WCS/Bronx Zoo
Bronx, NY
Contact person:
Marcia Arland
Assistant Collection Manager/Ornithology
(718) 220-5070
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1.� Please list sexes and species of bee-eaters currently held at your institution.
����������� 8.6 White-throated
����������� 3.6 Carmine
����������� 0.1 Southern Carmine
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2.� Note method and company used to sex your birds.
Carmines: DNA feather-sexed by University Diagnostics Limited (UDL), London.
White-throateds: DNA feather-sexed by Avian Biotech International, Tallahassee, FL.
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3. Describe how your birds are banded and discuss any band problems you have had.
Birds are banded with cable ties and chenille streamers.� The streamers are made by making a loop around the cable tie and then sewed together with suture material and glued.� The streamer is free moving around the cable tie, and cut to about 1� in length for the Carmines and about �� in length for the White-throateds.� They work well for the Carmines but the cable ties are a bit big for the White-throateds.� We found most color bands not visible on the short legs of bee-eaters, but the streamers are visible, often with the naked eye, though binoculars are helpful, esp. with the White-throateds.� Color choice is important also.� For more information please contact us.
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4.� Please describe your bee-eater diet, including use of beehives, other live food, coloring agents offered.
Birds are fed three times per day a diet consisting of dog kibble, Softbill Faire, mealworms, giant mealworms, waxworms, and crickets.� The pans are sprayed with a Betatine/water mixture to add carotenoids for feather color in the Carmines.� We will be adding live bees to the diet this year.
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5.� Please describe your bee-eater exhibits and holding spaces � dimensions, inside or outside exhibit, nesting areas provided, plantings, water areas, species exhibited together, etc.
Our main bee-eater exhibit is circular in shape with a 30�diameter, about 20�high; inside exhibit with sand substrate, fake grasses, natural perching, with a stream running along the front and side of the exhibit below the nest bank.� We currently exhibit 9Carmines and 10 White-throateds in this exhibit.� The birds have access to three nesting areas: (1) a fabricated bank about 15� high with several burrows of PVC pipe filled with sand/soil mix, the top of which is also sand/soil mix; (2) a mound of sand/soil about 5� long and 3� high and 4� deep on the floor of the exhibit; and (3) a 4� wide x 4� deep x 10� high box filled with sand/soil with 3� wooden slats about every 4� on the front to hold the mix in (this is fashioned after San Diego�s design).� Both species have dug on top of the fabricated bank and in the PVC holes, though we have had no successful clutches there yet.� At present, a pair of White-throateds is nesting in the San Diego style nest area.
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6.� Please describe any reproductive activity observed and time of year of occurrence.
����������� Carmines:� courtship feeding, beak rubbing in mate�s breast feathers, copulations.
White-throateds:� courtship feeding, wing flashing, copulations, burrow digging, and we assume egg laying and incubation.� We await a hatch as of 1/22/01.� Carmines in the past nested in spring and summer.� We are seeing sexual activity now in January in both species, since our light cycle in the building has been extended to about 14hrs/day due a special holiday event.
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7.�� Describe parent-rearing behaviors and procedures, and hand-rearing procedures used.
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8.� Have you seen any aggressive behaviors in your birds and in what context?� Any other interesting social behaviors observed?
We have never seen serious aggression with the Carmines.� The White-throateds so far seem less colonial in breeding habits.� We have a dominant pair, which actively keeps the other White-throateds away from their preferred nest area.� The chasing was especially intense while the pair was excavating and the female was laying.� It seemed to subside once she started incubating.� The male was often seen chasing other females until exhausted and copulating with them when his mate was working on the nest burrow.� We never see aggression from the W-T towards the Carmines or visa-versa.
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9.� Discuss any acclimation and/or medical problems you have had with your bee-eaters.
We have had Carmine Bee-eaters arrive from federal quarantine with vitamin A deficiencies � this presents as white lesions visible inside the mouth, around the nares and eyes; usually responds well to balanced diet and vitamin A injection.� Some birds need bill trims semi-annually.� At times during molt, we have seen birds down and weak, light in weight.� They are usually pulled off exhibit and put in holding until molt complete.
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10.� Please add anything else you consider pertinent to bee-eater husbandry.
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