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Meet some of my finches, both past and present. I enjoy my finches immensely. I know many of them better
than I know most people. With some photos, there will be a story attached. I hope you enjoy visiting with
them.
Finches Present:
Lady Gouldian Finches (Erythrura gouldiae)
| BlueBell BH PB BB Hen |
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| BlueBell is my largest hen. She is just finishing up a molt in this photo - taken in August, 2004. |
BlueBell was my first visual blue gouldian. I purchased her from Michael Lamereaux when she was still uncolored.
She's been a very heatlhy hen. All her babies are big and beautiful, just like she is. It was a bit rocky getting
her to feed her chicks at first. I ended up handfeeding one of them (Kismet - see below) because she was stuffing him
full of pulverized oystershell and nothing else. He was literally pooping pure calcium into my hand. But with
the next clutch, she finally got the hang of being a mother and managed to raise a total of eight chicks with her first
mate - Split2Blue. Kismet was the only visual blue she's given me so far.
I'm currently waiting for BlueBell to get serious about breeding this year but so far, she's ignored a parade of
potential mates.
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| Kismet - RH/BH PB BB Gouldian Cockbird |
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| Kismet all colored up and looking vivacious. Nacre (pearl society) peeking out of nest. |
Kismet is my first successfull hand raised gouldian. This was the first chick of BlueBell's that survived, thanks
to my handfeeding and the help of foster zebras. Kismet was a huge chick - I could barely band him with a D sized ring
at 8 days. By the time he fledged, he was taking SIX mls of handfeeding formula/feeding. This is more than twice
the normal amount a gouldian fledgling will eat. I've never had a finch with such a voracious appetite. But he
was otherwise healthy and turned out to be a gorgeous male.
Kismet has been the father of seven chicks. He was the WORST father imaginable. His mate, Demi Tasse and
he argued over nesting sites. She ended up building her own nest in an OJ carton nest, laying the eggs, incubating them
and feeding the chicks. Well at least Kismet fertilized the eggs. He also drug out society chicks, maiming them
in the process and two of his own chicks. I finally pulled him from breeding. He wasn't even one year old when
he became a father and with gouldians, it can take two years or more for them to settle down to be good parents. I hope
that next year, Kismet will be a better breeder.
He isn't tame but he does respond to his name and knows a hand signal I used to ask him if he was hungry. While
I'm not a big fan of RH gouldians, Kismet is by all means a most gorgeous blue mutation lady gouldian finch.
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| Xeniades - BH PB/WB BB Gouldian Cockbird |
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| Xeniades at about six months of age inspecting a wicker nest. Isn't he spectacular? |
Xeniades was my very first blue chick. I had no idea his father was split for blue. Unfortunately, Alba drowned
in his water dish during a bout of what I think was night frights - very sad loss. :(
Xeniades' mom is BlueBell. I fostered eggs to the society finches after a few starved chick episodes. Xeniades
was in a room with only societies and blue caps. As a result, his contact call is more that of a blue capped cordon
bleu than it is that of a gouldian. I always know when he is talking to me because his whistle is extremely distinct.
Xeniades likes to duet with me.
So far, Xeniades has been sired several chicks but hasn't raised any successfully. He tends to get excited at about
six days and drags the chicks out of their nest and hides them about the flight cage - a most annoying behavior indeed.
He seems to have worked out a deal with a male pair of societies. Helvetius, Xeniade's mate lays the eggs and then Xeniades
and the bengies incubate the eggs. Once the chicks start hatching, Xeniades jumps ship leaving the bengies to
feed the babies. Its a most peculiar arrangement but so far, it seems to be working better than Huckle Buckle Bean Stalk
find the hidden gouldian chicks. I've lost several because I've not found them until they are dead. At least
Xeniades doesn't maim his chicks like Kismet does - and I have hopes that with time, Xeniades will be a good father.
He is just about two years old now.
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| Romulus BH/OH PB GB cockbird |
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| Romulus shows off his feathers. |
Romulus is a perennial favorite in the bird room. He was one of the first goulds I ever bred. His parents, Io &
Empress Wee-Dee are both unfortunately dead. :( I sold or traded many of their chicks and Romulus is one of the
remaining birds I've kept. He consistently puts out a very long and impressive central tail feather and I think he's
one of my more brilliantly colored normal backed gouldian males. Romulus had a few chicks last season with Noni.
Right now, he's paired up with BlueBell, to make some more /BB that are totally unrelated. Unfortuantely, she's not
a whole lot more interested in Romulus than she has been in any of the other males. In fact, aside from incubating
six plastic blue eggs for three weeks, these two haven't done much at all. Romulus is one of my best singers/dancers.
In this pic, Romulus is missing some feathers about the face mask because he was feeding two chicks. Sometimes,
the chicks' beaks will rub off the face mask feathers.
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You can see many other photos of my birds in my various Fotki albums:
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