African Alliance

[emmo]

I have just returned from a few weeks on holiday and catching up on what my birds are doing. One of my casualties while I was away was a male African Fire Finch. His body was at the entrance of a nest box he and his partner were using. First I was surprised the female was still going in and out over his body then I thought perhaps she was very dedicated and still incubating eggs. I saw her outside the box for long periods so wasn't too hopeful about the eggs being alive. Yesterday I thought to remove the eggs and break up the nest - but the eggs were still warm so I left it all as it was. Today I saw something I thought extaordinary - the female African Fire Finch flew up to the perch outside the entrance to the nest box and waited a bit. Then out came my male Red Cheeked Cordon Bleu, and the African Fire popped inside. It is apparent that the Cordon Bleu is sharing the incubation with the African Fire Finch. I am hoping this is something wonderful rather than something sinister. The Cordon Bleu has been single for some time - the fairytale explanation is he is just keen to be a dad and so is helping out the damsel in an awkward situation. The nightmare I fear is that he has actually mated with her. Even then I can't imagine any hybrid possible between those two very different species. Has anybody seen anything like this before?

[GregH]

Apparently it is a known hybrid.

Lagonosticta rubricata [African Firefinch] See also: Lagonosticta landanae; L. rhodopareia.
× Taeniopygia guttata [Zebra Finch] CHR. DRS. Immelmann 1982.
× Uraeginthus bengalus [Red-cheeked Cordonbleu] CHR. BRO: sub-Saharan Africa. The hybrid is more like L. rubricata than U. bengalus. Immelmann et al. 1965
(p.188); Robiller 1978; Schifter 1968.

Hope the old male did provide the sperm but if not do you really want to find out if the hybrid progeny are sterile?

[gomer]

Time will tell I suppose.Either way I would separate them both or find alternative partners after the young are self sufficient.

[Myzomela]

Hi Greg

Technically it is not a known hybrid (unless listed elsewhere in your book of hybrids)
The hybrid you refer to is with the African firefinch, L. rubricata.
We do not have any L.rubricata in Australia.
The "African Fire Finch" that Emmo refers to is actually the Red- billed firefinch, L. senegala.
If this mating does result in hybrid offspring then I guess that will be a new one on the list. It probably has occurred before but not been recorded?
With the number of times fire finches are kept with cordons, I'm surprised it hasn't occurred more often.
I suspect that the chicks will be fires and that the cordon is just contributing to the rearing process, but time will tell what the truth is.

[GregH]

Good call on that Myzo - I took the question literally without thinking. So in that case the handbook only records:

Lagonosticta senegala [Red-billed Firefinch]
× Taeniopygia guttata (↔) [Zebra Finch] CHR. DRS. Museum Alexander Koenig has a specimen. Fehrer 1993; Gray 1958; Porter 1948; Wolter 1977.

But given that the other Lagonosticta species have crossed with cordons I suspect that the red-billed fire finch also will.

[iaos]

It is listed as a known hybrid by Kingston in his latest book.