Stopping imports of African finches/waxbills

[lovezebs]

cjkrit

Found them.
They are actually not all that terribly different from our plain Sparrows really.

What's your intake on Bird bans from Africa by the way?

[cjkrit]

How unfortunate that all the beautiful creatures in nature are being destroyed by criminals.
Rhino, elephant, birds and you name it are all falling prey to these mafia.
As long as money rule the world we will not make progress.
Pity because now everybody else must suffer.

Whether the ban will actually solve the problem remains to be seen.
In many cases it only worsens the situation.

Let us hope for the best so that it will have a positive outcome.

[Sojourner]

Hmmm, wild caught birds being driven to extinction ...



HEY! Clearly we need to start trading in wild-caught English House Sparrows! That ought to save a bluebird or two ...

But only in the US, or wherever else they have invaded and are pushing out the native birds.

MWAH HA HA HA HA!

[Stinch]

I used to see wild caught house sparrows for sale, but for some reason they stopped catching and selling them . They breed pretty easily, they have a pretty easy to obtain diet (Except for the pellets, you could feed them passerine pellets I guess. They eat bugs, seeds and pellets if you feed them pellets. And maybe vegetables and fruit) and the most obivious one: They pretty much invaded the entire world, there is no (Except the Artic and Antartica, and maybe some islands or places they have not invaded yet) place you will see them. I actually tried to capture a couple with this live bird trap I borrowed. It sort of looks like those small rectangular carrying cages, but with a flip top and when the bird goes inside the cage and eats the bait and the flip top closes. (I failed, I caught aggresive feral budgies instead) I really don't like getting wild caught birds, but most of the parrots and tanagers (Or grosbeaks) I see for sale at illegal bird markets are (Normally) wild caught, where do you think they get those beautiful tanagers? There are breeding programs to prevent getting wild-caught birds, but what about the gene-pool, inbreeding, low amount of captive birds. You won't see these problems for breeding parrots or tanagers though, you'll rarely see any finch that aren't zebras, societies or gouldians. Even gouldians are rare for sale, but plentiful at some hidden breeder. The birds I only see for sale are budgies, chickens, quail, ducks, canaries and maybe cockatiels. Finches are prety rare to see for sale anywhere, you have find breeders (Which are pretty well hidden, only give aways are the sounds of the bird and the birds themselves)to get the bird. But I agree, it's pretty sad to see animals suffer for demand on the black market and pet trade

[Stinch]

I am not sure about the ban... Won't that just make the animals more valuable and the trappers will get them more and more until there is nothing left to take? I reallly wish there a better way to negociate without money, I wish there was no black market (Or crime or bad politicians. Without crime.... I'm not sure if that is bad and good at the same time, might be both). I wish there was a better way to get birds (Sometimes when someone breeds birds, the bird might not have stimulation, proper food, not enough space or social contact, plus they get their babies raided for the pet trade...) than capturing, there is breeding, but it needs to be done properly. I really want to see some birds in a perfect enclosure (I'm guessing that might be a GIANT eclocure then ).

[lovezebs]

Magnificent BirdMan

I think we all wish for a perfect world, my friend, but sadly that is not the case.

The bird trade can be a very ugly scene, and quite heartbreaking. Definitely not something for the tender hearted.

[slwatson]

I'm not very knowledgeable about African finch/waxbill species....I have a pair of BCCBs, but what are the names of some others?

[Sally]

Here is a link to a list of the African finches. After you look at the first page, scroll back to the top and click on the 'African Finches' tab for more species. Some of these have never been available in the U.S.

http://www.carolinabirds.org/HTML/AF_Fi ... rildid.htm

[slwatson]

Sally

Thanks Sally! I remember seeing several different African species, now that I know what they are from your link, at the last bird mart I went to in Grapevine.

[Sally]

slwatson Yes, you will find a few African species at local bird marts, but they are usually in short supply. There simply aren't as many breeders working with them as with the Australian species.

[slwatson]

Sally

Well, I'm working hard on getting my cordon bleu pair to breed...they keep going back and forth in the nest, so I'm not sure what they're up to. I thought I heard babies, but now I think it might have been mom. They are very protective of the nest though. When I go to change food and water, one usually flies in, and the other stands guard at the front of the nest.

[Sally]

That sounds very promising! I have a pair of Red-billed Fire finches that have been incubating, and yesterday when the male went in the nest, I swore I heard babies, there was such a chattering coming from the nest. I couldn't stand it, so when they were both out of the nest, I checked. No babies, only two eggs, one infertile, one perhaps DIS. Rats! The male must have been doing a lot of talking to himself! I think this pair is getting old (only two eggs and only one fertile), so I'm glad I have another pair coming after the new year.

[slwatson]

Sally

A couple of days ago, I was moving the cage a little to clean, and I could see the nest from the back...I thought I saw at least one egg. They're not in the nest all of the time though, so I don't know if it's fertile.

[Sally]

I have had birds that left the nest every time I walked in the room, so that I didn't see them in the nest. I was so surprised when I could hear babies in the nest, as I didn't have a clue that they were incubating. They can be such clever little things!

[lovezebs]

slwatson and Sally

My Fires, are sitting on the nest like Velcro, taking turns, with both of them in there at times.