Help in indentifying species

[vinay]

Hello

I was down at one of the pet stores to pick up food and I happened to chance upon a cage of these guys. Any idea as to what they are ?

I apologize for the photo quality. They did not stay still for a moment and were nearly impossible to capture clearly on my phone camera. Hopefully this blurry picture is sufficient .

[Sally]

Looks like Strawberry finches. Hard to be positive without a clearer picture, but they must be Strawberries, I would think. Looks like either a bunch of hens or could be some males in eclipse plumage in with some hens.

[vinay]

They looked nothing like the strawberries in pictures ( I don't think we even get them here ). In my opinion , they looked like mini pied shaft tails minus the long tails .

[Sally]

I enlarged the picture, but still blurry. I'm going by the body shape, tail shape, beak color and shape, dark eye stripe. The second bird from the right shows the telltale spots. You may be thinking of the coloring of males in nuptial plumage, with all the red. Out of nuptial plumage, most males look very similar to hens, with only slight differences.

[delray]

They do look like strawberry finches. I zoomed in as well

[Sam007]

Yes, they look like strawberry finches.

[w.l.]

Typical strawberries, even without enlarging.
I see them all the time.

[vinay]

wow okay

Thank you for the info !
I didn't know that they aren't always red .

Are they compatible with other finches , like Gouldians or canaries ?

[Sally]

They are compatible with most other passive finches. I've never kept canaries, so I can't say how they would get along.

[wessel]

vinay

actually only the males are red, and only in the breeding season, in the winter they will look like the female. just like the weavers. to tell them appart in the winter i always look if they have spots on the rump, if they do, they are males, if they dont, they are females.

[Colt]

Yep. Definitely Strawberries.