Click on the above for Parrot Cages, Parrot Harness's & More
(Address is for application form requests / application form returns / written queries only. This is a private address, so please respect it as such.)
Lorraine Gibbons ( Secretary ) , Parrot Society Ireland , 113 Ballyshannon Road , Kilmore West , Dublin 5. Republic of Ireland. Telephone Declan or Lorraine 087 139 0913
INFORMATION: Hello and welcome to our website. We are the only bird society in Ireland to offer a full colour magazine every 2 months, "The Magazine of the Parrot Society Ireland". We welcome people from all over the world to join, helping us maintain the wonderful magazine and website. We publish members stories as well as stories from around the world and many coloured photos of members birds and birds worldwide in general. We hope you like the look of the website and hope it will be of use to you now and in the future. Even though we are called the "parrot society" we do welcome parakeet, finch and canary breeders and keepers as there experience is needed for the younger, and older people just getting into the hobby.
MEMBERSHIP: We would like to point out that we do not give out any details about our members to other members or non-members. We think safety first for all bird owners. If someone is looking for a certain type of bird or breeder, we give their details to the member and leave it up to them if they want to get in touch. We also encourage that members selling their birds should go to the buyers place. If the buyer needs confirmation that the person they are talking to is a member, then all they have to do is phone or email us. We have two types of membership. The first is SINGLE MEMBERSHIP which costs €30 per year, the second is a LIFE MEMBERSHIP which costs €300 and is a one off payment. Details are on the membership page. This gets you an exclusive membership number and magazine every 2 months, as well as free entry into any event we have. Events, such as, Bird shows do not come cheap, and we always need as much sponsorship/money as possible to help with the hall hire as well the insurance fees as these run very expensive.
AS A SOCIETY MEMBER YOU ARE ALSO A SUPPORTER OF THE WORLD PARROT TRUST: This is our newest project. We paid for membership to the World Parrot Trust as a society. So by joining the Parrot Society Ireland you are also a member through this society of the World Parrot Trust.
PROUD MEMBERS & SUPPORTERS OF THE INDONESIAN PARROT PROJECT: As well as all we have mentioned, we are also members & supporters of the Indonesian Parrot Project, which helps release birds which have been taken back from poachers back into the wild and the magazine covers this in great detail to help bring awareness and education to people all over Ireland and the world. It is a great way to help maintain the wild parrots. Parrots helped are as follows: Salmon - crested cockatoos, Eclectus parrots, Lory(Purple - napped, Blue Streaked, Moluccan Red, Black Capped, Chattering) or Lorikeet (Green-napped or "Rainbow"). As well as other Cockatoos such as the Moluccan, Umbrella, Lesser Sulfur-Crested, Eleonora, Triton and Palm.
PARROT SOCIETY IRELAND ALSO RE-HOME BIRDS: Here at the Parrot Society Ireland we re-home unwanted birds. They are signed over to us, and once they are we become the new owners until a new home has been found for them. Once they become our property, we make sure they are given the correct diet and are cared for in the correct way before we get them a suitable new owner. If you feel you would like to re-home a parrot be it a small one or lager, then send us your details and we will keep them on file and get in touch with you as soon as a parrot comes available. Members will always have first option on taken a bird in to give it a new home. We get very few at the moment and people who offer them to us want money and we won't pay to re-home a bird.
Psittacidae is a large family, including several races of parrots of different sizes and colours, but with almost similar behaviour throughout their wide range. We find two main kind of birds, the Cockatoos and the Parrots.
The Cockatoos are large to medium-sized, with strong bill and conspicuous crest. They live in Australasia in variable habitats. They usually have less coloured plumage than Parrots, with mainly black or white plumage, embellished with bright coloured crest or tail. They are gregarious and often seen in large flocks while feeding, flying and roosting.
The Parrots are larger and stockier than Cockatoos, but there are very small races too. The strong bill is slightly slender and sometimes longer and they lack the conspicuous crest. The Parrots are found in Neotropical (South and Central America, Caribbean and Southern Florida), in Afrotropical (Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar), in Indomalaya (South and South-east Asia to southern parts of East Asia), and in Australasian ecozones (New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Ocean islands). They live mainly in wooded areas.
Parrots usually have colourful plumage. Most of them show green plumage with bright coloured parts such as head, wings or tail, but many different patterns are found among them, which are the characteristic feature of these wonderful birds.
Cockatoos and Parrots feed mainly on fruits, nuts, seeds, buds and flowers from palm trees and several other plants’ species. They feed both in trees and on the ground. These birds often use one foot as a third hand, taking the item with the foot, and bringing it to the strong bill which allows to crack open very hard nuts.
Cockatoos and Parrots utter loud, harsh, raucous sounds as contact calls within the flock, nest defence, alarm calls, and also softer sounds with young at nest.
All these birds are cavity-nesters, except the Monk Parakeet which builds a large colonial nest high in trees. Such nests, made with thorny twigs, are maintained all year round, and are used as roost outside the breeding season.
The other members of the Psittacidae family nest in natural cavities such as holes in trees, crevices in cliffs, or any suitable structure, but also in nest-boxes.
The eggs are always white. Usually, both sexes share the nesting duties. The period at nest is relatively long, lasting several weeks, and then, the young and their parents remain in family groups until the next breeding cycle.
Cockatoos and Parrots usually do not migrate long distances. They fly fast with shallow wing beats. They perform seasonal and local movements according to the food resources. They often damage the crops when a large flock feeds in cultivated area. In some parts of their range, they are persecuted and killed as crop-pests.
These wonderful birds are threatened by habitat loss, and mainly by heavy trapping and removal of young at nest for the illegal pet-trade. Numerous species are declining, or Critically Endangered, or even Near Extinction.
Breeding programs occur, in order to maintain healthy captive populations of the most endangered species, with the hope to reintroduce them in their original habitat, or at least, in other suitable and protected area.
In addition, several species have very restricted range, and important projects are supported by different foundations and ornithological programs, in order to help these birds to inhabit again in appropriate areas where they will breed and survive.
Source:Handbook of the Birds of the World volume 4 by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliot and Jordi Sargatal-LYNX EDITION - ISBN 8487334229
Introduction Psittacidae Family. © 2008 Text & Photographs by Nicole Bouglouan.
Check Out Some Other Great Bird Sites