Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture (11/06/2005) - Denver, CO
Judge: Dave Arthur
Exhibitors: 4
Entries: 68

Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture (11/05/2005) - Denver, CO
Judge: Roland Dubuc
Exhibitors: 4
Entries: 40

Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture (11/05/2005) - Denver, CO
Judge: Roland Dubuc
Exhibitors: 5
Entries: 50

Judge's Comments:

What a special treat to visit Denver and judge the Love Bird Division. It had been several years since my last visit and like most major western cities there were lots of changes. I arrived fairly early on Friday and Gary Morgan was at the airport waiting to pick me up. I did get to see his new home and aviary, which I always enjoy. Part of the learning experience is to see how others breed their birds.

The show itself was in a wonderful venue, an old shopping mall that had very large rooms for exhibiting, sales and promotion. there were a total of 90 birds in the Love Bird Division, so the show committee decided to have a two Division show. 40 birds were in the Rare and Eye-ring and exactly 50 in the Peachfaced without going to get birds from the sale area.

The first section to be judged was the Rare Varieties. Thirteen birds were exhibited seven Black-cheeked and six Abyssinianas. The Abyssinians were in excellent condition. There was a very large and beautiful adult male that won the section, followed a perfect young Medium Green hen in second for the show was a beautiful example of what a Dilute should look like. I also had a young Dilute Green which I eventually brought back as Best Novice and Judge's Chocie.

The Masked with 12 birds was really a nice surprise, at most shows this section is certainly lacking in numbers. The winner of this section was an outstanding perfect colored Medium Green. This bird was not well cage trained but it was so perfect in its color I spent some extra time cage training it. When the show was over and I had given this bird Best in Division, I was told an interesting story about the bird. This was a bird that had been donated to the Society as a rescue bird. Glenda Pullum had taken the bird and simply brought it to get my opinion about the quality. I guess she will now try to find the bird a suitable mate.

There were 2 Champion Black-cheeked exhibited, both were of exceptional quality. The winner went on to place first as Best in Show and the second place bird went to position three.

The Peachfaced were not as strong as some shows I have attended, but the top four or five birds could and should certainly do well at a National Show. When I did my walk through, the American Cinnamon Division did have some stand out birds and I thought for sure one of them would win the show. But, when the Opalines came up for their section, the last bird shown was an outstanding Orangefaced Australian Cinnamon Opaline, this bird was simply the most beautiful of the day. The bird had good size, perfect color and feather and was well trained. The very strong Violet American Cinnamon class I had been so attracted to earlier also did well placing a bird in 2nd and 6th place.

There were also some very nice Pieds at the show. This seems to be a group that needs to be worked with more by our exhibitors. As always the Violet Section was well represented and the best Violet was third best overall.

I cannot end these comments without thanking Tom Voges, Gary Morgan and Glenda Pullum for all their help.