FINCHforum

Great news! Many of the waxbills from Ghana are being deleted from the CITES appendix, so they'll be available for import again. We're talking lavenders, green singers, red cheeked cbs, etc! While I hate the concept of wild-caught birds, hopefully an infusion of new blood with help us establish a better domestically-bred population!

Hopefully more people will start working with these species to better establish them. I have only ever seen pictures of lavenders and would love to actually see them!!

Do you know what all species are going to be removed from CITES?

The full list is on the CITES website: http://www.cites.org.

Go to Resources, Database, Species Database, and choose Ghana on the dropdown. Unfortunately it's by scientific name, but here's the list of those being deleted:

Order : PASSERIFORMES
Family : FRINGILLIDAE
Serinus canicapillus (Du Bus, 1855)
Serinus leucopygius (Sundevall, 1850)
Serinus mozambicus (Müller, 1776)
Family : ESTRILDIDAE
Amadina fasciata (Gmelin, 1789)
Amandava subflava (Vieillot, 1819)
Estrilda astrild (Linnaeus, 1758)
Estrilda caerulescens (Vieillot, 1817)
Estrilda melpoda (Vieillot, 1817)
Estrilda troglodytes (Lichtenstein, 1823)
Lagonosticta rara (Antinori, 1864)
Lagonosticta rubricata (Lichtenstein, 1823)
Lagonosticta rufopicta (Fraser, 1843)
Lagonosticta senegala (Linnaeus, 1766)
Lagonosticta vinacea (Hartlaub, 1857)
Lonchura bicolor (Fraser, 1843)
Lonchura cantans (Gmelin, 1789)
Lonchura cucullata (Swainson, 1837)
Lonchura fringilloides (Lafresnaye, 1835)
Mandingoa nitidula (Hartlaub, 1865)
Nesocharis capistrata (Hartlaub, 1861)
Nigrita bicolor (Hartlaub, 1844)
Nigrita canicapilla (Strickland, 1841)
Nigrita fusconota Fraser, 1843
Nigrita luteifrons Verreaux & Verreaux, 1851
Ortygospiza atricollis (Vieillot, 1817)
Parmoptila rubrifrons (Sharpe & Ussher, 1872)
Pholidornis rushiae (Cassin, 1855)
Pyrenestes ostrinus (Vieillot, 1805)
Pytilia hypogrammica Sharpe, 1870
Pytilia phoenicoptera Swainson, 1837
Spermophaga haematina (Vieillot, 1805)
Uraeginthus bengalus (Linnaeus, 1766)

WOW! Thats quite a list!

I googled the scientific names for the ESTRILDIDAE to finde out what they were heres what I found in order starting at Family Estrildidae.

Cut-throat Finch- Amadina fasciata
Gold Breasted Waxbill- Amandava subflava
Common Waxbill- Estrilda astrild
Lavender Waxbill- Estrilda caerulescens
Orange Cheeked Waxbill- Estrilda melpoda
Red eared waxbill- Estrilda troglodytes
Black-bellied Firefinch- Lagonosticta rara
Bluebilled Firefinch- Lagonosticta rubricata
Bar-breasted Firefinch- Lagonosticta rufopicta
Senegal or Red-billed Fire Finch- Lagonosticta senegala
Vinaceous Fire Finch- Lagonosticta vinacea
Black-and-white Mannikin- Lonchura bicolor
African Silverbill- Lonchura cantans
Bronze wing mannikin- Lonchura cucullata
Magpie Mannikin- Lonchura fringilloides
Green Twinspot- Mandingoa nitidula
Grey-headed Oliveback- Nesocharis capistrata
Chestnut-breasted Negrofinch- Nigrita bicolor
Grey-headed Negrofinch- Nigrita canicapilla
White-breasted Negrofinch- Nigrita fusconota
Pale-fronted Negrofinch- Nigrita luteifrons Verreaux & Verreaux
Quail Finch- Ortygospiza atricollis
Jameson's Antpecker- Parmoptila rubrifrons
Tit-hylia- Pholidornis rushiae
Black-bellied Seedcracker- Pyrenestes ostrinus
Red-faced Pytilia- Pytilia hypogrammica Sharpe
Red-winged Pytilia- Pytilia phoenicoptera Swainson
Western bluebill- Spermophaga haematina
Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu- Uraeginthus bengalus

Bless you!

No problem! I really do hope this opens a door for some of these birds to be reestablished in the U.S. I have read in a lot of old finch books about birds like the Cut throat, being popular and easy to find! I have never seen one let alone seen a place that raises them or sells them!

lucky you lto we have a total import banat the moment the whole of Europe just makes the back door smugglers line their pockets better

Out of curiosity I did a search to see if I could find any one importing birds from Africa. I managed to find one place www.birdsexpress.net based in California that is importing lavender waxbills and cut throat finches (as well as lots of other species). I don't know how reputable a bird dealer they are, just thought others may find it of interest.

That's the dealer I keep hearing about on other forums. Several members know the people who run the business, and I've heard nothing but positive things.

With so many hobbiests trying to breed all over the USA, why is it that we don't have more of a local, captive-bred population of some of these birds? I too hate the idea of wild-caught birds.

I think some are just plain hard to breed. For these there are a couple of dedicated people with breeding programs, but if they are spread out across the country and don't necessarily know about each other, it's hard to find additional bloodlines. I think folks recognize that this new availability will most likely just be for a limited amount of time, and there's already been a lot of talk about organizing and making the best of this opportunity.

I prefer buying captive raised birds over wild caught ones however with some of these species it has become virtually impossible (at least for me) to find any one who raises them. I remember reading something about the NFSS starting a finch and soft bill save program to try and preserve the variety of captive raised birds available in the U.S.

Yes, NFSS started a program, but has had a hard time getting it off the ground. Unless everybody participates, it just doesn't work, and they'd either have a director full of ideas with no participation from members, or members who wanted to do something but no leadership. A lot of people want to see it work, especially with the new availability of some of these species, so hopefully it'll take off this time. They've made some changes that I think will help it work. Then maybe these species will be more available without having to capture those poor little guys. Think of gouldians - they're in very bad shape in the wild, but are alive and well in captivity thanks to the interest of breeders. So there's a definite benefit to captive breeding (apart from our obvious desire to be able to enjoy them). Check out NFSS - there's a lot of politics, but joining the group gives you access to some VERY knowledgeable people keeping, breeding and showing every species you can think of.

I will have to check out NFSS, I wonder If they would beadle to help me find breeders in my area. I also have found another group that is working to preserve captive raised finches. The American Soft bill and Finch Association there web site is http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3ft62/amer ... sociation/
I found them through wings aviary web site (a great place to get birds by the way!). They are a fairly new group I believe from looking at there web site.

Also check out http://www.birdbreeders.com - it's a searchable database.