For Public Education and Understanding of All Parrots Sept/Oct 2003

Agenda

Recap on Sept’s Meeting: Our research topic was presented by Kari W on "How Parrots Talk." The members shared their bird’s own stories. If your bird has any favorite or cute saying please forward to Louise W. to put up on our website to share with others! Welcome to Lizette who is our new club Librarian.

Recap on the EPPA Parrot Show: On October 5^th from 11:00am to 4:00pm the EPPA hosted our first EPPA Parrot show at the Sand’s hotel. It was a great success. We raised a total of $964.00

Upcoming Pet Expo: The Pet Expo will be held on January 24-26. The hours of operation are as follows: 24^th (5-9pm), 25^th (10-6pm), and 26^th (10-5pm). Admission costs will be General $7.00, Children ages 2-12 $5.00. Family $20.00 and Children under 2 are free.

Letter from the President

Hello Everyone;

Just a quick note to say how happy we are with our first attempt at our Parrot Show held at the Sands Hotel. We raised $964.00 which will come in handy for purchasing books for our new Library. We got some really positive comments about our Educational Displays and a great time was had by all involved. Thank-you to all of the Members who came out and brought your birds. I would like to take this time to say a special Thanks to Deb B. for all her help with the raffle items. Deb spent quite a bit of time calling all of our sponsors and arranging all of our raffle items. We really appreciate the hard work you put in!

Thanks to the following companies for donating to our Raffle at the Show:

• Baker Feed & Seed
• Petsmart
• Superpets/ PJ’s
• Hagen
• Kane Vet Supplies
• Also a special Thanks to COMPANY THAT DONATED THE FRUIT AND VEGGIES

I would also like to say thanks to Programmed Promotions for doing our new Membership Cards for us! We sure appreciate it when companies help out and do us favors like this! As a non-profit organization we really love it when we find such loyal corporate sponsors as we have found in the above companies.

Sincerely,

Bird Buddies

Thank you to the following businesses that help support the EPPA. We encourage our members to visit our sponsors.

G & E Pharmacy Riverbend Veterinary Clinic

7326-82 Ave (Edmonton) Dr. Pam Gordey

Veterinary & Pet Supplies & Prescriptions 5611- Riverbend Road

Manager: Erwin Fech (Riverbend Mall, Edmonton)

(780)-469-7667 (780)-437-0039

Dr. Ken Keeler Dr. Carol Kujala

8203- 127 Ave (Edmonton) 1502 Lakewood Rd W (Edmonton)

(780)-475-9225 (780)- 469-9065

Recipe of the Month

2 parts whole corn (same corn as above will do)
1 part whole green peas (use split peas if you can't find them)
1 part whole wheat berries (look in the health food section at Raley's or any health food store)
1 part pinto beans.

Mix all of above ingredients and let it soak in room temperature water for about 8 hours or overnight. Soaking will let the mix begin to germinate. Then simmer it for 30 minutes to an hour until the beans and corn are cooked through but not mushy.

This recipe can be found at www.ruffledfeathersaviary.com/recipes.htm

Website of the Month

Just for Laughs

A pirate and his parrot are marooned in a lifeboat after the pirate ship sinks. The pirate finds a bottle in the provisions, and, hoping it's rum, he opens it. A genie comes out, and grants him one wish.

The pirate, unhappy that the bottle didn't contain rum, says: "I wish the entire sea were rum!" The genie waves his hand, and POOF the entire sea turns to rum. Then the genie vanishes.

"Oh, good work, genius," says the parrot. "Now we've gotta pee in the boat."

Updated eppa Website

Club classified Ads

(need to update)

The following vendors are pleased to offer EPPA Members discounts on some merchandise for their birds.

The story of the Carolina Parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis, is an interesting one. The parakeet was last seen in the state near Yemassee in 1864. "The Columbia Encyclopedia" described the Carolina parakeet's colors as "green plumage with a yellow head and orange cheek patches and forehead," (the birds measured 12-13 inches from beak to the tip of its tail feathers). Their habitat was the Southeastern United States, as far west as Texas, north to Virginia, and down into Florida.

In the online NewsBank database (access free to all registered borrowers of the Beaufort County Public Library) was the Houston Chronicle article, "Relics from the Past: Town Divided over Fate of Collection of Rare Eggs" (July 15, 2003). Reporter Dina Cappiello wrote that the Carolina parakeet and the passenger pigeon, though once "the most populous birds in North America," both became extinct through the "habitat loss and widespread hunting." Humans found the flocks of parakeets harmful to the crops they devoured (the birds were fruit and seed eaters).

Whenever a parakeet was shot down, the entire flock would swarm about the fallen bird, to chase the killer away with their noise and numbers. This defensive tactic, shared by certain other parrots, made the birds even easier targets for gun-toting humans. A few hunters could make short work of a whole flock.

The pet trade also took its toll on the only parrot native to the United States. Dealers captured the birds, but seldom bred them in captivity. Michael Mink ("Dedication Isn't Only for the Birds," Investor's Business Daily, Dec. 11, 2002), gave yet another reason for the Carolina parakeet's demise: "Hunters hunted them and sold their colored feathers to merchants who used them in ladies' hats." Indeed, the English colonists of the early 1600s had found the bird "a fowle most swift of wing [and] very beautiful," according to Lewis Lord with Sarah Burke in "America Before Columbus" (US News and World Report, July 8, 1991).

In June and July of 1804, wrote Brent Frazee ("On the Trail of Lewis and Clark Program Explores Missouri River," Kansas City Star, Oct. 25, 2002), the Lewis and Clark expedition came into what is now the Kansas City area. The explorers wrote of the enormous flocks of Carolina parakeets overhead. They were observing the western subspecies (Conuropsis carolinensis ludoviciana), whose paler plumage and more-yellow wings distinguished it from the birds found farther east (Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis).

Wandering naturalist Mark Catesby (1679-1749) said the parakeets "Guts is [sic] certain and speedy poison to cats," a claim Doug Stewart found "questionable" (in "Mark Catesby: Both Audubon and Linnaeus Were Indebted to This Intrepid British Limner of the New World," Smithsonian, Sept. 1997).

The parakeets were rarely seen in nature by the 1880s. In September of 1914, the last captive Carolina parakeet died in its cage at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens. Earlier that month, the last of the passenger pigeons had been found dead at the same zoo. The last flock of about 30 birds was seen in Florida in 1920, and there are now only 12 sets of eggs preserved in North American museums.

Quote of the month

Always be kind to animals,
Morning, noon, and night:
For animals have feelings too,
And Furthermore, they bite.

Contributions

Canadian Pet parrot symposium west Information

The 7^th Annual Canadian Parrot Symposium (West) will be held on May 22 – 23, 2004 at the Dunsmuir Lodge in Victoria, BC, Canada.

The Canadian Parrot Symposium (West) Society is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to increase knowledge of and interest in all aspects of the breeding, rearing, behaviour, nutrition, intelligence, health and conservation of companion and wild parrots; fund parrot-related projects such as disease research, conservation, avian related scholarships. 

The Canadian Parrot Symposium (West) Society accomplishes its mission by holding an annual symposium in Victoria, BC, Canada. Guest speakers from all over the world share their knowledge and expertise of parrots with symposium delegates. Commercial vendors showcase and share their knowledge and products. Not-for-profit organizations present information on their organizations. On Friday night, there is a Hospitality Night in the Peninsula Lounge. On Saturday night, there is a banquet followed by an opportunity to make fabulous purchases at a parrot-focused auction.  The auction proceeds are used to offset the costs of the symposium as well as to fund parrot-related projects. A fabulous venue for parrot fanciers, breeders, pet owners, commercial vendors, authors and other like-minded people to share ideas, knowledge and parrot stories. By limiting registration and presenting the symposium at the lovely Dunsmuir Lodge, an intimate atmosphere is created where you can submerse yourself in a total parrot focused weekend.

The Speakers for the upcoming symposium will be Jean Pattison (Florida, USA "The African Queen"Author and breeder of African Species), Chris Davis (Illinois, USA
Expert in Parrot Behaviour, Columnist, Bird Talk), Margaret Wissman (DVM, DABVP, Florida, USA Renown Avian Veterinarian and Columnist, Bird Talk), Sandra Dave (Guelph, Canada
Conservation Project & Canadian World Parrot Trust), Bill Parsons (Florida, USA
Breeder of Rare Parrots (Amazons)), Stefanja Dumanowski (Alberta, Canada, Eclectus Parrots) and Dr.Ted Lafeber (Illinois, USA, Nutrition).

Upcoming Symposium

UpComing Elections

The February meeting will be a general meeting. A full election of the Board of Directors will be taking place during this meeting. We are also looking for someone to officially take over the position of Website Chairperson.

We will be looking for Members to run for the following positions;

• President, Vice President, Communications Director, Secretary, Treasurer, Website Chairperson and also Show Committee Chairperson

Please refer to our website under Policy and Procedures Manual for a full description of the Duties of each position.