Aussie Finch Forum

Personal opinion I can remember Burmese Nuns being offered around. they turned out to be bred by a shady person
and were Silver Headed Nuns x Black Headed Nuns
Also similar time Lemon Breasted Serins turned out to be from a Green Singer x small white Canary they sold for big $'s back
then and surprisingly never breed
The last big collection of rare oddities I can remember was in the late Allan Williamsons place in Adelaide back in the early 70's

While I think of it. Arthur did I get a pair of Shamas from you in the 70's

MOUSTACHED (SCALEY-CROWNED) WEAVERS . . Probably never readily available . . Larry T. from Townsville had some . . visiting his collection was an experience, well constructed aviaries, and too many finch varieties to absorb in one visit . . Wiped out by flood in'74(?)

SUNDEVALL'S (ROSY-RUMPED/ CRIMSON-RUMPED) WAXBILLS . . Larry had these too . . different from, but not unlike Saints . . Probably currently unavailable

SENEGAL (BLACK-RUMPED) WAXBILLS . . Similar to, but smaller and more dainty than Saints . . Specialist breeders still maintain a reasonable and hopefully genetically viable pool . . tenuous but improving????

DYBOWSKI's TWINSPOTS . . Became reasonably available in the 80's and were established by Ray and Wendy L. . . Russel K. kept and bred a number as well when he ran "Bonza Birds" at Cooboolture . . Though relatively easy to breed, results tapered, probably because of the limited gene pool . . No indications of remnant populations; but we can live in hope

PETER's TWINSPOTS . . Relatively recently available . . Robin H. bred a few as no doubt did others . . With Robin's passing, these rarities hopefully went to other successful breeders . . Reasonably confident that these birds are 'out there' . . Save your pennies as they won't be cheap

To Be Continued ...

E Orix wrote: ↑26 Mar 2020, 12:11 did I get a pair of Shamas from you in the 70's

They came from my mate . .

I got Magpie Robins from H. (which I think may have come from you)

BLUE-BREASTED CORDON . . Belongs in the 'extremely unlikely' file . . was never common . . I remember . . perhaps late 70's . . Harold H. donating a pair as a raffle prize to boost the coffers of QFS, when the birds were like hen's teeth; probably did wonders for ticket sales, but little towards improving BB's status in aviaries . . Plenty of stories of 'propping up' with RC Cordon blood

LAVENDER WAXBILL . . Always rare and expensive in my experience . . Ross and Betty H. from Adelaide (a hot-spot for rare finches in those times ) had reasonable success

QUAIL FINCH . . Adelaide again . . Can't shed a lot of light on these . . Pretty sure that Sam A. who had a farm outside of Adelaide had some at one stage . . If my phone rang at 8.30 on Saturday night I could bet that it was Sam . . and we would talk 'birds'; although by that stage of the day, he would be talking a lot more sense than 'yours truly'

VIOLET-EARED and PURPLE GRENADIER WAXBILLS . . Have put these together because they enjoy(?) roughly the same degree of avicultural (in)security . . a small group of dedicated breeders are having measurable success, which they fully deserve . . Upmarket prices but these are upmarket birds

To Be Continued ...

I remember my Fathers stories of people with "interesting" birds in avairies on farms or stations out the back of beyond. Regretfully I did not get to go out there with him so did not see them.
LML

Try a search for grey headed mannikin for images of sooty nuns.

Grey headed mannikin (sooty nun) lonchura caniceps

Okay, thanks for the clarification

I'll go with that . .