The Common Waxbill *Questions*

[Sally]

I've never had this species, but according to the FIC, only the males sing.

[lovezebs]

Sally
That's how I figured out I had two boys. One was silent as the grave until we got home. Then my 'girl' broke into a song and dance routine. Then the one who was warbling in the store followed suit, and I had two singing and bouncing around.

[w.l.]

The bottom line is that you can't safely pick a pair when buying. A singing bird is a male, a silent one is either a female or a quiet male! Sometimes males have a bit brighter, darker colors. But if you really want a pair to breed, you should probably buy 4-5 individuals and wait for a pair to form.
If you just keep them for beauty, any 2 birds will do though.

[lovezebs]

w.l.
At 2 for a $100.00, I don't think five or six is an option.

~Elana~

[w.l.]

Then you may just have to live with whatever you have.
Or keep buying one more bird till it proves to be a female.

As it is, both of my common waxbills may be females.
Neither sings, though when I had newly put them in the aviary, one tried hopping onto the back of the other twice.
My 2 lavenders may well be 2 females, too.
Neither species were bought for breeding, but of course a true pair is always better!
It's nice to have species with clear sexual dimorphism.

[Rox]

I had 2 pairs of red-eared waxbills and lost one bird (I 'think' a hen) over winter. I definitely have a definite pair though, as there is much dancing and wooing going on at the moment between 2 of them. I need to get another hen to make the 'foursome' whole again.

They are awesome to watch in a flock, like the orange-cheeks. Everyone sticks together and follows each other around. It's super cute

[MariusStegmann]

I took photos of the common waxbill and St Helena waxbill with my cell today. The photos are not great but note the white colour of the St Helena's chest and the uniform dark colour of common waxbill. Also the common waxbill is much larger. The song of the 2 species are also very different.

St Helena

St Helena Waxbill.jpg (34.6 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

Common waxbill at the bottom and Sundevall's waxbill with orange ring against the wire.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann
Thanks Marius.
Are you raising them?
My little guys, I am told, are Red Ears. Regretably both appear to be boys. Both are singing and hopping around with a little piece of hay in their beak. Maybe better luck another time.

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs No, I only have about red eared waxbills, about 8 or 9 of them.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann
If you have a couple of girls, send them my way. Would make my boys oh so happy.

~Elana~

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs Darn, I wish I could email you a few.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann
They're pretty small.... would they fit in an envelope???

~Elana~

[MariusStegmann]

It won't work Elana. Some Post Office workers stamp letters real hard and our Post Office has been on strike for the last 3 months.

[cjkrit]

The males are pitch black around the vent while the female has a clear brown colour.

[MariusStegmann]

cjkrit Are you talking about sexing the red eared or black rumped waxbills as some people call them?