Black-bellied Firefinch

[Perfex]

Thanks for posting this. My two pairs arrived Friday and i believe one of the males is L. rara rara, the other is L. rara forbesi. They arrived in impeccable condition, im thrilled to bits.
I first got clued in that i might have the sub species by the lack of distinct eye ring, the brighter color, and slightly smaller in size than the rara rara male but I could not find pictures to back up my hunch. The pictures above distinctly show the two males I have. Need to study the hens more. I'll take photos of everyone tomorrow and post them.
As for the hens, I'm not sure, but each male is bonded to a hen and even though they are together in a large flight cage, they move around the cage in pairs.
I put hay on the floor of this cage and in the pot plants, because I knew they would spend a lot of time on the ground. This cage is only temporary as we are building an aviary (off my front porch) and we started putting wire up today, and will finish it tomorrow.
The aviary is separated by the path, so really it's two small aviaries with solid roof and pea gravel floor.
Do you suggest I put both pairs together or separate them???? They seem very amicable but I'm unsure of how territorial they might be at breeding time.

[Perfex]

Thanks for the advice. Need to ID my hens to see how to divide them. Will try to get decent, identifiable pics for you to evaluate.

As for plants. I have a cluster of 3 Nandina "firepower" bushes that I will dig up and move into the aviaries. They do not produce berries like the other nandina's where I read there may/may not have a toxicity problem. I also have seedling ligustrum to move too. You know, several weeks ago I clipped branches off of my prostrate Japanese Yew to act as cover on the outside of my cages. Saw the birds nibbling and thought I'd better double check if they were safe. Yikes!! Major Toxicity!!! They came down in a hurry which was a shame as they would make awesome Fire Finch breeding area.

[Perfex]

I finally have photos, though they are not the best, and possibly not good enough to ID well.
The L. r. forbesi cock didn't photograph particularly well, he is the most shy. One of the hens is very outgoing, and adventurous, she's a little plumper looking (fluffier than the other hen is leaner looking.
The temporary cage that they are in is on my front porch and the lighting is not great for pics.

[Perfex]

Here's hen#2

The color really is extremely similar to hen #1. Just a very slight difference. The shape is what is so different, and the behavior. This hen tends to hang out more with the brighter forbesi cock.

[Perfex]

Here's pics of boys. Pics aren't the best sorry, it's really hard to show actually how different these two are. The forbesi boy is also starting to molt.

[Perfex]

Here's the L. rara rara cock
The Red is a little less vibrant, but still stunning in person, he's slightly larger than the other male, and has a distinct eye ring. In person, the forbesi cocks eye ring hardly shows up but I notice It's more discernible in the photo.

[Perfex]

Combo pics, boys and girls.

[Perfex]

Not sure which hen this is. But forbesi above.

[Perfex]

Sorry, the pics really are terrible for IDing them. No accuracy/ consistency on color what so ever
It's so hard to show the similarities yet differences in these photos.
They are gorgeous though and now I want more. Oh dear!

[Perfex]

Actually one of the last pics where u have hen #2 with l. rara forbesi male ( that hen looks like she might be l. rara rara

I think you might be right. Her lores are not as red as the other hen also, but she does act more like the forbesi male and is trimmer looking.

None the less like you said these birds are gorgeous, personally I'm ecstatic that they brought these in now.

[debbie276]

Beautiful birds!

[Ginene]

Wow...Beautiful birds!!!

[Perfex]

Thank you, how cool is that! A pair of each!! I will try to get clearer pics for IDing
Now I have to get busy and breed them!
I am glad to see that the more outgoing hen (#1)is eating my dried insect blend, the others might be too, they are not as adventurous in my presence. It's a start though.

The other day, I stepped out on my front porch where the BBs are and saw one if those gold, winged softish roaches. Crunch, stepped on it and flung it into the cage. The hen snapped it up pulled it apart and ate it. The cage has a white back and shows any little flying bug easily, the BB's are fast at catching them.

So much fun, I love these guys!!

[Perfex]

I have better photos now. They were released into their new aviary along with a gouldian pair and seagreen and split RTPF

Within a few hours one of the males picked up a little strand of fibre and did an amazing courtship dance! Check out the pics.

[debbie276]

Gorgeous birds!
best of luck