New black-crowned waxbills

[isobea]

w.l. - oh boy! This must be early senility! I know for a fact I read your earlier posts, but when you attached the picture with about 20 bl.-crowneds to your Nov. 2 post, I forgot about everything else and jumped to the conclusion that those are yours. Or was that wishful thinking? Anyway, looking at the backs of your pair, can you see the color difference? Since mine are out in that big aviary - and hardly ever seem to sit still - I can't tell.
Have a great day, Iso

[DanteD716]

Dante - these are my first wild caught birds in 30 years of keeping and raising finches. Considering what they've been through (getting caught, staying in a holding facility in Africa, going through shipping and quarantine and then living at the importer's until they finally end up with us) and the experiences they've had with us humans, I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed cautious and skittish for quite a long time.

They have good reason to be wary of us! I'm glad majority of mine are still in juvenile colors, so they did not know the outside world for more than a couple months. I think since they're younger they'll settle in faster

[w.l.]

isobea

Mine are also in a big place, split to outdoor and indoor areas.
This, combined with their shy nature, ensures I can't compare their backs either.
When I bought them and subsequently handled them, the most obvious differences used to try and sex them were the 'dirtier' white/gray belly of the female, and the more red in the bill of the male.

[monotwine]

Stunning species and lovely birds you got yourself. Wish you the best of luck getting them to breed.

[isobea]

I have yet another question: all of my birds love to take baths, but I've never seen my bl.-cr. waxbills bathe. They do come down to the birdbath when everyone else is celebrating 'Bath Fest 2014', but they'll only drink and fling some water to the left and right by dipping their beaks into it. These last few days have been very warm (86 F today), so I would think they'd participate in the fun.
Any ideas or comments?
Iso

[isobea]

Hi all, it's time for an update. Last week I brought home some pampas grass plumes, ripped them into smaller pieces and promptly saw one of my spice finches drag some around. Turned out, they just lined their sleeping nest with that and some extra eucalyptus leaves because the nights are getting cooler.
BUT this morning I worked on some of the nests I wanted to offer my birds. I had made 4x4 inch "boxes" (for lack of a better word) out of wire, open fronted, with a round cut-out in the bottom part into which I dropped cup shaped canary nests. From Michael's I got some fake spruce picks that I then bent along the inside walls of my "nest boxes". I lined them with a little dried grass, burlap fiber and such in case the birdies need a hint ... Now there is only a relatively small opening and the nests are nice and snug.
Well, after this long explanation let's get to the good part: this afternoon I saw one of my bl.-cr. waxbills get into one of those nests, look around and rearrange some small fibers. He/she stayed inside for approx. 5 minutes while a second one came over with a piece of pampas grass in its beak and sat on the roof.
I am so excited! I just hope I'm not jinxing everything by writing about it. Has anybody observed similar behavior with their birds? And if so, does it mean what I think it means?
Iso

[isobea]

Sally, KarenB and w.l. - since you three seem to be the only ones who keep these birds, my questions are directed at you: do you have any updates for me? Has your birds' behavior changed? Do you see any clues they might be getting ready to build nests? Any observations are welcome. Since there is so little info out there, I feel we have to keep each other updated.
I was watching my birds this afternoon as it was getting darker and saw two of them (yellow band and light blue band) sitting very close and preening each other for quite a long time. They are the ones I thought might be a pair and who were checking out that nest. Then I observed the other two also sitting close to each other and preening, but only for a short time. During the daytime all of them flit around most of the time and I haven't observed any pairing up. They do take 'siesta' time early every afternoon, though, and maybe I'll have to see who sits with whom at that time.
Iso

PS: Just watched a weather report covering the extreme cold in most of the US - stay warm and safe everyone!

[Rox]

Isobea, the fact that they are showing interest in the nest is a fantastic sign! If you can, please post a photo of the nests you made. I am always looking for different nesting idea's to try with the waxbills.

Good luck with the cold weather approaching!

[isobea]

Hi Roxanne, sorry it has taken me so long to respond, but I finally took one of my finished nests apart again and took three pictures to show how I did this. I've never posted pictures here but I'll try to follow the instructions on "how to attach images" (it's extremely easy on the plumeria forum, so I'm spoiled). Anyway, the first picture shows the nest with the wire box I attached to it (with twist ties). The second one also shows the greenery pick I pretty much just shoved inside and then bent to my liking. I bent the 'stem' down and across the front to give them something to land on. The third picture is of the finished 'product'. Before I hang the nests in my aviary, I close up the front more until there is only a small opening left. I left it wide open in this picture so you would be able to see better what I did.
Hope this helps,
Iso

PS: I tried. It says the pictures are too big. Don't know what to do. Could I email them to you and you could post them for me???

[isobea]

It doesn't make sense to me, but one posted. Maybe one at a time?
Darn, it doesn't seem to be working.

[isobea]

Alright, my son got home and resized them for me. Let's hope it works. So far, so good.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone,
Iso

[Colt]

Those look great. Thanks for sharing.

[KarenB]

My two, Pinky and Floyd:


I've observed that where one goes, the other follows. They have played with nesting material but haven't really done anything serious with it. They seemed to blend in with the other pairs nicely. I admit I was a little apprehensive about them being in with the lavenders, since they are very similar-looking, but they haven't had any issues that I've noticed.

I do see that they don't really like to go down to the bottom of the flight where the food and water is, so I hung some seed in cups and, of course, the water tubes are up high, but I have yet to see them bathe.

My female came plucked, and Jan told me that she thought that was breeding behavior. Maybe the move got them all discombobulated in that regard. I got the very last pair she had, and it was almost like crumbs, it feels, as these two were pretty scraggly compared to all the others she had. I can't wait until they molt out.

[Sally]

I'm embarrassed to say that mine are still in their quarantine cage, along with a pair of Lavenders, three Yellow-bellied Waxbills, and a pair of Fire finches. Just been swamped with things here, so I haven't gotten any of them set up yet. They do tend to stick together though.

[Rox]

isobea thank you so much for sharing the photo's! That is a great nesting idea. I'm definitely going to make some wire boxes now