Aussie Finch Forum

Hi all, I bought 2 'female' red-cheeked cordons blues from the Bundaberg Finch sale a couple of weeks ago, but one is definitely male - singing like a canary, doing the dance with grass in his beak. There is not a bit of red on his cheeks at all, and he seems to have a bit more fawn wrapping under his chin compare to my RC cordon male. Could he be a blue-cap, blue-breasted, or is there another explanation? Any advice appreciated.

I doubt if he has Blue Cap blood in him, and even less chance of Blue Breasted.
My guess is he is a young cock bird who's red cheek patch hasn't come through yet.
Compare the two and you should see that there is quite a difference in the intensity
of the blue between male and female.
The other give away is the singing and display.

Sometimes extra keen hens do the song & dance routine with a poorer version of the song.

The suspected male sings better than any RC males I've had before; and the suspected female (which has made friends with the male RC in the aviary) chases the suspected male away from him. I've never seen females chasing males either! Very strange.

Is the blue bright on the singing one - as bright as the other male?

No, the blue on the new suspected male isn't as bright as my original male, and the new suspected male has more light brown wrapping around the front compared to the light brown more on the back on my original

depending on age I'd say 2 hens...

Are you able to put some pics up,bit hard guessing from what you are saying. Depending on age some young cock birds don't show a red feather for multiple moults. Craig