Very very uncontrollably extremely excited!

[Scott]

Wow!!! That is one stunningly beautiful bird! Love the name, easily as a stand-alone or adaptable for either sex!

Please keep us informed, would love to learn more about the species!!

 

[ToMang07]

Absolutely gorgeous, congrats!

 

[RavensGryf]

Congratulations ! Ash is a beautiful, adorable baby! I'm happy for you, you deserve a bird of your very own .

 

[Mekaisto]

Thank you everyone for the kind words
(Also she's a samueli subspecies, not banksii, getting overexcited I think!)

She had her first trip outside today!

 

[RavensGryf]

Absolutely adorable! Nice when they're used to stuff from a young age too. Is the adult size about like a U2 or bigger?

 

[Mekaisto]

Apparently she didn't really care about anything outside, she just wanted to cuddle!

RTB2s actually differ a lot in size, depending on the subspecies. The biggest subspecies, banksii., averages around 65cm/26 in long and weighs around 700g/1.5 lb.

Ash is a samueli so is a bit smaller, she'll probably get to around 50cm/20 in and around 600g/1.3 lb.

I'm never seen a U2 before, but according to wiki they're around 46 cm/18 in long, and weigh between 400g - 800g, depending on sex.

So by that, I'd say they're generally a bit longer and lighter than a U2

 

[itchyfeet]

That is brilliant! Those baby photos are just gorgeous. Congratulations She's got a beautiful eye.
That seems amazingly cheap for a rare species, on this side of the ditch I saw one listed at the beginning of the year for 15k. They're on a whole new level of rare here, though. Just to state the obvious

 

[Mekaisto]

Yeah, lots of Australian species are rare elsewhere, because Australia forbids the exportation of any native species, except in some cases to zoos. We also forbid the importation of species though, so a lot of non-native parrots are expensive or simply not found here, even in zoos

 

[itchyfeet]

See we've got the whole forbidden importation thing going on.....Which makes me wonder about two points specifically about the parrot 'market' here.

- For a country of this size, with a parrot population of this size, there must be some inbreeding going on....and....
- On the forbidden importation - I'm sure there's more available now then there were even five years ago.

Anyways, I digress. We Ash has herself quite the fan club already

 

[Mekaisto]

Yeah, NZ and Australia are able to 'share' birds amongst themselves, and of course there are species here that are held under lock and key by their owners...
Like you won't find hawk-headed parrots in any aussie pet shop, but there are breeders around if you know where to look, and have a small fortune to offload!

Inbreeding is a big problem, which is why a lot of Australian and NZ breeders are applying to import a small number of birds from overseas.

 

[Anansi]

CONGRATULATIONS, Mekaisto! With your rather impressive knowledge of birds, I've always felt that you needed to have one of your own! Lol!

And wow. You certainly kicked off bird ownership with a bang! Ash is beautiful, and certainly fortunate in her new (and very excited) parront. Make sure to update thoroughly and often on young Ash's progress.

 

[thekarens]

She's so precious!

 

[OOwl]

Adorable and precious. I showed my VERY Americanized RB2 (he's a mix of the two subspecies but a nice, healthy outcross LOL). He got very excited by her picture and said something in 'too I wasn't meant to understand. So glad you're sharing your new baby with everyone. I wish I could see one in person. Even our zoo doesn't have one of those.

 

[Mekaisto]

Don't know why the outside photos don't work anymore, but here are some new ones!
The way she's going, she should be ready to come home late November

Ok, I'm ready to learn how to fly!

On second thoughts, maybe I'll just stay here for now...

Ok...this is high enough.

 

[Newbsi]

Wow what a gorgeous bird! Okay, had pic of the month been baby photos, the fourth one down on the first page would have won hands down (just my opinion

 

[denine]

What a beautiful bird

 

[Scott]

Stunning, and all the more exotic to the eye as they are so rare in the U.S!!

 

[OOwl]

I love her. I especially love the shape of her head. She's just perfect. Her feathers look like a dark sky and bright stars. I want one.

 

[Weezerj]

wow, stunning!

 

[StephenAndKyleigh]

Now she is a very beautiful bird! I read all of your previous post on this thread to get a background on it. Very excited for you!