Aussie Finch Forum

Plants that I have included in my aviary along with Tussock Grasses

Acacia Floribunda - Gossamer Wattle


Melaleuca - Snow in Summer


Lemon Scented Tea Trees

cranberry wrote:I was considering planting Star Jasmine due to its nice fragrance but searching on the net uncovered that it may in fact be toxic to birds if chewed. Can anyone confirm this?

I have Star Jasmine growing up the side of a parrot cage and the parrots keep it well trimmed back on the inside of cage have not had a sick bird yet. As for finch I've never seen them touch it except to nest in.

Buzzard-1 wrote:

cranberry wrote:I was considering planting Star Jasmine due to its nice fragrance but searching on the net uncovered that it may in fact be toxic to birds if chewed. Can anyone confirm this?

I have Star Jasmine growing up the side of a parrot cage and the parrots keep it well trimmed back on the inside of cage have not had a sick bird yet. As for finch I've never seen them touch it except to nest in.

I found the same thing when searching for plants so I decided to use Pandorea Jasminoides instead which appears to be non-toxic from what I've read. Anyway the finches seem to enjoy chewing on the tender shoots and it has had no adverse effects.

These are some of the grasses that i grow for my finches.Except for the Echinochloa species these are all native grasses.Apologies for the use of latin names but they would otherwise all be called summer grass.These grasses occur from Sept/Oct through to April/May.Native millet does tend to hang on through winter when the others disappear.They all produce good seed heads and the finches love em ! Unfortunately Buffel grass is taking over in the flood plain areas of our river systems and these grasses are disappearing very rapidly.
Native
Urochloa

The unknown looks similar to Japanese Millet, so it might be a species of Echinochloa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinochloa

is tee tree safe?

Ti (Tea, tee) tree is probably the plant you will see most in aviaries apart from the grasses, both as brush and as a growing plant. yes it;s safe

That depends on where you get it. Personally I am just getting some cuttings from my grandmother's garden.

Ok cool do the birds like it?

yes - as I said it's probably the plant you will see most of in aviaries in the lower half of australia.
In the upper half, Bracken fern is much easier to obtain and use as brush.