Help need I'd for this finch

[lisamariebrom]

[lovezebs]

lisamariebrom

I'm sorry, did you meant that you need help with this finch? Or do you need help finding out which species this finch is?

Elana

[wildbird]

Looks like he needs help identifying this finch. Anyone know what it is?

[lisamariebrom]

Yes this is my finch, I had 2 black bellied fire finches and unfortunately the hen died, so I was looking for a replacement and I got this hen, but something tells me it might be another variety..... Just need some expert advise.

[lisamariebrom]

my last hen had a slight red color on the bottom half of her beak

[Sally]

Looks like it could be a Blue-billed Fire finch, possibly a hen? I've only had Red-billed Fires, but as you say, this one doesn't have the red under beak of a Black-bellied Fire. Also, I can't tell from the photos, but a Black-bellied Fire does have a black belly.

[NRJ]

Hi you can lookup this website:

http://www.avitoon.nl/en/exotic-birds/m ... firefinch/

it has lots of the African species.

[lovezebs]

lisamariebrom

Could it be a Jameson's Firefinch?

When I looked up Firefinches, I found all these:
African Firefinch
Blue-billed Firefinch
Jameson's Firefinch
Bar-breasted Firefinch
Rock Firefinch
Dark Firefinch
Black-bellied Firefinch
Kilkoro Firefinch
Black-billed Firefinch
Brown Firefinch

Some of these may be the same species under different names. If you google their images, hopefully you can identify your little girl.

Good luck

Elana

[Sally]

NRJ Thanks for that link! It looks like the bird in question is indeed a Blue-billed Fire finch hen, but I learned a different term for that species, African Firefinch or Dark Firefinch. It is always good to have a place to look up the various species or subspecies, as there often are subtle differences between them, and they sometimes are sold as something different. I'm bookmarking this one!

[lisamariebrom]

I'm tending to think its a Jameson, my male black bellied fire finch is not sitting with her (but they are not fighting) I am new to fire finch's , truth be told these are my 9 year old son's "birds" he picked them out at the bird mart. I have and /or had just about every other finch variety but I never knew there were so many fire finch's and many that look similar....now what to do? I need to find a female for my black bellied and now to be fair a mate for this Jameson????? HELP!

For a short time I had the black bellied pair in the cage with my strawberries, but the fire finch are a bit bigger in size and aggressive toward my nerves so they are now in their own cage.

What birds get along with firefinchs?

[lisamariebrom]

aggressive toward my berries

[Sally]

lovezebs You are right, the photo of the Jameson's Firefinch also looks very much like the Blue-billed or African Firefinch. One reason I lean toward Blue-billed is that that particular species is listed for sale with several vendors right now, while I haven't seen Jameson's Firefinches listed anywhere in quite a long time.

[Sally]

lisamariebrom Even though Firefinches are usually pretty docile, they can be aggressive towards other red species. Male Strawberries can be the same way towards other red birds, though most of mine are not that aggressive. I have a pair of Red-billed Firefinches that have gone to nest in a community cage (Prevue F030 which is roughly 37" x 27") which holds a pair of Red-cheeked Cordon Bleus and a pair of Black-crowned Waxbills. Even though there aren't other red birds in the cage, and the Fires are the tiniest, he has been a bit strict about how close the other birds are allowed to his nest.

[lisamariebrom]

upon closer inspection, I tend to agree with Sally it does indeed look more like the blue billed with very faint white dots on the hens side

[NRJ]

Your welcome Sally.