What AM I?

[debbyloo]

Please weigh in & help solve this mystery: Wish I could post a picture but am too inept. A pair of cordons w/history of tossing babies, and a pair of gouldians (red head yellow back w/white chest male and black head lilac breast green back hen) are nesting SIDE BY SIDE & on approximately the same schedule. I leave both pairs alone and do not peek at all. Cordon eggs hatch - one baby found under the nest area one day, then another noticeably larger but still very young hatchling (no feathers, etc.) a day or two later. I popped both into a society nest with 2 male piebald crested societies & left them alone. Gouldian eggs never hatched (infertile?) but possibly went from five to four (they were in a pile and I only peeked quickly when I rescued the 1st tossed baby). Cordons stopped feeding their remaining 2 babies & they died. Societies fed and warmed the foster(s) but apparently only one survived. Several days ago it fledged. There is not the first blue (or green) feather on it anywhere. It is nicely feathered out, and is a medium brown above and a light brown/beige with VERY faint darker brown streaks below. A tiny area of light blueish (skin?) is at the corner of each side of the outside of the beak, but it is not a definate raised glow-in-the-dark dot. The fledgling ACTS like a society - flits its tail and wings, carries it cocked upwards quite a bit. There is only this one baby. I have had this pair of MALE societies for over a year - never any eggs or babies from them (and they have a nest to hang out in) and have seen them both sing over and over and over. What is this baby? Not a cordon, right? Could it be a gouldian? The baby goes in and out of the nest throughout the day, and is sleeping in it at night with the societies. Since I have never seen a fledgling cordon, gouldian or society, I am left wondering. Only male societies sing, right? Thanks for any opinions!

[B CAMP]

If it was A gouldian it would have the dots, I haven't seen a CB baby?
Try this link it will show you how to post pictures very easy another[smart member] made this up workes great http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2813

[L in Ontario]

A pic would definitely be of benefit in trying to figure out the mystery fledger! Hope you can post soon.

[Sally]

Here is a photo of two BCCB fledglings--the hen is on the left, cock on the right. Hens don't have much color at first, but there usually is some blue at the base of the tail, as well. Hope this helps.

[debbyloo]

I will try to get a photo posted at some point. I know a picture would be most helpful! Thanks for the link about how to do it. My fledgling looks much like the cordon chick, but without the blue. I will try to check the tail feather area to see if maybe there is some blue there!

[dfcauley]

I think if it was a courdon blue it would have some blue on it somewhere.

My society finches have been able to sneak a baby in on me every now and then. If you don't mark the eggs you can never be sure.

One time I thought I had some owl babies being fostered and it was a society. What a disappointment!

[debbyloo]

Here's some pictures of my mystery fledgling. No blue or green feathers anywhere. What is he?

[L in Ontario]

If you don't have any adult Star Finches, then I'd hazard a guess that it's a Society Finch.

What type of Society Finches do you have?

[debbyloo]

I only have 2 societies - both crested white and brown (piebald?) & marked very differently, so easy to tell apart. I have had them for over a year in a community flight cage, watched both sing and dance the whole routine over and over and over - so, both males, right? In all this time, they have never once produced a single egg or baby even though they hang out in their own nest all the time (like societies do). I know they are "breeding rabbit birds" so surely I be up to my eyeballs in societies by now if they were a pair, and surely I'd have more than just this one if they did lay eggs! I put 2 tossed baby birds in their EMPTY nest to foster, thinking both tossed babies were cordon bleus (both found under the cordon nest, one tossed one day, one tossed 2 days later), but now that I see this little guy (with NO blue), I am wondering if the second tossed baby (it was substantially bigger than the first) might have been a tossed gouldian chick (they were nesting right next door on same schedule and so perhaps they started with five eggs, tossed one that hatched, and the other four eggs just never hatched. Just speculation on my part since I never peeked except quickly one time and only saw a "pile" of eggs. I eventually tossed the four clear eggs after it became clear they were never going to hatch. The gouldian pair are a red head/white breast/yellow back male and a black head/lilac breast/green back hen - so who knows what combo that would yield!

I have no star finches so it can't be that. I have a pair of owls, but they have raised before and their fledglings look just like their parents.

I agree that the little guy looks like a society, but I am thinking NO WAY~

When the chick yawned, I saw faint markings at each inside corner of the beak, and it does have a small blueish spot on the outside of each corner of the beak too - societies don't have that do they?

Thanks for any insight!

[Christopher Smith]

It's some type lonchura. Society? Spice Finch? Silverbill?

[debbyloo]

Well, I do not own any silverbills or spice finches. Just these two "male" societies who both sing and dance that crazy wind-up sticcato society song (have to laugh!), along with some gouldians, cordon bleus, orange-cheeked waxbills, orange breasted waxbills, and owls. Of those, the only ones nesting were the gouldians and cordons. The owls have raised in the past but were on a break, and the others have never shown any interest in nesting or otherwise raising a family.

Does anyone know if it is possible for a female society to do the male song and dance? I specifically bought these two societies a year ago after watching them a long long time, seeing them both do the male song and dance in the cage, and seeing it repeated ad nauseum in my flight cage by both. I wanted 2 males so I would not have any society eggs, intending to use the 2 males as a fostering pair.

[Misso]

Is it Possible that one of the male Socitetes mated with the Gouldian Hen??? and now you have a Cross Bred Fledging??? im not to sure if its geneticly possible, but you metioned it had blue nodgles on the side of its mouth? gouldian chicks have them. but the chick is brown in color and iv never seen a brown fledging befor.

[Sally]

If you compare the photo of the mystery baby with the CB chicks, they are much smaller, and the beaks are different, smaller and more pointy on the CBs. Yet, it is hard to believe that you could have had a m/f pair of Societies for about a year, with a nest, and no previous eggs or babies. Perhaps it is a Society/Gould cross. Or, under species info at the FIC, for Societies, it says they can cross with Red-cheeked Cordon Bleus, and if that is so, then it would not be much of a stretch for one to cross with a Blue-capped Cordon Bleu--after all, they are all CBs, just different subspecies. So perhaps it is a Society/Cordon Bleu cross. It will be interesting to watch this little one develop!

[Christopher Smith]

Can I change my mind?

It does sort of look like a CB

[B CAMP]

YES YOU CAN