The National Cage Bird Show (11/18/2005) - Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
Judge: Cliff Witt
Exhibitors: 28
Entries: 174
See Pictures from Nationals

The National as always was certainly the bird event to attend in 2005. It is the one event where you can count on meeting not only all of the top Love Bird Exhibitors but also the new and upcoming Love Bird Exhibitors. One of the surprises at this the 57^th National was the return of Mike Miller. Mike had not attended a National in over ten years, he was a past winner of the Love Bird Division and a past judge for our Society.  

New friends were made with a very large contingent of Love Bird Breeders from Puerto Rico. Hopefully this will be a new long term relationship between the Love Bird Exhibitors from Puerto Rico and the National. 

I was also very pleased to finally meet Blake Ma, our ALBS Webmaster. Blake and I have corresponded so much in the last few months it was great to finally put a face to all the e-mails. I also enjoyed meeting and talking to all our die heart members as well. 

But, let us not forget I was in Texas to judge the Rare and Eye-ring Division. I must say it was a great honor to judge these 98 wonderful birds. Some of you who attend local shows may be thinking why didn’t you go to one of the commercial exhibitors and grab two or three extras birds to break the one hundred mark. For those of you who are not aware you can only purchase show tags on Thursday. Final entry forms must be turned in by 9:00 pm on Thursday, we can not add birds on Friday. 

The National is also unusual in the fact that the Show (Judging) takes place on Friday. To help things move smoothly all birds must be in the Show Hall by 7:00 am on Friday. With great help from both my stewards Paul Crow and Tom Voges, the birds were ready for judging shortly after 8:00 am. The birds were so well organized, my walk through was a breeze. A few birds were changed but overall little had to be done.  

The first Section to be judged at any official ALBS Show is the Rares. It is in this Section that we find the Nyasa, Black-cheeked, Madagascar, Abyssinian, Red-faced and any mutation of these species. A total of 23 Rares were exhibited in this Section. I was very pleased with this number which was evenly divided between the Black-cheeked and the Abyssinian. 

The first class to be judged was the adult Black-cheeked. There were eight birds exhibited. This was a very strong class. The top three birds were all exceptional specimens. The first place bird in this class was perhaps the best example of a Black-cheeked I have ever seen at a show. It had the proper size for the species small and typy. The head color, cheek color, body color, tail and rump colors could have easily been used for the Ideal Standard. BUT, what really set this bird apart from all the other Black-cheeked was its salmon patch. It was simply flawless. Perfect in size (the size of a dime) rounded with no bleeding, it was as if someone had taken a miniature protractor and followed a precise line. 

If that were not enough the bird was also perfectly cage trained. It sat like an arrow. If I taped the cage it jumped from one perch to the other and turned so I could easily see every perfect feather on its body. If this were not enough the tail on this bird was perfect every feather in line with the other – coming to that perfect point which is so difficult to find at a show. For those of you who have never traveled long distances with birds the tails are rarely this perfect because of the jostling  that  occurs from the time you leave home and the time I or any other judge gets to see the bird. 

Now that I have given this bird such a glowing report it should not be a surprise to find out that this was the winner of the Division. 

The second and third placed birds in this class were also very good birds. They finished in the top 20. The second place bird had an obvious scratch on its beak. That normally would not affect the placement of such a good bird at a normal show, but when you are at a National the competition is very keen and small faults like this can hurt. The third place bird in class was also a very good bird. It could easily have past for a relative of the first place bird but it was not well trained. This lack of training caused the bird to mess up several feathers. 

There were three birds in the AOC (Any Other Color), two in the adult class and one in the young class (a bird bred and banded in 2005). We had a Medium Green, a Medium Blue and a Violet. All three birds showed some of the faults one would anticipate in these cross mutation. 

The Abyssinians were next. They too were well represented. Seven normal Green adults, three normal Green young and two Medium Green young were exhibited in this group. The very interesting thing for me in this group was the fact that the young Abyssinians were of such great quality and size. The best AOC Young a Medium Green was simply flawless. For those of you who have not had the privilege of seeing this bird (mutation) in the flesh (not sure if the term in the feather is an accepted term J ). It has a bluish cast which simply gives it a sheen and bloom you can not believe. This young Medium Green Abyssinian had it as well as great size and deportment. This bird went on to win third Best in Division.  

The second place Abyssinian was the only bird I had to reclassify after it had arrived on the bench. As luck would have it this was a young male Medium Green Abyssinian, which had been entered in the normal class. One of the difficult things with these Medium Greens is that some are very difficult to identify without very good lighting. It was very obvious when the bird was placed in proper lighting that it was a Medium Green and not a normal Green. This bird did not have the intense color of the first place hen but it was a good size male with a great chest. 

Another young hen came in third in this class and was also a bird of great size and feather condition. The only adult to place in the top 20 was a beautiful male. He was a wonderful

bird, great size, deportment and feather, but his nostril holes were larger then normal and in my opinion hurt the bird in such a competition. 

Fifty-three Fischer’s were next. I do not believe any of us were ready for what we were about to judge. Not to spoil the suspense lets just say there were some very interesting birds. Because of the crosses which have occurred in the eye-ring Love Birds this group for me was basically easy to judge. Even though eight birds ended up in the top fourteen, many of the birds exhibited showed some of the faults of cross breeding.  

Nine normal Type I Green Fischer’s were exhibited – seven in adult class and two in the young class. The top two adults were almost clones of one another and they eventually made it to thirteenth and fourteenth place.  

The next bird judged that was significant was one of the Medium Greens. If they are good they have an advantage over the normal Green by having that intense bloom in their green coloration. This bird had the advantage placing him in twelfth position just in front of the normal Greens. 

The Dilute Greens (50% suffusion) were also of very good quality. All three exhibited had perfect orange head and chest color. They eventually made it to eight and ninth place. 

The Light Suffusion, Dark-eyed clears and Lutinos all were lacking in their exceptional orange coloration. All the Blues also showed a lack of perfect coloration. There was however an exceptional Violet with perfect white head, this bird went on to place tenth.  

A Dilute Blue of 50% suffusion had exceptional head color. This bird went on to place fifth overall. Several Pieds were shown, quite honestly I do not see the hype on this mutation. There were six birds exhibited and none made it out of class. 

The AOC Fischer’s had several birds and mutations I had never seen. Most were not exciting but one bird stood out like a champion - a Clear Bodied (Blue Winged) Fischer’s. This bird was in perfect condition. The balance between the blue coloration of the blue and the white was exact. The bird was also in flawless condition and well trained. The birds went on to place second overall and also eventually took the Higgins since the first place bird was not bred by the exhibitor. I did receive one comment from two of our judges, they thought the bird was a bit small. I reminded both to check their standard – Fischer’s are basically a small typey bird. I should also mention another new mutation was exhibited – the exhibitor called the bird a yellow-faced – more will be included on this mutation in an upcoming Journal. 

There were nineteen Masked exhibited. Only two of them made it to the top bench. The winner was an exceptionally beautiful Medium Dilute Blue. The size of the bird was perfect. The coloration on the wings was perfect and even, just as good as I have ever seen. The only flaw this bird had was the unevenness of its chest. There was not a solid line between the two colors. Some also questioned my placement of this bird in fourth place overall but having raised these birds for years, I am very aware how difficult it is to get an even and dark color on the wings and keep the size. I just could not fault the bird that much for a few uneven feathers on the chest.  

I am sorry to say, I am normally very good at remembering things and taking notes but for some reason I do not have the variety of the second place Masked. It was the only AOC bird exhibited and won seventh overall. 

The champions were very good. All three were Black-cheeked. They placed in Best in Show in 3^rd, 11^th and 13^th position. The best bird was good but quite honestly the bird was not nearly as good as the winner and I my opinion not better than the Abyssinian.

I have already thanked my stewards Paul Crow and Tom Voges. But, I would certainly be thoughtless if I did not thank my very special Secretary – Wendy Edwards. I also need to thank all the National Board for their support of our Society and all the people from Texas who hosted the show and did such a great job.