Strawberry finch lovers

[lovezebs]

isobea

My guys (Orange Cheeks, Red Ears, Stars, Parrott finches, Shaft Tails, Gouldians, Cut Throat, Strawberries, Gold Breasts, Societies, and even Luciano, my Canary) all eat them. The only ones that show no interest, are the Zebras and Bsudgies and the tiny Red bill Fires.

My guys bite the heads off, then squeeze and suck out the innards, until there is just an empty casing left over.

~Elana~

[isobea]

Elana - my spicies used to suck them out, too. Now they've gone to just biting the heads off and leaving the bodies. Wish I could put them into a cage of their own. But they are used to moving around freely, flying longer distances and they've built a pretty cool sleeping nest in some fir branches. It just wouldn't seem right to take all that from them.
As to the fires: mine used to devour the mealies when they had babies. I once watched my male pick up 19 in one sitting before going back to the nest. Have your fires ever raised babies? Maybe they will start eating them too when they have chicks.
I just reread your post - do none of your birds eat the whole worms?
Iso

[Derk]

isobea

I checked in my smart and very detailed book and they mention two different subspecies (A.a. flavidiventris and A.a. punicea). Both are smaller than A.a. amandava. A.a. punicea is even smaller than flavidiventris. This book says that A.a. punicea is very often sold as "Chinese" strawberry finches. There also seem to be slight differences in the color of the males (brighter red, darker red)

Would you please share the name and author of your book?

[isobea]

Derk - Good morning Mary. This book was written by Renate van den Elzen, Gerhard Hofmann and Claudia Mettke-Hofman and is called "Prachtfinken Afrika". It's a big hardcover, beautifully illustrated and very detailed book but unfortunately it seems to be available only in German (and it's expensive - I paid almost 100 Euros). I don't know how many people on the forum speak German but maybe w.l. could read it.
Wish I had better news for you. How are your birdies doing?
Iso

[Derk]

isobea
Hi Iso - I have some dutch/german heritage but I can't speak German. I have good friends that are German who can read and speak the language but my talk of birds and finches likely already drives them crazy. I am not sure how they would respond if I ask them to read to me. LOL

I used google to convert Euros to Canadian dollars - it would be about $140. Not a cheap book but well worth it if it is a good one.

Google also has a translation section. Not sure if you could scan pages or if you have to type them. Regardless, thanks for the book info. I will check around - you never know. I know the owner of bird store. She has a large reference book on finches. She calls it her 'bible.' I'll have to check into the author(s). The store owner orders a lot of books from a publishing company in Australia. Who knows, maybe they translated it.

My birds are doing quite well. Thanks for asking. I have been quite busy for the last month and I needed a bit of a break so I have not been on the forum for about a week. I am organizing a large block party for Canada Day - July 1. So I will not be on that much for another week but I had to get a quick fix.

When I am 'back,' I hope to have pictures and a better update. Hope all is well with you and your birds.

[Sally]

Derk - Good morning Mary. This book was written by Renate van den Elzen, Gerhard Hofmann and Claudia Mettke-Hofman and is called "Prachtfinken Afrika". It's a big hardcover, beautifully illustrated and very detailed book but unfortunately it seems to be available only in German (and it's expensive - I paid almost 100 Euros). I don't know how many people on the forum speak German but maybe w.l. could read it.
Wish I had better news for you. How are your birdies doing?
Iso

The Hofmanns have a wonderful website featuring their photography, mainly nature/wildlife. They also have many articles on various finch species. It looks like they have some books on Amazon, but none seem to be what isobea has, which translates to Africa Finches. Perhaps one day it will be available in English.

http://www.hofmann-photography.de//html/welcome.html

They also have a great website for checking mouth markings of various species. Wonderful to have when you have that mystery baby.

http://www.hofmann-photography.de/index ... mouthmark/

[Derk]

Sally
I had a quick look at the first website. It looks like they also supply articles on various finch species as well as related info. I'll have to have a further read. Thanks for the information Sally!