BOAF Bulletin Express

Caiques

By Karen M. Crassi

President’s Report

Dear Members,

It was a terrific auction! In spite of the bad weather, the turnout was great. We had plenty of support and delicious food. I would like to thank everyone who donated their time, food, or auction items to make this one of our best auctions ever. Special thanks to Mike Fournier (our auctioneer), Bill Marotte, Ray Schwartz, Bill Reid, Don Masson, Steve Tanner, Lisa Armitage, Helen Corcoran, Karen Small, Sharon McCarthy, Ron and Suzanne Cote, Susan Fellows, Lee Baker, Angela Grey, Dan gey and Don Bourgault (I'm sure I must have missed some - if so I apologize). Mike kept the Auction rolling along - in spite of the large turnout of birds and supplies. I could not believe the fantastic buys available, especially on parrots. For example, two young Blue-front Amazons went for under $350.00 each! Not to mention the beautiful Blue & Gold Macaws (recently weaned) for under $700.00! It was indeed a buyer's market. For those who couldn't make it, don't miss our Pet Mart on June 20th - same place…be there!

Yes it's that time of the year. Time to start our Show plans. And yes, I will be beating on everyone for support. This year we are downsizing our show hall, so vendor tables will be on a "first come, first serve" basis. The show will be at the St. Francis Gymnasium - same place as the auctions. Also, we will be running the kitchen, which means megafood donations. We are still planning the event but it looks like we will combine a bird mart with the show, but details are yet to be finalized. We stand to make "MegaBucks" with this one. Start planning your donations now!

We have also decided to make a bid to host the National Cage Bird Show again in 2001 (we can coin the phrase "2001 a Bird Odyssey" - cute huh?). To do this we must make a bid at this years show in Chicago, and then again at the spring '99 meeting in New York. Hopefully they will consider our New England hospitality again.

Next meeting we will all get together to play a few games of "Birdy Bingo!!" - Great prizes and loads of fun. See you then.

Sincerely,
Denise B.

Parrots in the Wildlife Walk of the Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Most club members know I travel a bit and when I do I look for displays of birds. In early March I went to Las Vegas for the inaugural Winston Cup race. I also spent a day touring hotel lobbies and gardens to check out their birds.

Most hotels had at least a few parrots. But, a spectacular parrot display is the Wildlife Walk in the Tropicana Hotel. If you ever get the chance, go see it! There are Macaws (hyacinth, green wing, military, blue & gold plus hybrids), Amazons (blue front, yellow head, yellow nape, etc.), Cockatoos (greater and lesser sulfur crested, umbrella, etc.), Eclectus and many more. All are on open stands so you can interact with them. Yes, I talked to all the birds and, not surprisingly, most answered back. No, I didn’t get bitten. Surrounding the birds are tanks of tropical lizards and frogs. It is truly a tropical parrot paradise.

If you go, don’t skip the outdoor gardens with the African crested cranes and other exotic birds. And say hello to Marianne "Miss Macaw", the wildlife manager. If you’re lucky, you may see some of the numerous parrots that aren’t on display in the Wildlife Walk. I wonder if she needs an assistant!

Secretary’s Report: Meeting of March 9, 1998

Presentation: Name That Bird by Dr. Al Decoteau

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 pm by Denise Bourgault. The first order of business was a brief review and discusion of the auction rules. (See the March bulletin). Registration forms and cage tags were distributed to expedite registration at the auction.

Dr. Al made his presentation of 20 birds for the members to identify. After swapping sheets, Dr. Al identified them for us and gave a description of their unique characteristics.

Frst prize winner (a one year membership in S.P.B.E.) was Denise McCabe

Second prize winner (a BOAF T-shirt) was Nicole Smith.

Dr. Al led a short discussion on wing clipping. Basically, clipping style is a personal thing provided you leave enough feather that the bird doesn’t fall like a rock.

Dave Smith was awarded a dinner certificate for selling the most raffle tickets for last falls show.

After another great raffle and the 50-50 drawing, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 pm.

Lory Symposium submitted by Ann Sullivan

The American Lory Society presents the first East Coast Lory Symposium, Saturday, July 11th, 9 am - 5 pm at the Travelodge, Mount Laurel, NJ. The speaker schedule, still being finalized, includes experienced breeders, a verinarian, etc., concluding with a round table discussion of audience questions. Topics to be covered include breeding, the challenges of keeping lories in climatic extremes, health, nutrition and research updates. A beautiful slide show is planned. All are welcome. Pre-register by July 1st for $50 or at the door for $55. A buffet lunch is included.

For more info. contact Marie Hageman at (609) 589-0606 or e-mail her at Mdhageman@aol.com. Send checks to ALS, c/o Bobbi Meyer, P.O. Box 450, Livermore, CA 94551. To reserve a room at the special ALS $79 rate (including breakfast buffet) call the Travelodge directly at (609) 234-7000.

BOAF members who want a local contact for this event can contact Annie at her e-mail address brushton@sprintmail.com.

Next Directors Meeting

Date: April 20, 1998
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Steve Tanner’s Home

Agenda: This meeting of the Board of Directors will be to review the March auction and start planning for the Summer Pet Mart and the Fall Show. It is open to all members. Please let Steve know in advance if you plan to attend so he will put out enough chairs.

If you are not an Officer or Director, but want to volunteer to help with the a future event, please come to the directors meeting or contact one of them.

This month’s bulletin continued last month’s challenge. I again got more articles than I had space for in this bulletin issue. Thank you all and keep the stories coming! If you already sent or gave me something, and it isn’t in this issue, look in next month’s bulletin

I have articles for the May issue. Would anyone else like to contribute for June? Although most of the information for the bulletin arrives by e-mail, it doesn’t have to. The U.S. Postal System still delivers mail. I’m trying to include articles from different members. If you have something to be published, give it to me at a meeting or send it to:

Ray Schwartz
19 Olde Common Drive
Atkinson, NH 03810-2177

or e-mail them to editor@boaf.com

or call me at (603) 362-6106

During the Preview - some of the many many birds for sale at the Spring Auction.       Photo by Allen Fox

The directors have agreed BOAF will publish announcements promoting other bird club events provided they promote ours. This should make it easier to find them than searching the fine print in the back of Bird Talk magazine.

BOAF also has started a bulletin exchange program with other bird clubs. This month we will start exchanging with Garden State Exotic Bird Club.

Web Site Recommendation

Visit the Lafeber web site and get free trial size packages of Nutri-berries, Avi-cakes and Nuts n Nuggets. The site has bird related cartoons, care and feeding information, a Company profile, great parrot pictures, listings of Lafeber suppliers, a veterinarian search routine, etc. etc. Next time you are on the web go to www.lafeber.com for lots of bird data and fun!

There is also a search routine to locate the local bird club. None were found in New Hampshire. However, I’ve applied to have BOAF added to the database.

My Birds’ Favorite Foods by Ray Schwartz

While writing a thank you note to the Lafeber Company for their auction donation, the thought struck me that my birds each had individual tastes. Like people, each has his favorite foods.

Prism, the Green Wing Macaw, eats almost anything he can get his beak on. However, he inhales macaroni and cheese and can’t seem to get enough of it. He loves Nutri-Berries, the original flavor in the macaw size. If I let him, he’d eat the whole tub (and I buy them in the large tub!). For breakfast, cranberry almond crunch is his favorite although he’ll eat oatmeal or muselix. Lemon pie is a favorite snack. He nibbles on seeds and pellets but most of them end up on the floor to be devoured by the vacuum cleaner monster.

Flower, the Blue Headed Pionus, prefers nuts, seeds, pellets, fruits, veggies and my coleus plant. Almonds, pistachios and peanuts clearly top the list. Chopped carrots and grapes (cut in half) follow as a close second. Flower never refuses warm vegetable soup. However, nothing is so tasty as a leaf picked by Flower from the coleus over the sink.

Jade, the Green Cheek Conure has a sweet tooth. I know, a sweet beak, since birds don’t have teeth. He’ll eat any dessert he can get into. He’s also the seed eater in the family but also eats pellets. When I realized he dug through the bowl to get the sunflower seed, I changed to a safflower seed mix, the kind where the seeds are colored with food coloring. Despite Dr. Messenger’s lecture that color means nothing, Jade picks out all the red seeds first. He eats the red pellets first too. Jade has to have his herbal tea before retiring for the night. Apple cinnamon or orange spice is preferred.

If your birds have any unusual eating habits, please write them down to share with the rest of the club members.

Webmasters Report By Allen Fox

This month we will be adding the Breeders List to our site. Any breeders on that list that have sites should let me know and we can link your listing to your site. If you missed getting on the list you can still get listed online by sending me your listing at anytime throughout the year. There are new links being added as new informative sites are found. Just look for the "New" graphic. Traffic has been picking up too. It took from August to January to get 1000 hits. And since then, we’ve had another 1000. We are seeing around 30-40 hits per day. Many are at the classifieds. If any member has sold something from the online classifieds drop me a line. It would good to hear the success stories. Don’t forget authors, send a picture along with your article to our Editor and that picture can appear along with your article for the world to see. As always suggestions are always welcome.

Report on Directors Meeting   March 16, 1998.

Denise Bourgault called the meeting to order at 7:55 pm. Denise confirmed she had purchased the Beanie Babies to be sold as a fund raiser. She also bought a dehydrator for a raffle prize at the summer Pet Mart. We agreed to try again to sell Brecks bulbs as another fundraiser.

Auction arrangements were confirmed.

Charges for tables at the Summer Bird/Pet Mart were finalized and Ray Schwartz will prepare flyers for distribution at the auction.

BOAF will make a bid to host the 2001 National Show. We will use the theme "2001 a Bird Odyssey" A presentation will be made this fall in Chicago.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.