Was just taking a look around, and decide to join, seems like nice group. I have a Greater Vasa, 7 year old male, named Eve. Opps! But he doesn't mind the girle name. He is a joy to have and share my life with. They are truly amazing birds! Here are some pics of the little guy.....

Eve decided that a mohawk was the back in stlye.

Welcome to PC! I don't believe we have any other Greater Vasas on here! (somebody correct me if I'm wrong!) What a sweet looking boy! Have you had him all of his 7 years?

6 of his seven years on the planet. I found him in a shop that got him from a bird broker, the shop didn't even know what they had, they said he was just a rare parrot. Unbelievable! It took six months of work and research, visiting him everyday, before I brought him home, he wasn't very well socialized. I decided that not many people would do the research necessary to care for him, so home he came....He's been a love ever since.

How sad! Thank goodness you came along! I don't know much about vasas at all...what kind of diet do you feed him? Do you know how much he weighs? (wondering how he relates in size to my CAG- she weighs 430g)

You are right Camille, we don't have any on PC. He looks more the size of my Tag than Cag.

Over the years I've become somewhat of a vasa expert. I've done lectures about them, talk to Dr. Egstrom about them. He is an ornithologist who did a 3 year field study on vasa's. Vasa's have become my passion. Their behavior is very different than typical parrots, for one thing they naturally hunt small prey as well as forage, and they do not mate bond, they are polygamous by nature, and female dominate. One female will have a six-seven males to attend to her. They are fascinating birds! Eve's weight changes depending on the time of the year, when molting vasa's lose a significant amount of weight, so he will weigh any where from 430-500 grams. But they are long and skinny so in height he is about the size of a med sulfur too. He is on about 80 % people food and fresh fruits and veggies, with a high protein content, and 20% pellets. Vasa's on a mainly pellet diet supplemented with fruits and veggies are often very underweight and in poor feather condition. Eve gets some form of protein every day, and this will increase or decrease depending on the time of year. Their nutritional intake greatly varies throughout the year, sometimes it's lower protein/higher fat and vitamin A. It really depends on if it is molting season/breeding season/ age and so forth. I could go on forever about them, I tend to ramble on when talking about them. Hope you don't mind.

Definitely not! They are fascinating- I just increased my knowledge of them 10-fold just by reading your short paragraph! That's very interesting about their mating behavior. When they are bred in captivity are they paired with one mate, or do they need to be "switched"? I've never seen one in a pet store before. I'm guessing they would have quite the price tag?

What a great looking bird.

Their not terribly expensive about 800. from a breeder. It's just not many people breed them and they will only breed once a year and if they are not successful in the beginning of the season they will not continue to try till next year. Most breeders are smart and have at least 2 males to one female. Any more with out adequate space and problem arise. I don't know of any breeders that have been successful with one female/ one male. They don't pair bond at all, even when breeding. the males have to learn the females song in order to know which female to feed, if they don't they get attacked by the female. Consequently some females will learn the song of other females to get extra feeding from males other than their own. If fact in one study it was shone that each chick of a single clutch has a different genetic father. It's a free for all in vasa society, very unparrot like.

Hi & Welcome

I have been reading what you have to say about Eve with great interest. Please feel free to tell us as much as you can + tons of photos. I liked the photos you've posted so far.

How social is Eve? Does he like or interact with other people? How loud are they? You say they sing? That would be nice to hear.

I could drive you crazy with questions.
It's very exciting to hear of another bird & meet an owner. I read about these birds a while back & wondered at the dedication required. You make it sound not too difficult but i sense it isn't something you take for granted -oops it's molting time, time to rethink the food.