Aussie Finch Forum

west finch wrote:Hey Luke Looks like were heading in the same direction .

Definitely, it may be a case inspiration though mate, although space is likely to be my problem.

I would however like to achieve this on a suburbin block.

Appreciate the limitations.

As most people know,i now specialise in two species,one of those species (lessers) i breed very well and i am getting to the stage where i feel i have done that now time to move on to some thing else,Red Ears.When contacting breeders of these,i have been told to build a brick wall as you need some thing to bash your head against as they can be a night mare.
I will see this breeding season out with the lessers and have a damned good think about the redears.I also know breeders of Beautifuls,so i might head in that direction as they are from my part of Aus and may be less of a headache,going to have a talk to those breeders too. Cheers Craig

Lukec

Without being a little pedantic you asked the original question as to the holy grail. We all would like to have an aviary the size of Taronga Park Zoo but that is not really within the realms of reality (*unless your last name is Packer or Reinhardt). I started as a kid over 40 yrs ago with zebs, bengos, javas, red heads . Everything thing else was too dear (meaning $10 plus pair). Goulds, stars, painteds, diggles, longtails were available but as to breeding it was not really a forgone conclusiuon because most if not all of the birds were wild caught and their requirements weren't that well known. Now after a 25 year plus hiatus I can afford Goulds, stars and painteds and am breeding them no worries at all. If I went back 40 plus years ago and did the same thing I would be regarded as a guru because of my breeding success. The Holy Grail? I could name probably 10 or 12 birds I would like...holy grail is another thing.

Lukec wrote:

west finch wrote:Hey Luke Looks like were heading in the same direction .

Definitely, it may be a case inspiration though mate, although space is likely to be my problem.

I would however like to achieve this on a suburbin block.

Appreciate the limitations.

Once you've seen E Orix's setup, the ideas for what you can do with a suburban block (admittedly a big one) really bloom

I have everything in my signature breeding continuesly.Hopefully progressing further with Seagreen Mutation Red Faced Parrot Finches.And getting the last 3 species on my list St Helenas,Tri Nuns and Red Face Stars.Almost finished building the flights for them.

My Holy Grail would be Green Strawberry and Purple Grenadier Waxbills...hoping if any left for when I'm ready

Yes, there seems to be this conflict between being ready for a species ie having gained the right skills and having the right aviaries available to breed a species & the time vs the diminishing population of some of these birds in Australia ie by the time I am ready there may be none left!

I think there is enough awareness out there that most of these species are being held ( & hopefully bred) by the right people. Hopefully there are still enough birds left to maintain a viable population for when the rest of us are ready!!

But it never hurts to dream in the meantime!!

The old saying "Never get your ambitions mixed up with your capabilities" rings true.
Have to agree. I would like to preserve some of our rarer manikins. But am aware that the best way to do this is with flocks of each type in seperate avairies. And space constraints are currently a problem.
LML

To me the "Holy Grail" is something that maybe to some extent would be out of reach for Australian aviculturists.

For example some of those "Afrcian Waxbills" like those Black Cheeked Fire Finches, Black Caps or Lavender Waxbills and Quail Finches are very beautiful and special little birds that I have and probably will only ever see in books.

Maybe a trip to South Africa is in order one day??

But like a lot of the replys on this post suggests I will need to gain more experiance and build better aviaries to accomodate the plunge into the rarities in the finch or bird world.

On another note one group of parrots that has always intrigued me is the Blue Macaws e.g. such as the Spix's and Lears are so beautiful and the Cockatoos like the White Indonesian species and the Black Cockatoos such as Palm and Yellow Tailed Blacks.

Softbills would be all the Australian Wrens out there especailly the Grass Wrens eg Dusky. In your Dreams Loz_82!!!

I should stop rambling.

I suppose The "Holy Grail" would be keeping and breeding every bird species out there as they all have a trail to me which makes them all so very special. Now that is a dream!!!!

Hello. All,

My Holy Grail, is to get my Gouldians to breed, & breed to where it becomes second nature.

And as a new project, I'm looking for Scarlet Honeyeaters.....

Cheers
Ripley