Parrot Finches

[lovezebs]

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=w ... 0uxvAsDO0A



Hello Parrotfinchers....

I have noticed over time, that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the different species and subspecies of Parrot Finches among enthusiasts, breeders, Pet shop staff, and members here on the Forum (myself included ).

Our Colt opened up this can of worms, with his post about the Red Throated Parrot Finch, and the Red Headed Parrot Finch.

When I purchased my lovely green and red beauties, I was told by a breeder, and by two different Pet Shops, that they were Red Headed Parrot finches..... In reality, they are Red Throated PF's.

This ongoing confusion goes on, as folks are not sure what their birds are, and pass on the wrong information to other people, and so on, and so on, ad nauseum.

Soooooo, in doing some reading here and there, and everywhere, and coming up against these miss-identified birdlings, I got more and more frustrated. Then I came across this particular site (a group on facebook, to which I don't belong).... However, they appear to have all sorts of information (hopefully the right information ), on different species of these lovely little birds.

I hope this will be helpfull to all of us confused folk.

Please feel free to add other sites on this Post, that will clarify the Parrot Finch Confusion.

[slwatson]

lovezebs

Thank you SO much for this Elana! This is awesome!

[Sally]

Unfortunately, many websites dedicated to the Parrot finches perpetuate the misinformation, as they refer to the Red-throated as Red-headed. When in doubt, it is always safe to check on the scientific name, to eliminate the confusion. The Red-throated Parrot finch, which is the most common one, is Erythrura psittacea, while the Red-headed Parrot finch, which is quite rare, is Erythrura cyaneovirens. It has been so common to use the term Red-headed for the Red-throated variety in the U.S. that many if not most people do not realize there is a difference.

[slwatson]

Sally

On this particular site, there were several references to red headed that's I'm pretty sure were red throated. Are read headed pfs the same as red faced?

[slwatson]

Sally

Right now, bird product has "red faced parrot finches" available, but those are NOT red faced. They're red throated.

[lovezebs]

And so the confusion continues

[lovezebs]

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=w ... 7pDJa97uTg

Maybe this site will help
I found it quite informative.

[Sally]

slwatson The terms Red-faced and Red-headed are often used for the Red-throated. If the birds are in the U.S. or Canada, they are most likely Red-throated, as the true Red-headed Parrot finches are quite rare in aviculture in our two countries. I don't really know if any exist in the U.S. or Canada at all, probably not.

Back when I had a pair of Red-throated Parrot finches, I called them Red-headed and Red-faced, because that is all I had heard them called. In fact, at bird marts, vendors usually had what they referred to as Red-faced and Blue-faced. Blue-faced is correct, but Red-faced is not for the birds that were being sold. I now know better.

[Smurf]

Elana, if you look at the 'available birds' on the initial link you posted you'll notice the're called red headed so probably not a good example for explaining difference

No matter where you see them for sale they won't be advertised as red throated and always as either red faced or red headed. So many breeders have used these terms for decades that it's now the normal way to refer to them.

[lovezebs]

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


@Smurf

You're right Padraic....

The more I look into it, the more I've come to realize that the names Red headed, Red faced, and Red throated, appear to be interchangeable.

Here's a site with some interesting photos of the different species.

[slwatson]

lovezebs

Red-faced is referring to a totally different species of parrot finch though. I do see how red headed and red throated would be interchangeable.

[lovezebs]

slwatson

Hi Stacie,

I meant that the names, appear to be interchangeable, not the birds.

That's why I was joking about how the confusion continues.

Reading all sorts of different sites, one comes across articles, referring to the birds we have ( the 'Erythrura Psittacea', or 'Amlynura Psittacea' ), as Red headed PF's, AKA Red throated PF's, AKA Red faced PF's.

Yet in reality, it's the 'Erythrura cyneovirens', which is supposed to be the true Red headed PF.
And then, there is the 'Erythrura Regia' or Royal Parrot Finch, which is also referred to as the Red headed PF.
However, the 'cyaneovirens', and the 'Regia', (I do believe ) are two different species altogether.

It's enough to drive a person nuts.

There has to be some Ornithological authority somewhere, who can offer some clarification for once and for all.

I want some ANSWERS!

[lovezebs]

Some more Parrotfinch Info. From several different sources.

Parrotfinches

Order:
Passeriformes

Family :
Estrilda Dae

Genus:
Erythrura

~Different Species ~

Scientific name:
Erythrura cyaneovirens

English name:
Red-headed Parrofinch, Fiji or Royal Parrotfinch

Other names:
Regia or Pealii, or Peale's

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura Coloria

English name:
Red-eared Parrotfinch

Other names:
Mindanao Parrotfinch
Mount Katanglad Parrotfinch
Red- collared Parrotfinch
Coloria Parrotfinch

Mutations :
Sea Green

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Scientific name :
Erythrura viridifacies

English name :
Green-faced Parrotfinch

Other names :
Manilla Parrotfinch
Green Parrotfinch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Scientific name:
Erythrura hyperythra

English name :
Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch

Other names :
Bamboo Munia
Bamboo Parrotfinch
Green tailed Parrotfinch
Green Rumpled Parrotfinch
Green Parrotfinch
Tawny Parrotfinch

Subspecies :
Erythrura Hyperythra -
Brunneiventris
Borneensis
Ernstmayri
Intermedia
Hyperythra
Malayalam
Microhyncha
Obscure

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura Kleinschmidti

English name :
Pink-billed Parrotfinch

Other names:
Pink-eared Parrotfinch
Samoa Parrotfinch
Black -faced Parrotfinch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura papuana

English name:
Papuan Parrotfinch

Other names :
Large-billed Parrotfinch
Large-tailed Parrotfinch

Mutations :
Blu/black headed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura prasina

English name :
Pin-tailed Parrotfinch

Other names :
Long tailed Munias
Peale's Parrot Finch
Pin-tailed Nonpariel
Nonpariel Parrotfinch
Yellow Bellied Parrotfinch

Subspecies :
Erythrura Prasina Coeliac

Mutations :
Yellow Bellied
Sea Green
Pied

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura Psittacea

English name:
Red-throated Parrotfinch

Other names :
Red-headed Parrotfinch
Red-faced Parrotfinch

Mutations :
Pied
Sea Green
Blue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura tichroa

English name:
Blue-faced Parrotfinch
Blue-face Finch
Green-backed Finch
Sometimes:
Tricololoured Parrotfinch
Three coloured Parrotfinch (though these names should be reserved for the E.tricolor).

Subspecies :
Erythrura trichroa
-modesta
-eichhrni
-cyanofrons
-clara
-peleweniss
-pinainae
-sanfordi
-sigillifera
-trichroa
-woodfordi

Mutations :
Pied Blue-face
Sea Green Blue faced Parrotfinch
Lutino

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scientific name :
Erythrura tricolor

English name :
Tricololoured Parrotfinch

Other names :
Sunda Parrotfinch
Tanimbar Parrotfinch
Three coloured Parrotfinch
Timor Parrotfinch
Forbes Parrotfinch
Blue- breasted Parrotfinch

Mutations :
Pastel
Sea Green
Pied
Lutino
Black Eyed Yellow