Outside birds - are the finches afraid?

[Animal Quackers]

First let me say that my husband and I spent a while last night looking at all of your aviary pictures and my husband announced, "I WANT ONE!" I have created a monster!

Our finch cage is hung from the ceiling in our four-season room, in front of a window which overlooks the big backyard. Right outside the window is a big hickory tree and three bird feeders. There is always a lot of activity from the outside birds. I have been sitting here all morning, drinking coffee and watching the finches react to the birds outside - nuthatch, chicodees, sparrows, titmice, and a single downy woodpecker. The finches are definitely watching the bigger birds, and seem interested and not afraid, but I want to make sure that the finches are not frightened.

Do you all think the finches are interested, or are they afraid?

Thank you for your input!

Michelle

[L in Ontario]

I think the finches would be very interested in other small birds... until a hawk or other predator animal comes around. When there is any threat posed to them - they will all suddenly fly to the highest perch and freeze! When the threat is gone, then they will slowly resume their activities and singing. I see this everyday in my birdroom (even sometimes when I walk in).

Donna - have you noticed anything like this in your aviary?

[cindy]

Hi, I used to have birds out on a large flight on my screened pool area. I did notice they were interested in the little sparrows and mockingbirds that land on top to the pool enclosure. I was outside one day and noticed a hawk or two, we also have Osprey nearby nesting since we are near large lakes, we also get really pretty kytes with the "v" split tail...anyway the hawks were flying above catching the breezes and the finch fluttered and scattered as far as possible in towards the back of the cage.

I decided that it was best even they were under the roof area but close enough to the screen enclosure to see out and up that it would be good to cover the top of the cage so they feel less threatened.

You could add in the cage some silk or plastic leafy plants to hide behind or in that they can go to if they feel threatened.

In the summers in NJ we used to take our finch flight out onto the patio near our waterfall and flowers so the finches could enjoy the warm sunlight, we covered the top so they would not be scared of a crow or bigger bird from above. They loved to watch the little sparrow and wild birds bathe and drink from the waterfall and small pond. We would give the finches a bird bath in their cage and loved to bathe and sun themselves.

[Animal Quackers]

Thank you all for your kind replies!

That is pretty much what I figured - that they liked the activity of the smaller birds, but since I know so little about finches, I wanted to make sure. I am grateful for your input!

Michelle

[dfcauley]

My aviary has glass all around it. When a hummingbird comes by they are interested. Anything else .... they are scared. Even with me when I am on the outside cleaning the windows they really freak.

But the strangest things is ..... my little daschund barks like crazy and they don't flinch.

[cindy]

Donna, funny you say that about your dog.

Cali, our ruby Cavalier has a thing for sirens, she hears it before I do and goes to the slider barking, it turns into a howl, then a faster yipping. (Drives me nuts, I usually have to touch her or distract her to stop.) The birds seem completely unphased. They don't stop what they are doing or stop chirping at all.

My littlest Cavalier comes running and sits quietly next to me when Cali starts. We both need earplugs!!!

[isabird]

My birds love being outside! Other wide birds come buy to eat any seeds that may have been blown out of the aviary and my birds don't really pay any attention to them. In fact I like the birds that come to visit they are like free pets
My dogs like to look at the birds to but have been trained to look and not lunge or scare.
Budget permitted you should start designing and then build your aviary that way you can move your birds out in the spring or summer when the weather is good. This gives the birds time to acclimate before the weather gets bad.
Good luck!


Here is my aviary. Since these pictures I have added more birds, perches and next boxes. My birds breed often as they are healthy and strong from being outdoors. I build and designed the aviary myself

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6162

[cindy]

For me an outdoor aviary is impossible where I live, DEED RESTRICTED!!!! We have a huge corner plot with a pool deck and patio but I am not a fan of leaving my birds out...here in sunny Florida we get all kinds of frogs, toads and snakes not to mention critters. After finding very large snakes on my porch that got in under the door sweep( which is fixed after I had to play Ranger Rick and fish the darn thing out of the pool as my daughter locked the slider door leaving me on the porch to take care of it as she stood inside in the hall yelling "snake snake snake"...like the snake was going to get in or heaven forbid I needed to get in to get away from it). Kids!

I found a cornsnake curled up in a nest box , it had climbed my orchids ans stretched it's body to get into the cage (this is when I did have my javas out in a flight on the porch). No birds, eggs or chicks were harmed. I decided to pass on birds on the porch after that.

Our weather is weird, cold in the morning down to 40 back up to 80-90 in the afternoon or one or two days freezing then a front comes through and it is hot and humid again.

It is easier for me to keep them indoors out of harms way.

My dogs don't bother my birds, especially my littlest cavalier, Zoe. She knows if she goes near the cages and I say her name firmly she comes over to me and sits/down. The dogs will sleep on the rug in front of the cage but the birds don't seem to even notice or care.

[CandoAviary]

Let's see. Finches in thier natural habitat are outdoors. Are they afraid. Only if something is after them...
Same in an outdoor aviary. Protect it from predators and they will do fine. A roof help keep hawks, and larger birds from scaring them. Also you do not want wild birds to perch and poop on the top of the aviary.
Birds will get accustomed to the surroundings just like they do indoors. And just like indoors any sudden movement or loud noise can frighten them.
If you give cover, and make the aviary critter/snake proof then it is the best enviroment you can give them. Nothing is more beneficial than sunshine.

[cindy]

My cages are stacked on two large shelving units next to a window. I was watching them the other day when I some of the finches in cages near the window flew in a rush to one side. I noticed some large crows flying by. I have since attached some silk fern fonds on the outside of the cages closest to the window to give the a little "curtain" to hide behind from what they felt threatened by.

Since building a structure in my yard is out of the question and if I was ever to attempt to build an aviary on my porch I would run a panel of plexi-glass around the bottom, ground up to about 2 feet to keep little snakes and mice out. I would also do some sort of roof on top to keep them from being frightened by the flocks of Sandhill Cranes that fly over our home on the way to their roosting spot nearby. They all like to come and land on the golf course across the street from the house, fly over right before sunset to come back.

I had an outdoor aviary in Ft. Myers but it had a roof over it, we did not have as much of a large bird population there like we have here.

We see more Osprey, Sandhill Cranes, Eagles, Heron etc. since we have lakes all around us.