Aussie Finch Forum

I've been wanting to post this but i didn't want to jinx myself. This week i've had a minor population explosion.

Wednesday last week 2 baby W/E Mask finches fledged. They have been hard to spot as they seem to go to be early in the afternoon before i get home, and they had me worried before i realized they were returning to the nest. I believe i have another nest of white ears about to pop in the next few days, although its hard to tell as 2 pairs built side by side in the low branches of the brush.

I'm really chuffed about this as i had a lot of concern for them early on in the year. Although i have not lost any W/E's to date, all seem fit bar 1 who's health seems to come and go. Now i have replacement for him/her should it pass.

I've also had 3 baby Cordons fledge and 2 fawn stars. One baby star is much lighter than the other. A nest of noisy Chocolate Parsons is about 1 week or less off from fledging.

So im having some success's at the minute.........its exciting.

Great news! Well done.
Like you, I often seem to have an odd masked that just isn't quite 100% and goes up and down.

Congrats with your new fledglings

Well done

Glad to hear that Chris.They are fledging from where they came from aswell. They are late winter breeders down here.

It's ironic, the species i had the most concern for , is now the 1st pair/species to have multiple fledglings.
Between 2 pairs choc parsons, i've had over 5 nests with just 1 producing a fledgling, i keep finding thrown babies about a 10 days old.

Hi crimson.....Congrats on the WEs.....i too have WE MAsks and Parsons.........and yes Parsons can go and go and go......I have found that both Parsons and WE Masks will throw their young if they dont get live food.......I feed termites which I have ready access to and they contain almost no fat, just pure protein. Two seasons ago I had a couple of occaisions where I found chicks dead in the termite bowl or near........An old hand asked me if I was late that day.. ...Indeed I was late on those occaisions with the daily termite ration.....about 10am..........I now ensure there is a constant supply and check fastidiously early each morning..............I know many successful finchos do an afternoon feed also

My WEs pretty much dont touch the live food except from when they are getting close to hatching young through to fledging. My Parsons take live food nearly all the time but their consumption increases exponentially when they are close to hatching and feeding young.......I just adjust the quantities as I see the need.

Good luck......WE Masks and Parsons are up there as my favourites........both challengeing species and deserve our attention

Congratulations to all of you on your successess with these species.
LML

I've been feeding copious termites, but on reading other posts about Parsons i think i can put it down to running short on termites mid week, trying to substitute with meal worms when getting low , ( my cordons don't take mealworms so i concentrate the short supply of termites to them). I now feed a couple of mealworms with the termites in case i do run low, so they are used to both live feed, which seems to be working with this round of Parsons. I have to be carefull with the mealworms and feed only what they can eat in 10 mins, we have really fiesty green ants that just love the mealworms. I also have to keep a close eye on the seed bowls, they may have run a bit low during the midweek change over with tossed babies being the result.

The Parsons and White Ears only get 1 live feeding a day,7.30 am the Cordons get two as they are on the patio and will take the termites after dusk when i get home and turn the patio lights on.