Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

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OliwiaMoriarti
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Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by OliwiaMoriarti » Sat May 11, 2019 8:31 am

So, I'm not sure why, but my zebra finch hen, Kim, seems to really enjoy making those cute sounds. When she sings, she puffs her feathers a little and spreads her tail. As you may hear in the video, her mate seems to just kind of ignore her when she does this. She looks like she is really happy when she does this, and I have only seen her do this when she's out relaxing.

Do any of your hens do this too? If so, does anyone know what exactly this means? Or is she just doing this for fun?

Here's a video I recorded of Kimmy singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9-CMFd ... e=youtu.be
I have two zebra finches; Mouschi, and his girlfriend, Kim.

Icearstorm
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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by Icearstorm » Sat May 11, 2019 11:39 am

OliwiaMoriarti

I had a proven female society puff up like she was singing a few times. I'm not sure it was related, but she died a month later due to unknown reasons.

Are you sure this bird is a hen, not a juvenile male, or a male with sex markings obscured (pied birds can sometimes be difficult to sex visually)? And how old is this bird, if you know?

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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by OliwiaMoriarti » Sat May 11, 2019 2:46 pm

OliwiaMoriarti

I had a proven female society puff up like she was singing a few times. I'm not sure it was related, but she died a month later due to unknown reasons.

Are you sure this bird is a hen, not a juvenile male, or a male with sex markings obscured (pied birds can sometimes be difficult to sex visually)? And how old is this bird, if you know?
I'm quite sure she's a hen since I have seen her push out multiple eggs. She's healthy and very energetic. She just puffs up a little when she sings the same way my male does when he sings. My roommate and I have noticed though, that the way she sings slightly resembles the way we call the birds to us when they're out of the cage. I know that parrots, crows, and other such birds like to learn sounds and replicate them, but I have never heard of a finch doing that, so Idk if that's the case.

Also, I don't know her exact age, but she should be around one year old. I got her from a pet store, so it's a bit hard to actually get any specific information on the birds from them.
I have two zebra finches; Mouschi, and his girlfriend, Kim.

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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by Icearstorm » Sat May 11, 2019 4:20 pm

OliwiaMoriarti

Interesting. Some female Estrildids do sing, but it is rare. I've heard of some finches putting human speech into their songs, but I haven't heard of them replicating sounds to communicate with people.

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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by OliwiaMoriarti » Sat May 11, 2019 5:05 pm

Icearstorm wrote: OliwiaMoriarti

Interesting. Some female Estrildids do sing, but it is rare. I've heard of some finches putting human speech into their songs, but I haven't heard of them replicating sounds to communicate with people.
That's pretty interesting. I'm just gonna keep a close eye on her, just in case. I did notice, that since she started to do this, about a month or so ago, she has gotten better at it, and seems to hold one specific song more often than not, rather than just making random sounds. Also, I'm not sure if this is relevant or not, but I do know that she was the only female in the clutch and the only female bird she has ever known was her mother, or at least that's what I've been told when I asked about it.
So maybe she thinks she's a male?? Idk, that sounds very far fetched, but I have no better explanation for now.
I have two zebra finches; Mouschi, and his girlfriend, Kim.

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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by Icearstorm » Sat May 11, 2019 6:28 pm

OliwiaMoriarti

I suppose it could be possible, although I thought there was a brain region in birds that was related to singing and different between sexes in species where only males sing. I'm not sure.

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Re: Zebra finch hen trying to sing???

Post by OliwiaMoriarti » Sat May 11, 2019 7:10 pm

Icearstorm wrote: OliwiaMoriarti

I suppose it could be possible, although I thought there was a brain region in birds that was related to singing and different between sexes in species where only males sing. I'm not sure.
Yeah, I have read about this before, that's why her singing really confuses me. I'll just watch her closely, and try to figure out why she does it. Maybe someone knows something more about it though, so I'll look around the internet for more answers.
I have two zebra finches; Mouschi, and his girlfriend, Kim.

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