‘Bluebird of happiness’ can be bought for $20K

These rare parrots come with a hefty price.

Bird Jungle on Rte. 35 is selling one of world’s most exotic parrots

BY GLORIA STRAVELLI

Staff Writer

When Angel Santiago refers to the "bluebird of happiness," he’s not being facetious.

The fabled bird of popular lore actually can be found at Bird Jungle, Santiago’s aviary/store on Route 35 in Eatontown.

In this case, the blue bird is a blue mutation yellow nape Amazon, a rare mutation of the common yellow nape Amazon that occurs once in every 300,000 Amazons born in the wild.

According to Santiago, only 25 of the powder blue parrots are in existence, a fact that explains the exotic bird’s $20,000 price tag.

"It’s the rarest parrot in the world that someone can own," Santiago explained. "Other parrots are rarer in number but no one can own them because of legal restrictions; they must be left in the wild. For instance, there are only about 18 Puerto Rican parrots in the rain forest at Ponce, Puerto Rico.

The 21-week-old female is the first blue mutation yellow nape Amazon Santiago has had at Bird Jungle, and the East Brunswick resident is enjoying the opportunity to "show how beautiful the bird is," he said this week.

"They have a tendency to be larger, healthier and a lot smarter than the common species," he noted. "Some Amazons are capable of 400-500 words; they can double that."

At just under six months, he said, the bird, named Powder, is bilingual and capable of saying a dozen recognizable words.

When they are mature at 5 years of age, blue mutation yellow napes have white feathers at their nape and a gray beak. Adults have a life expectancy of 40-50 years.

The rare parrot was bred in the United States by nationally known breeder Howard Voren, Santiago explained, and is the offspring of a mating pair imported before importation of the exotic birds was legally banned.

Santiago traded in a career as an accountant to pursue his hobby.

"I’ve always had parrots. One of my oldest is 48 years old, as old as I am, he said.

He opened his first retail store in Scarsdale, N.Y., in 1981, then moved to New Jersey and opened a store on Route 35 in Ocean in 1985. Bird Jungle has been located in Treasure Island Plaza in Shrewsbury since 1994.

According to Santiago, the store is one of the largest suppliers of domestically raised birds and supplies on the East Coast.

"We average between 200-300 birds at any given time in the store," he said. "It’s extremely interesting because every bird has its own personality and character. You’re always dealing with an individual, and its nonstop noise."