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Anyone here know what the mouth markings of the BCCB look like or better yet anyone with a picture?

I'm starting to think I have a rogue Zebra hatchling in my Blues nest! I have no way of knowing though as I don't know what their mouth markings look like. If I compare it's markings to the markings of a bunch of Zebbies it looks the same .

Check out this link
http://www.efinch.com/gape.htm

Thanks Bill. Yes one of the first sites I checked, but they don't have any CB's or even close relatives. Suppose I will have to wait and see what the little tyke turns out to be. Pin feathers coming in now. They will tell a story. My CB's are very tolerant of nest checks, so I have been checking almost every day on its progress comparing it to the Zebbies out of curiosity. Hence the sudden moment that my blue baby was perhaps a little too much like a zeb! Oh well time will tell. That would be Murphy having a good laugh at my expense.

Monique, if you go to the following thread and click on the photos to enlarge, there is a picture of a BCCB baby with mouth open, so you can see at least part of the mouth markings. There are four BCCBs and four Strawberries in those photos, but the BCCBs are the only ones with open mouths. You can see the color of the fuzz on BCCBs too, which is very brownish-tan, compared to the very light fuzz of the Strawberries. The first photo is May 19, the second May 25. The BCCB babies fledged June 1, the Strawberry babies fledged June 4.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11634

There used to be an outstanding site for mouth markings by Hoffman Photography, but they have taken that part of their site down. I used it more than once to ID a baby when I had mixed species clutches under fosters.

Thank you, thank you, Fardad--I had lost that link, and so I thought it was no longer available. It is a great site for mouth markings.

Sally wrote:It is a great site for mouth markings.

Extremely thorough.

OH thank you so much all for the links and help.
Such wonderful, helpful people sharing this site.

I have hope that it is a BCCB. It's got fawn fluff (which I thought might be fawn Zebra) and if you compare the BC and Zebra mouth markings they are rather similar at first glance.
I will wait now and see what happens. The pin feathers are coming through on the back and wings. (all a dark fawn, but then I suppose so do adult BC's) I really hope I do have a baby BCCB. I will be ecstatic if it is.

I will try take a pic. I have two nests. One with the single chick which the parents are raising. I have another nest which I put under the fosters. I was emptying nests and found two eggs in one, ice cold but they had veins forming so I took a chance and fostered them. They hatched. I unfortunately lost the youngest but the eggs again reminded me of bluecaps. They have a particular shape to them. I may be hoping for more than I will get, but the babies look much like the parent raised youngster. I will have to be patient and wait it out. They could also just be Zebras.

Looks to me from the pics of the BC mouth markings that they have some blue in the back of the mouth. I didn't notice that with the zebra's.

That's an excellent thorough site!

Renee

Oh well I guess that the fosters are looking after a clutch of all zebras! Left over eggs perhaps from a pair I gave back to owner.
Mouth markings on the very dark skinned one is the unknown baby. All the others are Zebbies.
The single occupant of the BCCB nest was not being co-operative and is quite camera shy. It's eyes have opened, so s/he no longer begs when I open the box. It was rather cute though and kept trying to hide under the unhatched eggs.
What you think? Do I have another deliquent zeb? If so my BCCB are really the best fosters! ARH

Another distinctive marking on the CB babies is the stripes down the side of the mouth and neck area.

psilocybin6 wrote:G. Hofmann & F. Scheffer’s website is still online - http://www.hofmann-photography.de/index ... mouthmark/

Wow! That is awesome - I've never seen that page before. The Violet Ear mouth looks a lot like the Grenadier mouth. Once thing I've noticed to in taking pictures of these guys is that the Grens have that bright orange in their mouth and a few have a light orange. I've been wondering if the dark vs. the light would indicate female or male later. Maybe I should split band them now to see if t proves to be female vs. male later.

Thanks Misty for that additonal tip. I will try look for it. The little one though hides quite well and even with a bit of prodding won't move. I dare not pick it up. My CB's may be tolerant of nest checks but I don't want to try my luck with actually disturbing the occupants.
If it turns out to be a zebra that website sure helps to indicate why the CB's would feed. The mouth markings although different are similar.

Oh

A little grey Zebra fledged on Saturday!!! Naughty Zebbies. So very glad those parents are gone (Johnny Bravo CFW and Peaches). They were rubbish at raising any young killing all babies reared under them, but rather prolific layers it seems.

Still rather proud of my CB's though. They reared a chick on their own (perhaps not theirs) but they did it without much live food and with constant nest checks. Perhaps I will try use them to foster waxbills if I am ever in a bind...

Congrats on having a gr eat pair of cb's

I agree what an awesome pair to raise a species not their own! Keepers for sure! Now just to get them to have their own eggs