Recently I’ve been contemplating the origin, practices and future of aviculture in the Philippines. I hope that my philosophy isn’t at odds with the local authorities. I can’t speak as an avicultural or regulatory professional - just as an interested party looking at the information available on the internet and just talking to local bird keepers - about where the hobby is or should go. In this piece I’m restricting my thought to Estrilidid finches but there are other mayas like tree-sparrows which someone else may like to comment on. I have included an occasional reference to canaries this time because I know it interests a lot of locals and the prices here astound me.

Filipinos have long enjoyed birds, often for more practical than aesthetic reasons but times are changing. Early last century McGregor & Garder (1930) found five native finch species for sale in the markets of Manila(Strawberry Finch, Java Sparrow, White Bellied Munia, Scaly Breasted Munia). Even today many of the same species are still offered but are almost never from legally registered stock.

Aviculturists have a responsibility to protect and nurture each species in perpetuity, not only for our own enjoyment but to propagate for them for the next generation to enjoy and to have captive stock as an insurance against extinctions in the wild and has been shown by the Save the Gouldian Foundation a large viable captive population allows researchers to conduct research that while aimed at preserving a rare species is too riky to actully conduct on the last remaining populations. Habitat loss rather than trapping and trade is the single biggest factor in the loss of bird species.

It is here that Government policies have failed but clamping down on aviculture is seen by governments as an easy and public gesture to show they care. While the public might condemn the sale of wild birds they have little thought what their organic steak costs in terms of environmental impact or just how much wildlife their beloved cat actully consumes every year. My birds are safe from our cats but I have noted that inspite of claw removal, bells on the collar and more than adequate feeding they have killed colasisi and guaiaberos parrots, button quail, shrikes and sparrows, numerous snakes and lizards and a number of shrews.  Had I rescued these animals in time and kept them, DENR would be happy to prosecute me but since the cat killed them it doesn’t matter!!??  The public and government agencies alike prefer to burry their heads in the sand over such inconsistencies.

Philippine Finches

Only two great clades (branches) of Estrilids are now represented in the Philippines: the parrot-finches (Erythura spp – close relatives of the revered Gouldian) and five munia or manikins (Lonchura spp). Table 1 lists all species currently recognised as being wild Philippine finches. The origin of some of some wild Estrilidid finches populations are almost certainly avicultural escapes. The Java sparrow and strawberry finch are in this class but the other species too are widespread within Asia with only the green-faced and red-eared parrot-finches being truly endemic.

The strawberry finch was once listed as a wild species in the Philippines but it does seem to have become locally extinct but I have spoken to people that remember it for sale as late as 2004. The government issued export permits for up to 450 strawberries in 1990 (Table 1) which in hindsight seems irresponsible but it probably only hastened the inevitable. The strawberry is still common on mainland Asia and is established in Australian, European and American aviculture so perhaps it can be brought back. Even better would be if locals holding remnant birds got together, formed a rescue plan and bred them up again. Since finches only live 6-8 years at most such action are needed urgently for this species.

The Philippine islands are home to four forest dwelling parrot finches (Erythura viridifacies – Green faced; Erythura coloria – Red eared; Erythura hypothura – Bamboo and Erythura prasina – Pin-tailed). All are endangered but are established in aviculture overseas but unfortunately not in their homeland. Populations of the pin-tailed parrot finch were only discovered on Palawan in the last couple of years as its stronghold is on Borneo and mainland Asia. The green-faced parrot-finch appears especially threatened and past exports of this bird and anecdotal reports of it in the domestic bird-trade would indicate that it wasn’t nearly so rare. Although the government still issued export permits for 90 greenfaced parrot finches in 1990 (NSCB) it listed their status as threatened by the following year (http://www.tanggol.org/environmental_laws/DAO_48.html).

Wild parrot-finches are often reliant on bamboo seeds (Allen 1999) so the fact that each species flowers simultaneously at intervals sometimes reaching 50 years or more may mean that it’s a feast or famine for the birds and the numbers plummet and explode accordingly. On mainland Asia numbers of pin-tailed parrot finches have fallen dramatically over the last 30 years. These birds were previously listed as rice pests and the fact that insecticide use for this crop has risen dramatically over the same period is probably not unrelated to it’s decline; either directly poisoning the birds, disrupting reproduction or depleting insect fare necessary to raise young.

The Java sparrow or maya costa as it is known locally is a moderately common bird often found in mixed flocks with sparrow in the roof trusses of large buildings or in the rice fields and as the scientific name (Lonchura oryzivora) hints it eats paddy rice. The typical grey wild-type bird is seldom bred here in the Philippines but is often kept. White and pied birds are of domestic origin and overseas other mutations exist. It is considered a beginners bird like the zebra finch. It’s large size makes it unsuitable to house with other finches but can be kept with budgies and other small parrots (not love birds). Although it is common in aviculture and introduced to the Philippines it is still listed as CITIES category 2 species because it is declining in its homeland in Indonesia possibly because of the irresponsible use of insecticides in rice crops.

The other Philippine Lonchura species are subspecies of those found throughout South East Asia. The nutmeg manikin (scaly breasted munia) is found as far east as Australia but here there is some debate as to wether it is native or introduced. All Lonchura spp are monomorphic (males and females look the same) and aren’t usually free breeders but there are exceptions like the society finch. All the Philippine Lonchura species are fairly cheap when offered (<P200/pr) and so are of little interest to all but enthusiasts in the Philippines. During festivals it is quite common to find green and red dyed spice finches for sale (~P30) but from a welfare point of view I can’t condone the practice. Nearly all the birds offered for sale in the Philippines are wild caught and the manikins formed the majority of wild exports until Europe and the US banned the importation of wild caught birds.

Table 1 Wild Finches of the Philippines (Export data from NSCB)

Erythura prasina - A young pin-tailed parrot finch netted on Mt Mantalingahan, Palawan. Note the visible feeding spots simlar to the Gouldian.  Source: Samu’t Saring Buhay.

Erythura coloria – Red-eared parrot finch netted on Mt Katanglad, Mindanao. Source: Orientalbirdimages

Bamboo parrotfinch (Erythura hyperthura) from Hofmann Photography.  Green faced parrotfinch (Erythrura viridifacies) from Oriental Bird Images.

Exotic Finches in the Philippines

Of recent years the number of exotic finch species on offer has been declining as there are few breeders with the resources or knowledge to maintain them and a greater deal of difficulty in importing them since the advent of a feared bird-flu epidemic. Legislation enacted in 2004 requiring bird owners to register their birds and log all transactions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources every few months should in theory provide a comprehensive list of what is available however compliance is low because of tedious reporting procedure, the onerous penalties for breaches, the general culture and the lack of resources to regulate these fauna laws. In spite this many did comply with the laws and have been listed on a publicly accessible website for their efforts so that if you want to see what people have and how many you can examine the document from the  DENR site - it seems that there are no privacy laws in the Philippines. It does however make interesting reading so see just who in the Philippines owns cassowaries, tigers, crocodiles and of course finches (which are presented in Table 2)

Table 2 Finches held in the Philippines as listed by DENR 2006

The presence of significant numbers of green-faced parrot finches by one holder is a real surprise and it gives me hope that a domestic source for these birds can be found. From what I understand the exotic finches are all legally imported. Sadly, except for the Australian birds, society finches and Canaries, the rest look like the remnants of randomly imported trophy specimens. For instance whydahs are nest parasites of other African finches and the numbers of these birds don’t show any commitment to breeding either the host or the parasite. Since this time the number of birds available has tightened up considerably because of restrictions on the importation of birds that may be infected with H5N1 bird flu. Of the exotic birds there are now a couple more of the Australian species available but fewer of the African and Asian species. For the beginners the addition of the cut-throat finch is a welcome addition as it is a free breeder but does interfere a little too much in mixed collections.

Table 3 Finches offered in the Manila Markets 2007-08

The Future of Finch Aviculture in the Philippines

The future prospects for finch aviculture in the Philippines are good as the country is still able to import birds and with increasing disposable income more people can become involved and so the nation can support viable populations. The future for indigenous finches in aviculture is perhaps not so good if they are not valued and for the parrot-finches if they can not be bred in cages. It is this latter point that is perhaps the biggest obstacle for establishing more species here as many species just don’t perform in cages and need what would be considered here in the Philippines a large aviary. Few have the land or the money to devote to such a venture. Table 4 presents my wish-list of beginner to intermediate birds that could be introduced and established here if an importer searched around and it may be worth lobbying as a group to do this. In Australia all of these birds retail for the equivalent of P1500-3800 a pair and since no new stock of the non-Australian birds have been imported since the 1938 they are relatively easy to breed.

Table 4 Wish-list of best bet finches for the Philippines based on ease of keeping and breeding.

Many keepers here will have a wish-lists too but you have to walk before you can run and I think the birds listed in Table 4 represent a better way to go than importing trophy specimen that are destined never to establish breeding populations. As readers of Finchme know there are lots of people that love keeping and breeding finches and as we all eventually discover you can’t have everything and you can’t get it all at once.

References

Allen, D. (1999) Green-faced Parrotfinch Erythrura viridifacies in northern Luzon, Philippines. ForkTail 15:103.http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/15pdfs/Allen-Parrotfinch.pdf

McGregor;R.C; Gardener, L.L. (1930) Philippine Bird Traps. The Condor XXXII:89-100. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v032n02/p0089-p0100.pdf

http://samutsaringbuhay.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/spectacular-wildlife-finds-in-mt-mantalingahan-palawan/