Absolutely agree SallySally wrote: They look like Black-rumped waxbills to me. The pink bums are really more like pink in the vent area--the rump is above, not below the tail, causing confusion. People often look at the vent area as the rump. Check out this article at http://www.finchinfo.com for terms of anatomy:
http://www.finchinfo.com/physiology/bir ... _terms.php
Totally agree, well saidw.l. wrote: The bottom line is that you can't safely pick a pair when buying. A singing bird is a male, a silent one is either a female or a quiet male! Sometimes males have a bit brighter, darker colors. But if you really want a pair to breed, you should probably buy 4-5 individuals and wait for a pair to form.
If you just keep them for beauty, any 2 birds will do though.
Can't really see properly but what you call the common in the bottom picture I'd say to me it looks like a big red eared / black rump but like I say can't really see the picMariusStegmann wrote: I took photos of the common waxbill and St Helena waxbill with my cell today. The photos are not great but note the white colour of the St Helena's chest and the uniform dark colour of common waxbill. Also the common waxbill is much larger. The song of the 2 species are also very different.
Common waxbill at the bottom and Sundevall's waxbill with orange ring against the wire.
They're definitely red eared / black rump Elana baring in mind that I've studied these now for over 30 odd yearslovezebs wrote: cjkrit
Hate to tell you this Chris, but my guys have red/pink bums and half way up the tummy.Go figure...
The mystery continues .
~Elana~
My name is Laszlo.Stuart whiting wrote: Sorry I keep calling you mate but I don't actually know yer name
You'd be surprised at how domesticated some of the waxbills have become over the years and the st Helena normally settles down quite well, soaked seed and some live food is all that is needed,
As this post is a couple of years back I'd be interested to here how you done with yer waxbills
I love books too, and am sure people's knowledge of aviculture would be much better if more of them sought info from quality books even today, rather than trying to collect info, often unreliable, from all over the internet.Stuart whiting wrote: Incidentally I'm actually a quality bird book collector and probably have around 350 odd bird books in my study, many on waxbills, Asiatic, Indonesian, African, Australian and European finches, probably have around 70 books actually on finch and canary breeding in aviculture,
Reminds me that I must have a sought out some time as I've now got far to many books and need to cut down considerably to just me best and favourite books
Hi laszlo,w.l. wrote:My name is Laszlo.Stuart whiting wrote: Sorry I keep calling you mate but I don't actually know yer name
You'd be surprised at how domesticated some of the waxbills have become over the years and the st Helena normally settles down quite well, soaked seed and some live food is all that is needed,
As this post is a couple of years back I'd be interested to here how you done with yer waxbills
My username here stands for my initials.
My Helenas have settled down perfectly and are perhaps my calmest waxbills.
They sure get sprouted seed and small livefood like all my finches.
However, as I had suspected from the beginning, they are probably a same sex couple so have made no attempts at nesting.
I have been trying to find another Helena or more ever since, but no luck.
Yes mate if only you were a little closer to me you'd be most welcome to come round for a coffee, look at the birds in the birdroom and then sit and go through all of me books in me studyw.l. wrote:I love books too, and am sure people's knowledge of aviculture would be much better if more of them sought info from quality books even today, rather than trying to collect info, often unreliable, from all over the internet.Stuart whiting wrote: Incidentally I'm actually a quality bird book collector and probably have around 350 odd bird books in my study, many on waxbills, Asiatic, Indonesian, African, Australian and European finches, probably have around 70 books actually on finch and canary breeding in aviculture,
Reminds me that I must have a sought out some time as I've now got far to many books and need to cut down considerably to just me best and favourite books
I'd love to browse through your collection!
I also have a decent collection of books both on aviculture and birds in nature, in English, German as well as my native Hungarian (I live in Indonesia but come from HU).
I actually find German books beat the rest, and once I coughed up ca $200 to buy their 2 volume encyclopedic Prachtfinken (Estrildid finches), I now find most other books hardly ever need to be consulted!
Another fave of mine, Christina Koepff's New Finch Handbook, is an English translation if a German original.
But I still find bits and pieces of useful info even in old books.
There is nowadays an unfortunate tendency, especially in English langusge books, to focus more on glossy paper and colorful photos than on lots of good info!
....lolsSure there are, in fact you've been answering posts by them on this very thread.Stuart whiting wrote: I'm sure there's others aswell but haven't revealed themselves yet
yea I know what yer saying Laszlo but I did mention experiencedw.l. wrote:Sure there are, in fact you've been answering posts by them on this very thread.Stuart whiting wrote: I'm sure there's others aswell but haven't revealed themselves yet
Well yes I suppose there are a few other good waxbill breeders Laszlo who possibly have some experience but have also noticed that there's also a lot who lack this field of knowledge regarding waxbillsw.l. wrote:Sure there are, in fact you've been answering posts by them on this very thread.Stuart whiting wrote: I'm sure there's others aswell but haven't revealed themselves yet
