Bird 71

Bird 71
Gender: Female
Birth date: Unknown (from newer group)
Preferred Partner: Bird 72

Sorry this picture is so blurry. See Bird 72 for a less blurry picture.

Another way you can tell the difference between the newer birds and the older birds at a glance (beside darker red feet, beaks, and skin around the eyes) is that they have a bright yellow tag on them. These are from their previous owners and we don't use those numbers to identify them. Here you can see Bird 71's on her left leg.

Bird 71 and 72 are confusing me. They are a couple and they both spend equal time on their eggs, but I can't quite tell which is the mother and which is the father. For now, my best guess is that Bird 71 is the female. I'll fix this if I realize differently.

She is the mother of Birds 73 and 74, and two as yet unhatched eggs. She is very protective of them (as of course is Bird 71) when I take them out of their cage and let them walk around on the ground. She flies down and watches them and guards them if necessary. She will even protect Birds 35 and 45 if they are near her little guys.

Bird 71 has participated in one master's thesis so far in the Fall of 06.