MYSURU: As soon he opens the gate of the enclosure, they chirp happily and greet him. He communicates with them by whistling and they respond to his call. Step on to the terrace of this bird lover, and you will find colourful, intriguing and entertaining little lovebirds chattering away in their cages. You can see them go sailing to the top and come down to their perch and generally make a lot of noise. But he indulges them by giving little tidbits. Lovebirds are very active, requiring a large cage. They are one of the smallest members of the parrot family.
S Sreekantasharma, a resident of Saraswathipuram and an employee at JK Tyres, has about 40 pairs of lovebirds and over a dozen finches and Jawa sparrow. The unique feature is that all the lovebirds are of different colour combinations.He has learnt the art of breeding birds by mating the birds of different colour combinations (bloodline). Once the young ones cross 45 to 50 days, they are paired with the birds in other enclosures. By doing this, he gets new coloured birds (due to mutation).
What triggered his interest in these birds? “When I was 11 years old, a sparrow fell from the roof of our house and was injured. After tending and nurturing it, I released the bird. During the time, I developed an interest and love towards birds. This incident motivated me into buying three pairs of lovebirds,” he says.
“When I purchased the first three pairs of lovebirds, I studied several things – starting from the selection of birds to care, breeding, diet, etc,” says Sreekantasharma.
Fascinated by the colours of the lovebirds, he began researching about them by reading books and articles. He contacted bird breeders and started adding a wide varieties of lovebirds of different shades, hues and colour combinations. While he purchased some, he has exchanged some others.
He frequently visits the pet shows conducted in Bengaluru and Mysuru and other states, looking for birds in special colour combination. His ambition is to have different coloured birds. He easily identifies the call of each bird. There are instances where a particular call would mean that the bird is hungry and he would feed it. “The birds express different moods. The sound varies when they are romantic, depressed, hungry, in love, attracted to other birds, during breeding time. Sometimes they even whistle. I easily understand their needs by the sounds they make,” he says.
“I work in shifts. During the first shift, I spend more time with the birds in the evenings whereas during the second shift, I get less time to spend with them in the mornings. On an average, I spend around 4-5 hours every day for cleaning the enclosures, feeding the birds and nurturing them,” he says.
To prevent ticks, he uses ‘Baje’ (vasambu roots). As lovebirds require plenty of Vitamin D for growth, he has taken care to see that sunlight falls adequately on them.
He says the biggest challenge is to protect the eggs from lizards. “The eggs are very soft and lizards crack them easily. I have protected the enclosure by putting up a mesh. ,I have also taken measures to prevent rats and cats from entering the enclosure,” he says. Some species of the birds in his collection include tufted, spangles, crested, piede. The lifespan of lovebirds is between 15 and 20 years.
M N Seema, wife of Sreekantasharma, says, “I didn’t know much about birds before. Now I love observing their activity, listen to their sounds and spend time on the terrace. We can learn from them how to be affectionate and caring.” Their children Sushrutha Sharma and Sukruth S Sharma say, “When our friends come home, they go straight to the terrace. We have made it a practice to gift birds to family and friends on special occasions.”
Are lovebirds friendly?
They are very friendly. Chicks are tamed from when they are 15 days old and after that they respond to us
Do they have to be raised
in pairs?
The birds have to be raised in pairs from a young age. Usually, male birds attract the female. We should keep a watch to see if a particular pair is attracted to each other. If not, I change the male bird after six months
Have they been given names?
I have not given them names as the birds are in a large number
Do lovebirds talk?
Lovebirds are not those parrots that most would consider talking birds. They do mimic sounds but they repeat simple ones like whistling
What do you feed them?
I give them millets, greens, sunflower seeds, Ajvaino, boiled eggs and sprouts for calcium. During summer, water is sprayed on them to give them a fresh feel
When do they start to fly?
The birds start flying after 45 days. It takes at least 3 months for colour enhancement, and only then the birds can be sold
Isn’t it expensive to maintain some 100 birds?
I spend around `5,000 per month to maintain the birds. I sell very few birds.
I mostly gift birds to visitors
Do you have at least one favourite?
My favourite birds are Recessive Pied (Australian Yellows) and Blue Spangle