Blue-crowned hanging parrot

My son asked me today if he can select a bird and keep for himself. Of course I said go ahead and choose one. And he chose this as expected because its the cutest at the moment. Hmmm... time to hand tame it I suppose, or teach my kid to appreciate it as a songbird?... hmmm

Hybrid vigour

Something was pulling me home this morning. Don't know what, but I felt like I forgot to do something. So, I went home to have a look see on a bike because the traffic was terrible & I just want to drop by for an hour or two.

To my surprise, one of my mule finch was flying around the garden. I quickly put in some vege (kangkong) and was able to capture it back. Whew... I must have been absent minded and left the cage door open.

So, I went out again shortly, happy at the turn of events. Then when I came home again at night, the cage is again open & the bird is nowhere in sight. I can only hope it is safe for the night & will be able to come home again. I have never kept a finch or canary that has learnt how to open its own cage door. This is the first for me. Is it hybrid vigour at work?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18636282/

I think so. And that was also the reason I ventured into hybridising. Something better than the parents - cognitive, physic & health.

Pests

I would have thought I could get a month or two of peace after trapping 5 cats within 2 weeks. Well, it was not to be. This is the latest victim of a cat attack...

No choice but to remove all chicks from their flight cages and place them in bamboo cages so that they can be hung out of reach should there be a seventh cat lurking around. 

At least the culprit was caught the following day.

Longer term solution. Appears to have good prey drive & very alert. A lot of work, keeping dogs, but a necessary evil ;) 

Rectangular nest boxes

I just realised that finches, like shamas, can adapt to squarish nest boxes. They are easier to make and hang than round nests :)
Could make 4 for Rm8 (minus the sisal nesting material)

Update 30th May 2015.
Box nest in use:

Goldfinch pair

I placed this pair side by side since yesterday. This morning, I let them together and so far, as seen with Shamas, the male that is interested in breeding will immediately check out the nest box and try to attract the attention of the female.
Now the only thing to hope for is that the female is equally ready. The male is a proven cock which I am also using to produce mules with canaries. But I do need more pure Goldfinches to continue and they are hard to come by here. So, this is the next viable alternative - produce some so that 2015 can be more interesting ;)

Happy holidays!

Photo cage

Was building a small aviary & I had some extra pieces of wood. So, decided to make a simple cage to photograph the finches. They are impossible to photograph in their normal cage where they will be darting here and there. The above was basically made from leftovers and a stapler. ;) 

Above is a 4 months old Goldfinch mule taken in the cage. 

This is a Yellow-rumped Seedeater. 

Now its much easier to take their photos :)