Finch communication & body language

If you are new to the hobby and have some "newbie" questions - feel free to post them here! :0)
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singsong
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Finch communication & body language

Post by singsong » Tue Jan 29, 2019 5:17 pm

Hi, everyone! Do you know any resources that talk about how finches communicate and what different body languages and sounds mean? Or would you please share some of your observations with me?

I'm brand new to keeping birds (just got my first 4 finches over the weekend) and still learning. There are some great sources of information for most topics, including housing, feeding, and all that good stuff.
One thing I haven't found is a good guide or explanation of finch behavior. I don't have a lot of experience with birds, so interpreting what they're doing is still pretty hard.

For example, one of mine was fluffing/shaking her feathers every few seconds when I first got them up this morning, and I was wondering if it meant she was happy, nervous, itchy, or what. :P

The only information I've been able to find online about bird communication is about other types of birds and I'm not sure how much it "translates" for finches. Here's an example of one I found about budgies: http://littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/ ... guage.html

Anything like that for finches? Or what can you share from your own experience?

Thank you!

Icearstorm
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Re: Finch communication & body language

Post by Icearstorm » Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:26 pm

singsong

What species do you have? Different ones have somewhat different behavior.


Fluffing and shaking (called "rousing" by falconers) helps get the feathers in proper position. It is usually a sign of comfort, and is frequent after they bathe; they usually combine rousing with wing-flapping to dry off more quickly. If they rouse continuously without being wet for 5+ seconds while leaning forward or picking at themselves, there may be something bothering them (mine do this when another bird poops on them).

Beak-fencing is a mild form of aggression.

Preening birds oil their feathers to keep them clean. Often a bird will preen its body feathers with its beak, but use its feet to scratch its head and neck. They take oil from the preen gland on their rump and spread it onto their body feathers using their beak, or use their beak to get oil and then scratch their beak and then their head with their feet.

Allo-preening is when one bird preens another, and is a sign of bonding. They don't use oil for this.

Pecking is a sign of aggression, but is sometimes used by singing males to get the attention of another bird.

Plucking can be a result of stress/overcrowding, nutrient deficiency, pain (if done to oneself), too much blue lighting, or lack of nesting material.

Nesting calls are used when the bird finds a potential nest site or enters the nest. It seems to attract the mate to the nest site.

Contact calls are normal chirps that alert the birds to each other's presence. They can also be loud, drawn-out, or screamy when one bird is calling for another it thinks is lost.

Alarm calls can alert birds to the presence of a predator, and sometimes the type (flying, walking, etc).




While finch behavior is similar among species, calls can be quite different. Here's what my societies sound like:


Contact calls: one-part meep/mreep/cheep calls for males, two-part cricket-like calls for females. Much louder when stressed.

Alarm calls: quiet chip for low- to mid-level stress, somewhat loud 2-part chip for areal predators. Single chip results in looking around, raising head, and smoothing feathers, while double-chip results in flying for cover and freezing in place, for up to a few minutes

Nesting calls: whining, nasal mrrr, often repeated in clusters of 2-3



Birds of the same species, sex, and bloodline can still have different voices, so pay attention to the structure and context of the noise, rather than its specific tone when trying to figure out what it means. I know I've made that mistake before (three males had different stressed contact calls than their father and previous birds I had; I thought they meant different things, but that turned out wrong).

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Re: Finch communication & body language

Post by singsong » Wed Jan 30, 2019 1:57 pm

Thank you so much for your detailed and helpful answer! I have a lot to learn for sure. I watched again this morning and I think she may have been "rousing" because she was happy that I switched on the light above the cage. She was fluffing herself under it again today.
Icearstorm wrote: What species do you have?
I have two society finches and two zebra finches. We were a little concerned the zebras would be too pushy, but the well-respected local store we got them from assured us they've kept the two species together before and it would probably be fine. After some initial hissing over the top-most perch on the first day, they're now getting along fine and sharing space without problems.

I'm pretty sure we have a male and female of each species, and they've paired off accordingly. The zebra boy has those orange cheeks, while his counterpart does not and also doesn't sing. Same with the two societies -- only one of the two sings so I'm pretty sure the other is a female.

That said, a question: The non-singing society finch -- which I'm guessing is a female and nicknamed Betty -- gets very active in the evening after I switch off the light over their cage. She flies up and down from the top perch to lower perch, making cricket-like chirping sounds and repeatedly approaching her partner (the male society finch, Bandit).

He sits right against the bars on the top perch, apparently trying to sleep (the zebra pair was also resting together at the time), but Betty keeps fluttering up and giving him a little poke, sometimes hopping up to cling on the bars above his head and then back down to the perch beside him. She was even sitting on top of him last night, as if she was mounting him. Am I wrong about her sex, and both societies are male? Or do lady finches do that? Or am I misunderstanding completely and she's being aggressive?

Those two are often together, grooming each other and snuggling, so I figured they were generally on friendly terms. She doesn't appear to be hurting him and he frankly seems pretty unconcerned about it (to my admittedly untrained eye). Any idea what's going on between these two?

Thanks again for your help and advice, Icearstorm!

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Re: Finch communication & body language

Post by Icearstorm » Wed Jan 30, 2019 4:13 pm

singsong

If she's not yet used to the schedule, she might just be a bit freaked out by the lights suddenly going off. She should get used to it eventually. I keep my lights on a timer so the birds know when they should settle down for the night.

Society finches will sit on top of each other; they love being close. I have had female birds that mounted other females and proceeded to "mate" with the bird below, wing-flapping and vent-pressing and all. These birds were definitely female, as I saw two lay eggs, and they all raised babies with a male. I wouldn't worry about it so long as none of them seem bothered.

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