Peter Twinspots

[taffy]

Good afternoon,

I have been breeding with finches for the last four years and have been unsucessful with my Peter Twinspots. They either abandon nest early, or lay eggs then abandon the eggs etc.

I went away on holiday on the 13th Dec 15, finding my one breeding pair nesting in a finch box +- 1,5m off the ground. They seemed happy in there and they were both religiously laying on the eggs.

I was convinced they would pull it off this time albeit being in the wrong nest. When i got back from holiday there was 3 x babies in the nest. I must admit these babies do look a tad different to what i am used to.

The problem is now this. The Peter Twinspots are hovering in the area of the nest and babies, but my Blue Headed Parrot finches are feeding the babies??

Is this possible that the Blue Heads took over the nest?

I suppose i can wait and see when they fledge but right now my curiosity has the better of me.

Thanks, looking forward to some answers

Taffy

[Sally]

taffy That will be quite something if the Parrot finches are feeding the Twinspot babies! Or maybe the Parrot finches are the ones that laid the eggs in the nest. From what I have read, Peter's Twinspots prefer to build a nest on or very near the ground. Please keep us posted, it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[wilkifam]

As long as SOMEONE is feeding, that is a blessing. Wait for the suprise when the babies fledge, and you'll know what you have....

[slwatson]

taffy

I've never seen twinspots before, so I looked them up, and they're very beautiful, especially the red throated ones. I'm also very jealous that you have blue headed parrot finches...parrot finches are my favorite finch species!!! That's a very interesting situation. Maybe your parrot finches are feeding because the twinspots stopped?

[taffy]

Good morning all. I think i have solved the problem within my club members. It seems the Twinspots did have their eggs in the nest as i have observed them on a daily basis until i left for my holiday. Unfortunately my neighbour who cares for my aviaries is not that dedicated in watching what my birds do, so therefore did not see what may have transpired in my absence. The chairman of our club gave me the following explanation : the twinspots laid the eggs, in a nest that is not natural to them, then after a while the Blue head parrot finches took the nest over, laid their own eggs, and hatched blue headed babies. I have sent a pic to the chairman and he confirmed that it is indeed parrot finches in the nest. Please see attached pic of babies.

[Sally]

Glad you solved that mystery! It sounds like you have a good support group in your club. Congrats on the Blue-faced Parrot finch babies too!

[slwatson]

Mystery solved Congrats on the parrot finches!

[Sam007]

Congratulations on your new babies!

[Rox]

Mystery solved!!

It is interesting though that they laid eggs so high up in the aviary. I have 2 pairs and both have built on the ground. One pair may have chicks, as they have been brooding. I have yet to see anything emerge from the nest though (fledging date is anytime now). I also can't see in because they built a very tight ball out of grass. I would have to break into it to see if they even laid an egg but since they are very shy birds, I am hesitant to even look too closely at their nest!

[taffy]

I do believe they are very shy birds and abandon the nests if you interfere. I am very guilty regarding that and try and interact with my birds as much as possible. However i do stay away from the spots nests as much as i can. Maybe one day i will lucky and get some babies. I have also been told due to me having Painted Quails in the nest may be the reason they are trying to build higher than normal to get away from the Quails? Any comments on that.

[taffy]

The baby Blue Head Parrot finches fledged this morning. Two babies are healthy and flying around. The 3rd baby had snow white feathers which i still suspect was not a parrot finch but something else, but was unfortunately crushed by its siblings. I am attaching a pic of the body if someone could please ID the bird to solve this mystery. Thanks

[Rox]

Taffy, it's very possible that the quails are causing the problem. Since I have so many birds that nest on the ground (Twinspots and Orange-cheeks), I am totally against getting quails. They often cause more problems than anything else.

[debbie276]

Congratulations on the parrot finch!
Absolutely agree with Roxanne about the quail. Over the years I have heard many horror stories about quail snatching anything close to the ground.
best of luck

[Sally]

I searched for photos of Peter's Twinspot babies, and found one of some fledglings. They had dark beaks, so I'm thinking this baby was not a PT. What other species are in your aviary? The beak looks like the yellow beak of the other Blue-faced Parrot finch babies, but I have no idea why the white feathers.

[taffy]

Good morning, I think the mystery is solved once again through members of my club. The baby was in fact a Blue Head Parrot Finch but called a "Lutino" See this link for the unusual colours.

https://www.google.co.za/webhp?sourceid ... t%20luteno

I do believe it is rather difficult to breed lutinos, and i would have been very lucky if it had survived. Thanks for the interest. Btw i have moved my Quails to an aviary where there is no ground breeding birds,