Step U.... OUCH! Any suggestions?

[Monica]

Okay, I'm curious how you have determined if you have a male or not???

I believe Noel is a female because she's pretty quiet. I believe Charlie is a male because he's loud, obnoxious, etc! He's also shown himself off! However, they say that the amount of noise a conure makes doesn't mean a bird is a male or female... and the coloration doesn't necessarily mean anything either, since the majority of parrots the sexes look quite identical!

[Addicted to Tequila]

I found in a conure book that Miters can be told pretty easy by the fact that hens have very little color on the cheeks, while males have a lot. This was garnered from studying wild birds... so take it with a grain of salt I suppose.

Mine has markings like the cartoon in my sig. The red "drips" go all the way down his cheeks though (I will fix that later). Like red slashes all the way to his neck.

I suppose I would want a DNA test to be positive... but compared to your Charlie... mine has a LOT more color. Not half so much as the CHC pics I have seen though.

I will get those pics up tomorrow one way or another to show you what I mean.

As my "guy" is as big if not bigger than a CAG... I am willing to bet it is a Mitered. He also has the dark red above the nares and "splotchy" red all over "mask" area... not solid red like a CHC.

[Addicted to Tequila]

BTW Monica...

Does yours do the "jackhammer tongue" thing?

[Monica]

Definitely a mitred by the pics you posted! And probably nominate species! In the Lexicon of Parrots, it does mention that generally speaking, males have more red... Curious though, what conure book?

Charlie is a Northern Mitred Conure, Aratinga m. chlorogenys. Looking at Dudly, I'm pretty sure he's the Nominate Species, Aratinga m. mitrata, if he's not an intra-specific hybrid (hybrid of the different subspecies of mitreds). Because they are different subspecies, they will thus have different amounts of red!

And as far as weight, Dudly ought to be 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a congo, depending on the size of the congo! You gotta find out how much he weighs!


And I do believe Charlie is a male by the behavior shown in this video!
YouTube - Charlie & Noel - Just Nineteen!


As for the 'jackhammer tongue', I'm not entirely too sure! You'll have to explain that to me!

[hollyhawkz]

Hey Robyn,

Both my conures have that "jackhammer" tongue action. It looks like very quick touching (licking) with their tongues right?. LOL hence the jack hammer look.... LOL The beak rubbing however is exclusively Pepper's thing...

How exciting Monica is helping nail down exactly what Dudley is.

[Addicted to Tequila]

The jackhammer tongue:
He sticks out his tongue and hits my hand with it at staccato speed and with a good deal of force. He is ALWAYS playing with his tongue! He wags it, licks things, wraps it around his chew sticks, etc!!

How can you tell the subspecies? Just by the amount of red?

I swear he is bigger than my friend's TAG! I don't know about heavier... greys are dense birds.I will measure him... and NOT include the tail (I have always hated that they include tail length as tail feathers can vary and a that has long tail feathers can appear by measurements to be as big as a bird twice its actual size that HAS tail feathers.

BTW... Anyone have that link on how to read bands?

[Addicted to Tequila]

OK... checked out the link.

I actually think he might be a Tucumán Mitred Conure. His eyes are bright firey orange... almost frightening looking. LOL He also has red splotches down to his neck and on the wings.

If he is... than the age might be more correct as the red is less in young ones. I can only hope the band might help at this point.

He certainly acts more like a juvenile. I have to make him a bed tonight. He fell down 4 times last night as it was completely dark (I admit... I usually have the TV on all night very muted and with the subtitles on). He seems to just fall so soundly asleep... he falls off the side of the cage where he insists on sleeping. I could mention that there is a SandyPerch swing and forked perch, and a debarked manzanita branch in a perfect size for him and even a rope perch in there... but I won't. LOL

[Monica]

Charlie does like to preen me with his tongue, but not with any great amount of force! Dudley sounds like quite the character!

As for subspecies, well so long as the bird isn't a hybrid of any sort, then yes, you tell by the amount of red. Charlie is about 14" long from head to tail... hard to tell for sure since he doesn't like the tape measurer... But he weighs about 230 grams.

Know what you mean about tail feathers though! Cockatiels are the same length as hahns macaws but a hahns/noble has a larger body. Therefore, cockatiels usually weigh about half as much as a hahns.

As for the leg band, well it's usually comprised of letters, numbers, and possibly a logo or symbol. Charlie's leg bad is as follow

AFA-(sideways), AFA Logo, CA-(sideways), NFB, 94-(sideways), 05

AFA stands for the American Federation of Aviculture.
CA stands for California
NFB stands for his breeders name
94 the year he was born
05 his ID I presume

With that information, and going through AFA, I was able to get in touch with his breeder and find out that Charlie's parents are both wild caught birds! The lady only bred his parents once (too noisy!) and then gave them to a friend of hers, which she believes may still have the pair. I saw one leg band that had a bear on it, which also stood for California!


And double posting the leg band info for you!

If your breeder is listed, you could find him here...
National Center of Bird Leg Bands Directory

A YH group that helps trace bands
LegBandNumbers : Leg Band Numbers

A couple places that produce leg bands may or may not help trace the band if it's one of theirs...
L_M_Bird Leg Bands Products Catalogue
Red Bird Products

Information on Leg Bands
Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine - The ABC's Of Leg Bands - Identifying Birds
Interpreting Bird Bands
Choosing Your Bird

[Addicted to Tequila]

WOW!

Dudley is a Quarantine bird! His band is FMB 746... so he came in through Miami, Florida. Wonder if he was a pet that came in... or wild caught?!!? I have a REALLY hard time believing he was wild caught. He is just WAY too trusting... he likes me to pretend he is a rolling pin for goodness sake! Wonder if I can track it down even further.

He IS a BIG boy! He is 16 1/2 inches long when lying on his back... 10 of which is actual body (nares to cloaca). I will get the weight on next Tuesday. I will have to gauge it by what the vet thinks his weight SHOULD be as well... as I think him a bit skinny at the moment.

[Addicted to Tequila]

Originally Posted by Monica

Definitely a mitred by the pics you posted! And probably nominate species! In the Lexicon of Parrots, it does mention that generally speaking, males have more red... Curious though, what conure book?


And as far as weight, Dudly ought to be 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a congo, depending on the size of the congo! You gotta find out how much he weighs!

BTW...
On "It's a Grey's World" (?) I found this:
The Congo African Grey Parrot is a medium grey bird with shades of light grey on the body. The feathers on the head have brushed white edging. The eye area is of bare white skin. A solid black beak and bright red tail are the finishing touches to this magnificent parrot. Young CAG's have dark grey tips on their tail feathers. They are also known as the "Red Tailed Grey". They vary in from 12-14" from beak to tail, also can vary in weight between 400-650 grams depending on the frame of the individual bird.
...
The Timneh African Grey Parrot is a dark grey bird with shades of light grey on the body. The eye area is of bare white skin. They have a "bone" colored upper mandible and a dark maroon tail. The Timneh is smaller in size ranging from 9-11 inches beak to tail. Also TAG's can vary in weight from 275-400 grams.

You figure an inch or 2 for the tail for a grey... and I am correct, Dudders could compete with these guys! His body alone is 10 inches, the tail another 6 1/2... for a total of 16 1/2 inches!