African Grey Parrot

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:03:53 -0500

By Mike Richard, owner Royal Bird Company
The African Grey Parrot has been a cherished pet in Europe since the reign of Henry VIII during the sixteenth century, and possibly even earlier than this time. This genus has 3 subspecies, one now thought to be extinct. The other two are well known and readily available in the USA. The small sub species P. e. timneh known as the Timneh Grey Parrot is smaller and darker in appearance than the nominate form and has a horn colored top mandible and maroon colored tail. The origins of the Timneh Grey is concentrated in the western coastal regions of Guinea, Ghana and the Ivory Coast of Africa. The nominate form P. e. erithacus is better known by several so called erroneous market names such as Congo Grey, Cameroon and Ghana or West African Grey. These labels have created a very confused public for many years. These names were normally used to identify the African geographical origin of a particular bird's ancestry, such as CONGO AFRICAN GREY: from the Central African Congo Republic and other central regions of Africa. CAMEROON AFRICAN GREY: from the Cameroon region of Africa also central Africa. WEST AFRICAN GREY or GHANA GREY: from GHANA or the more western regions of Africa such as the Ivory Coast and Guinea. Some less informed breeders and dealers try to attach these names to their birds today describing certain size or color variations, such as, one breeder told me that he has a pair of Cameroon African Greys he would like to sell me. I asked him how did he know these birds origin? He replied with " Oh, I don't know where they came from, but they are large and silver " therefore they are the Cameroon African Greys or so he was told by a dealer. Some dealers knew that by attaching these names they could demand higher prices from the general public and even to so called experts even today, just look on the internet or pick up Bird Talk Magazine, the ads are full of advertisers with CONGO or CAMEROONs for sale. I get a laugh every time, sometimes even harder than when I see Bolivian or Columbian Scarlet Macaws for sale, but thats another story. Our business was started as a wholesale brokerage that liquidated quarantine stations in the late 70's and early and mid 80's, we would actually liquidate complete quarantine stations and resell the birds to pet shops, dealers and breeders, we sometimes would purchase and sell over 500 African Greys and other species in 60 days. Most all large Grey importers knew us very well due to the volume of birds we purchased from them as they would always call us to inform us what was about to be available. In the early-mid eighties during the heyday of U.S. bird importation, I had several business deals and conversations with several large well known U.S. African Grey importers and African exporters. Some in particular was Darrell Alexander and Richard Furzer, some of the largest Grey Importers at that time. I asked them about the different shades of colors and sizes of african greys that we are seeing and Asked "was different sizes or colors shades from different regions?". These importers said maybe so, but there was no way of "anyone" including themselves, the importers and exporters ever knowing what region a shipment of African Greys actually were trapped. Natives and trappers from many different regions trapped the birds in the congo, camaroon and other areas and brought them to one export point, usually somewhere on the west coast, where they were purchased and put in the same holding facilities as all the rest. No one knew from what region they came, no one cared. One problem was always that the governments always changing in these regions and it was always problems with transporting birds from Zaire-the Congo. So many times birds were sold as True Congo Greys when in fact they could not have legally came from these regions without more money being paid, and that was always out of the question with bird exporters and importers. In a single shipment of 500 or more greys there would be many color variations and sizes. It was common practice for importers and dealers to separate the color variations and sizes into groups, and attach names exotic names such as Cameroons, Congos, and Ghana's without ever knowing if these birds were actually trapped in those regions. They did not care if it was correct. It did sound good and exotic. But by attaching these so called names they got more money from people, even so called thought to be experts. Many breeders today still try to get more money from their birds by stating they have "The Large Cameroons" or something like that. These people do not even know where the original ancestors of these certain birds actually came from. Someone has told them by the colors, shades of lighter grey or sizes that have this or that. We purchased 1000's of Greys from importers and they did not even know or care. There are 2 known real species of greys today, the Timneh subspecies and the African Grey red tail Parrot...The only way, true way of actually knowing what a bird is , to be in Africa, Congo region and see African greys and those are CONGO, Be in the Cameroon area, those would be Cameroon greys and to some surprise to some people in the USA there are Cameroon greys that are smaller, lighter, darker, larger,etc. Many different sizes and color variations occur in all regions. In a very bad breeding year in those regions in Africa by food lacking that season, babies could be smaller and darker than the year before. By trying to differentiate a so called different type is impossible by looking at it. Does these geographical different located birds mean they are different species and should be classified as such? NO. The Timneh subspecies from the western regions is nowhere even close to looking like the red tail. They are small, dark, have a dark or maroon tail and have a light horn colored upper beak. This true and only available subspecies is totally different. There is no way to confuse them with the real nominate African Grey. ROYAL BIRD COMPANY Breeding Farm RESEARCH: 1988-1999 Question: Why is there a known pattern of variance in size and color of African Greys throughout Africa, starting from West to East is the darker and smaller to the lighter silver and somewhat larger birds being found more to the East and central regions. But these are not different species but only geo differences due to environmental circumstances. Some experts believe that diet and evolution can have the most effect on size and color. One theory is, since larger and richer mineral deposits and unlimited enriched food sources are likely to occur in the more central dense forest regions due to higher mineral content in the soils, these birds would have evolved slightly larger and have less melanin in the feathers creating a lighter increased silver look about their feathers. Joseph Forshaw the renown author of Parrots of The World and other bird and animal researchers state that bits of quartz and many other high minerals was found in the intestinal tract of birds trapped in Eastern and Central African regions. Birds found in the western regions contained very little or none. The foraged foods found in the intestinal tracts of the western birds differed from the more central and eastern birds as well. It was compiled of less nutrient materials as a whole. The western birds contained foods that were not thought as highly nutritious as the birds from the eastern parts. These western birds would be of course smaller and darker than the birds in the east. Are they a different species?, absolutely not. Should any of these geographical separated birds be actually labeled Ghana, western, Cameroon, Congo or whatever? No. These birds colors may change or morph when the diet is corrected. As we have researched and proved on our farm sometime ago. When we starting collecting African Grey breeding stock in 1982 we noticed some birds that first appeared darker become more silver in color over time once the diet was corrected, therefore the above theory may have some merit. Of course we could not increase the size in the adult birds, we did see very distinct color changes over time. As we set up some of these slightly smaller and once darker colored birds for breeding and started producing babies, we also noticed that the babies from these pairs were much larger and more silver colored compared to the parents. We did pull each egg and incubate and handfed from day one, therefore controlling the diet and environment from a very early age. We saw very little difference in comparison to the babies from the smaller darker pairs when compared to babies produced from larger more silver pairs. Most all the babies did seem within acceptable range of color and size when compared. Even within the same clutches we do see slight differences in color shades and sizes. Also when we fed a less nutritious hand feeding formula (kaytee) we did see smaller, darker babies as the end result. When we fed Lakes Diet we saw an extremely small and dark range. However when we exclusively fed HAGEN Tropican formula to our babies, we saw a more even range of color and size range being large and most silver in color both male and female. We feel that overall diet has more to do with color and size than anything else. However research is still ongoing, we still today continue to see even larger more silver birds coming from the original smaller darker pairs from the beginning. We now have 2-3 generation breeders from these birds and they now produce even larger and lighter color babies than the original ancestors. Therefore concluding, all greys that do not have large and silver coloration and be called a different species, when fed correctly over 2 generations of breeding, will produce very large and very light or silver birds, call them what you will, they are all african greys. Since all of the babies now produced in the U.S. are offspring of these original imports or from first generation, second generation or even third generation breeders, there is absolutely NO way for anyone, to label a certain bird without absolutely knowing the origin and know that that birds ancestors came from that region such as Cameroon, Congo etc. No one can tell by looking at a bird. So do not be fooled by this practice by dealers and uninformed breeders that state they have something special such as Cameroon, Congo, etc. We breed the one and only available nominate species of Grey Parrot. The nominate species, we call the Red Tail Grey for obvious reasons. In this species there are many different sizes and color variations, but do we know for sure that a certain birds ancestry came from a certain region in Africa? No, we do not and no one else knows either. What difference does it make? Red Tail African grey is Red Tail African Grey. Some large some small, some light some dark. Our article has been published and accepted in many international newsletters, magazines, Scientific and Veterinarian journals. Mike Richard, owner Royal Bird Company http://www.royalbirdcompany.com