Aren't our eclectus critters wonderfully complicated? Just when you figure out one bit of behavior that puzzles you, they come up with another one even stranger than the last! If only we could be hummingbirds hovering around their habitats in the wild to see what they do and when and why, it would be so much easier for us. As it is, there have been very few field observations of eclectus in the wild so we must "fly by the seat of our pants" and simply guess at what makes them do the intriguing things that fascinate us and endear them to us.

My "guess" is that Shiori is indeed feeling the powerful influence of hormones and that her slow and deliberate beak tapping is her way of advertising her coming of age. Like--

"Hey! Here I am! Look at me! I'm a big strong female eclectus beauty now, and I'm ready for a mate! Which of you strange looking creatures is it going to be? I could never build a nest big enough for Mom, and these other creatures here have too many legs. Besides, that dawg is way too unsophisticated, and there's something about *that darned cat* that I just don't trust! Hmmmmmm....I'd better keep hammering away here until the right guy finds me!"

It is not too early to clip his wings but it's good that you allowed him to learn to fly. It is important not only to his physical development but for his confidence level as well.

If you cannot "crash proof" an area for him to continue flying, you might want to take off a couple of the outer primaries on each wing, cutting just below the line of the secondaries. If you need an illustration, you will find a couple URLs on the links page of my website that will make it clear to you. After a test flight, you may need to take off one or two more outer feathers, test fly again, and then see if he needs another one or two from each wing clipped. He should be able to glide to the floor without hitting hard, and not be able to fly upward. I know you will hate to see his beautiful wings go, but unless you have a safe and ESCAPE-PROOF place, it is necessary. I cringe when I read of birds escaping this time of year since in most places it is too cold for them to survive for long, and it is extremely difficult to locate them and get them back. Your breeder may be willing to show you how to do a proper wing clip if you live close enough to visit.

Today I briefly escaped the confines of my desk long enough to run to Office Max. The parking lot there is lined with trees that bear woody-looking seeds--sorry I don't know the name of them. But there was a raucous flock of big beautiful healthy looking Quakers in a tree, oblivious that I was standing and watching almost close enough to reach up and touch some of them. It was such a pleasure to see wild parrots feasting on the woody seeds, snapping leaves and twigs that fell to the ground, and arguing over the choice clusters of seed. They were chattering and calling and seemed so full of the sheer joy of living free as they chased each other, frolicked, and feasted. I could have gotten closeup pictures had I known to bring my camera.....there are some wonderful sights in Florida! But.....I almost felt guilty that my birds are not that full of excitement and not flying free. The wild parrots were so obviously alert and excited--the look in their eyes was incredible! Just made me all the more determined to build that design (only in my head for now) of a house built in four sections around a large outdoor enclosed courtyard, each section having expansive views of the inner courtyard full of free-flying eclectus! There will be a framed dome of wire and screen extended high above to avoid escape and predators. There will be large planted trees growing inside and exotic plants, vines, flowers, and rock formations as well as bathing ponds, and of course, a natural looking waterfall with boulders and overhanging Weeping Willow trees. It will be the closest thing to a natural life with rainfall and sunlight that I can provide my deserving little flock. While watching the Quakers, I tried to imagine how beautiful it would have been if their gray and green colors glowing in the sunlight had been red, green, blue, purple, and yellow. Wouldn't it be thrilling to see eclectus parrots playing in the trees and enjoying the great outdoors? What a goal to work toward....someday I'll make it happen for my little eclectus family! End of daydream......

Here is a description based on information from the first eclectus book and my own observations:

The female eclectus initiates "when" breeding will take place, but the male is the one who does most of the courtship dance. Some of his "enticing moves" are tapping his beak on the perch, running in circles, hopping on the perch--sometimes actually hopping OVER the female which is a rare and enjoyable sight. One ritual that I almost always observe when I'm lucky enough to watch the courtship process is the intertwining of necks. They rub their heads and necks together and sometimes do this in a rhythmic motion. Some think that this is the male's way of testing the female for readiness. He places his neck over hers, then she puts her neck over his, and they sometimes appear to briefly "kiss" as they change positions.

Once she signals her readiness, he begins to feed her. When she invites him to mate by bowing low on the perch with her rump in the air, he climbs onto her back and balances himself there by gripping clumps of her back feathers with his feet (which might not be possible for Dillie, Arrie) and sometimes wraps his neck around hers; other times he holds her by the feathers on the back of her neck. Once he is balanced, (and in answer to your question, I've never seen a male keep one foot on the perch) he stands on her back with his tail to the side and slides his tail and vent under hers and performs a back and forth sliding, or wiggling motion with his tail and vent. I have heard the actual act of fertilization likened to "two small plungers being rubbed together"--admittedly not very romantic but nevertheless descriptive of how they actually transfer the semen.

As for sound effects, my birds rarely vocalize during copulation but during the courtship process the males often make a beautiful "bonging" sound over and over. They sometimes make clicking sounds as well. During the actual mating process, there is a definite sound of feathers ruffling. The first time I heard this, I rushed into the aviary to see what on earth this new sound could be and caught them "in the act". They might as well have been teenage lovers whose mom walked in at an inopportune time. Both male and female appeared to be embarrassed and would not make eye contact with me. Needless to say, I made a hurried exit and the sound of rustling feathers resumed. ;) Ah the joys of chicken farming...

One of my pairs mates only in the nestbox, which seems a good idea to me. When they mate on the perch, no matter how steady it is (which is very important) one or both rarely will fall to the ground. As I said, it looks like quite a balancing act and you can easily imagine them losing their footing.

Beak coloring is indeed UNIQUE! No two males' beaks ever change color in the same way nor in the same length of time. For instance, GeeBee who is just over three months old has an almost solid candy corn beak, while his neighbor who is just over four months old has twice as much dark keratin left to shed. My first male with a beak ever to reach six months with dark keratin left on half of the upper beak is Clover, who is a big and healthy specimen too. Most of the time my males have adult beak coloration by the time they are six months old, but if you read about it in the few available eclectus books, you'll see that the average age for males to have a candy corn beak is one year. There are many examples to point out that the only generalization we can make about this subject is that one cannot generalize!

In order to get Jakarta talking to you again, you might try having a talk with him with some very loud noise in the background. You could turn on his favorite music or a tape of himself talking, or you talking, and turn up the volume. It seems to be difficult for parrots to resist talking when loud noise is going on. My gang sounds like a playground full of children when the dishwasher is running or when music of any kind is playing at high volume.

While you have the noise factor working for you, repeat some of his favorite words in a loud and enthusiastic tone of voice. I hope that this will help to get him "speaking to you" again. Of course your family might get worried about YOU! ;)