An Interview with Dick Schroeder

Dick is a very accomplished individual, too much to mention here! Please visit his website. Be sure to read his about us section for all the details.

SSA: When did you become interested in birds?

Dick: I've kept birds (native) & other animals since I was a small child.

SSA: Do you keep any as pets? / What was your first pet bird?

Dick: I have had birds as pets in the past and even some of my aviary birds I would consider pets, though they live outside and have mates. The first bird I ever bought was a burrowing owl when I was 10 years old from an older boy in the neighborhood. Probably not really a pet.

SSA: How did you come to breed exotics?

Dick: Back in the mid 1960's I had amazons & a couple of macaws as pets. One year I bought my wife a pair of lovebirds for an anniversary gift......... all downhill from there. That was probably 1970 or so.

SSA: What species do you currently breed?

Dick: I have number of hornbill species, Bali mynahs and Greater Indian Hill mynahs, kookaburras, a number of species of laughing thrushes, white-necked ravens, and 4 species of lories, as well as a pair of Congo greys that I keep just for the sounds they make.

SSA: Did you have a lot of trouble getting your birds to breed?

Dick: Some birds have never bred for me, so yeah, they are a lot of trouble. Others have been fairly easy, but I enjoy the challenge.

SSA: What is one thing you know now, that you wish you knew back when you started?

Dick: Oh my! Pretty much everything I know now I wish I had known 35 years ago, but probably not realizing that imports were going to stop when they did for most species, I should have held back more of my offspring, especially some of the rarer lories and fig parrots.

SSA: With such rare and unusual birds, what are a few things you do to keep them healthy?

Dick: I only keep species that I know will not have a problem with my weather. We sometimes see 100 in summer and a few days of frost in winter. I don't keep birds that can't comfortably deal with it. I also make sure they have proper diets and both of these things come from researching the bird’s habits in the wild before I make a purchase.

SSA: What has been the biggest threat to your breeding program? (Earthquakes, fires, etc)

Dick: I can't imagine an earthquake being an issue; I've in many, many of them with no problem. Fire is very scary and all of our birds were evacuated in October when the Witch Creek fire came thru. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. The biggest threat is probably some sort of disease carried by wild birds or insects, like West Nile Virus.

SSA: What species is your favorite to work with?

Dick: Umm, tough call. Like asking which son I like best :-)
Probably my ravens because of their incredible intelligence, smarter for sure than some people I know, and my Southern ground hornbills because of their size and the difficulty to get them to breed. They are wild caught and it has taken them years to settle down. They too are very smart & I play games with them like hiding some of their favorite food items in their aviary each morning & watching them find them. Usually doesn't take long.

SSA: You have other bird related ventures, how did those come to be?

Dick: I started Cuttlebone Plus in 1986 and it became full time in 1991 when I purchased Avico (Lory Life) from the inventor. I've just now retired from that & my son Brett now runs the company. I also write a monthly column for Bird Talk and have for many years. I'm a "twitcher" (bird watcher) as well, and enjoy avian photography.

SSA: What is your favorite thing to do while you are away from the birds?

Dick: Umm, this is a family website so I'd better skip that answer ;-) I enjoy racing and social activities with the Porsche Club of America, in earlier years the answer would have been surfing, but I haven't been out in about 3 years now.

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