hoi
Posted: 31 May 2009, 20:12
Hi
I'm back taking an interest in birds after dropping out in the early 1990s. Back in the day I bred most of the more common finches, but I now live in an apartment in the inner city so pleasure from birds mainly comes from reading about them!
There have been some interesting changes since I left the hobby - I cannot believe how expensive some of the finches have become (eg yellow rumps). Also, I was surprised to see a number of new species have mysteriously appeared in the hobby, including the gorgeous tricolor/Tanimbar/Forbes parrot finch, which I'd love to own one day.
I'm a bit dismayed by the explosion of gouldian mutations - most of them aren't a patch on the original bird and it's disturbing to consider this species is on the verge of extinction in the wild, and the captive flock is now riddled with mutation genes. But that's just my opinion.
I'm back taking an interest in birds after dropping out in the early 1990s. Back in the day I bred most of the more common finches, but I now live in an apartment in the inner city so pleasure from birds mainly comes from reading about them!
There have been some interesting changes since I left the hobby - I cannot believe how expensive some of the finches have become (eg yellow rumps). Also, I was surprised to see a number of new species have mysteriously appeared in the hobby, including the gorgeous tricolor/Tanimbar/Forbes parrot finch, which I'd love to own one day.
I'm a bit dismayed by the explosion of gouldian mutations - most of them aren't a patch on the original bird and it's disturbing to consider this species is on the verge of extinction in the wild, and the captive flock is now riddled with mutation genes. But that's just my opinion.