The Feeding Activity of Derby's Parakeet (Psittacula derbiana) in Captivity

The feeding activity of 20 captive Derbys parakeets in four groups was observed by instantaneous method and scan sampling method from March 1994 to February 1995And 254 completed feeding activities were observed by all-occurrences recording method from March 1996 to September 1998.The daily feeding frequency of Derbys parakeets were 32.12±14.28,and the daily time spent on feeding was 153.23±73.11 min,which accounted for 14.51% of the total observing time.The feeding frequency and feeding time in different individuals were different (frequency F=1.747,time F=1.791;P<0.05).The daily feeding frequency and total feeding time were correlated.The daily feeding activity had two main peaks.Generally the first appeared from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m.,the second was from 15:00 to 19:00.However,the time when the peak occurred was different in different season.The feeding activities began earlier and stopped later in summer and vice versa in winter.The daily feeding frequency of young was not significantly different from that of adult,but the duration of each feeding activity lasted longer in young than in adult,e.g.young spent longer time for feeding than adult daily.The daily time spent on feeding by male and female was not significantly different from that by female,while the feeding frequency of female was less than that of male,and the duration of each activity lasted longer in female than in male.The results by using all-occurrences recording method showed that:The feeding activity consisted of a series of behaviors,including picking-up with bill,grabing with foot,chewing,carrying food (in bill or foot),body caring,looking,threatening,and courtship feeding.The picking-up with bill,grabing with foot and chewing were over 90%.The feeding activity began with picking-up (100%),then chewing (96.56%),carrying food (2.87%) or threatening (0.57%);and then picking-up (85.06%),carrying food (7.47%),chewing (1.15%),body caring (1.15%),grabing with foot (3.45%),courtship feeding (0.57%) or looking (1.15%),and etc.The stepwise regression showed that the feeding activity of males and female were affected by all behaviors.Temperature,relative humidity and illumination were not the factors significantly affecting feeding activities.The feeding activities of young birds were affected by resting,fed by parents,bite,locomotion and temperature.The regression equation is as follow:Y=1578.74-1.95X3-1.76 X4-0.85 X5-1.44 X6-0.74 X7 Y stood for daily feeding time,X3,X4,X5,X6 and X7 respectively stood for temperature,resting,locomotion,feeding by parents and bite.