Aussie Finch Forum

Im in Fiji at the moment and these little fellas are flying around everywhere in small flocks. Lovely birds, if only I had a net!!! Although im not sure how well they would do in Melb in the winter when I go home next week. Guess ill just have to enjoy them where they occur naturally which is always the best.

Glad to hear that Peale's PF is going strong in it's homeland. I'm freezing here in Brisbane - I'd rather you bring back some warmer weather rather than the birds.

Sadly, the populations have dropped dramatically over the past 20 years, thanks in part to smuggling

Niki_K wrote:Sadly, the populations have dropped dramatically over the past 20 years, thanks in part to smuggling

Hi Niki,

Is this just anecdotal evidence? Has there been a marked increase is Pearle's in Europe for example?

I would have thought habitat loss was a much bigger factor.

Cheers Ian

Hi Ian,
I haven't looked into populations overseas- this is based on anecdotes/news reports regarding smugglers in Fiji. There seem to be more cases of smugglers being stopped, but whether this is due to an increase in attempts, or more active policing of smuggling (sadly, there is a lot of corruption in Fiji so I'm sure many smugglers managed to get away with a bribe), is impossible to know.
Habitat loss is always a big factor (and of course, introduced predators- like New Zealand, Fiji's birdlife evolved with no mammalian predators), which is why I said 'in part' due to smugglers. In saying that, you do still see them in suburbs and main cities, so they appear to be coping with urbanisation, though there is a huge difference in the number of flocks around where I used to live 10-20 years ago vs now.

That's terrible if they have been illegally smuggled out of the country. Id imagine they would be reasonably easy to catch as I was able to get within a couple of metres from them and took these pics with my crappy little camera. They were very plentiful in the highly manicured areas around the resorts in Denarau particularly around the golf course. Beautiful finches.

Thanks for the photos landferno

These Parrotfinches are Beauties

Yes, you do tend to see them more in Nadi these days than in Suva- funnily enough, the last time I was home (in Suva), I saw a strawberry finch in my driveway! Never seen one in Fiji before, so that was nice. Since then, my sister has said that she has seen a few within a few hundred metres of our house.

Niki_K wrote:Yes, you do tend to see them more in Nadi these days than in Suva- funnily enough, the last time I was home (in Suva), I saw a strawberry finch in my driveway! Never seen one in Fiji before, so that was nice. Since then, my sister has said that she has seen a few within a few hundred metres of our house.

The 'purists' may not agree that it is 'nice'

Probably smuggled in . . a long way to fly from its natural habitat . . but you never know with those cyclones