POST-MORTEM OF A FISCHER LOVEBIRD
A few weeks back, one of my A. fischeri died all of a sudden. There was no sign of disease or foul play whatsoever. Probably, the cause of death was heat stroke since the birds are just there outside the house left to the elements to survive. Sala sa init, sala sa lamig, come rain or shine, with typhoon or without typhoon. I don’t give them any special treatment. Survival of the fittest! Matira ang matibay.
I don’t know if this was a blessing for me for I was able to see the bird up close and take some pictures of it. At the back of my mind, I began to recall what a standard green fischer must look like. I immediately consulted my lovebird books and below is a description:
A. fischeri Standard:
International color name: Green
1. Front (forehead): deep orange-red.
2. Head to neck: bronze-green, running towards the back of the skull and the neck gradually fading into olive-yellow.
3. Cheeks: deep orange-red with a bronze-green transitorily zone towards the neck. To simplify a bit, imagine a vertical line through the eye. The area before the eye is orange-red, behind the eye an increasing amount of melanin is found, while the red psittacine diminishes. This contrasts sharply with the Black-Masked lovebird, where the red psittacine is covered by the black hood and extends exactly to that surface. Just remember this: the A. fischeri normally has NO red psittacine on the back of the head.
4. Chin, throat and upper breast: deep orange-red
5. Eyes: dark brown
6. Beak: red
7. Lower breast, flanks, abdomen and anal zone: light green
8. Mantle and wing deck: a shade darker than the rest of the body.
9. Primaries: green outer flag, blue-black inner flag
10. Bend of the wings: yellow
11. Rump and upper tail coverts: clear violettish-blue
12. Tail feathers: mainly green with a blue tip. The tail feathers (except for the two outer ones) in the center show an orange-red patch bordered by black.
13. Feet: grey
14. Nails: darker in color than feet
Let’s now examine the bird from head to toe:
Parents: WT Green (c) x WT Green (h)
Gender: female
Age: 1.5 years old
Size: 5 inches long
Full body picture (side view) of the bird: this particular bird is stocky or somewhat rounded in shape.
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img844/3148/postmortemlateralview.jpgSee nos. 2 and 8 above:
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img545/3048/postmortembackview.jpgSee nos. 3, 4, and 6 above:
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img856/7981/postmortemheadandneck.jpgSee nos. 4, 7, 10, 13 and 14 above:
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img20/6817/postmortemunderside.jpgTake note that this bird has a light yellow transitional zone in the mask. This is normal in genetically pure wild forms of the A. fischeri. Majority of the Fischer’s Lovebird found in the wild possess a yellow transitional zone in the mask.
See nos. 9 and 11 above
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img844/3148/postmortemlateralview.jpghttps://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img715/6745/postmortemwingandrump.jpgSee nos. 11 and 12 above
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img209/7272/postmortemtail.jpgSayang, ganyan talaga ang buhay!!!
Tyler
29-IV-2012
Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:04 pm by 
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