The Black Lory Man

This enchanting Chalcopsitta is a great example of a species that’s suffered through neglect by specialist breeders. But just one such specialist, says ROSEMARY LOW, can make a difference to its fortunes. She meets the remarkable Dutch breeder Marc Houben.

- Rosemary Low

PARROTS

ONE of the largest bird sale days in Europe is held in Zwolle in the Netherlands every September. Last year, to coincide with this event,

Peter de Wilde organised a meeting for lory breeders on the following day, September 24. About 55 people attended. To my surprise, there were 12 from the UK, more than any other country. Several people had got together and hired a minibus. Two or three bred species other than lories but, of course, all were welcome.

What I admire about the Dutch is that with a grant from the government, local people get together and build a venue for the meetings of local clubs. This is how the excellent hall in which the lory meeting was held in was built. People from different trades give their time free to do the actual building. Then they need to raise funds regularly to maintain it.

After the meeting I visited Marc Houben who specialises in breeding the Chalcopsitta lories, especially the black (C. atra). These lories have always been favourites of mine, so I was interested to see his management methods.

I asked Marc how he started with lories. He’d visited a dealer who had a pair of red lories (