The only lory species in the Philippines, the Mount Apo Lorikeet, Trichoglossus johnstoniae

 


Introduction
It is  eight years ago since we published an article about the Mount Apo Lorikeet (or Mrs Johnstone's Lorikeet). It was written by Roger Sweeney who was the curator for one of the largest breeding facilities on the world: BII owned by Antonio de Dios in the Philippines, homeland of this lory species. No other lory species are found on this archipelago. Thanks to Mr. de Dios, the Mount Apo Lorikeet is now known outside the Philippines. In a short time he bred a fair number of these birds and exported them to the U.S., South Africa and Western Europe.
With some breeders the species proved to be prolific and it looked as though the species would be established in aviculture for ever. But now one must say this is not true. At this very moment the species is still uncommon and the numbers appear to be decreasing instead of increasing. That means it is not easy to obtain a pair.
At one time the breeding centre in the Philippines had so many Mount Apo Lorikeets that they had difficulties in selling them. The main reason was the high cost of importing them. Probably the largest number is sold to Taiwan. I received an offer from a breeder in Taiwan this year but the prices were much higher compared to here and you have to add the high costs of importing the birds. In the mean time, an Olive mutation has been bred but at the moment it is the normal Mount Apo that needs more attention.

Description
Male and female are similar but quite often one will see that the female has less red on the face, particularly on the cheeks. On the cover you see the female on the right. Young birds have black beaks after fledging; they turn to orange in a couple of weeks. Sometimes they have less red on their face but the opposite can also be the case. The barring on the breast is not that clear. After six months the youngsters resembles their parents and it will be difficult to see any difference.

Besides the nominate race, taxonomist have described another subspecies: T. j.pistra. This subspecies seem to be very doubtful as not all the scientists agree with it. Roger Sweeney has seen large numbers, both alive and as skins in museums. He could not find a significant difference between the two types.

Distribution and status
The distribution area is limited to the southern part of Mindanao (one of the southern most islands of the Philippines). The area where this species lives, on Mount Apo, has been designated a national park. When you realise how small this area is, it is not surprisingly that the numbers of Mount Apo's are very low. In 1992 Antonio de Dios suggested that the entire population was not higher than 600 birds. In the Philippines it does not mean much that an area is a national park. A few years back it was announced that parts of the park were to be used for a new electricity power plant.  I am not aware if that has already happened, or (hopefully) is cancelled. Also logging still occurs, so altogether the situation is not good.

Status in aviculture
Before the Mount Apo Lorikeet was kept in the Philippines, it was virtually unknown in aviculture.  Local people did not keep them either. As it was no more difficult to keep than any other Trichoglossus species, soon a good number were bred in the Philippines. As mentioned earlier a number were exported, some to Western Europe, particularly Germany. In that country soon a fair number were bred. The negative side was, and still is, that most birds are related as they are all offspring from a relatively small group.

I have the feeling that numbers decreased in the last few years. Also I noticed that some birds  were rather small and some others were in a poor feather condition. It is a shame
that it is so time consuming and costly to get some birds from Taiwan but, clearly, we need some new bloodlines.

The Mount Apo Lorikeet in aviculture
After a good number of Mount Apos were bred and some came on the market, I decided to buy some pairs. Big was my disappointment as I was not able to keep them alive for long. I  could not understand why they should be more difficult than  Goldie's Lorikeet. I did not see any clear symptoms of disease. When I decided to buy a few more I noticed that one bird could not digest the food very well. After examining the crop I found many flagellates. The other birds were infected too, even although there were no symptoms. After treatment with Ronidazol no bird died. I had a feeling that the birds from the first importation must have already had a slight infection; this was given to their babies later on. Due to changed circumstances (transport, food etc) that caused stress, the resistance of the birds must have suffered and so flagellates has probably multiplied very quickly. Since I  (also my friend where the birds came from) treated the birds with the medicine there have been no further problems.  Other problems that occurs in stressful situations are candida infections and certain bacterial infections like E. coli

Due to the losses it was some time before I bred my first Mount Apos, but finally in 1997 my first Apos were on the perch. I had pairs in suspended cages also pairs in outside aviaries with access to an indoor cage. The breeding process was no different to that of the Meyer's Lorikeet, Trichoglossus flavoviridis meyeri.
I did not keep records from my breeding results and therefore I will repeat Roger Sweeney's information from 1994. The incubation period is about 23-24 days. Youngsters fledge from 40 to 48 days. In the climate of WesternEurope they could take 48 days or even longer. After fledging the parents will feed them for a while but when necessary they can eat within a day or two.

Roger noticed the following from a chick that he hand-reared.  Weight after hatching: 3.6g; skin pink with long white down. Nails and beak black. On day 13 the eyes started to open and on day 16 the eyes were fully open. After twenty days the chick was covered with a thick layer of grey down. After 25 days most flight feathers started to appear and also the first signs of  feathers were seen on the head and tail. On day 28 the feathers on the head and breast became more visible. On day 40 all the feathers were present except the feathers on the flanks. It did not take long before the beak started to change to orange. The light skin from the cere and around the eyes did take some months before it was dark.

Keeping the Mount Apo Lorikeet is similar to other species of the genus of Trichoglossus, which means you can give them the same diet. They like to receive some sunflower seeds on occasions. My birds have always been good parents. At one time I had a pair with an infertile clutch of eggs. I have given them one egg of a Mount Goliath Lory, Charmosyna papou goliathina, and an egg from the Ornate Lory, Trichoglossus ornatus.. These were incubated well. As the youngsters grew they became too large for the nest-box as the box became quickly very wet. I split the youngsters up and I added another nest-box -- one on the left and one on the right. I removed the lids from both boxes. The nest-boxes stayed dry longer and the birds had all the space they needed. The Apos fed the babies from the top of the nest-box. When the youngsters grew up they climbed out the box and went in the other one so again there were two babies in one box. That was only for a day or two because later they preferred to sit on a perch. This was a nice sight: two Mount Apo Lorikeets on the perch with on one side a Mount Goliath and the other side an Ornate Lorikeet! The last one was a kind of pastel mutation.

I use the same nest-box for the Goldies and the Meyer's Lorikeets, the horizontal type; length 25 cm; height 17 cm and width 15cm. The entrance has a diameter of 5 cm.

Last year was not my most successful year with the Mount Apo Lorikeets but at this moment it looks more hopeful. Just now an egg hatched and another pair is going to lay soon. Also I have for years a problem with the males outnumbering the females. At the moment I have two males more as females.

The diet is no more difficult than that for other Trichoglossus species: a normal lory food with some fruit, plus some sunflower,  also fresh greenfood such as chickweed. I remember very well when I had my old aviaries with grass on the bottom that not only were the birds  playing on the ground but fed the young, especially the first days, with grass that was visible through the crop.

I hope that we will be able to continue to enjoy this species in the future.

Literatuur
SWEENEY, R (1994):  The  Mount-Apo Lorikeet, Trichoglossus johnstoniae, Lory Journal International 1994- 2, 32-35.