Pied Longtailed or Hecks Grassfinch

[Finchni]

Together with a friend of mine, who also breeds Australian grassfinches, we are giving a talk to a local cage bird club, this Saturday evening, on the different mutations of Longtailed and Hecks Grassfinches. We would like to include a photograph of a pied Longtailed or Hecks Grassfinch, but can't find any. Pieds are almost unknown here in the UK and we know of only one pied bird being kept by a breeder in England. Can anyone help with a photograph of a pied that we could use in our talk?

[SamDavis]

I'm not aware of pied Longtails in Australia. I'm happy to ask at our FSA meeting this Wednesday (11/3/15) but I don't hold out much hope.

Perhaps you'll be interested in research under way by Simon Griffith and co. regarding this species.
http://bio.mq.edu.au/research/groups/av ... alecology/

Simon spoke at one of our meetings last year, including his work with Longtails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-VFJnBnMJU

Are you able to video your talk? We'd love to see it.

Regards,
Sam

[Finchni]

Many thanks for the links. I will be interested in watching the talk by Simon Griffith on Youtube. I have keep various Australian Grassfinches over the years and started focusing on Longtails a number of years ago when I obtained some normals along with an isobel cock and a cream hen. Although I quickly bred young isobels, it wasn't until the third generation later that creams started appearing along with some albino birds. I have in the last few months obtained a grey hen and a silver (grey/isobel) hen. I am advised to keep these birds away from my normals as apparently it greatly weakens the pinkish colour in their plumage and is difficult to eradicate. My colleague and I are very interested in some of the new mutations such as Pearls, which we can't get here and pieds, which while available in small numbers at one time, are now almost unavailable.

Unfortunately it isn't possible to video the talk on Saturday evening, but it is something that we might be able to look at in the future. The aim in giving the talk is to promote keeping these species and to make breeders of other birds more aware of where we are now with Australian Grassfinches and how we manage their care, while improving the quality of the birds we are keeping.

Regards,
Charlie

[Craig52]

Hi Charlie,i don't think i have ever seen a pied longtail.Mutations we have here are white,cream,fawn and pearl.There is a bit of work going on with fawn pearls that i'm aware of. Craig

[Bgould]

Hi Charlie

Have a look in the Mutation section of this forum and look for pied longtails. There are a couple of photos that may interest you. Cheers Bgould

[SamDavis]

Hi Charlie

Have a look in the Mutation section of this forum and look for pied longtails. There are a couple of photos that may interest you. Cheers Bgould

Well there ya go! You learn something new every day. Any news on what happened to that bird BGould?

Here's a direct link to the thread/photos - http://www.aussiefinchforum.net/viewtopic.php?t=7212

[Bgould]

Sam there were two birds and they were shipped to a breeder in Queensland to work with. I am unsure the progress he has made with these birds to date.

[Finchni]

Many thanks for the link to the photographs. They look very interesting. Am I right in assuming this is a Pied Pearl mutation? We don't have the Pearl mutation here and from what I have seen it looks like a very nice bird.

Charlie

[Bgould]

Hi Charlie

yes they are Pied Pearls.