Lavender waxbills

[isobea]

w.l. - my lavenders have different personalities: the female is - just like you said - very active and curious. Sometimes I see her sitting on a branch, right up against the wire, watching the going-ons in our backyard. The male is not nearly as active as she is but seems happy none the less. I noticed a few days ago that they moved into the beautiful nest my shaft tails abandoned after their eggs proved non fertile. So yes, they have a lovely sleeping nest and didn't even have to do any of the work. It has a thick layer of feathers lining the whole inside.
The shaft tails, in the meantime, have completed a second nest and I just found the first egg in it this morning. I guess there is no stopping them. With hope this new clutch will be fertile.
Iso

[w.l.]

w.l. - In your post from 2/18 you said you were tempted to buy another pair of chestnut breasts hence my question if you did.
Iso

Well, yesterday I did.
3 of them, actually, 1 nice white-capped male and 2 greyish-capped presumed females.
The splurge cost $15, and brought the numbers of my sharpi flock to 10. Though my oldest female doesn't seem to be doing great, which was a main reason beyond buying replacements.
They are stil in a small quarantine cage, just put the colored rings on them.

[isobea]

w.l. - Oh my goodness, I'm five days late in responding.
Congratulations! Now you have quite a sizeable flock and baby sharpiis should be coming along soon. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. And then you will have to fill me in with as many details as possible about the different nesting materials, foods etc. they used. I am positive, one of these days I'll get some, too.

Now a question regarding my lavenders: the male spends quite a bit of time in their sleeping nest, most of the time he is quiet but sometimes he calls to her again and again (that typical male call). The female will fly up to the nest at times, cling to the outside edge for a second or two but won't go in. Any idea what these behaviors might mean?
Iso

[w.l.]

The sharpis are in a bare holding aviary with no nesting facilities so don't hold your breath.

No idea what your Lavenders are doing.
If brooding, they tend to take turns. Would also be super fast so soon after being bought! But keep praying...

[isobea]

w.l. - I guess our praying paid off. I just checked on their nest because my female had looked a little puffy yesterday and the day before and lo and behold there are two eggs in there!!!
I know it's too early to get excited but I am nonetheless. Now I need all of you to keep your fingers and toes crossed for me. Every bit of support might be needed.
Iso

PS: w.l. you told me they need their privacy, so from now on I will not do any nest checks and avoid the area where their nest is.

[lovezebs]

isobea

Good morning Iso, and congratulations
That's wonderful news.

I finally know, that at least one of mine is a male.
I played him some Male Lavender calls, and boy did he respond. So now hoping the other one is a female .

I'm crossing my toes and knees here for your pair, and wishing you the best of luck.

P.S. W.I. appears to have gone off the map. I guess he's in the wind again, on one of his adventures, lol.

[isobea]

lovezebs - I wish you the best of luck, Elana! Everything I read said they prefer high -as in summer - temperatures for breeding. It's not that warm here yet but their nest has nice thick walls. Hopefully keeping them warm enough.
Thanks for crossing your toes for me (I know your finger isn't healed yet), but your knees??? Did I miss something here?
Iso

[lovezebs]

isobea

LOL, I meant to say crossing my toes and my legs, because I can't cross my fingers.

As to my poor knees, let's not even go there

[ann]

isobea

That is awesome news! I hope all goes well and you have some lavender babies soon!

[isobea]

ann - Thanks Ann. I just went into the valley behind our house and brought back another one of those tall mustard weeds (the previous one had dried up). This year, after all the rain we got, they are about 8 feet tall. As soon as I stood it into the back corner of my aviary, most of the birds (the lavenders, blue cap, goldfinch, grey singer and the canary) went straight for the yellow flowers. They love to nibble on them and the lavenders were climbing around on the twigs, investigating everything, hanging upside down searching for insects. I love their antics. I noticed they are taking turns staying in the nest and by now one of them is in the nest again keeping the egg babies warm. It's a little early as most birds start sitting reliably after the fourth egg is laid, but they might not be sitting tightly yet.
Iso

[w.l.]

Congrats Iso!
And good luck as you still need it.
I was away in remote highlands of Papua, leaving my Lavendes brooding in the care of a friend. Returned home to find no chicks, just infertile eggs.

As a compensation, I returned with some long wanted Black manikins/munias/nuns, endemic to a small corner of the island though.
I have also seen 2 species in the wild (regretably but understandably unwilling to come home with me): Grand Valley manikins and, more interestingly, the never-kept-in-captivity Western Alpine mannikins.

[GouldianGuy]

w.l. The alpine mannikin looks pretty cool in online pictures!

[isobea]

w.l. - Welcome back. I was wondering what you were up to...
Yes, I realize I will still need all the luck I can get to first of all have fertile eggs and then - if so - have them raise those kids.
Thanks to my amazing book on "Munias and Mannikins", I was able to look up all three species of mannikins you mention. I do like the contrast of black body with a bright yellow tail of the Black mannikins you got. How many, or should I ask, how many pairs did you get? Out of the other two species I really like the coloring of the Grand Valley mannikins.
Iso

PS: How many finches do you have altogether?

[w.l.]

I brought home 13 Black mannikins, but only plan to keep 6. One of them might be swaped for a male for my solo Lavender hen.
I am well over my real housing capacity with 130 finches now - and that's just the finches... I also have other seedeaters, softbills, parrots, not to mention furry friends.
I'll add my signo line once again to give you the idea.
The Grand Valley mannikins are quite common in their area of distribution but no one catches and sells them. My friends keep telling me I should bring a net there next time!
The Alpines look lovely too, but I don't think birds from such altitudes would do well in lowland tropical heat.

[lovezebs]

w.l.

Welcome home!

I figured you were on one of your adventures

I don't know if I would bring a net, but I'd definitely bring a camera, to snap some pictures of both places and birds , to share with your bird loving friends...so that they, err... us, could share in your adventure ( hint, hint ).

Congratulations on the pretty blacks, are they glossy black?
They look pretty in the pictures on line.

I think pretty soon you and I both, will have to move out of our homes and live in a tent outside, so that the birds can have enough space, lol. Although I must admit, you are way way ahead of me in numbers