Red-throated vs Red-headed Parrot Finches

[Colt]

Okie Dokie...

So here's my educational rant for the day. Red-throated and Red-headed Parrot Finches are not the same bird and the names should not be used interchangeably...

Red-throated Parrot Finches - Erythrura psittacea

Hail from New Caledonia and are available in the Normal variety (Red and Green) as well as the Seagreen variety. Pied birds can vary in the degree of 'piedness' and are available in both colors.

Pictures can be seen here compliments of a scientific name being entered into Google:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Erythru ... 66&bih=643

Red-headed Parrot Finches - Erythrura cyaneovirens

These lovely and very rare birds hail from the Samoan Islands like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock - actor). To my knowledge there are no mutations available for these birds. At least not in the US. They are also extremely rare. Like extremely.

Pictures of these beauties can be seen here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Erythru ... wQ_AUIBigB

It is important for us as hobbyists, fanciers, and aviculturists to know what species we have. I don't expect people to spout of Latin names in place of their common ones but issues arise when sellers misrepresent their birds by calling them something incorrect. Then buyers do it and the misrepresentation continues. There have even been issues in regards to the NFSS Census each year because breeders and finch keepers do not enter the correct species when discussing this species, thus skewing the numbers to show a much higher population of the rare Red-headed Parrot Finch in North American aviculture.

So please educate yourself and those individuals who purchase birds from you. I apologize for interrupting everyone's Finch Forum experience and now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

*Rant Over*

[Sojourner]

Someone posted a "red-headed parrot finch" for sale local to me. When I looked at the picture it was clearly a red THROATED parrot finch.

They wanted $110 for a bird of undisclosed age or gender. I didn't contact them - if they don't even know the correct name of the bird, that's a bad sign.

[MariusStegmann]

Colt Sojourner In South Africa, most finchkeepers refer to the red throated parrotfinch as a red headed parrot finch. We know it is not the right name, but it is widely used. I suppose it is because the blue headed parrot finch and the red throated parrot finches are the one 2 parrotfinch species that are readily available. Guys would ask you if you have blue heads and red heads for sale, and you know exactly what they mean.

[Sojourner]

Honestly, I feel that people who know better need to DO better. I'm not in S. Africa, but even if I were, I would preferentially go to the person who uses the proper name for the bird I want.

In my case, not only mis-identifying the bird, but also failing to disclose age and gender in the ad means I won't contact that seller. Three strikes!

[bmohan28]

One quick clarification to ensure i inderstood the difference correctly. Google seems to show pics of both so i just wanted to be sure.

If the head and throat are in the same color it is red throat parrot finch.

If throat color and body color matches then it is red headed parrot finch is this correct?

[Sojourner]

One quick clarification to ensure i inderstood the difference correctly. Google seems to show pics of both so i just wanted to be sure.

If the head and throat are in the same color it is red throat parrot finch.

If throat color and body color matches then it is red headed parrot finch is this correct?

Google really doesn't show them both if you search on the scientific name until you start getting pretty deep into the image list. And I fault Google for being inaccurate. It's a HORRIBLE search engine, turns up wrong crap all the time on every subject I ever search.

The first "wrong" bird I find for the red headed parrot finch is a link to pinterest, which is not a site I rank highly (or at all) for accuracy.

So no, Google ISN'T returning both until its accuracy breaks down as it does for all searches.

Regardless, between the two birds, if the throat is red it is red-throated. If only the head is red, then it is red-headed. Actually fairly obvious once you know there are 2 variations.

[slwatson]

Colt

Thanks for posting that Colt...I wasn't even sure myself if they were actually two different species.

[Smurf]

Colt , here we refer to red headed (red throated) as being the species commonly available, if i see any add for red headed parrot finch it's automatically assumed to be Erythrura psittacea.

Your photos of what a red headed parrot finch should look like are what we'd call Royal parrot finches which are very rarely if ever seen for sale.

[Colt]

And that is the issue with using common rather than scientific names.

[lovezebs]

Colt

When I purchased my kids, I was told 'Red Headed', even though they are technically 'Red Throat'. I think the confusion comes in, because they do have a RED HEAD as well. Plus, the true 'Red Heads', are very rare, and most people don't even know that they exist.

[MariusStegmann]

Plenty of birds are known by different names in different countries. In South Africa we also have local names like these below.

Shafttails = We call them Hecks grassfinches and the yellow beak ones Long-tail grassfinches.

Firetails = We call them Diamond sparrows

society finch = We call them Bengalese

[slwatson]

Best rule of thumb...always ask to see a picture to clarify if you're actually getting the correct species! I asked a bird supplier about red-throated parrot finches and he quickly corrected me and said red-faced. When I referred back to his site to see what kinds of parrot finches he had for sale, he had a picture of red-throated parrot finches for sale, but was calling them red-faced.

[Smurf]

What's the point in worrying about species ? if i was offered red headed or red faced at the price of red throated i'd know what to expect but if they turned out to be true red headed i certainly wouldn't complain