National Cage Bird Show (11/18/2011)- Kansas City, MO
Judge: Roland Dubuc (Peachface Division)
Exhibitors: 18
Number of Entries: 102
Sponsored by Nicholas Badeaux and Linda Brandt

Section 1 – Green Peachfaced  -  Sponsored by Joe Deluca & Love Birds by JD

We had a total of 18 entries. I always find it very interesting when I finally come home from a show and I review my notes and check what bird made it to the top. My notes are taken while I am judging the Classes. Under Orangefaced Greens I had 2 birds with exceptional color and size but I did not like the wave that sometimes occurs on the flight feathers. Under Green Violet All I had 4 birds and my notes indicated I had thoughts of sub-classing the 2 Orangefaced from the 2 Normal Greens, but I did not do this. The same note indicated that the 2 Orangefaced Violets were the best so far.
So did you figure it out? One would assume the Best Orangefaced Violet would win the Section right? No, I never have any idea why but the Normal Green, that had 3 other birds in its own class and if you look above you will also realize the original Orangefaced Violet Green I liked so well never even made it to the top bench but the Green made it to 7th Place. But, PLEASE understand this is the first Section and I have not really examined all the birds closely.

Section 2 – Par-Blue Peachfaced – Sponsored by D. Arthur & J. Deluca

Nine birds were entered in this Section. Here is what my notes say, under Whitefaced Par-Blue I liked the young bird, under Seagreen loved the best bird but it had pin feathers, under Yellowfaced Par-Blue young – the Yellowfaced Dark Par-Blue was going to be the Judge’s Choice Award – BTW it did do that and I simply announced to the audience this bird will not advance into the top 10 but watch out it will be a bird to beat in a year or two. In one of the last classes I really likes an American Dilute Par-Blue of Heavy Suffusion. When the Section was done the Seagreen with a few pin feathers won eventually  making it to 10th  Place overall and the American Dilute made it to 13th place.

Section 3 – Green Pied Peachfaced – Sponsored by P. Ryan & L. Reusmann

Over the last few years the Pieds have not been well represented in many of our Major Shows. There were only 4 entries, a Green Violet Pied, a Pied Australian Cinnamon Green adult and a young and a Dark-eyed Clear Pied. The adult Pied Australian Cinnamon Green did make it into the top 20 but it came missed getting points by one placement.

Section 4 – Par-Blue Pied Peachfaced  - Sponsored  by L. Reusmann & J. Deluca

This time I had 13 Par- Blue Pieds. I am not sure but I would guess this is a record entry for this Section. There was 1 Pied Par-Blue, 1 Pied Medium Par-Blue, 2 Pied Whitefaced Par-Blues, 2 Heavy Pied Par-Blues, 1 Heavy Pied Whitefaced Par-Blue, 1 young Pied Yellowfaced Par-Blue, 3 Pied Violet Par-Blues and 2 Dark-eyed Clear Creams. According to my notes, I picked the two best Pied Violets. But once again when I judged one of the Sections with only one bird that bird began to shine and it not only won the Section but ended up third best in Show – a beautiful normal Par-Blue Pied. The bird I picked in the Pied Violet Class came in 17th followed by the Whitefaced Par-Blue Pied.

Section 5 – American Cinnamon  - Sponsored by  F &T Horan & J. Deluca

Once again a surprise, 10 birds exhibited in this Section. In recent years it has been difficult to find good American Cinnamons or quite honestly ANY American Cinnamons in any show. We had 2 Normal Green, 1 Orangefaced Green adult, 1 Orangefaced Green young, 2 Whitefaced Par-Blues,  3 Violet adults and 1 Violet young. Again while judging the classes my notes state that 2 of the adult Violets were worth another look. So take a look at the results and you will see that one of the Violets a Whitefaced won the Section and placed 13th overall followed by the young Orangefaced and then followed by the adult Orangefaced .
To be honest the only reason these three birds did not advance higher was the simple fact they did not have the size the other birds have. Yes, I realize that the mutation has not gained the size it should but since the mutation is sex-linked size should not be an issue at a major show.

Section 6 – Australian Cinnamon – Sponsored by Susan Saylor & Linda Brandt

This time we had 13 birds, 4 adult Orangefaced, 1 young Orangefaced, 1 adult Par-Blue, 1young Par-Blue, 1 Seagreen, 1 Yellowfaced Par-Blue, 1 adult Violet, 2 young Violet and 1 AOC. I would like to make a comment with regard to the bird shown in AOC. This bird was an obvious cross between the Australian Cinnamon and the American Cinnamon. It was originally listed by the exhibitor as an American Cinnamon, but during my walk through, this was one of the birds Frank had pulled for review. The bird had the body color of an Australian Cinnamon but the flight and shading of an American Cinnamon. So I opted to change it to the Australian Cinnamon AOC Class since the body color fell in this Section. I am sure others may disagree, but that was my decision.
As always this is a very strong Section and I had no notes on any favorites, because I knew some would make it to the top bench. The best Blue made it to 4th Best in Show, it was truly a beautiful bird. Oh and did I forget to add that this bird was also a current year bird, therefore winning the Best Unflighted.

Section 7 – Violet Peachfaced – Sponsored by Jim Muniz & Champion Aviary

Eleven entries 1 Medium Par-Blue, 1 adult Whitefaced Par-Blue, 1 young Whitefaced Par-Blue, 4 adult Medium Whitefaced Par-Blues, 1 young Medium Whitefaced Par-Blue, 1 Seagreen adult, 1 young Seagreen  and one Whitefaced American Dilute Violet.
For those of you who have watched me judge before you should not be surprised that my book has in my side notes “the winner is the Whitefaced Violet Par-Blue.” I picked this bird in my walk through and it did not disappoint making it all the way to 2nd Best Bird in Show.

Section 8 – Opaline – Sponsored  by Tony Adams, Bayou Birds

In recent years the Opaline Section has been one of the strongest at all of our shows and at this National it did not disappoint. There were 18 Opalines, 1 Green, 1 Medium Green, 2 adult Orangefaced, 2 young Orangefaced, 2 Lutino, 1 Par-blue, 1 Whitefaced Par-Blue, 1 Yellowfaced Par-Blue, 2 Violet Par-Blue, 1 American Cinnamon, 2 Australian Cinnamon an 1 AOC. This time I was really in trouble, my notes say the following birds are GREAT all in caps in the margins – both adult Lutinos, the Whitefaced Par Blue and 2 of the Australian Cinnamon. One of the Lutinos an Orangefaced went on to win the show, the Orangefaced Australian Cinnamon went on to place 6th and  the only Par-Blue Opaline I have ever placed on the top bench made it to 11th.
When you read all of these comments you might assume the choices were simple and easy but they are not. At the National Show you are really acknowledging the years of work so many of our members have put forth into their birds. When judging the top bench there were really two birds that were without doubt the best. Scrutiny begins and it was very difficult to choose. The Whitefaced Violet had absolutely the most perfect clear white face and forehead I have ever seen in a bird. The Lutino Opaline was the first Opaline I had ever judged that I felt had the size and confirmation of a Champion. When it came down to picking one over the other I chose the Opaline because it most clearly matched the Ideal Peachfaced the Standard and Terminology chose so many years ago. The bird had one minor flaw, one missing toe nail. I explained to the audience when I gave them my decision, that I was not blind I saw the missing toe nail but I also took into consideration that in our scale of points that feet were only worth 5 out of 100 points. So if you consider the fact that all birds have 2 feet, 8 toes and 8 toenails, one missing toenail was not worth that much. The second place bird the perfectly colored Whitefaced Violet had one major fault in deportment, it never stopped crossing its wings. Even when I went back and calculated the extra color points we allow for color sensitive birds such as Whitefaced, the flaw of crossing its wings was much greater a flaw than one missing toenail so the Opaline had to win.

Champions – Sponsored by Gary Morgan

I do not know why but I have a very hard time with Champions. In my mind the birds should be in great condition and be very well trained. The best of the 6 birds I judged was the Orangefaced Australian Cinnamon. The next best was the Violet Australian Cinnamon. These birds placed 6th and 7th followed by the Yellowfaced Seagreen Opaline in 11th place and the Orangefaced Green in 13th place.
I would be remised if I did not thank my Secretaries Linda Brandt and Janet Landvater and my one and only steward the incredible Frank Horan. I also need to thank all 18 Exhibitors for bringing their wonderful birds to this year’s National.  I hope to see you all again at the 2012 National in St. Louis.

National Cage Bird Show, Kansas City, MO - November 18, 2011
13 Exhibitors
102 Entries
Judge: Lee Horton
Rare & Eye-Ring Division

JUDGE’S COMMENTS:
It was such a pleasure to judge the National Rare and Eye-Ring Division this year. We had 102 birds in this Division, as well as 102 in the Peachfaced Division.

Section 1 – Rare Varieties  -  Sponsored by Dave & Mary Arthur
In the Rare Section we had 18 outstanding and notable “rare” birds shown. It was a great pleasure for me to see three Nyasas. This may not seem like many birds, but for this species it was amazing. In my recollection I cannot remember the last time we had this many at any show. But, the best part was that each and every one of these birds had near perfect markings and color.
We had four Abyssinians, including a young and adult Medium Green. Eleven Black-cheeked were exhibited. Some of the Black-cheeked had color flaws in the salmon patch but most were very good.
When the best birds in each Class came up for Section, it was an amazing sight. Perfect specimens for a Nyasa, a Black-cheeked and an Abyssinian were all on the bench. The Abyssinian, a young Medium Green current year bird, was the best. It had everything a Show Bird should have size, condition and deportment.

Section 2 – Fischer’s – Sponsored by Dave & Mary Arthur
The Fischer’s Section was simply OUTSTANDING. We had 51 entries, which was exactly half of the whole division. As you well know one of my favorite birds happens to be the Fischer’s and I was more than thrilled with this showing. Out of the 48 classes used at a major show for the Fischer’s Section, we had birds entered in 29 of the classes. When it came time for judging the Section we had all three judging stands filled with a show cage. It was the most wonderful sight I have ever seen. I do hope someone got a picture of that grouping.  Among the birds that won their class, I had the Best Example of a Type II Green Fischer’s I had ever seen anywhere. Of special note was a beautiful Violet Fischer’s of excellent quality. There was also a very good group of Dilute Green Fischer’s all with excellent color and type. The overall quality of this section was very high and any of the top birds were definitely potential winners. But, the top bird had to be the Type II Green.

Section 3 – Masked – Sponsored by David Ziegler & Mary Keating
In recent years the Masked Section at many of our shows has not had the number of birds shown that one would expect considering how many Masked are bred. But this year we had 27 Masked exhibited. That is perhaps not a record but when you factor in the quality of the birds exhibited it made me very proud.
The weakness in the Masked has been getting good quality Greens. But I had several of these at the National.  The overall group did very well. The best three Masked went on to place in the top 15, the amount of birds that received points. But, it is also interesting to note that we did pick out the Best 20 Birds since we had rosettes for that many and the Masked took 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th.
The winner of the Section was a beautiful Violet.

Section 4 – Champions  - Sponsored  by  Wendy Edwards, Carolina Flight Aviary
Six Champions were exhibited and five of them placed in the top 15.
The Top Bench was a real pleasure to see. When all was said and done the top bench included 5 of the birds from the Rare Section, 7 from the Fischer’s and 3 from the Masked. The Top Bird was truly of exceptional quality, not only winning the Division, it was also Best Unflighted and went on to win “Best Foreign Bird.” Congratulations to Gary Morgan and Denise Cook for exhibiting such a beautiful Abyssinian. 

Before I forget I do need to thank my Secretary, Katy Secor and my stewards, Dave Arthur and Wendy Edwards. I could not have done this without you.

The National is always fun. We get to see old friends and make new ones, but most of all to see the best birds in the country all at one location. See you all next year and keep up the good work. We have made a lot of progress in the past few years and it was a pleasure to see all of your efforts.
Thanks, Lee

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