Davis Lund Aviaries: Est. in 1992, and concentrating on raising & breeding softbilled bird species. Owners: Kevin Lund & Kateri Davis of Oregon, USA.
Check out our webpage https://dlaviaries.wordpress.com/birds-available-for-sale-or-trade for available birds. Limited airline shipping within USA available.
It's been a while since I hand raised a Livingston Turaco and had forgotten how adorable it is when the little crest starts to appear. His cage mate, a White Cheek Turaco, is not impressed. These guys are about 5 weeks old and old enough now to go outside, so it's their last few days in the house.
An aviculture tale of woe. I'm a big fan of parent raising birds and try to interfere as little as possible, but sometimes even a little is too much.
A hand raised Lady Ross Turaco pair went to nest for the first time. This pair sat very tightly, never leaving the nest alone. I nest checked once during beginning of incubation and saw two eggs - no problem. I nest checked again weeks later and saw two healthy, active chicks about 6-8 days old - was happy! Days later, nest checked again and saw only one chick, about ready to fledge - sad, not sure what had happened, but one was certainly better than none.
The very next day, both parents were off the nest for the first time since the nesting started. I checked, and the nest was empty. After a careful search of the whole aviary, I found the two bodies, both with crushed skulls. They had obviously killed a chick right after each nest check.
Harsh lesson learned. This pair demands complete privacy. Now, most turaco pairs will be fine with minimal nest checking, but obviously not this one. Hopefully sharing this experience can help other breeders.
Well, the pair went to nest again, and chick/s should be hatching this week. I have not nest checked since they started nesting again and will not. Hopefully in a month or so, we'll see if we get fledged chicks.
Yeah! Last week a Purple Glossy Starling fledged! Feisty, big, and doing well! This is a first time breeding this species for me, and I am overjoyed!
The chick spent forever in the nestbox. I peeked a few days before it fledged, because I was wondering what the heck was taking so long. In June, when I first peeked at chicks there were two, but the 2nd one has since disappeared. So out of three eggs, I have one chick on the perch. Not great results, but I'll take one over none any day!
I prefer to parent raise, but had to rescue a couple of turaco eggs and incubate them. This is a White Cheek Turaco hatching a couple of days ago.
The Coturnix Quail chicks grew like little w**ds and are now in the outside aviaries (hopefully eating lots of w**d seeds!). I am really loving them. They have quickly gotten used to me entering the flights and come running up looking for handouts. Their calls are beautiful too.
Round three for my Green Honeycreeper pair! Two more chicks on the perch.
More Blue Grey Tanagers fledged and on the perch. It is a tanager year for us for sure!
Best news of the day! Hatched out 2 Purple Glossy Starlings. This is a first for me. I won't peek again so hoping all goes well.
Pic is of the eggs, today's chicks, and adult. (One egg has disappeared.)
I love having planted, outdoor aviaries, but the pruning and w**d control during the spring and summer is constant. I typically have Button Quail in the flights to help with w**d control, but they have been hard to find around here these past couple of years, so I am trying something new. I bought and hatched out some Coturnix Quail eggs. These are a new species for me and hope they do the trick. Cute little guys!
I am a couple days late celebrating Father's Day, but just have to give my dad a callout even though he has been gone for over 20 years now. My mom always supported my animal passion, but it wasn't really her thing and couldn't quite understand it. My dad was another story though. My childhood was filled with all kinds of critters because of him. His love for them was contagious. He especially liked the mousebirds! Miss ya lots Dad!
Another Blue Grey Tanager chick feathering up. This year we have raised lots of these tanagers. I love it!
Blue Greys are very flexible nest builders. We have had them nest in open wicker cups, large closed wicker nests, 1/2 open front nestboxes (like this one), cockatiel nestboxes, and even within a 2" space between the aviary wall and the back of a turaco nestbox. Also, all of ours are in mixed species flights.
More babies, fat & sassy! I just love the cute alert gaze of the chicks. White Cheek Turacos.
Male immature Green Honeycreeper, male Blue Grey Tanager, and female Silver Beak Tanager. All domestics, 2023/2024. In Oregon. No shipping. See website for details. https://dlaviaries.wordpress.com/birds-available-for-sale-or-trade/
My mom has been gone for several years now, but I miss her every day. She was always supportive of my passion for birds. Happy Mother's Day Mom!
Second clutch of Green Honeycreepers are at Day 8. Male & female are separated as she is murderous, but the male stills feeds her through the cage bars.
A 2nd generation Blue Grey Tanager chick trying to get up the courage to make the leap. Anyone in OR or WA have this species? I need new bloodlines.
Fingers crossed for some Lady Ross Turaco chicks soon!
Oregon is cool and wet in spring, and it has been a rainy couple of weeks. Not a pretty video, but I love to see the acrobatics of the mousebirds as they twirl on one foot, sometimes just one toe. These are some of our Speckled Mousebirds.
BTW, mousebirds do not hang like bats, which hang head down. This is commonly stated, although it is incorrect. Mousebirds hang tail down.
Round two for our Green Honeycreeper pair is due to hatch today. Fingers crossed!
We love mixed species aviaries. Finches, such as this Orange Breasted Waxbill, mix really well with turacos.
An update on the Green Honeycreepers that hatched in Dec.: The chicks are now 3 months old and doing great. Just today I noticed that there are a few black feathers coming in on both of their heads, so I am 99% sure now that they are both males.
The most common activity for the Black Chin Fruit Doves - did you see it, she blinked! :)
These beautiful doves spend most of their time sitting still in their favorite spots, not wanting to even move until I approach a couple of feet away. Very calm birds.
Yeah, first chicks of the season fledged earlier this week: two Blue Grey Tanagers. Love spring!
Have turacos nesting and a pair of Silver Beak Tanagers on eggs.
I don't know what they are, but when these bushes bloom, I know spring is soon here. Harry, our male Trumpeter Hornbill is waiting patiently for spring to arrive!
One of our Lady Ross Turacos poses in front of the few trees in our aviaries that stay green all year round. Hopefully the cold weather is done. Can't wait until spring!
Bonded pair of talkative White Cheek Turacos greet me at feeding time. Love their squeaks!
Green Honeycreeper Chick Update: Now almost 40 days old, both chicks are eating on their own, although mom stills feeds them. Hard to say what sexes yet, but I think I see a hint of a black hood on one.
Mom is the brighter green one in the 3 pics.
Yeah, we are back in power and heat after 13 days without!
The Green Honeycreeper chicks are a month old and are starting to investigate the food dishes. Chicks are still bald and dark grey-green plumage. New pin feathers coming in though.
The huge two day freezing rain ice storm last weekend caused massive damage to trees and powerlines. The weight of the accumulated ice caused limbs, top of trees and whole trees to just break off or fall over. We lost several trees, but luckily these two missed the aviary building. A couple large limbs hit the far aviary but didn't pop through the wire. The pine in the back of one of the aviaries is holding up so far but leaning and will need to be removed. We are blessed because lots of people have it much worse! We'll have lots of clean-up in the near future.
Day 20: The two honeycreeper chicks fledged on day 14 last week. Getting more feathers each day.
That same day they fledged, a massive freezing rain ice storm hit us, and we lost all power. Temps outside went down to 20*Fah. so temps in the house went down quickly. Amazingly, even though the house temps went down to high 40's for several nights, and still are no higher than high 50's Fah, the honeycreeper family is doing well. (Knock on wood!) We won't have power for another week or so, so things are fun!
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I prefer to parent raise, but had to rescue a couple of turaco eggs and incubate them. This is a White Cheek Turaco hatching a couple of days ago.
Oregon is cool and wet in spring, and it has been a rainy couple of weeks. Not a pretty video, but I love to see the acrobatics of the mousebirds as they twirl on one foot, sometimes just one toe. These are some of our Speckled Mousebirds. BTW, mousebirds do not hang like bats, which hang head down. This is commonly stated, although it is incorrect. Mousebirds hang tail down.
We love mixed species aviaries. Finches, such as this Orange Breasted Waxbill, mix really well with turacos.
The most common activity for the Black Chin Fruit Doves - did you see it, she blinked! :) These beautiful doves spend most of their time sitting still in their favorite spots, not wanting to even move until I approach a couple of feet away. Very calm birds.
Yeah, first chicks of the season fledged earlier this week: two Blue Grey Tanagers. Love spring! Have turacos nesting and a pair of Silver Beak Tanagers on eggs.
Bonded pair of talkative White Cheek Turacos greet me at feeding time. Love their squeaks!
A late afternoon chorus of turacos. I love it! Unfortunately, calls can be very loud and not all neighbors appreciate the sound. One of the main reasons we moved from a residential neighborhood to the country many years ago.
Yesterday, they were ready - and today, they're out! In the video, one chick is in the tree towards the top, one is still on the ground, and the parents are nearby watching.
Morning exercise! Turacos are strong and love to bounce from one perch to another.
A male Black Chin Fruit Dove and others wait for me as I make my feeding rounds through some flights.
A very ticked off Violet Turaco (Sasha) on her nest during a nest check. She will not move off of her eggs, and will growl, hiss, and bite. The male (Zulu) will often attack me from behind too. I don't do nest checks very often! Every year for the past 10 or so yrs, this pair lays clutches of eggs throughout the breeding season. They incubate like champs, however the eggs are always clear. I suspect my male is infertile. However, I occasionally have them foster other turaco species, and they make excellent parents. Last season, they raised a couple of White Cheeks and a Red Crest.
More curious turacos (Lady Ross). Both of these guys are over 20 yrs old now.
Turacos are always curious when I pull the phone out and point it at them. Sly, one of our handraised White Cheek Turacos, investigates.
This week our handraised White Cheek and Red Crest turaco chicks moved from the house to the juvenile aviary where they learn to fly, run, and be turacos. They are still in their "ugly" phase, but you can start to see the colors coming in.
Some young handraised turacos in a small cage set up where they can learn to perch and be active. They are all close banded and totally weaned by this time. In a few days they will have feathering enough for me to pluck a few to send in for DNA sexing. Turacos are monomorphic (no visual differences between sexes) so all my birds are DNA sexed.
Two freshly hatched White Cheek Turacos this week. I use alfalfa hay to give them something good to grip onto as turaco chicks can splay leg easily. Turaco chicks are quite active, bright-eyed, and start begging for food, even before dry. No food for the first 15-24 hrs though as they absorb the residual yolk sac nutrition.
It has been constant rain, rain, snow, rain, rain, etc. for the past couple of weeks now. Cloudy, but dry, this morning, so the birds took advantage and did some "sunning".
Currently handfeeding a White Cheek Turaco (trying to hold my phone to video while feeding was tough as I usually hold the cup steady while feeding). Healthy turaco chicks are strong, feisty eaters. They are born semi-altricial; wide eyed, downy feathered, but dependent on parents for food and warmth. At the time of this video, the chick was about 7 days old. He is now almost 13 days old and doing great. We like to parent raise our chicks, but this was an emergency rescue situation as the parents hatch two chicks at the height of the cold temps a couple of weeks ago. One chick froze after hatching so I pulled the last one.
Sunny yesterday but still cold. Went down to 21 degrees F. in the night. All the birds took advantage of the sun. This is a family of Red Crest Turacos, parents and two male offspring from last summer. One of the things that I hate about having aviaries in Oregon is how everything becomes so brown and ugly in the flights during the winter. It won't green up until spring. I envy the FL aviculturists that have green aviaries all year round! :)
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