Breeding and Raising the Red--flanked Lorikeet Charmoysa placentis placentis, C . p. ornata and C . p. subplacens

E ditor's Note: Sharon Tbober and her son Brook received an AFA First Breeding Aiy Award for the nominate race of the Red-flanked Lorikeet Charmoysa p. placentis which hatched onjune 29, 1987. Since then they have specialized with this beautiful lorikeet becoming the foremost avicultural authorities on this species. We wish to congratulate them on their work as this is not an easy species to reproduce consistently.  home 11 Red-flanked Lorikeets which had just been released from a quarantine station. I was surprised and delighted to see how tiny and colorful these little lorikeets were. They measure 6 to 7-1/2 inches in length one-third of which is tail length. Males and females are dimorphic in coloration. They look like two completely different species of lorikeets. The body color of both sexes is mostly green; the back and wings are a darker shade. Males have bright royal blue ear coverts which are streaked with a vio- let blue. There is variation in the subspecies. The male's cheeks, lores and chin are crimson red. Occasionally there is an iridescent aurora of aqua around the ear coverts on mature birds that can be quite outstanding, especially in the ornata subspecies. The amount of red varies in individual birds, but ornata has considerable more red than placentis. These red feathers are sometimes scattered on the chest and lower body or extend down the throat. They sometimes appear in the cere. The flanks on the side of the breast and partially under the wings of the male are always crimson red. It is the brilliantly colored red flanks of the male from which this species of lorikeet gets its name. The placentis placentis and the placentis ornata have a royal blue rump patch. In the ornata it is very large and is still visible even when the wings are folded, especially at maturity. This blue patch in the ornata almost looks violet and is quite outstanding. This, combined with their more excessive red markings and slightly darker color of green on the nape, makes them notice- ably different than the nominate placentis placentis. The males have a yellow-green forehead and forecrown, almost chartreuse and the ornata males and immatures can have a spattering of red feathers in forehead and forecrown . When excit-  ed, all Red-flankeds can slightly raise the forehead feathers giving a look of a very small crest. The placentis subplacens males and females have very much the coloring of placentis placentis males and females except they have no blue on the rump.