Sturnidae Survey (Starlings and
mynahs)
Send completed forms to DAK African Aviary Birds, POB 10,000, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830 |
- Our objective is to determine the factors that contribute to the successful
management and breeding of captive starlings and mynahs. After compilation of the data you
will be sent a copy of the results.
- Your name _____________________________Your Institution and
Position_______________________________
- Contact Numbers:
Telephone____________________Fax___________________Email______________________
- Species name _________________________ Scientific name______________________________
- ISIS# Male ______________ Female _______________
- Defining your pair: For this survey a pair describes any two birds that have been
together for 6 months or more.
- (If your birds are housed as a flock or in an unusual combination i.e.: same sex group,
please answer all of the questions which pertain to them, such as diet fed, nest building
behavior, courtship behavior, etc.)
- What is the manner in which your pair/birds were reared: Male
Female
-
Wild caught
____ ____
-
Captive parent reared ____
____
-
Hand reared
____ ____
- A. What is the age of your birds?
____ ____
- 1. Accommodations (If you have already described the same enclosure for
another pair please indicate which other pair and skip this section. Same enclosure
as ____________________________ )
-
A. Are these birds held in an off exhibit holding/breeding area? Yes ___ No ___
-
B. Where are these birds housed? Indoors ___ Outdoors ___
- C. What are the dimensions, in feet, of your sturnidae enclosure? Length____
Width____ Height____
- D. What is the shape of the enclosure?
-
Circular ___ Square ___ Irregular ___
Rectangular____ Oval_____ Other (describe)
- E. What is the enclosure made of? (Check all that apply)
- Mesh ___ Glass ___ Solid walls with windows ___
- Solid walls with mesh windows ___Other (describe) _____________________________
-
F. Is the enclosure a habitat in which the guests walk through? Yes ___ No ___
G. What is the lighting like in your guest viewing area? (Example: Is viewing similar to
the "theater" effect ?) Darkened
indoor ___ Medium/typical indoor light ___ Outdoor light ___ N/A ____
H. If you are able, please draw a rough sketch of the enclosure on page 5
or, send photos or diagrams along with
your completed survey.
- I. Does the enclosure include a water feature? (Check all that apply)
- Fountain ____ Misting system ____ Water bowl ____
- Waterfall ____ Pond ____ Bathing bowl____
- Other (describe) ________________________________________________________
J. Does any form of night light exist in your aviary? No__ Yes
(describe)_______________________
K. How is your enclosure planted? (Planted defined: Planted describes how heavily
foliated your aviary may be. A
habitat in which the floor is low shrubbery or grass would be described as lightly
planted. One in which the birds
flight space is 25-50% foliated would be moderately. And a habitat with 50% or more
of the flight space foliated
would be considered densely).
Lightly planted ___ Moderately planted ___ Densely planted ___
-
L. What kind of habitat does your enclosure most resemble?
- Forest ___ Grassland/plain ___ Savannah/sparsely treed ___
- Desert ___ Beach ___ Other (describe) ___________________
- M. If any, list the other bird species which share the same aviary as these sturnidae?
- __________________________________________________________________________________
- 2. Pair Behavior
- A. In which area do the birds spend the greatest portion of their day?
- On ground ___ Lower canopy ___ Mid canopy ___ Upper canopy ___
-
B. What type of perching is used most often by the birds?
-
Living shrubs and trees ___ Keeper installed perching ___ Both equally ___
- C. How often do your sturnidae come to the ground (Check all that apply)
Never ___ Only when fed on the ground ___ Often, to forage for nesting
material, etc. ___
To drink ___ To collect nesting material ___ Other (describe)
__________________________
- D. How would you describe your birds pair bond?
- Loose ___ Strong __ No signs of pair bond ___ Nonexistent ___
- E. If hand reared how imprinted do your birds behave?
- Will take food from hand ___ Approach you and seek attention ___
- Have little fear of humans but do not approach ___ Show no interest in humans ___
- F. Do you observe aggression between your pair? Yes ___ No ___ If yes please
describe ________
- ________________________________________________________________________________
- G. How often do you see your sturnidae bathing?
- Never ___ Seldom ___ Often ___ Daily ___
- H. Do your birds perform any stereotypic behaviors? Yes ___ No ____
- If yes, describe behavior
_________________________________________________________
- I. If your sturnidae are kept as a flock, do you observe much aggression between its
members?
- Yes __ No__ If yes, describe
________________________________________________________
- J. Do your birds enter and go through an obvious molt? Yes ___ No ___
- If yes, please describe the most noticeable areas of feather loss.
________________________
- ___________________________________________________________________________
- K. If your sturnidae pair shares its habitat with other avian species, do they dominate
the other birds?
- Yes ___ No ___ Housed alone___ If yes, how_______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
- L. If housed in a mixed species exhibit, what social status do your sturnidae appear to
hold?
- Aggressors ___ Submissive ___ Instigators ___ Oblivious of others ___ Other ___
3. Visitor
Impact
-
A. What barriers exist between the guest and the birds? (describe)
__________________________
- ____________________________________________________________________________
- B. How many sides of the enclosure are open to guests view?
- One ___ Two ___ Three ___ Four ___ Other ____ Walk through aviary ___
- C. What is the noise level in the vicinity of the birds? (Circle the appropriate
number)
- Low Medium High
- Guests 1 2 3 4 5
- Machinery 1 2 3 4 5
- Animals 1 2 3 4 5
- Other 1 2 3 4 5
- Describe Other_________________________________________________________________
- Any additional comments on area noise._____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
4.
Reproduction
-
A. Has this pair produced eggs? Yes ___ No ___
- B. How long has this pair been together? ____ months ____ years
- C. At what age did the birds breed? Male ____ Female ___
D. How long after entering the habitat did breeding occur? _____________
E. Were any leaves, other plant materials, or other objects used during courtship
displays? (describe
- types and sizes)____________________________________________________________________
-
F. Did recognizable courtship behavior occur? Yes ___ No ___
- If yes, describe
____________________________________________________________________
- G. Were there conspecific helpers at the nest? (describe)
_____________________________________
- ________________________________________________________________________________
- H. Who incubated the eggs and when? Male/when _________ Female/when ________ Unknown___
- I. Who was the primary chick care giver? Male ___ Female ___ Both sexes ___ Unknown ___
- J. During the breeding season who was observed to investigate the nest site first?
- Male ___ Female ___ Both ___ Unknown ___
- K. Which member of the pair appears to be more aggressive toward other birds near the
nest site?
- Male ___ Female___ Both ___ Neither ___
- L. Are you familiar with any instances of hybridization with this species? Yes
___ No ____
- If yes, describe
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Nest
site description
- A. Where is the location of the nest site? (Check all that apply)
- Furthest from the keeper habitat entrance ___ Furthest
from public view/impact ___
- In the upper 25% of the aviary space ___ In the
habitats mid level ___
- In the lower 25% of the aviary space ___ Other
(describe)__________________________
- B. What vegetation surrounds the nest site?
- None ___ Sparse ___ Heavy ___ Nest site is completely
concealed by vegetation ___
- Nest site is concealed by other barrier
(describe)_______________________________________
- C. What is the distance from the nest box entrance to the floor of the enclosure?
____ feet
- D. What is the distance from the actual nest cup to the floor of the enclosure?
____ feet
- E. What is the distance from the nest entrance to the ceiling of the enclosure?
____ feet
-
F. Who provided the nest site? Staff ___ Bird built ____
- G. Did the birds build their own nest within a provided nest box? Yes ___ No ___
- H. How many nest sites are offered per pair of sturnidae in the enclosure? _____
- I. What nesting facilities are offered by the staff?
- Box with circular entrance hole ___ Box with front ½
open ____
- Platforms ___ Baskets ___ Man-made hollows ____
Natural or bird made hollows ___ Other
(describe)____________________________________
-
J. If a nest box was successfully used, what are the dimensions? ____Height ___Width ___
Depth
- K. What is the diameter of the nest box entrance? ____ inches
- L. Location of the nest box entrance? Top ¼ of box ___ Middle of box ___ Bottom ¼ of
box ___
M. Was there an inspection door on your nest box? If so where located.
__________________________
N. Are nest box substrates supplied by keeper? (describe)
_____________________________________
- O. If your nest box has any additional feature, such as an interior ladder or shelf,
describe these features.
-
P. How was the box mounted? Horizontally ___ Vertically ___ Other (describe)
_________________
- Q. Are nest building materials provided for the birds? Yes ___ No ___
- R. Check off all of the following items that were used by the birds in nest
construction.
- Twigs ___ Feathers ___ String ___ Leaves (type and size)
_________________
- Grasses ___ Other
(describe)___________________________________________________
- S. It what manner were the above items placed in the nest by the birds?
- Scattered ___ Shallow depression ___ Deep cup ___
- Box stuffed to entrance /eggs laid on top___ Other
(describe)__________________________
- 6. Egg Information (Describing your most recent clutch)
- A. Number of eggs laid in the clutch ____
- B. Number of eggs that were fertile in the clutch _____
- C. Number of eggs that were infertile in the same clutch _____
- D. Egg color ________________________________
- E. Length of incubation ______ days ____ unknown
- F. In which months did eggs successfully hatch?
_____________________________________________
- G. During which season did your birds reproduce? ( Check all that apply)
- Summer__ Fall __ Winter __ Spring __
- 7. Artificial incubation and chick rearing
-
A. If eggs were pulled from the nest for artificial incubation please explain why?
- Parental neglect ___ Aggressive avian inhabitants___ Rodent/predator problems___
- Other (describe) ____________________________________________________________________
- _________________________________________________________________________________
B. At what temperature were the eggs incubated? _____Fahrenheit _____Celsius
C. What level was the humidity maintained? _____ wet bulb ____ other
D. How many days of incubation? _____ Days ____ Unknown
-
E. If chicks needed to be pulled from their parents for hand rearing, please explain why.
- Parental neglect ___ Aggressive avian inhabitants___
Rodent predators___
- Other (describe)
____________________________________________________________________
- F. Were chicks reared with clutch mates?
- Reared alone ____ Reared as group ____ Reared with other
species ___ Other _________
-
G. At what age were chicks pulled from parents? _____ Days
-
H. At what temperatures and days in age were brooders maintained? (Ex. Age 1-2 Days
Temp 98)
- Age_____ Temp___ / Age_____ Temp___ / Age____ Temp___ / Age____ Temp___
- Age_____ Temp___ / Age_____ Temp___ / Age____ Temp ___ / Age____
Temp___
-
I. At what age did chicks feed on their own? _________________ Days
-
J. At what age was hand feeding stopped? _______________ Days
- K. At what age did chicks refuse to be hand fed? ______________ Days
- L. Diet fed to hand rear sturnidae (please indicate percentages)
- Pelleted diet (type/brand) _________________________
- Insects (type) ___________________________________
- Meat (type/brand) _______________________________
- Pinkies ________________________________________
- Fruits (type)____________________________________
- Vegetables (type) ________________________________
- Other __________________________________________
-
M. If given pedialyte during the handrearing process, how was it offered?
- _________________________________________________________________________________
- N. How did the diet change as the chicks aged?
_____________________________________________
- _________________________________________________________________________________
- O. If possible please send copies of hand rearing technique and diet records.
- P. If your chicks were given water, or other liquid during the hand rearing
process, describe how and
- when it was offered.
________________________________________________________________
- Q. If your chicks were given a vitamin and/or mineral supplement what
types/brands were used?
- ________________________________________________________________________________
- 8. Diets
- A. In what percentages are the following dietary items included in your adult sturnidae
diet?
- Pellets (type/brand) __________________________________
- Fruit ______________________________________________
- Vegetables _________________________________________
- Other ingredients ____________________________________
B. Which of the above food items are the most preferred by your birds?
___________________________
- _________________________________________________________________________________
- C. What meat ingredients do you feed to your birds?
- Pinkies (amount and frequency)_____________________
- Prepared meat (Example: bird of
prey)____________________________________
- D. Live food (describe the amount and frequency of feeding for each live food
item below)
- small mealworms ______________
- large mealworms ______________
- waxworms __________________
- crickets ________________
- other (describe) _______________
- E. If insects are fed on a rotational basis, how often are they fed? _____ x weekly
F. Which of the above insects are the most favored by your birds?
_______________________________
G. Are any seasonal changes made to your diet? (example: In season fruit or
vegetables added to diet).
- Or are your birds fed roughly the same diet throughout
the year?
- No, diet remains constant throughout year____ Yes, diet
changes are made ____
- If yes, describe changes
________________________________________________________
H. If your live insects are fed a vitamin, mineral, or special diet before they are fed to
your birds please
describe:
- 9. Medical
A. Describe any instance of disease, ailments, and causes of death among your sturnidae.
(Attach medical reports if available.
- ____________________________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________________________
B. Have you experienced any egg binding among your sturnidae? Yes ___ No ___
- If yes, what did you attribute the problem to?
- Calcium deficiency ____ Age of female ____ Health of female ___ Unknown ___
- Weather conditions (describe)______________ Other (describe)____________________
C. Have you experienced any incidences of hemachromatosis (iron storage disease)? Yes ___
No ___
- If yes, what did you attribute this to
________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________________________________