Parrot Tail Feathers For Sale

Everything in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) had a use. These one thousand red feathers were the stash of a market dealer who normally sold live African grey parrots for the pet trade. However, since the brightly colored feathers brought a few cents each, they were carefully collected from the carcasses of any bird that died. The feathers were used in "fetishes," or charms for magic.

Photo by D. Messinger

Trapping African Grey Parrots, Part III

In the top photograph, a newly captured African grey parrot has its primary feathers cut to prevent flight. In shock, birds refuse to eat for days.

Young African grey parrots have black to dark grey eyes, which lighten as they age. The bird in the middle photograph has yellow eyes, the sign of an adult. The villager holds out its wings, saying that this is a parrot ready for the trip to Kinshasa, the capital.

In the bottom photo is a dead parrot, approximately one month after capture. Mortality is mainly due to overcrowding in too small cages, exposure, and malnutrition. Some birds were destined for the local pet market, but the majority were exported to Europe and Asia.

Trapping African Grey Parrots, Part II

It is early morning on a burned over savanna, where new seedlings normally entice parrots to land and feed. The top photograph shows the villager on the right setting out African grey parrot decoys, while the man on the left plants "glue" sticks in a grid, every foot or so apart. A live bird is also tied out because its cries will attract overhead parrots. The men retreat to hiding places and wait.


In the middle photo, a wild parrot that landed has accidentally brushed some feathers against the sticky palm frond ribs. Further entangled and unable to fly in the bottom photograph, it struggles futilely.

This is what the men are waiting for. As soon as one or more birds are incapacitated, they quickly they leap from their hiding places to capture them. If no birds land by 09:00, the men pick up their props and go home to try again another day.

To be continued....

Trapping African Grey Parrots, Part I

I trained an informant to take photographs and had him document how villagers managed to catch adult African grey parrots. This series is from the remote interior near Inongo.

The hunt for parrots to capture for the pet trade occurs in the savannas. The grasses are burned off every season, which causes a regrowth of the plants. The hunts are timed around this, due to the fact that the parrots are attracted to the new, green shoots.

The first image shows a man with "glue sticks" that are fashioned from the central rib of palm fronds and coated with a glue made from plant ingredients.

The next photograph shows two parrot decoys that are critical for a successful hunt. The decoys are carved of lightweight wood and painted with powdered limestone and ashes to give the grey coloration. The tail is a strip of red cloth.

Finally, the villagers need a live bird, who will give the proper sound and movement to the scene to be set. Here a parrot is restrained with feet on the wings, and knife handle across the neck to tie it up, to be staked out.

It is pre-dawn and the props are ready. To be continued...