago. I liked your pictures as well. I think that the DNA that was used for the sequencing on the Carolina Parakeet came from this museum. Glad to know that someone else is interested in the evolution and the characteristics of various birds and how they came to be.

[liz]

Wolf, some years back I watched a TV program. I don't remember where or when. A stocky ground parrot with a dumb expression was trying to mate with a man's boot. They said it was a very rare bird that had not been seen in a long time and there fore had no fear of man.

Michael, you can't believe how surprised I was to see my pedestrian parrot, Rambo, in your article.

[Pajarita]

Yes, here it's a bit more about the Crimson Rosella and PBFD:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/news/latest-me ... n-research

I remember when this guy first came out saying he had proof that the Night Parrot was not extinct and everybody criticized him for not saying where he had gotten the videos - but he was right in doing so, in my opinion. But I don't know why they say that no other parrot species hops because cockatoos do it all the time unless they mean hopping is their only mode of transport with their legs...

I've always wondered if the Louisiana and the Carolina were not actually the same species and not separate subspecies...

[Wolf]

I never really knew anything about the Louisiana variety but it was supposedly a bit bluer in color than the Carolina version as well as a bit less brightly colored. I really don' know anything more than that.
It seemed to me that the primary means of ground locomotion for the Night Parrot was hopping, or at least that is how I understood the article.
On the Rosella, I wondered how it hybridized in the wild, due to the fact that PBFD is not only contagious but mostly fatal to other parrots. Also it was interesting to note that this parrot does mate with other parrots as it seems to me that most don't.

[liz]

I realize I know very little and half of what I do know is wrong but isn't there a little parrot that likes to hop. I think I saw a youtube of two of them hopping on the floor. They also wrestled. It must have been common for them because one would flip over when the other came toward it.

[Harpmaker]

Wolf, some years back I watched a TV program. I don't remember where or when. A stocky ground parrot with a dumb expression was trying to mate with a man's boot. They said it was a very rare bird that had not been seen in a long time and there fore had no fear of man.

There are several videos on youtube of Sirocco the Kakapo attempting to mate with a naturalist's head. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A7uFSbRJ5w While it looks in the film like they are in the wild, this particular Kakapo, Sirocco(there are so few Kakapos that they all have names), was raised by naturalists after almost dying as a chick. http://rorywellingtonboots.blogspot.com/2013/08/sirocco.html So this unfortunate individual Kakapo is confused. Further checking shows that Sirocco had formerly mated with Crocs shoes, and his keepers worked to get him back on shoes because they didn't like it when he mated with people's heads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgs72JIdx4

It seems that parrots mating with footware may be limited to poor Sirocco.

[Wolf]

Well I found out that there are two related versions of the Rosella the Crimson Rosella and the Yellow Rosella each with it's own subspecies and that in the places where these two species overlap territory that they interbreed to produce the hybrid species Know as the Adelaide Rosella. This at least answers my question of how it is able to hybridize with another species since it carries a disease that is fatal to other parrots and it also tells me with what bird it hybridizes with. This gives us a red, a yellow and a orange species of the Rosella.

[Pajarita]

Correct, Wolf. There are also much less Yellows than Crimsons.

And, yes, the Louisiana was just a bit different in the coloration (bluer and paler) but the two were separated by the Appalachians and I have read many times that, sometimes, the same species looks a bit different when two populations end up in different geographical locations -thus my wondering.