My Birds

Estrelid Zebra Finch

 My mom bought me a new feeder last week.  It's a Brome anti-squirrel one in the standard size.  Initially I took down the hummingbird feeder, I hadn't seen any since our late, or perhaps early, freeze.  I also hung a suet feeder from a hook on the eave near the feeder for bigger birds, jays and woodpeckers.  Immediately after I hung it in the frosty evening the broad-tailed hummer landed on it and showed his displeasure with a few angry, high speed laps around the offending feeder.  I moved the nectar feeder back to its original place and moved the Brome feeder to the suet feeders place and the suet feeder to a hook intermediate between the two.  Every morning since I've done this I've been greeted by a chorus of purple finches, collared doves, nuthatches and two fox squirrels that pick up what falls out of the feeders. 

Melanistic Fox Squirrel, taking it all in

  At one point I even had a hairy woodpecker on the suet feeder.  I think I'll be moving the suet to a more private spot, he was mobbed off his post by a pair of purple finches who were waiting their turn on the seed feeder.  All of the birds are in their more drab winter coats, only the throats of the male purple finches retain a dusty reddish purple hue.  I hope they stay around all winter. 

Male Purple Finch

The porch connects with the kitchen and sitting on a table in a little nook are my own little flock of zebra finches.  I have four, three males and one female.  They are actually rescue birds from the humane society.  I call them Rock, Roll, Bass, and Treble.  The female is Roll and two of the males are identical, they go by Rock and Treble.  Both genders look similar, grey bodies with bold white and black patterning over the wing coverts.  The breast is striped black and white, hence the zebra moniker.  They are easy to tell apart though, males have bronze orange cheeks and females do not.

Rock and Roll

One of the males is distinct, Bass, he's kind of a firebrand.  Rock and Roll are the dominant pair and they have tried to breed several times, Bass has made sure that that didn't happen though.  Rock wakes, gets a bit to eat and drink, spends a few minutes combing out his feathers and then begins calling every morning.  His call starts with the little meepmeep contact calls and then bursts forth with the robot-like mating call, every time he gets there Bass repeats the mating call which then starts a frenzy as Rock starts chasing him and tries to rip out his feathers.  He has succeeded a few times and that's what gives Bass his distinctive look.  Roll is never impressed.  She quietly gets a bite and then returns to the nest.  They're very industrious little birds, supervising the nest, dropping things into the water dish, communal bath hour; whatever task one start the other three quickly start mimicking.  They used to stay downstairs and had no window access, now that I've moved them they sit in a corner surrounded by windows near other birds they have started a new game.  Whenever one of the finches outside starts calling they will all fly to the middle perch and listen for a second before responding.  It sounds like laughter.  The little birds don't seem to care for toys, I've tried, bells, swings, foot toys, millet, a squid looking thing that dangled from the top of the cage.  All ignored.  There is only one thing they will make use of; the newspaper that underlies their cage.  I'm not sure which one managed to fish the first piece up but they've all taken to pulling pieces up and then shredding them.  Roll has tried to line the nest with the shreds but the other three just scatter it everywhere with a strong predilection for the water dish.  It's hard to be annoyed with them though.  I have tried putting paper into the cage to get them to stop pulling it from below and they actively avoid it.  Oh well. 

Little Villain

Having both groups of finches in such close proximity really gives you an appreciation for the differences and similarities.  There are two main finch groups, the emberzidae and the estrelidae, emberzids and estrelids.  The purple finches outside at my feeder are emberzid finches.  Bigger, about three times the size of the zebra finches, with very long tails, duller colours; even when in mating plummage, and with a higher pitch, metallic call.  These are hardy birds that are built for the mountains and plains. The smaller, daintier estrelids with their deeper and louder calls are much better suited to the life of a desert nomad, which is exactly where they are from.  Both types are chubby little birds with thick bills, seed eaters. 

Emberzidae

 Only a few species of escaped estrelids have been able to establish colonies of any kind.  Most can't forage for the prodigious numbers of seeds they need, are unable to handle the severe cold and have no natural defences against our predators.  Both are beautiful and fun to watch.  Even if the purple finches do leave I'll have my four little weirdos to keep me company.