Greenfinches

[Razasings]

Hello everyone, I'm having a tough time trying figure out wether this greenie[album][album][/album][/album] is a male or female???

[isobea]

Razasings - I can't really tell from your picture, so I found two pretty typical pictures for you. I'll try to attach them. Your bird's head seems unusually dark. Is it a young bird?
Iso

[Razasings]

I will try to take some better photos in am. Thank you for thoses pictures, I am not really sure how old they are I was given two as gift from my wife. She explained to me that she got them as a pair.

[isobea]

Razasings - I checked some more and it seems that the one in your picture on top might be a young, not fully colored male. The females usually don't have any yellow on their sides or bellies but show the typical streaking.
Did your wife get them from a breeder? Maybe you can ask him/her some more questions.
Good luck and let us know what you find out.
Iso

[Razasings]

Isobea- thank you for your comment, my wife informed she acquired the beautiful feathered friends from az birds. The gentlemen informed her they were a pair. Sorry I haven't uploaded some more pictures I will try again tomorrow morning.

[Razasings]

Finally was able to post the pictures of the pair, first 3 are supposedly the female, last two are male photos.

[isobea]

Razasings - Oh boy, to me even the bird in the first three pictures looks like a male (a lot of yellow on his belly/underside). Have you compared your birds to the picture of the female I posted? That female has almost no yellow-greenish color on her belly. Her breast and belly are greyish with the typical streaking (darker grey lines and streaks going down her breast and belly). To me it looks like you might have two young males.
I just checked the green finch photo on the AZ website and that one shows a female. She has a little more yellow on her belly than the one in my picture, but she still shows the pronounced streaking.
Have you called AZ birds and talked about your questions and concerns? Maybe send them some photos.
I wish I could be of more help.
Iso

[Razasings]

Isobea- I have definitely thought about giving them a call or emailing the pictures too them. They do seem to be going threw a moult. So I wasn't sure if I should just wait till there done to make sure there colors wont change. The head and back of one of the birds is definitely a lot more grey looking than the other bird, which is why it's throwing a curve ball to me. In this Photo which was supposed to be the male he clearly has a lot more yellow in his Brest.

[isobea]

Yup, that's a male. Funny time for them to molt, though. Should be in late summer. BTW, this last one is a great picture. Clearly shows the coloring. Maybe you can get the same angle of the supposed female.
Iso

PS: How big is the cage they are in? Greenfinches are pretty sturdy birds that need room to move around and fly.

[Razasings]

The cage I keep them in is a 4ft x 3ftx 3ft. They are alone in the cage seem to be adapting well since I've received them from AZ, I don't understand why they would be going threw a soft moult maybe at az the lighting was different, I use a full spectrum bulbs and have my lights on the timer that is the safe hours of daylight in Boston Ma. Which currently is around 14 hours. I will try to get another picture of the supposed female when I have a chance.

[jonvill]

HI Raza,
14 hours of daylight is a lot of daylight. Maybe that's why they started the moult.
Here in San Francisco, our day is aprox 12 hrs 45 mins.
John

[Dave]

I don't know for sure, but 14 hours doesn't seem like a lot of light. Greenfinches breed in Europe where the summer day length can be more than that.

They're in the same family as Canaries. Canaries start to molt some time after the day length starts to decrease--a few weeks after June 21 in the northern hemisphere.

[Razasings]

I figured that Dave due to the fact that my canaries and grey singers are in breeding mood, so I don't understand why the greenfinches are moulting the only common logic would be they were being housed in a controlled light environment where ever there where before I received them.

[Dave]

Razasings, I think you're right. It may take a year of seasonal lighting changes to get them straightened out. That's just a guess. Once they're out of whack hormonally, I don't know what it takes to get them back to normal.