As I’m shivering in the cold of winter in Sydney during my kids “summer” holiday I have time to flick through the last six months of Australasian avicultural magazines and news papers to see what’s of concern to the hobby. There are of course the usual finch and aviary profiles but behind these gratification [...]

The cost of finches here in the Philippines as elsewhere relates to both the demand and the difficulty with which they can be kept and bred. This difficulty can result from lack of knowledge or available infrastructure or it can be innate or genetic. Zebra finches are easily bred but new mutations are [...]

Zombie, noun. The living dead – a dead creature reanimated via a supernatural force and known for their propensity to eat human brains! Photo courtesy of Blogspot
I don’t want to talk about the creatures of fiction but the real zombie birds that haunt a few aviaries around the Philippines.  These zombies are the remnant trophy pieces [...]

I stumbled across a group the other day that may be useful for Finchme readers to know about: the Finch Fanciers Club of the Philippines. To find out more go to thier Yahoo Groups  or Face Book pages. This group of enthiasts meet once a month in Manila.  I haven’t joined up yet but some of you [...]

Lip-stick marked Java

The Java Sparrow or Maya Costa in the Philippines (Padda oryzivora) is the largest of the Estrilidid finches and while not brilliantly colored it is a strikingly elegant bird. Javas are closely allied with the munias (Lonchura spp) and in keeping with that group are sexually monomorphic. These birds are widely kept [...]

I can see lots of discussions have gone on over the last 3 weeks while I was in Australia so it’s certain the counters were malfunctioning.  I left knowing that my Java Sparrows had successfully incubated and hatched young as I could hear the hatchlings before I left.  Even now some 24 days later they [...]

Well November’s gone by and still no one appears to have read the last few posts (or the counter’s not functioning) so there may not be anyone to wish a Merry Christmas to but I hope you all do anyway.
My last 6 months have been particularly disappointing in that my aviaries appear to have been [...]

Oscar Wilde was never cited but in this weeks New Scientist there is a story which reports on a paper from the  Proceedings of the Royal Society that would fit perfectly into “The Importance Of Being Earnest” except its about zebra finches! The lesson confirms that zebras prefer to never to marry above their station in [...]

Domesticating Finches In the Philippines
Introduction & Scope
The routine capture and domestication of wild birds is a taboo subject that most modern aviculturists agree should stop but that will only happen when domesticated strains are secure. In my homeland, Australia, laws governing the capture and sale of wild-life have prohibited this practice (at least for Australian [...]

The  BIRDS club asked me to give my presentation again for their show on Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 3:00 pm at the People’s Village within Tiendesitas.
I was amazed by the remnant trophy birds on display.  Some I’ve never seen previously and I was particularly impressed by a pied Star which rather than being a normal flecked [...]