confused...

[joemau]

hi...i.m new here in this forum, could you pls identify this zebra finch. i noticed that his/her color is for female but his/her behaviour is male...pls help

[lovemyfinch]

I can see the cheek patches, and beginnings of flank markings, so it is a male. I would say Florda Fancy, but we will have to wait for one of the zebra experts to confirm this.

He is beautiful BTW

[Vargur]

I think he is Fawn Isabel.

Is this a juvinile finch or adult?

[lovemyfinch]

I just went to check on some zebra mutations, this would be close....fawn cheeked.

http://www.zebrafinch.com/NewZebra/GReyCheek.html

[joemau]

I think he is Fawn Isabel.

Is this a juvinile finch or adult?

adult...

[joemau]

but is this male or female?...some of the breeders told me that its a male, others say its a female...i am really at a lost...

[lovemyfinch]

If it is a fawn cheek, I would say more than likely a hen.

Does it sing at all, or just make squeekie toy noises.

[Vargur]

It looks like a female to me.
Fawn cheek or fawn Isabel.
Males have red beak and flanks.

I removed the links, I dont know why they didnt work..

[L in Ontario]

It looks like a female to me.
Fawn cheek or fawn Isabel.
Males have red beak and flanks.
If your bird Is a male, I think it would look like
This
or similar to this bird.

FawnIsabel-OB


Fawn cheek Isabel

The links are not working for me. It opens a website unrelated to birds and my ISP blocks it opening further advertising - pop ups. Please fix the urls or remove them.

[joemau]

If it is a fawn cheek, I would say more than likely a hen.

Does it sing at all, or just make squeekie toy noises.

it does not sing, lovemyfinch...but when i bought a female it made this dance which really confused me more...but it just make squeekie toy noises...
i bought like 4 male zebras to be her mate and she just chases and pecks them...

[Nagdabit]

If it doesn't sing, it's a female. The only other possibility that I can think of would be that the squeaky noises you are referring to are that of a young male learning his song. Do you know approximately how old the bird is? However the softness of the coloring and as Vargur alluded to, the lighter color beak lead me to speculate that it's a hen.

Also I would have to agree with Janine that it looks like a Fawn Cheek hen. Does she look like this hen? http://www.efinch.com/birdpix/fchen.jpg

For more information on the mutation, check out this link... http://www.efinch.com/species/fczeb.htm Can't really see the tail markings in the picture. Are they striped like a typical zebra finch or is the tail a solid color? And if you live in the US, chances are pretty good that you can rule out the Isabel mutation as a possibility. That's primarily an European mutation with only a few birds making it over to the states thus far.

We do have a Phaeo hen that looks similar to your bird, but she lacks defined cheek patches and has a solid colored tail. She also lacks the buff underbelly we see in your bird. Our male Phaeos have a much more prevalent definition of color. Their orange is deeper and richer than what we see in the picture you provided.

The behavior you are describing does seem a little odd, are there any other birds in the cage with her other than the one you intended to pair her up with as a mate? Could be she is bonding with another hen already in the cage and isn't interested in any of the suitors you are providing her. Try maybe just her and a single male together in a cage. Give them plenty of time to work things out unless of course either bird turns physical and tries to seriously injure the other.

I would also agree that she is quite striking and hope that you continue to give us updates on her progress

[joemau]

Nagdabit, i saw the website of efinch.com and my bird looks like the one on the website. There are no birds with them in the cage but they can see and hear other birds in other cages...a breeder came to my place and said it was fawn cheek hen and lend me a normal grey cock...hoping she will not peck and chase the new male...

here's a picture with her new suitor...

[Nagdabit]

Glad to hear all ended well. Certainly looks like he's trying his darnedest to woo her over. Hopefully she'll take a liking to the little fella and reward your patience with a whole nestful of fuzzy little ones.

[joemau]

ill keep you posted guys to what happens...ill even post my other zebs...

thanks to all of you...happy finching

[L in Ontario]

Can't wait to see your other Zebbies as well!