Silver breasted Broadbills

Hi Chris,  a lot  of people that have softbills do not freely let the  general public knew they have them , for a number of reasons especially the rarer species, but there are rarities out there although they can be hard to find, but unfortunately a certain price has to be paid. Things change, you can get Sunbird Pairs now, for years it was only Cock birds that were available.  We still live in hope. James.  

Hi Colin,  I would say  it was more lmporters  wanting to sell bright coloured cock birds rather than drab coloured hens. You cannot blame it all on the show side of  bird keeping, if hens were not available one could not breed. People who did not show tended to use showing as a scapegoat I am afraid. Showing birds to top condition, steadiness and staging is an art in itself, a lot have tried and failed. Top show exhibitors only show birds that are happy to be in a show cage unfortunately there are some who literally take birds from the aviary straight into a show cage, this gives bird keeping in general a rather bad name.   James.

Hi Colin, you cannot possibly take a few incidents and presume  all people who exhibit have that attitude. Taking the negative side is not good or healthy for bird keeping. I think you missed the point in my example on Sunbirds, the fact that we can now get pairs for breeding considering the problems with availability is a plus. I know of fanciers who have recently bred  Green headed Sunbirds, Red legged  and  Yellow legged Honeycreepers to mention a few nectar feeders. So the past is past, it is gone, let’s look froward and see what can be achieved. James

Hi Chris,  back to the topic subject. I know there is a pair of Green Broadbills up herein Scotland and a few other Species scattered about the UK. If you want a particular species they can be found, maybe take time and patience though.. James.