SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

The electric eclectus:
drop-dead gorgeous and smart, too

QUESTION: WHAT PARROT has soft, hair-like feathers in colors so fluorescent people ask if it's real?

All male eclectus are bright green; females are varying shades of red, purple and lavender.

Answer: The eclectus, a bird whose fans will tell you is one of the most intelligent, curious, empathetic, playful and downright sweet parrots you could own. The fact that the eclectus speaks in a clear, bell-like voice with a vocabulary equal to that of the African grey doesn’t hurt, either.

The name eclectus (e-KLEK-tus or, as some people prefer, ECK-lec-tus) comes from the word eclectic, used to describe the bird’s sexually dimorphic colors. The males are varying shades of bright green, depending on the subspecies, with candy-corn beaks and light yellow bands on the ends of their tails. The females are varying shades of red, blue, lavender and purple, with an additional yellow band on the end of the Vosmaeri female’s tail. All adult females have jet-black beaks.

There are between eight and 10 subspecies of Eclectus roratus roratus, originating from the Cape York Peninsula of Australia, the islands of Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, and New Guinea.

Quiet for a big parrot
Although there are exceptions, the eclectus is considered the strong, silent type among parrots. Quiet for a big bird, it’s even recommended for apartment dwellers. One caveat: Eclectus are capable of very loud, harsh calls when they feel threatened. Fortunately, most of them don’t use this warning call very often.

Most eclectus would rather chat than screech. Eclectus rival the African grey and Amazon in vocabulary and clarity. They not only repeat many words and phrases, but some learn entire songs. My oldest male sings "You Ain't Nuthin' But a Hound Dog" from start to finish! Some eclectus chicks learn their first word before weaning if the hand-feeder repeats it often.

Eclectus parrots love taking daily soaking showers or baths.

Eclectus parrots also enjoy repeating sounds they hear, such as the coffee maker, microwave oven, alarm clock, phone, fax tone, or the warning beep of a truck backing up. Phantom doorbells, running water, and family members talking in absentia have fooled many eclectus owners.

Some males have melodious voices while others sound more masculine, but nearly all eclectus females possess full, throaty voices full of charm and seduction, something like a cross between a Southern belle and an opera singer.

However, as with all parrot species, some eclectus never learn more than "hello," so be prepared to love one of these shy types anyway.

That’s eclectus entertainment
Like most parrots, eclectus need to be kept occupied so they don't get bored or resort to undesirable behavior such as feather plucking or screaming. Following are some activities eclectus--and most other parrots--enjoy.

• Playing with food. Make mealtime more like foraging in the wild by weaving greens through the cage bars, skewering whole fruits and vegetables such as apples and carrots, and hanging coconut halves by a short length of chain. Eclectus love picking the hairy fibers off the shell as much as they do digging out the tasty coconut meat.

  Give them whole nuts daily. Nuts are not junk food. Although high in fat, it is “good fat” essential for health. The favorite nut of most eclectus is the whole almond, which they can make into a half-hour game. Not only do they pick out the nutmeat, but they play with the shell until there is nothing left of it.

  Eclectus also love the challenge of parrot toys that must be manipulated in order to retrieve the food inside. These toys are available from many bird toy companies.

• Playing in "trees". Play stands designed like trees or limbs can keep an eclectus busy for hours, especially if interesting toys are attached and changed weekly. Eclectus love ropes for climbing, swings of all types, and especially the long spiral-shaped ropes called boings or bungees. Some birds will flap wildly to get these bouncing spiral perches swinging, getting great exercise in the process.

• Games. Eclectus are gregarious birds that love to play with their owners. Games can be as simple as peek-a-boo or as complicated as teaching them a fun trick.

• Bath time. For optimal feather health, eclectus need a daily soaking bath. If possible, provide your bird with something in which to bathe, such as a large terra cotta plant saucer. If that’s not possible, drench him with a spray bottle.

  An eclectus in a bathing frenzy is a joy to behold. He twists and turns his body into every possible position to catch every raindrop and get that last feather wet.

  Eclectus love their baths so much, I’ve had reports from reliable sources of aviary birds breaking the ice on their bathing pools to enjoy a drenching bath in freezing weather!

Big cages for long wings
The eclectus has an enormous wingspan for its size and needs daily exercise. So when it comes to housing your eclectus, you’ll want to buy the largest cage or aviary your budget will allow.

Lots of toys will keep your eclectus happy.

At a minimum, an eclectus cage should be four feet wide, so he can flap his wings vigorously, and three feet deep. Eclectus love to climb, so a tall cage is a good idea, too. A four- or five-foot-long cotton rope and a swing should be standard equipment.

Eclectus enjoy VTech brand and other toys for toddlers, and any challenging bird toy they can manipulate with beaks or feet.

Destructible wood toys will help prevent your eclectus from becoming interested in overgrooming and possibly destroying its feathers. If possible, you should allow your eclectus into a separate play area or tree for at least an hour a day.

Stay away from pellets
When Eclectus parrots were first imported into the United States several decades ago, little was known about their nutritional requirements and many people tried to maintain them on an all-seed diet. As a result, many did not live very long; one pamphlet still being distributed quotes an average lifespan of eight years.

No one is sure how long the eclectus lives. However, some captive birds are now over 30 years old; I personally know of one such pair still producing chicks. So most people now believe that eclectus live 50 to 75 years, just as long as other parrots of similar size, such as Amazons and African greys.

A female enjoys an almond, a good eclectus toy as well as a favorite food.

Natural juicy foods of deep color, including greens, sprouts, fruits and vegetables, should be the mainstay of the eclectus diet. They do not need vitamin A supplements nor shots, as was thought many years ago.

They will assimilate all the vitamin A they need from orange, yellow, red, and green foods like pomegranates, mangos, cantaloupe, carrots, red and green bell peppers, kale, collards and dandelions.

This diet most closely approximates what the wild eclectus eats: a highly fibrous mix of fruits, flowers and vegetable matter. The eclectus’ apparent ability to thrive on nutrient-sparse foods may explain why comparatively rich foods, such as pellets, don’t agree with these birds.

If fed a diet too heavily supplemented with vitamins and minerals, some eclectus develop the symptoms of repetitive foot clenching and wing flicking.

Susceptible to sarco
Other than a sensitivity to pellets, eclectus suffer from no major health problems. Like any parrot, they do best with 10 to 12 hours of quiet, uninterrupted sleep each night, but if this isn’t possible, they will make up for it with naps during the day.

Beware of one possible problem if you keep your eclectus in an outside aviary during the fall or winter and live in a warm climate: sarcocystosis. As an "Old World” parrot (one from Australia, Asia or Africa), the eclectus has no natural resistance to this disease, which is almost always fatal.

Sarcocystosis starts with an infected grackle or cowbird eaten by an o’possum. Aviary parrots usually pick up the one-celled organism that causes the disease, the Sarcocystis falcatula, from cockroaches that have visited the infected o’possum's feces.

You can protect Old World aviary parrots from sarco by tightly screening their habitats.

Year-round breeders
Thinking of acquiring a pair of eclectus to breed? Breeding any parrot species is a venture not to be taken lightly. First, you’ll want to make sure the babies have good homes to go to.

Eclectus breed year-round. Once they get the hang of raising a family, that's all they'll want to do.

You’ll also have to decide whether you have the time, energy, and resources necessary for the commitment to the project.

Like the African grey, eclectus breed year round. Once a pair starts producing fertile eggs and hatching babies, the biggest problem is forcing them to take a break. Many females become so determined to lay eggs, they don’t need a nestbox--they’ll deposit eggs anywhere, even in food dishes.

You’ll want to be careful about contributing to the hybridization of eclectus parrots, too. It’s a serious problem in aviculture, one reason being the male subspecies are almost impossible for novices to identify.

Birds often are paired on the basis of which subspecies the male appears to be. By the time the pair produces female offspring, which are easier to identify, the pair is likely to have been together for several years and you'll be reluctant to break up the bonded pair.

Most eclectus become mature enough to breed at two to five years of age. The smaller Solomon Island subspecies can reproduce as early as two years, and some of the larger subspecies such as the Vosmaeri and Macgillivray mature sexually as late as four to six years of age.

Most subspecies lay two eggs per clutch; the Solomon Island eclectus occasionally lays three or even four eggs. Eggs hatch in about 28 days. The chicks are blind and naked, but are pink and hearty looking.

I believe it’s important to allow first-time eclectus parents to raise their babies for as long as they will feed them. If you pull the chicks after a few days or weeks, the parents may never feed babies to fledging stage.

Hens rule
The female rules the nest in an eclectus pair. Males, who seem to change very little as they approach sexual maturity, are happy-go-lucky guys who let their redheads do the worrying about home and family. They continue to play like young birds and enjoy their human family even while bonding with their mate, learning to feed her, and raising babies.

Eclectus females dominate paired birds. Here you can see the hair-like feathers that give eclectus parrots their distinctive look.

Females are loyal to all who are lucky enough to win their affection, but as they mature they become fiercely protective of their nest and babies. With consistent love and guidance from the owner, this stage passes and the female eclectus remains a wonderfully loving companion to her human family. She may even let you handle the eggs and chicks. I and many other small-scale breeders whose eclectus pairs were loving pets before they started producing are allowed to be a member of the "family team". It is a most enjoyable privilege.

A great companion parrot
There's no other parrot like the eclectus. Once you've discovered how smart, beautiful and loving they can be, you'll be as devoted to them as they are to you. Eclectus are a joy to raise-- and bring much happiness to the families who adopt them as companion birds.

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