The Known World Aviculturists Guild Comes to Aethelmearc
By Biya Fujin (Lady)
For millennia the beauty, song, and social qualities of three orders of birds have enchanted human civilizations around the world: Passeriformes (includes song birds, finches, and canaries, but also corvids [crows, ravens], starlings, and other familiar wild birds), Columbiformes (pigeons and doves), and Psittaciformes (parrots). Since the beginnings of the Society, gentles have brought their companion birds with them to events. After all, what could be better than a weekend camping with your favorite feathered friend? Yet aviculture the science would not become part of the SCA until the summer of 2006 when this lifelong mundane aviculturist first started researching our beloved feathered friends as they were kept in period.
This study was started as a simple effort to prove to gentles in my local area that yes, parrots really were kept in period and that the Old World is home to numerous parrot species. Yet it took an area demo featuring falconry laurel Mistress Brianna McBain and her red tail hawk, Clarice, to demonstrate just how little the public, not just those in my local canton, knew about birds—of any order! On August 14th, 2006, the Known World Aviculturists Guild was first created on yahoo groups with initial membership that first week in the south region of the East kingdom. By September, the guild had spread—to Atenveldt, An Tir, and beyond. Soon, even the editors of Bird Talk magazine were interested in this strange little bird club on the internet filled with people who not only worked on improving their day to day skills as aviculturists, but on how these beautiful birds were kept in the middle ages. The Known World Aviculturists Guild was running—at least within the internal bird community already present in the SCA, those gentles who had always brought their birds to events out of pure love for their birds.
The Guild added a new dimension to this experience: the new possibility of integrating period knowledge and methodology to mundane aviculture with live companion birds. Certain safety limits needed to be enforced—just as with any animal art or science. For example, many of the materials used to create parrot cages were either not strong enough to handle strong parrot beaks or were toxic if repeatedly put in a bird’s mouth—the mechanism parrots use to climb. Instead, parrot aviculturists in the society choose wood play gyms (documented by Jan Steen’s “The Effects of Intemperance” http://gandalfsgallery.blogspot.com/2010/11/jan-steen-effects-of-intemperance-c1663.html) and (ceramic coated) stainless steel cages designed for parrot beaks and filled with natural wood perches, natural material toys, and a variety of period and modern food and water dishes. Our aim is to learn about companion birds and their care in period and (when applicable) apply this knowledge to the practical care of our own birds in our own lives.
But growing the guild beyond the borders of existing bird enthusiasts already in society proved and proves to be more difficult. Gentles assume that our guild is only for those who keep birds in their mundane lives rather than looking to aviculture as a way of exploring the true depth of all society offers. They assume that birds have nothing to do with their society experience or what they are interested in learning about through the SCA.
However, aviculture is not the narrow science it is assumed to be. Aviculture encompasses literally dozens of arts and sciences as applied to companion birds. These range from those you expect like bird psychology, herbalism (food, perches, toys), genetics (breeding), and period avian medicine to many more arts and sciences you probably do not associate with birds, including cooking (foods fed to birds include many healthy table foods), ecology, evolution, paleo-climatology (that is, the weather and climate of the past), religion, illumination (many primary sources on birds come from border illuminations in medieval manuscripts), textile arts (as today, companion birds were popular subjects of textile art), history (birds and bird culture made many historical contributions), woodworking, metalworking, and many many more! In fact, there are few arts or sciences that do not in some way touch upon this topic of companion birds in period.
The lands of the most desirable aviculture species are also some of the most heavily fought over regions of the world. Indonesia, home to many period parrot, finch, and dove species, changed hands no less than 4 times in period, making the beautiful flora and fauna of these islands also casualties of human wars over possession of these amazing forms of life. Some of the most beautiful parrots in the world originate from these “spice islands”…such as many “white cockatoos” (common term for genus Cacatua which includes umbrella cockatoos, Moluccan cockatoos, Goffin’s cockatoos, citron cockatoos, eleanora cockatoos, and the rare Abbott’s cockatoo), lorikeets (prized in medieval China for their colors, despite the challenges of feeding nectarvores species), and many sub-species of Long-tailed parakeets (Psittacula longicauda). The history of these beautiful birds is also the history of war over possession of Asia, the south pacific, and of course, the Americas, home to genera Amazona (Amazon parrots) and Ara (macaws).
Most gentles in society are also unaware just how popular keeping a bird really was in period. In an age where animals were raised for their practical benefits like transportation, herding, vermin control, hunting, food value, or guarding abilities, companion bird species were the greatest exception to this rule of practical use. Companion birds were instead raised for their beauty, their song, and their social characteristics. They were the first “pets” kept strictly as such—with no further usefulness beyond the joy their presence gives us. A beloved hunting dog or falcon was still there, first and foremost, for her hunting prowess—in air and on the ground. Cats in period were largely reviled, presumed to be in league with the devil. Yet most families managed to afford at least a simple house sparrow to sit with the ladies of the home and keep them company while they cooked, spun wool, washed, and handled the chores of the household. Greater wealth meant the ability to afford more desirable species…like the four species of parrot genus Psittacula that were referred to as “popinjays”. These long, narrow tailed parrots range from 33cm (plum head parakeet) to 58 cm (Alexandrine parakeet) long and from 100 grams to over 230 grams.
As a result of all these misconceptions about companion birds in period, aviculture has yet to grow beyond the boundaries of those gentles who have spent most of the SCA careers as mundane aviculturists and choose to learn about period aviculture in addition to their day to day modern aviculture. I have discovered that people simply do not recognize how aviculture relates to them and their personas nor the important roles that companion birds played in world history.
Until gentles outside of mundane aviculture discover this beautiful
and wonderful field of study, many misconceptions about birds will persist—with consequences for the living breathing birds in our world today. Unlike some areas of study, aviculture (which typically includes the study of wild members of each species) is a living, breathing science sensitive to each person’s day to day choices. Many species are ecological niche species, sensitive to the slightest shifts in climate, food supplies, and habitats. The messy eating habits of parrots serve numerous other species in each ecosystem that participate in, bringing food from lofty tree tops to where other animals can feed and helping plants procreate. Lorikeets are critical pollinators for dozens of plant species, just like bees and hummingbirds.
Yet an alarming number of the companion bird species kept in period are on the IUCN’s red list with more and more species added every year on the swift road to extinction. Keeping these birds as companion birds does not help. Unlike falconry, which requires a federal license to practice and severe penalties for those who illegally possess, harm, or kill these wonderful birds, companion birds receive little to no legal protection. Unlike the extensive training required for a federal falconry license, a person with no knowledge or particular concern for the well being of a companion bird may purchase, keep, improperly house and feed, neglect, and do worse to a companion bird.
Medieval aviculture is the period arts and sciences of companion birds, the parrots, finches, dove, pigeons, and songbirds that generations of humans have loved, adored, and fostered for uncounted millennia around the world. They hold a unique place in medieval life, yet also bound very different socio-economic classes and lifestyles of people together. They are some of the most beautiful and colorful birds in nature. Few species are domesticated: mostly pigeons, doves, and a few finch species. The rest are as wild in instinct as their wild cousins. They are social prey animals whose main predators tend to be raptors (order falconiformes); only socialization and efforts by us to befriend them allow these wonders of nature to grace our lives. There are few joys greater in life than successfully befriending and bonding to a companion bird, a bird who comes to trust you and yes, love you, as few animals can. These are some of the most intelligent creatures on this planet who think, feel, and desire just as poignantly as humans. Most companion bird species mate for life. The marriages of large parrots last for several decades. It is with honor and humility that I have long called these beautiful birds my friends. It is my hope that I may serve Aethelmearc and the Known World in helping others discover the wonder, beauty, love, and historical importance of these amazing feathered wonders.
