The Mount Apo Lorikeet, Trichoglossus johnstoniae, now looks set to become established in aviculture
By Roger Sweeney, Philippines
The Mount Apo Lorikeet, Trichoglossus johnstoniae, also sometimes called the Mindanao or Mrs Johnstone's Lorikeet has always been regarded as an extreme rarity in aviculture, even within its own endemic country of the Philippine islands. This small but beautifully marked species from the genus of Trichoglossus shares what is typical coloration for many of the species from this genus of mainly green plumage with some yellow marking on the under side of the body. The distinctive feature of this species is the rich red coloration of the forehead, lores and chin, and also the brownish purple band reaching from the lores around to the occiput. Formerly a second sub species was described as T.j.pistra. This sub species is now not widely regarded as being distinct and is increasingly being excluded from more recent taxonomic descriptions. I have examined more than 100 live individuals of T.johnstoniae and have also examined many of the available skins in the collection of the National museum of the Philippines and elsewhere. To date, I can not find any justification for the second sub species and I believe it to be indistinguishable from the nominate race.
The natural range of the Mount Apo Lorikeet is restricted to the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippine group. The main area which this bird inhabits has, to date, been protected by being covered by national park protection. This bird, coming from a limited natural distribution, has never had a large wild population, a recent estimate of the wild population was stated as being around 10,000 birds. I feel that this estimate is probably slightly high. The isolation of the wild population and the presence of national park protection for much of its range has, however, maintained the stability of the wild population and has tightly restricted and collection of wild birds, factors which have been essential in the continued survival of this species. It must be viewed with concern then that increasing domestic pressures seem to be forcing industrial development infringement into areas which were formerly covered by the national park. The most high profile of these developments has been the proposed building of a new electricity power plant upon what has formerly been national park land. The Philippines is currently in the grips of an acute national power shortage that is severely effecting the whole economy of the country, against this background sometimes difficult decisions have to be made and the needs of conservation can be overtaken by needs of the growing human population. This situation of a psittacines species with a limited and vulnerable natural population coming into a conflict of interests against the needs of a growing indigenous human population can be seen in many other areas of the developing world. In such circumstances there is a strong need for a captive breeding initiate, ideally undertaken in the species own endemic region, to be initiated so that husbandry research can be undertaken and a nucleus captive population can be formed.
In the case of the Mount Apo Lorikeet, this task was undertaken at the B.I.I. Research and Breeding Centre, with the backing of the Philippines governments Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau. The care of T. johnstoniae in captivity does not vary significantly from that for other, more commonly seen, smaller members of the Trichoglossus genus. In the tropical climate of the Philippines, the birds at the research and breeding centre have been kept in a variety of different aviary accommodation ranging from individual pairs housed within undercover suspended hanging cages to more conventional aviary communal flights with several pairs of birds in each. Although success has been achieved in both situations, it is now felt that housing birds as individual pairs is the best and most productive form of accommodation. In more temperate climates care should be taken when housing this species outside. Although generally quite hardy, its comparatively smaller size than many other commonly kept Trichoglossus and its rarity mean that this bird deserves the extra caution of indoor accommodation if weather conditions are uncertain. The diet given to T. johnstoniae at the Centre is also the same as that given to other Trichoglossus and consists of a liquid food twice a day with fruits, a fruitivous pellet and some millet seeds also being given. A complete report on the husbandry and captive breeding of the Mount Apo Lorikeet is currently in preparation and should be available in 1994.
Captive breeding of the Mount Apo Lorikeet is being consistently achieved at the Centre, currently in increasing numbers. Some of the captive bred young which have previously been sent out to other collections have also now successfully reproduced. Our main emphasis is to concentrate on producing parent reared young although, as is often the case when a large number of birds are being worked with, there are always some occasions when hand rearing is necessary and is undertaken. The clutch size is usually two eggs, which are incubated for a period of 23 days. Fledging from the nest box usually take place at sometime between 40 47 days of age, the chicks are still fed by their parents for several days after they emerge from the nest box until such a time as they are feeding themselves from the food dish provided. Hand reared chicks are usually full feathered by around day 47, but are often not completely independent until up to day 60.
My notes on the development of one hand reared chick are given as follows; Upon hatching the chick weighed 3.55 grams. The skin coloration was pink and the chick was covered with long, greyish white natal down. The toe nails were black and the bill was black with a white egg tooth present upon the tip of the upper mandible. When first fed the chick had a crop capacity of 0.3ml.
The eyes were beginning to open when the chick was observed on day 13 and both eyes were fully open by day 16. The initial natal down that covered the chick started to thin away from day 9, but by day 16 secondary down had started to emerge and was covering most of the body by day 20. By day 25 most flight feather pins had appeared and pin feathers were also starting to appear over the head and from the tail. Small pin feather covering the crop have just began to split their quilling to reveal green and yellow feathers.
By day 28 the pin feathers on the head were showing colour and pin feathers were appearing over the chest. Flight and tail feather pins were starting to split their quilling to reveal feathers of adult plumage coloration. By day 40 the chick was near full feathered except for the flank regions. By day 47 the chick was now perching and feeding itself from the food dish when it was offered. By day 56 the chick was full feathered and completely weaned.
Immature birds can be differentiated from adult birds because of their black beak and because of the much paler grey coloration of the exposed skin of the cere and pre-orbital ring. The beak slowly begins to become orange soon after fledging but the paler coloration of the cere and pre-orbital ring remains noticeable for several months after fledging. Some of the daily weight records for the chick described above, and its clutch mate, are shown in the accompanying table.
With the Mount Apo lorikeet being successfully bred in increasing numbers each year, and with captive bred birds slowly starting to appear in more avicultural collections around the world, it can be hoped that this species can within the next few years reach a stage of being aviculturally established. A stud book has now been established for this bird in captivity by the International Loriidae Society and this is administered by Regina De Dios at the B.I.I. Research and Breeding Centre in the Philippines, it is currently believed that every known captive Mount Apo Lorikeet is already registered on the studbook. The future for the growing captive population then looks extremely hopeful for the Mount Apo Lorikeet. This will become of increasing importance if, as very possible, the natural range of this bird slowly comes under more pressure from habitat disturbance and human infringement.
