Lesser Vasa Parrot or Black Parrot (Coracopsis nigra)

[samiam]

I am very excited for you, I can imagine how you must be on pins and needles waiting for her. They are very neat birds and I could talk about them all day.

That's good that you are able to visit her a few times before taking her home. They have quite a small head, so make sure that you're cage's bar spacing is no more then 1". Like I said before, my bird was listed as a Greater Vasa so I went out and got a huge cage in preparation for her, but the spacing was 1 1/4" and she could easily pass her head through that. So my Grey ended up getting an upgrade, LOL

They are not very destructive birds at all, I have heard of some housing them in wooden aviaries. And while I would worry about hygiene in such a cage, it just goes to show how little they chew wood in general. Mine likes shredding toys like palm leaves, paper, cardboard and toys like that, and balsa during breeding season. I am just mentioning this because her last home thought that she did not play because she showed no interest in the parrot toys she had, but they were mostly wood blocks. She is a very playful bird, she just needs stuff that is easy to rip and shred. SHe likes bells too. Just to give you some ideas.

Can't wait till she is home!

 

[Birdamor]

I know somebody who has had a lesser vasa male for quite some time. PM me if you want to get in touch with her.

 

[newtoparrots]

After what seen a life time to wait here he/she is!!!!!!! WHAT A MESSING EATER!!!!!





What is it. lesser???
male or female??? (if it is that easy)

I can't stop shaking after I get home it let me pick him up right away. The first thing is said to me and the kids was " I Love you"

 

[greycloud]

What a gorgeous baby! Did the breeder DNA? Your baby is alittle to young to sex visually right now.

 

[newtoparrots]

I was told it was 7 years old and the owners are up in age. The kids (all 4 of them) Wanted and did find a great home.
They had it for 4 years the guy they got it from had it for 3 years. But they don't know where he got it.

I hope that help..


Is there a type of food I can buy from a pet store. As fruit and veggies are gone fast around here. We eat it as snacks instead of pop and chips.

But just mean I have to buy more every few days

 

[parrotqueen]

Looks like a lesser male to me, but then again; I've never owned a Vasa before.

Congratulations on him/her. What a beautiful bird!

 

[greycloud]

Wow, I'm sorry! It looks very young! You will have to wait for breeding season to see visual sex changes. Definitely looks like a lesser to me too!

 

[samiam]

I am sorry to break it to you, but that is not a Lesser Vasa, he is actually not a Vasa at all. That bird is a Black Lory. He has a purplish sheen to him, as well as red and yellow in his tail, right? Vasa do not have any other colors, except black and grey and sometimes brownish and some steel blue in the wings and the Lesser has a little on the rump.

Black Lories are gorgeous, but like all Lories they are specialized feeders and need nectar in their diet and I think you have to be careful for iron storage like with some softbills. You should post in the Lory section to get a better idea of how to feed him. Hold off on citrus, because it enables the body to absord iron more efficiently, or something like that. They usually have nectar mixes at the petshops.

I am sorry that his species was mislabeled while being sold. But, he still looks like an awesome and amazing bird and I can't wait to hear more about him! I hope that the people selling him did not intentionally mislabel him. Maybe they were just mistaken, Black Lories are not super common in Canada though I don't think that they can be considered rare.

What's the beauty's name?

 

[samiam]

Here are some sites that may help you out until you can get in touch with someone who knows Lories.

As Good As It Gets
FEEDING LORIES
HEMOCHROMATOSIS IN LORIES

I can't get over how gorgeous he is. That's great that you can handle him so easily already.

If you are wondering about his age and where he is from, he looks like he as a closed band on his leg, you can find out his birth year with that. Usually there will be two numbers going against the flow of the rest, those two numbers will be the birth year. Example would be TMF [CAN 03] 7865 (without the brackets).

TMF will be the breeder code, CAN 03 will be written perpendicular to the code would mean the breeder is in Canada and the bird was born in 2003, 7865 would be the chick's Id and would be written in the same direction as the breeder code. Some breeders just use an ID number and don't always put the year, but often closed bands are fairly straight forward to read. There is a yahoo group that can help you trace a band.

 

[wildheart]

I just want to say thank you very much samiam, I found your posts extremely informative and written very interesting! I loved the video and her voice is so beautiful!

Thanks!

 

[newtoparrots]

Here are some sites that may help you out until you can get in touch with someone who knows Lories.

As Good As It Gets
FEEDING LORIES
HEMOCHROMATOSIS IN LORIES

I can't get over how gorgeous he is. That's great that you can handle him so easily already.

If you are wondering about his age and where he is from, he looks like he as a closed band on his leg, you can find out his birth year with that. Usually there will be two numbers going against the flow of the rest, those two numbers will be the birth year. Example would be TMF [CAN 03] 7865 (without the brackets).

TMF will be the breeder code, CAN 03 will be written perpendicular to the code would mean the breeder is in Canada and the bird was born in 2003, 7865 would be the chick's Id and would be written in the same direction as the breeder code. Some breeders just use an ID number and don't always put the year, but often closed bands are fairly straight forward to read. There is a yahoo group that can help you trace a band.

Ok the only thing on the band is RH 251 plus I can't find that yahoo group if you can send me the link that would be great

 

[samiam]

Here are the links to two groups, one is specifically for leg band codes, and the other is specific to Canadian Aviculture. You can try both, hopefully someone can help you out.

LegBandNumbers : Leg Band Numbers
abird4sale : Are you a CANADIAN Bird Hobbyist, Avicul

 

[littleskylark]

Just wanted to say, i've owned vasa parrots all my life and I can safely tell you that's not a Vasa parrot in the image. That's a black lorikeet Chalcopsitta atra atra
http://rationalparrot.com/images/caviar122906-5.jpg
http://mvbh.org/imgs/thumbnails/lorie lye.jpg

After what seen a life time to wait here he/she is!!!!!!! WHAT A MESSING EATER!!!!!

View attachment 695

View attachment 696

What is it. lesser???
male or female??? (if it is that easy)

I can't stop shaking after I get home it let me pick him up right away. The first thing is said to me and the kids was " I Love you"