Breeding Pure Subspecies of Eclectus - Information on Males

BREEDING PURE SUBSPECIES TO PURE SUBSPECIES IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE SUBSPECIES CONTINUE TO EXIST. However, one problem in the US seems to be that some breeders are not able to accurately identify male vosmaeri. One major issue is the choice of male aruensis eclectus, which are also large and about the same size as vosmaeri AND these males have a LOT of yellow on their tail tips which cause some breeders to think that means they are vosmaeri.

HOWEVER, VOSMAERI MALES HAVE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF YELLOW ON THEIR TAIL TIPS...A VERY PALE LEMON YELLOW!!! So, I have made a chart showing adult vosmaeri and aruensis male tail feathers so that this chart can help breeders identify vos males.

Now, there are other additional differences in these two subspecies. EYE COLOR for example. Vosmaeri males have AMBER color eyes. Aruensis males have REDDISH color eyes if they have lots of sun. Those with less sun are likely to have reddish/orangish eyes. Pure Yellow eyes generally indicate a cross bred male. (Gold eyes indicate a Grand eclectus male. Gold is not amber or yellow)

NOTE: Amber, gold and yellow are each distinctive eye colors!)

In the photo below, note that the tail feathers are shown top view and also underside view. Please feel free to copy or use this photo.

ECLECTUS ADULT MALE TAIL FEATHERS

These feathers are all from the blue eye ring subspecies...aruensis, polycholoros and solomonensis. You can see the great difference in the size of these feathers, with the aruensis being the largest. The arus and the vosmaeri are the largest eclectus AFTER the very largest, the Australian Eclectus roratus macgillivrayi. The Aussie bird is about the same weight as the aruensis...500 and into 600 grams but the aru is a stockier bird and the macs are a longer bird...including a longer tail! Note that the aru tail feathers have a lot of yellow but also can have red, orange or pink in the adult tail feathers. To my knowledge this is the ONLY male eclectus with other colors in the tail tip besides yellow.

Also note, one of the major problems eclectus breeders have is identifying the male vosmaeri eclectus. Based on the strong yellow and amount of yellow in the tail tip of the large males, some breeders think those birds are vosmaeri!!! BUT the MALE VOSMAERI ECLECTUS HAS THE LEAST AMOUNT OF YELLOW IN THE TAIL TIP...and it is a very light lemon yellow, never rich yellow.

Another means of identifying aruensis males versus vosmaeri males is EYE COLOR. Aruensis males have reddish to orangish eyes, more red if in the sun a lot. Vosmaeri males have amber colored eyes. Amber is almost a straw color, not yellow nor gold.

Right now pure vosmaeri eclectus are rare in the US due to the failure to properly identify males...or cross bred females! So, this information is critical for preserving the pure vosmaeri eclectus.