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Black Lories
My first exposure to Black Lories came while visiting friends. They had a breeding pair that were quite friendly. I had seen Vasa Parrots before, which are primarily black, but they could not match the brilliance of plumage of the Black Lories. The Black Lories were so friendly, and beautiful, that I requested when they produced the first available baby. At the time, I owned a Yellow Back Chattering Lory, and an Orange Phase Dusky Lory, which I had purchased from these friends, and loved the Lory personalities and playfulness.
THE PARROT KEEPER’S PRAYER
Give me the patience to tolerate their loudness
The stamina to endure their messiness
The knowledge to evaluate their fearfulness
Serenity to accept their destructiveness
Creativity to encourage their playfulness
Time to enjoy their uniqueness
Give me the child-like awe to marvel at their wildness
So that I may never forget the
Delight of their Parrotness
Just for today and the next fifty years
...by Gayle Reece
Time passed, and the pair of Black Lories did not lay. The owners were now older and decided to cut back on birds. I purchased the pair. The Black Lories were the best of both worlds. The hen loved to come out and play with me for a short while, then go back to her mate.
After a time, she laid one clutch. As she had never laid for her previous owners, and the eggs were fertile, I incubated one egg and left one with her. The one left with her did not hatch and the one I incubated did. I raised him, and he is now my personal pet‚ Nibbles.
About eight months after Nibbles was born, his mother became ill with kidney cancer, and I lost her. She was ten years old. It took me many months to find another mate for his father. It was during this time, that I became aware of just how few of these wonderful birds there are available, and especially how few hens there are. Because of this, I decided to work with propagating the Black Lory.
Genus Chalopsitta: The Black Lory belongs to this genus, which contains four species of large long tailed lories. Three are from New Guinea. Chalcopsitta Atra, the Black Lory, and two subspecies, Chalcopsitta duyvenbodei, the Duyvenbode‚ Lory, and Chalcopsitta scintillate, the Yellow-streaked Lory. The final member of this family is the wonderful Cardinal Lory, Chalcopsitta cardinalis, which is found not on New Guinea, but on the Solomon Islands, including Guadacanal, Makira, Isabel and Kolombangara and the islands of Bougainvilla and Buka . It has also been seen on other surrounding islands.
Members of this Genus may be the gentlest and best natured of all lories. But of course, my love is the Blacks. To many they may seem like just a black bird. But, if seen in the sunlight, you see a brilliant sheen to their feathers. Over their rump is a beautiful midnight blue, and under their long tail is a subtle red and yellow. Speaking of their tail, they wag their tail more than any parrot I have ever owned. They are absolutely delightful! Of course, like most lories, almost everything is or can be a toy.
I sit on the floor with Nibbles and he tosses a small ball to me, and I to him. He will toss a small paper dessert plate back and forth to me. He growls and just loves to destroy crumpled up paper towels. He thinks that they are absolutely evil! Nibbles sits on the back of my hand, and it looks like he is pinching me, but he does not hang on hard enough to hurt. He twists his head back and forth violently, while flapping his wings, as if he is trying to kill my hand. It is a fun game for him. Nibbles will get on my head and hair surf, or hang from the top of my head, in my face. He nibbles my face and nose, while hanging like a bat. I have great fun with him. He endlessly invents games to play with me.
The Black Lory can get along with other birds, but it is best to introduce them as youngsters, and do not leave them unsupervised. My pet gets along great with another Blacks, but does not get along with any other species of parrots. He will also go after my dogs if they get close to me, to try to chase them away. Otherwise, he ignores them.
Feeding Black Lories is the same as for most other lories. A good lory powder and nectar is base. I use Lory Life from Avico, which I have available dry at all times. I offer the Lory Life nectar three times per week. I know that some lory species need nectar every day. But, I have found that my Blacks often do not eat it with the other food I offer. I also feed diced fruit, usually six different types per day. These fruits are as organic as I can find. During the winter, I am forced to use melons that are not organic. I NEVER USE NON ORGANIC GRAPES, STRAWBERRIES OR BLUEBERRIES.
I use this number fruits each day, because I also have Aracaris. One can feed less of a daily variety, but it is essential that you do not only feed one or two types of fruit. I also feed a variety of vegetables. I have tried to puree their food, and find that they do better eating it if I use a food processor, and grind it very fine. The birds seem to enjoy the textures.
I use the Zuprem softbill low iron pellet. It is a non-colored pellet. I use this because I also have Aracaris, and I do not like feeding the Lories to much refined sugars. Also, I add a very small amount of either red palm oil, or extra virgin coconut oil, to the birds food for essential fatty oils. I also add various fresh flowers, such as marigolds, nasturtiums, roses (unsprayed), johnny jump-ups, calendula, hibiscus and other edible flowers in season.
I personally do not use the colored lory pellets that are on the market. It is one of my hang ups. Some of the dyes put in food can be harmful in large quantities as when fed to rats and mice in studies. To my way of thinking, if this is the case, since we feed them to our birds for their entire lifetimes, it is the same as feeding rats large quantities. I would rather not take the chance. I do not use any artificial colored pellets with my birds.
I live in the country, and have a lot of iron in my water. Therefore, I use bottled water. I also use DECAF-BLACK TEA in my lories' water. It is believed that, the tannins help bind iron. I put loose tea leaves in the water, so at the start of the day the water is fresh, then by night it has turned dark as the tannins disperse. In the morning the process is repeated. It is best to use ORGANIC DECAF BLACK TEA. I have only been able to find it on the internet. Research has shown that the black tea will not remove iron that is already in the liver of a bird with Hemochromatosis, also known as Iron Storage Disease. But, black tea is believed to help block the up take of additional iron by the liver. Also, Vitamin E helps to protect the liver. While I do not advocate the unmonitored use of additives to birds diet, it may be worthwhile to note, that adding a small amount of wheat germ oil to the food MAY be of value, as many of us loose our birds to this problem sooner or later.
Another item of note, when choosing a lory food, please do your research. Ask for the products total analysis. See what the amount of Vitamin A the food contains. It has been found, that too much Vitamin A is a problem with lories. When this was discovered, I know that the Vitamin A content was lowered in Avico Lory Life Powder and Nectar. I have not done the research on the other products. I do know that the Vitamin A content may be very high in some products on the market from Europe. This affects the Liver adversely. Please choose carefully. Remember that Lory products are just a side line for bird food manufacturers. It is up to us to monitor, and make wise choices for our birds. They depend on us.
Fran Andersen