First Danish Breeding of the Blue-rumped Parrot (Psittinus cyanurns)

In the town of Greve, south of Copenhagen, lives one of Danish aviculture's directional stars, Mrs. Jette Christensen, who for more than 45 years has practiced aviculture, and is currently the secretary for Stuekultur's Fuglevenner the old and famous avicultural club in Copenhagen. Throughout the years, Jette Christensen has visited many avicultural collections in Scandinavia as well in Europe, including Loro Parque, Tenerife. Her dream now is to eventually visit the wild parrots in South America. Today Jette Christensen runs a very nice and interesting avicultural collection containing different species of parrots (including hanging parrots, redwinged, king parrots, and mountain parakeets), finches, and softbilled birds. By the use of surveillance cameras the breeding facilities are observed 24 hours a day. Pionus Parrots Jette Christensen, the leading Danish breeder of Pionus Parrots, has obtained several breeding results, including the first Danish breeding of the Bronze-winged Parrot Pionus cbalopterus in 1990, which she feels is her greatest avicultural victory. She now wishes to obtain a pair of Plum-crowned Parrots Pionus tumultuosus and try her skill with them. Blue-rumped Parrot In appearance, the Blue-rumped Parrot Psittinus cyanurus is not unlike a larger-than-life lovebird of the Agapornis species. Throughout the years many Bluerumped Parrots have been exported from the Far East (especially Singapore and Indonesia) to Europe, U.S.A. and South Africa. Unfortunately, many of these birds were not properly accommodated because the receivers treated them as if they were parrots from the deserts of Australia instead of from secluded tropical rain forests (lowlands of south east Asia including the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, parts of Borneo, and other nearby islands). Only very few aviculturists have been successful with the Blue-rumped Parrots and Christensen happens to be one of them. She learned by experience not to obtain just two birds, but to try to set up a larger number of the same species. When, in 1992, Christensen had the opportunity, she got three male and three female Blue-rumped Parrots.  An Active Bird The Blue-rumped Parrots move extremely stealthily, and therefore some aviculturists think they are inactive birds. As the birds keep their heads slouched onto their shoulders, they have a scowly, stocky outline. But the observation cameras have shown Christensen that the Bluerumped Parrots-when they feel nobody is watching-are actually extremely active birds. By way of a closed circuit camera system, Christensen has watched the Blue-rumped Parrots wing-lifting as well as flashing their eyes and shrugging their wings as warning for others to keep their distance-activities similar to those of the South American Pionus species. Indeed, Christensen finds there are many behavioral similarities between Blue-rumped Parrots and the Pionus Parrots, examples being their movements and also their way of perching and looking at their human caretaker. The Blue-rumped Parrots are not social in the way of some parrots, and they do not preen each other-in this they are more like Eclectus Parrots. By observing which birds were perching together, Christensen established three pairs. Unfortunately, a male died so the surplus female was given on loan to another Danish aviculturist, Poul Nielsen who beside breeding Eclectus....