NOTICE BOARD  -  NOVEMBER 2015
Report by Ghalib Al-Nasser

The organisation held its 22^nd Annual Meeting in Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom on 5^th June 2015 by invitation from the Budgerigar Society, to coincide with their 90^th Anniversary and a 2-day Convention. The WBO also staged its third WBO World Championship Show at this event. 20 delegates from thirteen countries attended the meeting Delegates who attended the meeting represented the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Eire, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and U.S.A.

The WBO Chairman, Gerd Bleicher, thanked the host society The Budgerigar Society for the invitation and for the generous gifts they received and extended a special welcome to Beverley Hutt, The B.S. President.

The WBO Secretary, Ghalib Al-Nasser, also thanked the host society and informed the meeting that our current membership is strong with 43 affiliated societies from 32 countries spread over the 6 continents.

The Gould Award

Since the WBO created its own prestigious award called The Gould Award back in 2011 to be awarded for Meritorious Services to the World of Budgerigars in any field; the winners receiving a special Gould Medal as well as a Certificate to commemorate the win, have been so far Jo Mannes from Germany in 2012, Warren Wilson from Australia in 2013 and Ghalib Al-Nasser from United Kingdom in 2014.

During 2015 three societies sent nominations for this award for two candidates and they were from Canada (WCBA), Germany (DSV) for Gerd Bleicher, Germany and for Reinhard Molkentin, South Africa.

The Gould Award Committee agreed on the principal of voting and reserves for existing committee members should one of them be nominated. The winner was Gerd Bleicher and the award was given as an acknowledgement of the work that Gerd has done for the WBO as Chairman since 2006 and for promoting the hobby within his society. The WBO extends warm congratulations to Gerd for achieving this high honour and also to all the other worthy candidates. The presentation was made to Gerd by the Immediate Past Chairman Roger Carr at the WBO meeting.

Gerd Bleicher (WBO Chairman) receiving his award in the presence of Roger Carr (WBO immediate Past Chairman), Beverley Hutt (B.S. President), Ghalib Al-Nasser (WBO Secretary) and Carlos Ramôa (WBO Vice Chairman)

Nominations for this award close on 31^st December each year and need to be sent to the Secretary with biographical notes of the candidate not exceeding 200 words.

WBO World Championship Show

Having laid the guidelines in 2011 for such a show the WBO staged their third World Championship Show in Stoke on Trent to coincide with The Budgerigar Society Convention show.

The show received an entry of exhibition budgerigars of 352 which also included 24 Colour Budgerigars from 46 exhibitors of which 12 came from overseas coming from Belgium, Germany, Italy & Portugal. With 5 countries participating in this event it was truly an international show.

Major Winners

Best in Show                John Rogers                  Grey Green cock
Best Opposite Sex        John Rogers                  Yellowface Grey hen
Best Champion             John Rogers                   Grey Green cock
Best Intermediate         Dean Jukes                    Spangle Grey cock
Best Novice                  Ady Lovack                    Grey cock
Best Beginner               Jody & Darryl Faram      Skyblue cock
Best Junior                   Cullam Wood                 Grey cock                 

Best of Colour Awards (receiving WBO rosettes):

Light Green                  A. Lovack
Dark Green                   A & G Adams
Skyblue                        T & A Luke
Dark Blue                     T & A Luke
Grey Green                   J. Rogers
Grey                             A. Lovack
Opaline Green              J & D Faram
Opaline Blue                T & A Luke
Cinnamon Green          R. Watts
Cinnamon Blue             T & L Jukes
Opaline Cinnamon        R. Warrender
Lutino                          R. Watts
Albino                          R. Watts
Yellow-wing                 M & D Walker
Whitewing                   B. Taylor
Crest                            A & G Adams
Spangle Green              J. Grubb
Spangle Blue                D. Jukes
D.F. Spangle                 A. Wood
Dominant Pied             A & G Adams
Recessive Pied              T & A Luke
Yellowface                   A & G Adams
Rare Variety                 S & R Clarke
Clearbody                     C. Ramôa (Portugal)
A.O.C.                         T & A Luke
Pair                              T & A Luke
Team                            J. Cosby
Colour Budgerigar        Corinne Castellano (Italy)

Long Flights/Long Tails

Many topics of importance facing fanciers all over the world have been tabled at past WBO meetings for discussion by the delegates such as flecking and feather problems. A lengthy debate took place last year about a current problem that has increased in the appearance of budgerigars on the show bench with long flights and long tails mainly in certain countries in Europe, United Kingdom and South Africa.

The debate led to the formation of new Guidelines for Judges and Exhibitors about the Long Flights and Long Tails which should be disqualified as the bird should be in proportion and balanced. It was agreed that if the bird has a long tail that touches the floor of the show cage but its head does not touch the ceiling of the show cage then the bird is not in proportion and should be disqualified. These Guidelines ar on the WBO website.

Colour Budgerigars

Colour Budgerigars are quite popular in many countries in Europe and classes for them are provided by all COM International & World Shows as part of the mandatory classification. They have been exhibited in many countries over many years including in the United Kingdom.

The WBO have recognised this variety since last year after most of the affiliated societies agreed for the WBO to adopt them in their Standard.

There is an official Scale of Points, Pictorial Ideal and Standard of Perfection for the Colour Budgerigar on the WBO website.

Judges Criteria

At the 2011 WBO meeting it was agreed to create a Judges Criteria and to assist the smaller and newer countries/societies that do not have a proper Judges Training Scheme to assist their members on how to become judges in their own countries.  The following criteria were adopted by the WBO:

• 5 years breeder of budgerigars

• Test approved by WBO

• Test through management of WBO or an appointed person from WBO

• 5 years judge in national organisation before applying to the WBO Judges Panel

Since this scheme commenced, two fanciers have taken a judging test laid down by the WBO and under  WBO supervision consisting of practical, written and colour identification tests and passed. These are  Ahmad Raza Sahi from Pakistan (passed in December 2012) and Björn Johansson from Sweden (passed in October 2013). Their societies will be able to ask the WBO to add them on the WBO International Judges Panel after completion of 5 years as judges in their own countries.

In May 2015, Maarten Haylen from Belgium sat the test and passed and his WBO Judges Certificate was presented to him at the WBO meeting in Stoke-on-Trent by the Chairman Gerd Bleicher.

Maarten Heylen from Belgium receives his WBO Judges certificate from
WBO Officials Gerd Bleicher & Ghalib Al-Nasser at the 2015 WBO Meeting

Future Meetings

The next WBO meeting will be held in late 2nd December 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal, to coincide with the national society SPO National Show. The SPO will also be hosting the 4^th WBO World Championship Show at this event as well.

The WBO is in a strong position in so far as future meetings till 2018 have already been planned with Hungary in 2017 and South Africa in 2018.

Ring Specification, Colour Code and Sequence

The current ring specification for the budgerigar and colour sequence as adopted by both the WBO and the Confederation Ornithologique Mondiale (COM), is listed below:

Member societies are strongly reminded that, when ordering rings from any ring manufacturer, to specify the exact WBO ring colour and the Pantone Code as well as the ring specification to avoid any misunderstanding by ring manufacturers.

Membership

The WBO currently is in a healthy position with 43 affiliated societies spread over 6 continents in 32 countries. They are:

• Asia: Japan, Pakistan, Philippines

• Australasia: Australia, New Zealand

• Africa: South Africa

• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eire, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovensko, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

• North America: Canada, United States of America

• South America: Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela

International Judges Panel

A list of current judges who are on the WBO International Judges Panel is on the website and full addresses of each judge may be obtained from the Secretary. The conditions relating to admittance to the WBO Judges Panel are as follows:

1.  to be a current champion breeder and exhibitor of Budgerigars in their own country. Where a country/society has only “one” Status of Exhibitor, a breeder and exhibitor of long standing will be acceptable subject to “b” & “c” below.

2. be a fully qualified judge for a minimum of 5 years in their own country or in the country/society in which they qualified.

3. apply in writing to their National Society (or the society in which they qualified) to be placed on the list. The National Society will then be responsible for checking their qualifications and, if eligible, for passing names, addresses and telephone numbers to the WBO Secretary for inclusion on the list.

The WBO recommend that member countries should consider inviting judges from overseas who are members of the WBO International Judges Panel, as approved by the WBO, to judge at shows that are under their jurisdiction. A full WBO International Judges List is available from the Secretary on request.

Affiliation Fee

The delegates present at this year’s meeting agreed to the proposal by the Executive Committee to increase the affiliation fee to member societies to become effective as from 1^st April 2016. The new fees are:

Number of Members                Annual Fee (£)             No. of Votes

5000 or above                           400                               10

3000 to 4999                             320                               8

1000 to 2999                             200                               6

500 to 999                                105                               4

Less than 500                           40                                2

WBO Badge

At the 2010 meeting, the WBO approved its own designed badge depicting the WBO logo of the Ideal Budgerigar superimposed on the world map. The cost to purchase this badge, from the secretary, is 3.00 GB pounds each, plus postage.

WBO Rosettes

Each member country/society receives four WBO rosettes each year, as part of their affiliation, for Best Any Age, Best Any Age Opposite Sex, Best Young Bird & Best Young Bird Opposite Sex in Show to be awarded to four different birds at their national show. Names of winners and photos of the winning birds are then included on each year’s Rosette Winners file. Please visit the website for current & previous winners.

WBO Executive Committee (E.C.)

An Executive Committee was created in 2004 to run the affairs of the WBO between Council meetings. The E.C. for 2015 consists of Chairman Gerd Bleicher (Germany), Secretary Ghalib Al-Nasser (U.K.), Vice-Chairman Carlos Ramôa (Portugal) and Immediate Past Chairman Roger Carr (U.K.).

The Chairman announced that he will be retiring from office when his term ends on 31^st March 2016 after serving 10 years as Chairman.

The delegates extended their sincere thanks and appreciation to Gerd for his commitment to the WBO during his years in office.

WBO Publicity and the Website

The WBO website is kept updated on a regular basis with many files of interest such as research articles, Pictorial Ideal, Colour Standards, Scale of Points, details of member organisations, ring specification etc. Photos of past WBO rosette winners around the World are also included on the website (click on each photo to enlarge it).

For further comments on any of the above items please do not hesitate to contact the Secretary and please keep visiting the WBO website for regular updates.

Ghalib Al-Nasser, Secretary/Treasurer

ghalib.alnasser@gmail.com