Oscar Is Really Betty!! Cute!
The above two pics were taken on the day Betty was rescued on March 28, 2010 when she was just a baby and her feathers and wings not fully grown in. We got a call from the ppl who found her and asked us to take care of her because they couldn’t so we did. She was nurtured and loved in the E-division of the ladrang. We thought it was a boy so was called Oscar..hehee..now I’ve changed the name to Betty..She’s looks like a Betty to me..
It’s already been one month since she came into our lives and she is friendly, not scared of people and loves attention. I’ve moved her into the large aviary we have here at the ladrang to start adjusting to the other birds and outdoor life. She is in her cage placed inside the large aviary. We;ll keep her there for a week or so to adjust. I want Betty to be happy.
Betty has been hand fed and well taken care of by the ladrang staff and she has grown in her wings. In the new aviary, she’ll be free, with alot of space, air, sunshine and nice food. I want her to be happy.
Now she is eating vegetables and fruits..Betty likes dragon fruits..bless her little heart. I love her. She is a nice birdie.
May she and all animals never suffer, be killed, rough handled or abused.
Tsem Tulku
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Some official information on Betty below.
| Pink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans Punai Kerichau/Gading (Malay)  Pink-necked Green Pigeons eat mainly fruits. Their colourful attire allows them to blend perfectly in the foliage of fruiting trees (can you spot the pigeon in the photo on the left?)
Figs are their favourite, but they also eat palm fruit and berries, and nibble on buds. In Sungei Buloh, their favourite food include the fruit of the Macaranga, Cherry Tree (Muntingia calabura), small banyan figs (Ficus benjamina), and Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum). Like other Green Pigeons, they are arboreal and seldom come the ground except to drink, although they may snack on berries of low bushes. Pink-necked Green Pigeons are the only Green Pigeons found commonly outside the primary forest. They prefer habitats with trees that provide fruits as well as a safe perch including mangroves, scrub, secondary forest, forest edge. |
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Pink-necked Green Pigeons forage most actively in the early morning. Although they may feed in flocks of up to 30 in a fruiting tree, males especially may defend small patches from others in the flock. Pink-necked Green Pigeons tend to roost together and a site may attract hundreds of birds from a wide area and become a traditional roost. Favoured roosting sites are tall trees in swamps and mangroves. But they nest alone and not in large colonies.
Pigeons and doves do not have well-developed oil glands, which in other birds are used to waterproof their feathers. Instead, they have special plumes scattered throughout their body which disintegrate to produce a powder which cleans and lubricates the feathers.
| Breeding (late March to late July): The male Pink-necked is very handsome and colourful. The duller female is easily confused with those of other Green Pigeons and is best identified by her male consort who is usually nearby.
Like other pigeons, the nest is a flimsy platform of twigs. About 15-20 cm in diameter, and so thin that sometimes the contents can be seen from below! The male collects the nesting material and passes these on to the female to assemble. Pairs nest alone, preferring spots near open spaces, in bushes as low as 2m off the ground and up to 10m high in trees and palms. |
Pigeon’s Milk
The most fascinating feature of pigeons and doves is their ability to produce crop milk. During breeding season, special glands in the crops of both males and females enlarge and secrete a thick milky substance. The chicks drink this milk by poking their bills into the parent’s throat. Thus, pigeons and doves can feed their young without having to incessantly hunt or forage for food. Instead of laying many eggs, they lay one or at most two eggs. Their abundance is proof that this feature gives them the advantage. |
1-2 white eggs are laid. Both parents take turns incubating them and both raise the young. Fledglings may remain near the nest for up to 1 week.
Migration? Although Pink-necked Green Pigeons may travel long distances to forage for food, they are quite sedentary and don’t migrate.
Status and threats: The Pink-necked Green Pigeons used to be far more common in the past; bags of them where regularly shot during colonial times in Singapore. They are still hunted in other parts of Asia, usually shot as they gathered in large flocks in the evening at their communal roosts. They are a particular favourite probably because, according to Tweedie, they are “just big enough to be worth cooking”. Besides this hunting pressure, they are probably also affected by the disappearance of their food trees. Nevertheless, Pink-neck Pigeons are still among the more commonly seen of Green Pigeons in Singapore as they have adapted to non-forest habitats such as mangroves, cultivated land in rural as well as urban areas.
so exotic !!!
Oscar or now known as Betty is really a very nice bird. She is very alert and very quiet (unlike the conures!).
She likes to observe people and check out what’s happening around her always, hehe.
How do you verify if Oscar is male or Betty is female?
I am moved by Rinpoche’s concern for birds and animals.
Oscar or should I say Betty is the cutest bird in the aviary and the most friendly. Rescued at a very young age, she was hand reared and even till today very tame. She comes to you when you enter the aviary and will take a ride on your shoulder from time to time. If you really want to make friends with her, you just need a piece of fruit and its a done deal.
She doesn’t sing much but makes these funny noises like grunting, groaning sounds. Must have something to do with being quiet as a safety feature. She shares the aviary with Malaysian parrots, a huge cockatiel family, a sparrow and now 2 canaries. Looking after the birds for so long and can say it is therapeutic, having little beings flying onto and around you will put a smile on anyone’s face.
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
I was thinking of the parrot and the causes that it had created to be with Rinpoche…and Sharon Saw’s article sharing on the precious human life…
“As H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche says, “Yes to friends, to lovers, to business meetings! Yes to dinners and parties! Yes to dates, drinks, entertainment, watching TV, eating, shopping! But when something is wrong – Friends and lovers leave. Parties end. Shopping is temporary therapy and could potentially lead to debts! Yes, we NEED businesses and money but how much is enough? Dinners are lovely but what does that lead to?
At the end of this, we could feel a deep sense of loneliness, senselessness and purposelessness. Not because we are bad, but because we’ve been focusing too much for too long on the wrong agendas to happiness.”- an edited quote from If Not Now, When?”
“The concept of preciousness comes from rarity and intrinsic value. To even contemplate how rare our human existence is, Buddha had a parable about an old blind turtle which lives at the bottom of the ocean. This turtle swims up to the ocean’s surface for air once every hundred years. Imagine a golden yoke floating around the seas, never still for a moment. The likelihood of the blind turtle swimming up and putting his head through the hole of the yoke when he comes up for a breath, is the likelihood of our being born as a human being.”
http://www.fridae.com/lifestyle/2009/10/23/9253.precious-human-life
It made me thank the Triple Gem, Rinpoche and Kechara for this timely reminder…
I also think that since Oscar is a girl, she would look more like Betty from the funny TV series Ugly Betty because that Betty looks slightly ugly but she is extremely beautiful internally. I like to eat Dragonfruits too. It is good to know that she grown here wings because lack of wings for a bird is kind of losing your own sight as a human. She is now part of the Kechara Family. I wish that she may live for a very long time so that little cute baby bird mumu can eat all the dragondfruits she would like to eat and all the peace in here heart so she can hang out with the other birdies.
We received news about Oscar from one of Rinpoche’s long time student and friend Adelyn and having adopted her into Tsem Ladrang, beautiful and hardworking Shin has been taking care of her and keeping close watch over her from food to playing and keeping Oscar entertained.
It took us by surprised to find out that Oscar is actually Bette. As time went by and she got used to the environment, we slowly introduced her into the small aviary with the other tamer birds and she fits perfectly well! She’s more of a tame human bird coming close to u whenever she sees u coming.
I’m happy for her to have found a new home in Tsem Ladrang and may she be planted strong Dharma seeds so that it may blossom well in future.
From a boy to a girl – that is nothing surprising when you are with Kechara. What is important here is that we have people who will give their all to care for another being – be it a puppy or a bird or an aquarium full of colourful fishes. With the good care given by the ladrang team especially e-division group, she has grown up to be healthy and mild tempered. She is now at home with fine-feathered friends in the aviary. With Rinpoche, there is no distinction between human beings and the animal realms – he cares for every being and loves all of us unconditionally. He has shown us to take responsibility by entrusting us with another life and how with love and care, we can nurture that being.