Pair of Spice Finches

Garthantash
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Location: Adelaide

I am jealous! I have always liked Spice Finches but here in South Australia, they are illegal to keep (potential pest species) so no luck for us.
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Luís Lourenço
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Here are plenty of them on petshops etc but 95% or so of them are wild ones ... Few people like them, it's a shame because are one (if not the One) of my favorite species
Luís Lourenço

http://lourencoaves.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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finchbreeder
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Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Nice looking birds. Hope they do well for you.
LML
LML
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arthur
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Garthantash wrote:I am jealous! I have always liked Spice Finches but here in South Australia, they are illegal to keep (potential pest species) so no luck for us.
Amazing..

Do your "authorities" give any reasons for placing them in that category?

Silly question . . of course they wouldn't

The only possible reason that the uninformed might come up with, is that (a) they may hybridise with the native Chestnut-breasted finch, or (b) take over its environmental niche . . . and that would hardly be a problem in S.A.

But of course they do neither . .

Throughout Qld, 'nutties' and 'bullies' share the same environment, where neither is in decline . . quite the opposite in fact

And . . the only place that I have seen a hybrid has been in an aviary :thumbdown:
Garthantash
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Joined: 03 Oct 2011, 23:29
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http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/ ... och_v6.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They are listed as a prohibited pest species. The official reason is competition with native birds but here there is a massive effort to protect the local farming industry. We have a very active sniffer dog program at the airport but they aren't checking for drugs, they are checking for fruit lest fruit fly get into the state. So yeah, I can imagine that Spice Finches are banned under this type of edict.
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arthur
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Yes, well largest grain they attack up this way is the tiny seed of the Guinea Grass

And never heard a farmer whinge (and most farmers are pretty good whingers) . . about those !@#$% Spice Finches

Guess as a govt dept . . "You can't be too careful!"

Seem to remember (though memory getting dimmer) a public servant in W.A justifying a ban on Green Strawberries by invoking the risk of their hybridisation with the endangered Gouldian . . Though I believe that there are some GS currently in the west

Guess as a govt dept . . "You can't be too careful!"

Lest I malign someone unfairly . . a W.A. member might confirm/rebut this last bit
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