Articles

My Experience with the Red-Capped Parrot

by Luke Sullivan.

Introduction

The red-capped parrot is quite different in appearance to other Australian parrots. It is a larger parrot measuring 37 cm and has a beautiful variation of colours. It is a bird of the south-eastern corner of Western Australia and inhabits open forests, woodlands, orchards and gardens. The strangest feature of the red-capped parrot is it’s bill. It is a very long and narrow bill which is used to extract the seeds from the seed-capsule of the marri tree (Eucalyptus calophylla). The red-capped parrot is also known as the pileated parrot, the Western Australian king parrot and the king parrot.

My experiences with the red-capped parrot

In mid 1996 I was in a Melbourne bird shop and saw a different but beautiful bird that took my fancy. I went home and read up on this bird and asked the dealer many questions about the keeping and management of the red-capped parrot. I acquired the pair held in the shop and was very pleased with my acquisition. At the shop the red-cappeds were held in a very large aviary which mostly consisted of Australian lorikeets. The dealer told us that the birds mix well with the lorikeets and they hadn’t had any previous problems.

The birds were brought home and released into their new home which at that time held about 5 rainbow lorikeets. The aviary was 6 metres long by 1.5 metres wide by 2.5 metres high. The two species of birds seemed to get along fine and no fighting was observed. One thing I realised is that the birds where very flighty and if I came even within 3 metres of the aviary the pair would be startled and start flying from end to end sometimes crashing into the wall or wire-mesh at the end of the flight. I tried quietly sitting in the aviary for long periods of time and when ever I was near the aviary not to make any sudden movements to try and get the birds used to me.  After two weeks the birds hadn’t really changed at all and were still very flighty and nervous. I still noticed the birds hitting the walls sometimes when suddenly having to fly from one end of the aviary to the other and I wondered if the birds would ever settle down.

After the third week I noticed the hen bird lying dead on the ground next to the wire. It had no marks on it to show it had been attacked so we didn’t think the rainbows had done it because they hadn’t been fighting previously anyway. We thought the bird may have been frightened at night in the dark and flown straight into the wire but the problem was it was next the wire at the side of the aviary and not at one of the ends. If this hadn’t been the cause we didn’t know what it was because the bird seemed to be in perfect health in the days leading up to it’s death. The cock bird was sold back to the dealer and our time with keeping red-capped parrots was over.

Other notes

To house the red-capped parrot in an adequate manner some other methods should be used. For a start definitely attach brush or branches to the ends of the aviary so the birds have some padding if they crash into the walls. Another way to stop these birds from being nervous and flighty is to acquire hand-reared birds. These birds will feel comfortable with humans and not take to the air because of slight movement. I think this is the best way to keep the red-capped parrot. If hand-reared, the birds will be very tame and they will give you extra pleasure in the aviary. Some red-cappeds even learn to talk.

If a red-capped parrot has been hand-reared they aren’t suited to life in a cage as a pet and should be housed in aviaries for breeding purposes. Due to their long and sharply hooked bills these birds are very destructive towards wooden frames and perches. Aviaries should be constructed of steel and perches may have to be changed frequently after the birds have chewed them to bits. The birds should also be housed alone and if housed in a row of adjoining aviaries should have a lot of privacy from the other birds. An aviary measuring 4 metres long 1.2 metres wide and 2 metres high is a good size for breeding.

Results shown in the February 1998 issue of Australian Aviculture from the 1996-1997 Spring-Summer Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victorian private wildlife returns show some interesting numbers from the red-capped parrot. The stock at the beginning of the period was 210 birds. By the end of the period the number had decreased by 18 birds and was one of only four parrot species in Victoria to decrease in private collections. That is a decrease of 8.57 percent in total stock kept.  Results from all of the other parrot species show that on average the stock increased by 11.12 percent over the period. The 22 red-cappeds that were bred were offset by the number of deaths standing at 29. That is 13.81 percent of the birds at the start of the period dying in the next 6 months. Out of the other parrot species an average of only 7.77 percent of the stock at the beginning of the period died in the next 6 months although, there were only four other parrot species (which were not any of the four that decreased in population) had a higher percentage of deaths than the red-capped parrot. This means that the ratio of red-capped parrot deaths was nearly double the average deaths in all other parrot species. Other categories show there were 3 red-cappeds  imported, 3 escapees, 23 sales and 21 purchases. At the end of the period the red-capped parrot was the 35th most kept species out of 48 species of Australian parrots kept in Victorian private collections.

Summary

If a hand-reared pair of these unique Australian parrots is purchased then they will make great aviary inmates and will act in a quiet manner. Unless the red-capped parrot is housed in a specialised aviary for flighty birds or it will be exposed to a minimum of distractions I suggest that hand-reared birds be purchased for breeding purposes. (Also never rush into anything, as I probably did.)

References

De Graaff, Tom  February 1998. The Australian Parrots (The Spring-Summer DNRE Returns for 1996-1997). Australian Aviculture. Pages 42-43.

Forshaw, GM. 1981.  Australian Parrots (2nd [rev.] edition). Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne.

Handbook of Birds Cages and Aviaries. ABK Publications, 1998. Tweed Heads South.