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[email protected]
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Joined: 25 Aug 2021, 10:56
Location: Kuranda, Qld

HI. I'm Mark and I am aiming to breed normal Gouldians. I have 8 so far and have them in a planted outside aviary with plenty of room and shelter.

I have more birds lined up (both yellow and black face to go with the current red) and am going for genetic diversity to try to breed the strongest bird I can. As a start I am aiming for around 8 pairs.

I have a contact with a private sanctuary in the Mt. Malloy. It has plenty of water and scrub and is within the original home range of Gouldians. My goal is to work with them to establish a wild population.

So far the 8 birds I have come from a concrete based environment into my planted out aviary, and seem to be thriving. After about a month I have observed them actively foraging on the green seeds planted about 2 months ago. I also have elastic grass and guinea grass planted out, and they now seem happy to hop amongst it all, after being strictly perch birds for the 1st month. Positive signs I hope.

Any tips re captive release for Gouldians would be appreciated. All of the contacts I have tried from previous projects are not active or responsive. Cheers Mark
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finchbreeder
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Welcome to the forum. How large is the avairy you have the Gouldians in?
LML
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Shane Gowland
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Hello Mark, welcome to Aussie Finch Forum
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Craig52
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Hi and Welcome to the Forum Mark.
I understand what you are aiming for but it is illegal to release aviary birds into the wild any where in Australia. Mereeba was or is the last place in Queensland for the releasing gouldians into the wild and was done with a very slow release with a home aviary that the birds could come back to breed and feed but there has been many complications so i'm not sure if was successful or not.
It has to be done through Government environmental channels and the birds must not carry mutations of any sort which is very hard with autosomal mutations that can pop up years later down the track.

Keep searching for contacts for your input.
Cheers Craig.
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[email protected]
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Thanks for the welcme everyone. Looks like I need to do some more research regarding release. Seems a bit weird given they are native birds going back into home range habitat. I get the point about induced colour mutations, but still, how can it hurt? I would hope that the government would support efforts to rebuild wild populations. I guess I'll start with Dept of Environment and go on from there.

Thanks for the info
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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[email protected] wrote: 04 Sep 2021, 13:32 I get the point about induced colour mutations, but still, how can it hurt?
Wild birds are pure normal birds. If a bird with a colour mutation was introduced to the wild, then it could lead to mutated birds in the wild populations, 'mutating' the genetics of many formerly pure normal wild birds - thus the characteristic pure normal genetics in wild populations would be ruined. This would be dertimental for the remaining Gouldians in the wild.

Thanks,
Aidan
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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[email protected]
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OK and thanks. I understand the point. If there are none in the wild in the area of concern? Anyways, how does one go about determining the absence of mutative genes. Is the genome well enough mapped for DNA testing to be of any use?
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finchbreeder
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To the best of my knowledge - the genome is not well enough mapped.
LML
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[email protected]
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Thanks. Its a catch 22 if they cannot be assessed as pure normals. This effectively means that any area reintroduction must be from wild caught birds, which is also illegal, and has the disadvantage of dislocation to differing terrain and food sources.

Just a last thought, one assumes the genes must have been in the wild population in the 1st instance, otherwise the genes could not be selected for (unless mutagenic techniques have been applied?). I am guessing that any colour mutation that does pop up in the wild must come with some downside for increased predation or reduced health/fecundity. Otherwise they would be out there in all their glory.

Therefore, just say if my normals did carry a colour mutation gene, one assumes colour mutated offspring would be likewise compromised for survival. Sort of self limiting, which overcomes the initial objection for the authorities.

I'll have to see how I go with the authorities that be. Sorry to be a pain.

Cheers Mark
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Craig52
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Yes you are right Mark, all the release stations started off with Government controlled captured birds out of the wild. Another person had captured birds used for scientific reasons that included head colour preferences in prs and many other useful and useless scientific processes. All birds were not released back into the wild but were spread among some great aviculturist mainly for new wild blood to their original stock of captive pure aviary bred birds. There's still purist breeders out there that won't have any thing do with mutations. I clap my hands to these guys because what they are doing is saving the pure status against the rolling tide of mutations in our aviaries Australia wide.
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