GCCBC - National Cage Bird Show (11/17/2006) - Schaumburg, IL
Judge: Dave Arthur (Peachfaced Division)
Exhibitors: 20
Entries: 202

The 58th NCBS show was held in Chicago at a new hotel, The Renaissance, and in spite of the added requirement for vet certificates still had a premier showing of 202 Peachfaced Lovebirds by 20 exhibitors. Thank you all for your excellent help during the show. Jean Wiley - secretary, Rick Logan & Frank Horan as stewards. Gary Morgan made special tags to hang from the cages which helped keeping track of sections and the bird placements. I hope everyone appreciates how hard he put forth to make this show a success.

The Opaline section had the largest # of entries with 47. There were 6 champions, 6 LF, 7 Green Pied, 17 Blue Pied, 17 American Cinnamon, 18 Violet, 23 Blue Peachfaced, 27 Australian Cinnamon, and 28 Green Peachfaced.

A Seagreen Dilute took 1st of superb conformation, excellent condition and deportment. it did not waiver throughout the entire judging of the top bench. An outstanding Opaline took 2nd from the Bedwells and also won the Higgins award. A Whitefaced Violet Fallow with exceptional conformation shown by Blake & Betty Ma took 3rd and should be striking next year. The top three birds were not the largest in the show nor were they the flashiest but all deserving of top honors.

Jim Munis took 4th and 5th with a blue & green pied respectively. They exhibited excellent separation of colors and symmetry of markings.

Marilena took 8th with a nice sized Longfeathered. Edwin Guzman held 9th with an Orangefaced Green. Rick Logan had a nice sized & properly colored Medium Seagreen at 10th.

GCCBC - National Cage Bird Show (11/17/2006) - Schaumburg, IL
Judge: Gary Morgan (Rares & Eyering Division)
Exhibitors: 15
Entries: 93

It was my honor to be able to judge the Rares & Eyerings Division at the National Cage Bird Show in Schaumburg, IL. I had hoped we would have broke 100 birds and we were close with 93.

The Rares section was very strong. There were Nyasa, Black-cheeked and Abyssinians. The Nyasas were pretty good. The first place bird was perfect size and shape. These birds should be identical in size to the Black-cheeked. The best Nyasa was this size but needed some work on Marking. The best Black-cheeked was perfect. It had the correct size and shape. The salmon chest patch was nice, good iris color, and no blue on the rump. It sat on the perch and showed off and its condition was perfect. The section proved strong with the best in division being the Black-cheeked and the Abby in the second. The second Black-cheeked was in 6th and the 2nd Abby was in 7th.

The Fischer's Section was the best. With the bulk of the entries for the Division in the Fischer's Section. The best Fischer's was a superb Dilute Green Fischer's. This bird had great size and shape and a bright, clear orange face. The condition was very nice. A nice Blue Fischer's with a very clear whiet face was next. The following bird was a Dilute Blue with a nice clear face as well. What an exhibition of Fischer's mutations! Pieds, Spangles, Slaty, Blue Wings, and Violets were just among the many. When I judged the section and brought up all the 1st place winners there were 31!!! It was a great spectacle.

The masked section was not as nice as I hoped. There were a few good examples but only one made it on the top bench. The Medium Dilute Blue had good dilution and the mask was not depleted much. But I think that many of the exhibitors are working to create as many mutations as they can and we need to get back to improving the color and marking on Masked. Never the less, they were good birds.

I want to thank my secretary Katy Secor, Chief Steward Paul Crow, Ribbons Blake Ma and Jessica Miller. These folks kept the show moving and seamless. Without you the show would not have been as smooth. If you missed the show, you missed a fantastic venue. With HD Plasma TVs in the room (even one mounted behind the mirror in the Bathroom) and the great food it will be tough to match.

I'd like to congratulate Blake, Arnaldo, Gabriel, and Bob Ziegler for winning the Incentive Entries in my Division. You not only brought a lot of birds but they were not "fillers", they were good quality. All the ALBS members should be proud of our showing. We celebrated 30 years at the banquet with custom wine glasses adorned with glass charms made by our own Jean Wiley. I hope we get to spend another 30 years on this journey. Thanks for allowing to preside over this great group of Lovebirds.