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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Feeding green seeding grass heads to finches should be considered a must by serious finch breeders.  Dried, mature heads of millet sold at the pet store as a treat have no additional food value and are costly but do offer a form of environmental enrichment that is often lacking for cage and cabinet housed birds.  [...]

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Yesterday I came across a new article on the ABC web site with some very interesting news for Gouldian breeders.  If you have subscription to  you can read the actual academic article too from Sarah R. Pryke and Simon C. Griffith (2009) Genetic Incompatibility Drives Sex Allocation and Maternal Investment in a Polymorphic Finch. Science , 20 March 2009: Vol. 323. no. [...]

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Ringing birds is something I’ve never done but with my recent successes and multiple nests threatening to cause confusion I investigated the ringing process to help identify my birds.  As I only have a small number of birds I didn’t think that it was necessary to go to the expense of having closed , numbered [...]

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Fostering is the deliberate introduction of chicks or eggs into another birds nest.  There are many reasons for fostering and as was related in part one of this post, aviary birds occasionally and probably mistakenly do it to  when they attempt to take over an existing nest. Fostering is most commonly done to as a way to increase [...]

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It seems that in spite of my dislike of interspecific fostering that my birds have been doing it without without consulting me! Last year I purchased a pair of star finches which produced four consecutive clutches; they faithfully incubated and then let the babies starve to death within 1-2 days of hatching. I suspect that they [...]

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Sorry for not posting for the last month. Many tasks prevented me from updating FinchMe, but now I have the time to do so and I am planning to output an article at least once a week. In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone who keeps visiting the site to exchange their [...]

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