Is it time for another "Golden Age" of Aviculture?

Come with me now on a journey through time and space...

Let me set the scene for those not familiar with the history of aviculture -

Birdkeeping of all sorts has always been popular in both private, professional and conservation contexts. The history of aviculture is almost as old as civilised human society, with many of the great civilisations of the past caring for and venerating certain species of bird. In more recent times however, lets say the past 200 years, aviculture as we now know it started to develop and within the past 100 it really took off. Huge numbers of bird species have now been kept, studied and even bred in human care and we have learnt much about them thanks to the dedicated bird keepers of the past that took the time to push forward with new species and document their work so that we could repeat the same in future. The past 100 years has been punctuated by an era that is fondly referred to as "The Golden Age", a time where great progress was made and a wealth of species became accessible to bird keepers the world over. This era spanned between the 1930's and the 1970's, from a time when keepers such as Ezra and Delacour were highly active, pioneering with fresh species through to the heydays when incredibly uncommon species were being kept in both zoos and private collections. It is generally considered that in the last 50 years aviculture has been in decline although it is my personal opinion that this is not the case (more on that later). The idea of a second "Golden Age" would then seem far fetched, but this, as you will hopefully see, may all be a case of perspective.

A metaphor. That will make more sense later!

So which characteristics defined our perspective on what could be considered excellence?

During those eras it's worth remembering that in general the science of animal welfare was still largely in it's infancy and what was known about the subjective inner workings of other animals, let alone birds in their tetrachromatic, high speed world was relatively little, if anything at all. Often discoveries were made on a trial and error basis, adapting methods and hoping for the best. It was considered for the best part of this era that if a bird bred, it was contented with it's lot. It is important to point out that this ideal was not created out of ignorance on the part of the keepers of the time, this was just the most reasonable observation they could make with what info was available to them. Keeping that in mind it is no surprise that the standards for excellence were focused sharply on breeding performance.

Wild Australian magpies show play behaviour when encountering a washing line.

The second factor of the "Golden Age" was availability. In that time much of the founding stock for today's well known species was brought from the wild into human care. Some were lucky and might end up in the hands of responsible keepers who would go on to develop husbandry techniques and diets for these species and form the basis of all we know today. Many however would end up in the hands of novices who may achieve minimal success or worse not even make the trip. Some estimates placed a survival ratio of 10:1 on imported birds, with thousands being trapped and exported and a lucky handful surviving the journeys. These were dark days and although this kind of activity is now reduced, it still very much goes on in parts of the world with undeveloped justice systems. We must never forget the sacrifices that were made so that we can enjoy birds in our lives today and that too gives us a greater responsibility to maintain them for the future so such terrible things do not ever repeat themselves.

One aspect of this availability to consider is the large number of wild caught, pre bonded pairs of birds which must have made their way into the system, the only familiar thing in their new life being each other, this may have helped facilitate many of the sudden breeding successes of this era in what would otherwise be considered poor conditions.

So what has changed since the 1970's and how is that relevant?

The 60's, 70's and 80's were decades where people's awareness of the world around them really started to blossom, many new ideas gave rise to new fields of science. Animal welfare and the veterinary sciences really began to develop in these decades as we learnt more and more about how animals function both physiologically and psychologically. Today we take this information for granted but there does still seem to be a disconnect between the current state of science and traditional aviculture. Toward the end of the 80's scientists such as Marian Stamp Dawkins were unravelling more and more of the inner workings of animal cognition and laying the groundwork for the past 20 years, where our understanding of avian consciousness has come on leaps and bounds. Avian veterinary science is now a strong field where previously unfixable issues are being solved with new state of the art drugs and birds that would have been a lost cause are now just weeks away from full recovery in some cases.

This sun conure has learned to identify and place coloured rings, with a little help this is not hard for birds.

The world is a very different one here in 2018. We understand now that each bird has a subjective experience of the world around it quite unlike our own and often more complex, with birds seeing hundreds of light frequencies that to us are invisible, they regularly perceive life in 3 dimensions rather than our traditional terrestrial 2, for a bird, there is a lot going on and a lot it would seem, that we have neglected to consider when caring for them until recently. It is true that if a bird breeds regularly it's biological needs are being catered for, indeed almost every biological process is designed to reach this end, reproduction of course being the driving force behind evolution. But is it any longer acceptable to think that because a bird is in good health and is biologically active that it's subjective needs are being fulfilled? The general consensus amongst contemporary bird keepers is no.

We have established then, that to just breed is not an accurate measure of the psychological welfare of a bird and that there is much more to a bird's life than just this process. If we change our perspective at this point, suddenly things seem to look quite different. The past 50 years have not bought us a swathe of new species to breed but what they have bought us is something far greater, something no doubt the pioneers of the first "Golden Age" would have found fascinating. They have bought us understanding and insight, information that we are just now really starting to put into practise.

All over the world traditional husbandry systems are being changed or replaced with new high welfare alternatives. In zoos many birds that traditionally had to be chased down and caught in nets are now trained to freely enter crates themselves and some species are even taking part in their own health care, with training extending to voluntary injections and presentation for anaesthesia.

Here a Yellow fronted amazon participates in his own healthcare.

If we stop focusing on the outdated ethos that eggs = happy and really start to consider the psychological welfare of our birds the possibilities for groundbreaking innovation are endless. Going back to my comment earlier about not believing that the last 50 years have seen a decline in aviculture I would say that instead they have seen a transformation into something less recognisable but ultimately far more rewarding for birds and keepers alike. It is sad that many sectors of aviculture still have not embraced these changes and maybe they never will, but for now there are a strong and dedicated demographic of aviculturists who are changing the way we keep birds and empowering them to get involved with their own lives rather than just be subjects of breeding interest. The results speak for themselves.

Under our "new" criteria for avicultural excellence in the 21st century, based on the past 50 years it seems fair that we can say our main priorities now are sustainable breeding to protect wild populations, observing high levels of welfare for the birds in our care, reducing stress via behavioural management and providing the best possible nutrition and health care. All of these things are possible to achieve and are being achieved in both zoo and private contexts.

All around us these new ideas are being put into play in innovative and exciting new ways which directly and considerably improve the way our birds live.

Now the idea of a second, enlightened "Golden Age of Aviculture" does not seem far fetched at all does it?
See, I told you, a little perspective... In fact it may have already started!

There are plenty of amazing examples that I have not covered here, I challenge you to research yourself and find some new methods that you have not heard of before and maybe even put a few in place with your charges.

Till next time, keep being awesome to your birds and yourself.

C.