African vs Indian Silverbills

[Dirosar]

Hi all. New to this site. Posted this question under the "species" topic but didn't have any luck. Can anyone tell me whether African or Indian Silver bills are more active and vocal. My goal is a cheerful aviary with active birds and lots of chirping and singing. I thought Africans would be a good choice but then read somewhere that African Silverbills are relatively inactive. Does anyone know if this is true? Can't seem to find out anywhere.

[MisterGribs]

Hi all. New to this site. Posted this question under the "species" topic but didn't have any luck. Can anyone tell me whether African or Indian Silver bills are more active and vocal. My goal is a cheerful aviary with active birds and lots of chirping and singing. I thought Africans would be a good choice but then read somewhere that African Silverbills are relatively inactive. Does anyone know if this is true? Can't seem to find out anywhere.

Hello, Dirosaur! I hve been looking at this question for days and felt sorry that I couldn't help you.

SO I went to youtube and watched lots of videos of both indian silverbill and african silverbill to do a little comparative research. In my observation, the africans do seem less active than the indian ones. They have a very beautiful song similar to a canary's that I really enjoyed listening to.

However, the indian silverbills also seem to be more high strung, I saw two different individuals react fearfully to a small black ant while feeding. Yes. An ant. One of them fled. D: These were free roaming birds used to seeing insects.

I advise you to do the same, have a nice view of lots of individual videos from various owners, and see for yourself! In my uneducated opinion, it seems the african birds are more relaxed and less active than the indian cousins, but they sing a beautiful song.

[Sojourner]

DANG IT! Now I want some African Silverbills!

Save me! Tell me they require live food! That will end my bird-lust - at least for that particular species.

[w.l.]

Sojourner

Bad luck, silverbills are perhaps the most vegetarian finches from Africa.
Unlike African waxbills, they don't require livefood even when nesting.

More info:
http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... erbill.php

[Sojourner]

w.l.

DRAT it all! Must ... limit ... bird lust ...

But nevertheless can't help wondering if they would still sing in a cage of all males ...

[w.l.]

I think males alone tend to sing more, desperate to attract a mate.
If you like them, buy them! But bear in mind that this species is just about impossible to sex visually.

[Sojourner]

w.l.

Par for the course. All my favorite finches fail to be dimorphic. Bengalese. Owls. Javas. Drat drat drat.

[Sojourner]

So I walked into my locally owned mostly-bird-pet-store and lo and behold - one single solitary silverbill in the store. The owner claimed she thought it was a male. But he didn't seem to be singing. He was in the cage with a pair of some kind of weavers, some spice finches, one single solitary cordon bleu, and something else I've forgotten. She said he wouldn't sing unless a female silverbill was also present.

They had no idea if it was an African or an Indian silverbill. I'm going to guess African - it seemed more buff than grey. But I could be wrong.

I was so tempted - but only one by itself is never a good idea and given that he/she is for sale because the owner couldn't find a mate for him/her, I figure my chances of finding a second are pretty slim.

[Sheather]

Totally untrue about the singing; if it wasn't singing it's a hen.
You could easily get one with a spice and they'd buddy up.