White-headed Nuns, anyone?

[finches247]

I would like to some more Munias species here in NZ all you can get is Societies , Tri Coloured Nuns and very old Spice Finch & get import as its banned.

[w.l.]

finches247

Can't you get the Australian species there?

And all those old Spices haven't produced any young?

[finches247]

We used to have alot of Australian,African & a lot of the Asiatic Munias here but now down to just 3 lonchura species.The Spice I know of are 7 year plus so pretty much past breeding & Tri Colour Nuns are heading same way won't be around for too long.Finch keeping isn't that popular here anymore.

[w.l.]

For some reason finch-keeping seems to be losing popularity everywhere, with most people preferring parrots.
Mind you, if choice was down to Societies, I might not bother either...
Well grab some of those old Spices and Tricolors if you can, people have had success breeding old birds. And it sounds like you can only gain...

[Sally]

Finchkeeping, even birds in general, are losing popularity in the U.S., it seems. Bird clubs are losing memberships, there are far fewer bird shows. It is harder to get the youth involved in birds, and we seniors are aging out!

[Sheather]

Judging from large bird departments in pet stores, the birdkeeping hobby isn't dwindling but it's changing. Parrots seem to be gaining popularity while finches, doves, and especially softbills fall out of favor. Just a few years ago, I was seeing waxbills, Gouldians, cutthroats, canaries, spice finches in shops - I have seen only pied societies and a variety of zebra finches lately. Very occasionally a canary, but canaries especially look like they're rapidly falling to the wayside - when a store does get one in, it stays in shop for six months or in one case almost a year. People just don't want to pay for them anymore, when they can get a budgie for $20. Parakeets seem to be selling better than ever, with stores around here keeping upwards of 50 at a time and selling many every day while the handful of finches they stock stay in store for weeks to months. Cockatiels remain popular and conures seem to be especially commonplace right now - parrotlets are also cropping up in more shops, but conversely, it's been a long time since I've seen a lovebird for sale in a store.

Unless we are rapidly able to breed more domesticated lines of the less common birds we'll probably be just as limited in a few years as New Zealand.

[w.l.]

The US doesn't seem to be doing really well breeding exotic finches, but so far is saved from the NZ style melt-down by continued imports from Africa, Europe and Sourh America. Should the authorities decide to stop imports one day, I imagine available species there might soon be limited to a few domestics.
AU and EU have done a decent job in establishing captive-bred populations of many munias and waxbills, though numbers of those are nothing like the domestics bred en-masse.

What quite surprises me is the popularity of Societies in North America.
In Europe very few people seem interested in them other than for fostering or in show quality. Pet keepers would much rather choose the more colorful Zebras. A pet shop owner in Budapest once told me she tried selling a few Societies but they stayed in her shop forever.
Zebras still seem to be standard pet shop offering though.

Softbills really, really seem to have fallen out of popularity.
It's incredible to see that decades ago they were often combined with finches in the same book, and there were even sparate Softbills books.
No they are really specialists' birds in the West, hard to find and/or expensive.
Again, US importers still offer a decent selection from South America and Africa.

[Sheather]

Societies are popular because of their gentle temperament - I've seen that not all but definitely many zebra finches are often extremely antagonistic.

[lovezebs]

w.l.

Not yet.
Haven't been back to the Pet Shop since the thought had popped into my mind.

I'm trying not to go all too often, as it is a dangerous place....

The second last time I went, I ended up coming home with a little Orange Cheek companion for one of mine who has been alone, and some fish, and some lights, and some treats, and... I had actually gone in to purchase mealworms, and fruitflies (which they were out of, and would be arriving the next day).

The following day, was actually a very good trip, lol.
I found out that I was due for my free bag of Dog Food (11.4 kg of Charlie food).

I had also reached my 1000 points again, so was due for a $35.00 discount on my next purchase.

Also, the Bird Manager tracked me down, regarding a little Owl Finch in the back room, which I had asked about the previous day when she wasn't in.
Someone had brought him back, claiming that he couldn't fly very well, and she had thought of me. Apparantly he was flying well by now, but she offered him to me for a fraction of the reg price. Who am I to say no???

So by the time I got to the till, I ended up with free Dogfood (usually around $ 80.00), a free Owl with my discount ( regular price over $100.00), and only paid for the mealworms and fruitflies .

That's the kind of shopping I like .

[w.l.]

Sounds like great shopping indeed but can you really expect that shop to be able to order such presumably rare (in North America) species for you?
Based on what US members were saying about getting White-heads there, I would have thought you reallyneed to tap into the serious breeders' network to uncover some Black-heads, if any, in Canada, too.

Mind you, I find Tricolor Nuns the most beautiful nuns of all, and they seem to be more readily available in your parts - none are over here though.
And according to older classification, they are the same species as Black-heads, so in a way you'd get what you wish!

http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... _munia.php

[lovezebs]

w.l.

I honestly don't know, but it doesn't hurt to ask

[w.l.]

lovezebs

No interest in tricolor as an alternative?

[lovezebs]

w.l.

If one is not available, then it is highly unlikely that the other will be, making it a moot point .

[w.l.]

They are not the same.
The tricolor seems to be the most common nun and indeed one of the most common munias in the US at least. Don't know about Canada.

[Flight Feathers]

Judging from large bird departments in pet stores, the birdkeeping hobby isn't dwindling but it's changing. Parrots seem to be gaining popularity while finches, doves, and especially softbills fall out of favor. Just a few years ago, I was seeing waxbills, Gouldians, cutthroats, canaries, spice finches in shops - I have seen only pied societies and a variety of zebra finches lately. Very occasionally a canary, but canaries especially look like they're rapidly falling to the wayside - when a store does get one in, it stays in shop for six months or in one case almost a year. People just don't want to pay for them anymore, when they can get a budgie for $20. Parakeets seem to be selling better than ever, with stores around here keeping upwards of 50 at a time and selling many every day while the handful of finches they stock stay in store for weeks to months. Cockatiels remain popular and conures seem to be especially commonplace right now - parrotlets are also cropping up in more shops, but conversely, it's been a long time since I've seen a lovebird for sale in a store.

Unless we are rapidly able to breed more domesticated lines of the less common birds we'll probably be just as limited in a few years as New Zealand.

Wow! I agree we are limited in NZ but the Zebs sell out all the time where I am and seem to be a very popular choice! As for bengalese... well I’m going to be honest and I’ve never actually seen one for sale. I’ve seen the odd Java for sale tho and I think they sell out quite quick too. We also get a few parrot finches for sale here. (Not from the pet shop but I think there are a few breeders here that breed them) Apparently the pet shop sells gouldians too but I’ve never seen any in there so they are probably quite rare here. And very rarely you get black crowned Waxbills for sale. There are probably a few other types of finches for sale here too but I just haven’t really seen many yet.

In other parts of NZ there is definitely a lot more different finches available tho. -We just don’t get them where I am.