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antipodi
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Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:18 pm
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Whilst visiting the Hunter Valley in NSW (Australia) one day I spotted this almost swarm of birds , little beautifully colored birds with wonderful calls , they were wild native finches and wonderful to watch. This started my love affair with these endearing creatures we even built a walk in avairy to house our new pets... Here some info on breed and tips...
Definition
Finches are small seed-eating passerines [perching birds]. They were previously classed as a subfamily of Weavers, but as most do not weave their nests & use a different order of nest construction, they are now classed in a separate family [Estrildidae] or subfamily. Immelmann called them "grass-finches".
These small birds vary from 8 - 10 cm long [from tip of bill to tip of tail] in the Zebra & Black-throated finches, to 15 - 16 cm in the Long-tailed finch.
Simpson & Day list 20 Australian species of finch including 5 mannikins, & there are also 2 introduced species: the European Goldfinch & Greenfinch.
So, of the CLASS Aves, ORDER Passeriformes, FAMILY Passeridae or Estrildidae & SUBFAMILY Estrildini, [Waxbills, Grass-finches & Mannikins] our Aussie types include:
1.] Taeniopygia sp: Zebra & Double-barred finches
2.] Poephila sp. [Poephila=grass-lover]: Long-tailed, Masked & Black-throated finches
Red-browed Finch [Firetail] dappled with sunlight
3.] Neochmia sp: Plum-headed, Crimson, Star & Red-browed [shown at left - this bird has no yellow patches - they are just dappled sunlight] finches
4.] Stagonopleura sp: Red-eared, Beautiful & Diamond Firetails
5.] Emblema pictum: Painted finch [firetail]
6.] Heteromunia pectoralis: Pictorella mannikin
7.] Lonchura sp: Black-headed, Nutmeg, Yellow-rumped & Chestnut-breasted mannikins
8.] Erythrura sp: Blue-faced Parrot-finch & Gouldian finch
Distribution:
1.] Most live on open grassland or savannah, near water.
2.] Two species live in the semi-desert of Central Australia: Painted & Zebra finches
3.] One species lives in the dense Eucalypt forest of S-W Australia: Red-eared firetail
4.] One species lives at the jungle edge in N Queensland: Blue-faced Parrot-finch
Diet, Eating & Drinking:
Diet in finches consists mainly of ripe grass seeds from the ground. However half-ripe seeds may be pulled from the stalk with a head-shaking movement, especially when feeding young. Some species can hold down a stalk with their feet while feeding.
While feeding nestlings insects may be taken, from the ground or in flight, & swallowed whole. In northern Australia the insects are mostly flying termites, which figure large in the diet of the Gouldian finch.
Drinking in half the species of finches is unique in passerines in that instead of scooping up one bill-full & tilting head back to swallow, it is by sucking, as in pigeons & doves. This, of course, is quicker & safer in open country, so is done by Star, Gouldian, Zebra, Double-barred, Masked, Long-tailed & Black-throated finches. The method also exploits the smallest amount of liquid in dry country, like dew from a blade of grass. Oddly enough, the Painted finch of the arid north-west & centre is one that drinks by the scoop-&-tilt method.
Movement:
Hopping with both feet simultaneously is Finches mode of progression on the ground.
Flight: [a] species in the open grassland show undulating flight & cover long distances
Some fly in dense flocks & perform sharp simultanous turns:
Star, Plum-headed, Chestnut-breasted & Yellow-rumped.
[b] forest finches have a slow steady flight & manoeuvre perfectly thru foliage:
Firetails & Parrot-finch.
Tail flicking accompanies most activities: vertical, lateral or both.
Social life, Courtship & Mating:
Social: Most finches are contact animals, i.e. they maintain body contact with eachother while sleeping or perching drowsily. Some species touch only their mate, & Star & Crimson finches touch only in the breeding season, while others often cluster in long rows or close clumps of family & friends. Mutual preening is widespread, & during this both birds close both eyes.
Gouldian, Painted & Pictorella finches are distance animals.
Most finches live in groups of 20 - 50 birds, & these communities may coalesce to large flocks in winter. The small communes feed together, bathe together & sit & preen or chat together, some, particularly the Zebra finch, in highly developed colonies with a place for everything. There is a fixed bathing place, & a special preening tree where they perch & preen after bathing. A dead tree, like a cinema or bar, serves as a hang-out for the young or as a courting or cuddling place, & loose trees or bushes without nests form a community hall or social quarter for noisy chats. Friends & neighbours may visit a couple at home, but strangers are not tolerated at the nest.
Courtship & Mating: finches usually pair for life. The Black-throated & Long-tailed finches in particular have an extraordinarily close pair bond. They won't stray more than a couple of metres from eachother, even outside the breeding season. When courting, the male begins by singing songs directed at a number of different females. The female selects the mate & is the dominant personality.
Courtship occurs in 3 stages:
1.] introductory phase: male & female hop between 2 branches with heads & tails twisted towards eachother.
2.] 2nd phase: song & courtship dance by male who bobs up & down by stretching & bending his legs. In some species the male holds a piece of grass while courting [? a nesting symbol], & in others there is beak-wiping on the branch, bowing & body shaking.
3.] Finale: the female invites mating by quivering her tail vertically. This is special to grass finches. Most female passerines quiver their wings, not tail, when soliciting.
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